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Max Tilberg has released A Viking Saga, a new freeware game for the PPC. A Viking Saga tells you the story about the thrilling adventures of a group of Vikings during the 10th Century. This game lets you trade with foreign cities, discover new land, plunder monasteries and villages and even be the first European to set foot in America.
A Viking Saga is developed for Pocket PC and written by Max Tillberg, who also has written the popular game Warring States.
A Viking Saga is varying game of adventure with a fast pace, which will afford many surprises, and the best of all, A Viking Saga is all for free! | <urn:uuid:8b68a1b3-cbb8-4d56-9cf0-d977c225a9da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Number=18108 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9529 | 133 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Exploring and Enjoying the East's Last Great Forests
Every year for the last eight, my friend Kelley and I spend a week camping and hiking. She lives in Boston, and I'm in San Francisco. We've been all over visiting some of the country's most incredible parks and forests both east and west. The Smoky Mountains and Yosemite are among our favorites. This summer, we spent a week in the breath-taking Adirondacks on a Sierra Club sponsored camping trip.
This area is famous for beautiful lakes, thousands of miles of hiking trails, and outdoor recreation opportunities. Bald eagles, moose, beavers, bobcats, and a host of migratory songbirds inhabit its 6.1 million acres.
We were lucky enough to have an awesome guide on this Sierra Club Outings trip – Karin Tate.
© Sierra Club
Sierra Club Outings Leader Karin Tate (left) and Sierra Club Conservation Director Sarah Hodgdon (center) on a recent trip to the Adirondacks.
Karin's been an outings leader for more than 10 years who says she loves sharing places with people who are experiencing them for the first time. She especially loves leading people through the Adirondacks.
You get to spend a lot of time talking while hiking, and we learned that Karin has led trips in the Adirondacks most years since she started leading.
She was as cook on her very first trip with Sierra Club, and that eventually led to the trips she leads now. Her family has a small camp, a log cabin, on an island in the northern part of the Park, and she loves the Adirondacks for their beauty and the diversity of its landscape (lakes galore, rivers, mountains, small cities and towns). She says it gives her great pleasure and satisfaction to share all of this with others.
I can tell you that Kelley and I were blown away by her level of experience and knowledge. She’s hiked almost all of the Adirondacks 46 peaks!
She talked with the group about protecting beautiful places too. We spent some time discussing our Adirondacks to Acadia project, which aims to protect the last great forests of the East.
The Adirondack State Park is the largest park in the lower 48 states. Karin told us that it was created many years ago by people who were appalled at the savage clear-cutting of the forests and other degradations of the fragile environment. She said that they must have felt like she does now that preserving as much of the wilderness as possible is essential for the health, well-being and future of us all.
She sees the park an interesting model for others to emulate because of its balance of diversity.
Did you know that there are many different zones in Adirondack State Park -- from wilderness to fully developed small cities? Balancing the interests of the many constituencies that exist within its boundaries is an on-going challenge.
That’s why the Sierra Club is committed to our Adirondacks to Acadia campaign -- we want to build, extend, and protect wildlife migration corridors while also addressing social, economic, and cultural needs of local communities from New York to Maine. (Stay tuned next week for my blog about our work in Maine.)
That protection will also, of course, protect areas that make perfect outings. Karin is quick to recommend Sierra Club Outings as a vacation option to anyone who asks, and now that I've been out with her, I do too! I love that they’re run by committed and knowledgeable volunteers just like Karin.
My friend Kelley is thinking about becoming an outings leader, so we asked her what it’s like. Karin reminded us that there are many different types of outings, but one thing they all offer is fun! The pleasure of experiencing a beautiful place with a group of people is rewarding in and of itself, and this experience leads to a better understanding of the necessity of preserving our many wonderful places. Even on a service trip, re-establishing a fragile ecosystem by pulling up reluctant weeds can bring a feeling of satisfaction. Check out the full listing of Sierra Club trips here.
We must all work together to protect our nation’s most special places. These millions and millions of acres of forestlands in the northeast are some of our nation's last great forests. Let's keep them protected so our kids and grandkids can enjoy them just as much as we do. And in the meantime, let's get away from our desks and TVs and explore every inch of them. | <urn:uuid:b6ca1e1c-e30b-445a-a2d5-5e69ce890032> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.treehugger.com/travel/exploring-and-enjoying-easts-last-great-forests.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969537 | 939 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Academic Life @NU
Understanding academic life and the multitude of resources available at Northwestern will help you support your student throughout his or her undergraduate career.
Overview of the Undergraduate Experience
Undergraduate teaching and learning have long been priorities of Northwestern University, though any generalization about undergraduate education is difficult to make because of the decentralized nature of the University: six separate schools, each with myriad undergraduate degree programs, each with varying degree requirements set with relative autonomy by its respective faculty. And while each school endeavors to ensure that students enjoy both breadth (general education) and depth (mastery of a particular field through the major), there is no core curriculum and no commonly shared set of academic requirements.
Deans collaborate to facilitate access to University resources across the various schools by creating interschool programs such as music theater, international studies, and cognitive science. Furthermore, academic advice is available for students considering a transfer between undergraduate schools in Northwestern (a relatively common phenomenon). A student who wishes to transfer from one undergraduate school to another must follow University guidelines and the guidelines stipulated by the desired school. The Office of the Registrar and the University Academic Advising Center offer assistance regarding transferring between undergraduate college; or contact the school into which the transfer is desired.
Northwestern's six undergraduate schools include:
- Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences (WCAS)
- McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Medill School of Journalism
- School of Communication
- School of Education and Social Policy (SESP)
- Bienen School of Music
About the Curriculum and Faculty
The curriculum of each of Northwestern's schools is determined by its faculty. This includes both the structure of the requirements for graduation and such matter as the approval of new programs of study and new courses. As a result, the schools may differ on matters such as the number of credits needed for a bachelor's degree or the need for “practical” off-campus experience. There are, however, a number of structural similarities: Each school mandates breadth through a program of general education requirements and depth through intensive course work in a major; and each school encourages its students to pursue independent study or creative work with a member of its faculty and recognizes exceptional intellectual achievement through graduation with “honors” or a similar designation. The University has special funds to defray costs of faculty-supervised student research during the academic year and in the summer.
In addition to credit-bearing independent study opportunities on campus under the supervision of faculty, Northwestern offers both credit-bearing and noncredit internship opportunities in the Chicago area and elsewhere. Through programs such as the Cooperative Engineering Education Program , the Civic Engagement Certificate Program in SESP, Journalism Residency in Medill, Chicago Field Studies, and many other opportunities, students further linkages between the University and the outside world.
Northwestern's faculty consists of people with a wide variety of backgrounds. Most are the traditional teacher/scholar with a PhD or similar advanced degree in a particular field of specialty. Others are professionals with a terminal degree and significant professional accomplishment. For instance, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are on the faculty in the School of Music, working journalists teach in Medill, and theater and other arts professionals teach in the School of Communication. Faculty members have the responsibility to integrate their research or professional work into their classroom; this not only provides students with the latest information but also exposes them to the excitement of original research and the perspectives of professionals who are fully engaged in their field of work. | <urn:uuid:7cdca760-ca78-4c70-8bb0-6c2a7b102892> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northwestern.edu/orientation/parents/nu-parent-prep/academic-lifenu/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96025 | 718 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Skip to comments.Daily Reflections with Oswald Chambers [September 25, 2012]
Posted on 09/25/2012 4:38:34 AM PDT by Vision
Our Lords teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a super-natural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, “I am here for God to send me where He will.” Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be.
The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.
If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made disciples supernaturally. And as long as we consciously maintain the determined purpose to be His disciples, we can be sure that we are not disciples. Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. . .” (John 15:16). That is the way the grace of God begins. It is a constraint we can never escape; we can disobey it, but we can never start it or produce it ourselves. We are drawn to God by a work of His supernatural grace, and we can never trace back to find where the work began. Our Lords making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us He only asks us to do the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come.
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was born July 24, 1874, in Aberdeen, Scotland. Converted in his teen years under the ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, he studied art and archaeology at the University of Edinburgh before answering a call from God to the Christian ministry. He then studied theology at Dunoon College. From 1906-1910 he conducted an itinerant Bible-teaching ministry in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
In 1910, Chambers married Gertrude Hobbs. They had one daughter, Kathleen.
In 1911 he founded and became principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham, London, where he lectured until the school was closed in 1915 because of World War I. In October 1915 he sailed for Zeitoun, Egypt (near Cairo), where he ministered to troops from Australia and New Zealand as a YMCA chaplain. He died there November 15, 1917, following surgery for a ruptured appendix.
Although Oswald Chambers wrote only one book, Baffled to Fight Better, more than thirty titles bear his name. With this one exception, published works were compiled by Mrs. Chambers, a court stenographer, from her verbatim shorthand notes of his messages taken during their seven years of marriage. For half a century following her husband's death she labored to give his words to the world.
My Utmost For His Highest, his best-known book, has been continuously in print in the United States since 1935 and remains in the top ten titles of the religious book bestseller list with millions of copies in print. It has become a Christian classic.
Absolutely no flaming! These daily threads are intended to be devotional in nature. If a particular day's offering says nothing to you, please just go on and wait for the next day. Consider these threads a DMZ of sorts, a place where a perpetual truce is in effect and a place where all other arguments and disagreements from other times and places are left behind.
I can attest from personal experience that reading from Chambers daily will almost certainly change - not one's faith - but one's perspective of his/her own faith, and open up new vistas in your spiritual life. If - when - this happens to a reader of these threads, and they choose to share what has happened within them - we are treading on hallowed ground. Be respectful.
- Religion Moderator | <urn:uuid:8e35dd62-7480-43dc-9cc7-f20fe8b86fb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2935905/posts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970308 | 939 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Ask an automobile enthusiast what the greatest name in cars is and most will answer "Ferrari". No other company can come close to Ferrari's record when it comes building fast, exciting and passionate cars.
If Ferrari makes the greatest cars, what then is the greatest Ferrari? Most followers of the marque would answer "GTO". Amongst a history of cars that defined style, speed and excitement, the GTO is the ultimate.
In the Beginning…
The Ferrari GTO is the direct descendant of the Ferrari 250 GT. The lineage goes back to October 1954 with the introduction of the Europa GT. The Europa GT evolved into the 250 GT SWB (Short Wheel Base) as seen in the above photo with with number 33 (s/n 2733) leading GTO s/n 3909 GT. Enzo Ferrari claimed the GTO was only part of the 250 GT SWB series (of which many were produced) as his justification for the GTO's homologation.
It shouldn't take too long to conclude that the most desired Ferrari is also the most expensive. In the early 1990s, when prices for rare and classic cars were at a fevered pitch, an example sold for $15,000,000. Now that sanity(?) has returned to the market, a GTO was recently bid to $7,700,000 at an auction but went unsold. The price for a new GTO was about $23,000 which may seem ludicrous now but was a lot in 1962; so much that it probably was the limiting factor when it came to production quantity.
The Ferrari GTO is a dual purpose car. These are cars that are designed for both the street and race track. In this great tradition, an owner could drive the car to the track, race it, and then drive it home. It is a fact that characteristics that make a car excel on the race track do not make for a good street car and what makes a good street car will make a car uncompetitive on the race track. In the early 1960s, technology was such that succeeding in both areas was possible.
How many were made?
Part of the lure of the GTO is its exclusivity; only 39 were built. In theory at least 100 should have been built, as this was the number required to qualify the car at the time for international sports car racing. In fact the letters "GTO" stand for "Gran Turismo Omologato" which translates into "Grand Touring Homologated" or "approval" for racing. It was either Enzo Ferrari's name or his inscrutable charm that enabled the rule makers to let the technicality slip by.
You may have heard conflicting accounts of exactly how many GTOs came from the Ferrari factory, with 40, 36, 33 or 32 as oft heard numbers. For the record, this is the breakdown:
32* 250 GTOs with the series 1 body
3 330 GTOs with the series 1 body
3 250 GTOs with the series 2 body
1 250 GTO with LMB bodywork
*Not counted as part of the 32 is s/n 2643 GT, the GTO prototype built by Pininfarina on a 250 GT SWB chassis. This is why the total Ferrari GTO count is sometimes listed as 40.
Ferrari also produced four cars with a special body known as 330 LM Berlinettas similar to s/n 4453 SA above. They were larger and heavier than the series 1 and series 2 GTOs and reports indicate that they felt heavier when driven. | <urn:uuid:1da15ab6-02bf-4c4c-a821-a1e2f88a0b83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.web-cars.com/gto/ferrari_index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975252 | 737 | 1.617188 | 2 |
http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Pet...ste_FrankopanaAt the Medal of Honour awards ceremony 12 December 2012 at the Office of the President of Croatia, the late Major in Croatian Army, Thomas Crowley, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Petar Zrniski and Fran Krsto Frankopan with gold triple interlace for his exceptional contribution to the defence of Croatia during Croatia’s War of Independence. The Medal was accepted on behalf of Thomas Crowley’s family from Ireland by their solicitor Mr Miroslav Vrkljan.
The article is somewhat incorrect, the medal is in fact the Order of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan. The gold order is awarded only posthumously to those who gave their lives for Croatia.
Major Thomas Crowley fought and died for Croatia.
Neka mu je vječna hvala i slava.
"Navik on živi, ki zgine pošteno." | <urn:uuid:20a7cb4a-c97b-4195-bcfe-1ce216a9aea6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?221075-Thomas-Crowley-awarded-Croatian-Medal-of-Honor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952488 | 212 | 1.625 | 2 |
Each issue carries an imprimatur
from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Reprinting
Nine Things That Make
It's a good time to wonder about what makes us Catholic. The recent scandals—of crimes and cover-ups—have shaken our faith to the very roots. But maybe this is the backhanded blessing that God will draw out of this painful and purgative time, to return us to the deep roots of our faith.
For there we can find again, as if for the first time, the beautiful truths, moral convictions and spiritual treasury that constitute Catholicism. These will always be powerfully life-giving for us and for the world. Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman, and to disciples ever after, that he had come with "living waters" (read John 4:4-42). At this time, surely, we need to drink deeply from the great refreshing river that is Catholic Christian faith—at its best.
Apart from any scandals or crises, there is another reason to look more deeply at our Catholic roots. It is more than 40 years now since the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The extraordinary program of aggiornamento—literally, "bringing up to date"—that the Holy Spirit launched on the Church and world through Vatican II also brought its tremors and the pain of changing old ways, even if for better ones. The beloved Pope John XXIII, architect of the Council, said he wanted to open a window to let some fresh air into the Church. Forty years on, we need to pause and draw some long deep breaths of that good fresh air.
A collage of convictions
We need to have Catholic identity, but before claiming particular Catholic identity, we must first affirm who we are as Christians and what we hold in common with all of our Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ. The heart of Christian faith is not the Bible, nor the sacraments, nor the creeds, nor the Church—vital as all these are—but "a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son of the Father" (Catechism #426). By Baptism, the fundamental and common vocation of all Christians is to become disciples of Jesus Christ—people who follow "the way" that he modeled and made more possible by his living, dying and rising.
But even as we believe Jesus saying, "in my Father's house there are many dwelling places" (John 14:2), we should know well and embrace what is distinctive about our home within God's family. Of course, there is no one thing that constitutes Catholic identity; it's more a collage of convictions and commitments that coalesce as Catholicism. I can think of nine such pieces to the puzzle—or shouldn't we say mystery?—of Catholic faith. Very briefly now, here are nine things that make us Catholic.
1) Positive understanding of the person
Catholicism insists that the human person is essentially good, ever more graced than sinful. Oh indeed, we are capable of dreadful sin and destruction, but this is not what first defines us. God has implanted a "natural law" within our hearts that enables people to know and choose what is good, a capacity enhanced by Jesus' dying and rising for us. And though we always need God's help, grace empowers us and we are responsible to live for the kingdom, to do God's will "on earth as it is in heaven."
When the radical Reformers insisted that the human condition is totally corrupt (Calvin more than Luther), the Catholic Church, at the great Council of Trent (1545-63), rejoined that the divine image was never lost to us, even in the "Fall" of Adam and Eve. In fact, it has been refurbished by the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. That all people reflect the image and likeness of God is also the basis of Catholic teachings on the dignity of every person, on the value of human life—from womb to tomb—and that all have the same basic human rights and responsibilities. As St. Irenaeus, an early Christian author (and martyr), summarized, "the glory of God is the human person fully alive."
2) Committed to community
Ever wonder why Catholics take Church so seriously—from going to church to being Church? It's because we're convinced that both our personhood and Christian faith are inherently communal. Catholicism has consistently taught that God creates us as communal beings, making us responsible for and to each other. Likewise, Christian faith calls us to bond together with other Christians like the parts of a body, as the body of Christ "for the life of the world" (John 6:51). By nature and faith, we are relational, "made for each other."
Catholics take community so seriously as to believe that it reaches even beyond the grave. Death is no barrier to our care for each other. Because the bond of Baptism is never broken, we can pray to the saints and for the souls. This communal emphasis of Catholicism is also the foundation of its social ethic that emphasizes every citizen's responsibility to the common good of the whole society. We must care for the common well-being as well as for our own. In both Church and society, Catholics should live as "all for one, and one for all."
3) Sacramental outlook
A youth ministry poster from my own distant youth said wisely, "God never makes junk." As with its outlook on the person, Catholic faith sees all of God's creation as essentially good. Likewise, whatever humans create as participants in God's creativity, though it can be misused for destruction, is never inherently evil. Here is why Catholicism has never condemned dancing, singing, celebrating, good food, even alcohol—and Catholics can have a little more fun. Yes, everything can be abused but all is first a gift (gratia) of God. Similarly, we can embrace our own lives in the world as meaningful and worthwhile, not because of our efforts but by the grace of God.
This graciousness of life in the world finds its high point in the sacramental principle that is so core to Catholic faith. This begins with the conviction that God reaches out to us and we respond through the ordinary and everyday of life, through the created order, through our relationships, through all our good efforts and the experiences that come our way. Climaxed by the seven great sacraments that we celebrate in Church, the sacramental principle encourages Catholics "to see God in all things" (St. Ignatius of Loyola).
Indeed, this sacramentality of life was heightened by Jesus Christ, God's greatest Sacrament to the world. And as Church we celebrate seven climactic "signs and instruments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ" (Catechism #774), with Eucharist being "the sacrament of sacraments" (St. Thomas Aquinas). But the seven sacraments should encourage in Catholics a sacramental outlook on all of life, to ever recognize "the more in the midst of the ordinary."
4) Catholics cherish Scripture and Tradition
A battle cry of the original Protestant Reformers was "scriptura sola," that "scripture alone" is the source of God's revelation. In response to the Reformers, the Council of Trent reaffirmed the centrality of sacred Scripture as "the norm of norms" for Christian faith. But it reiterated that Christian Tradition, representing the time-tested truths that emerge over the Church's history, is also a "fountain" of divine revelation. This was Catholicism's way of insisting that the Holy Spirit is ever present with the Church, helping to deepen our understanding and to address new questions and circumstances with the wisdom of Christian faith.
Now, let's be honest. Our Protestant brothers and sisters have been far more faithful in cherishing the Bible than have Catholics. But another gift of Vatican II was to call Catholics back to the Bible and to recenter it at the core of our faith. The Council also reiterated the Catholic conviction that Scripture and Tradition must be interpreted within the community of faith, the Church. In fact, Scripture, Tradition and Church "are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others"; they "all work together...under the action of the Holy Spirit" for "the salvation of souls" (Divine Revelation #9 and 10). As Catholics, we interpret Scripture and Tradition within the Church, guided by its teaching magisterium—the pope and bishops in union with him.
5) Catholics embrace holistic faith
Jesus preached the great commandment of love as requiring one's whole person—all of mind, heart and strength. That old Baltimore Catechism answer to "Why did God make you?" reflected such a holistic sense of Christian faith: "to know, love, and serve" God in this life and be happy forever in the next. Christian faith demands our whole being—head, heart and hands. There is no aspect of our lives from which our faith can be excluded. It should permeate every nook and cranny, on Mondays as well as Sundays. Likewise, faith should be exercised on every level of existence—the personal, interpersonal and political. Christians should live as disciples of Jesus in every circumstance.
Again, the Protestant Reformers had emphasized that "faith alone" saves. They were trying to correct the undue Catholic emphasis of the time on doing certain pious practices as a way to "earn" salvation. And they had a point! Yet, Trent affirmed that indeed we are saved by faith in God and in Jesus Christ, but this faith must express itself in good works. As Jesus had counseled, we don't enter the kingdom by confessing Jesus as Lord but by doing the will of God (see Matthew 7:21). Or, to quote the Letter of James, "Faith without works is dead" (2:17).
6) Commitment to justice
Modern Scripture scholars agree that the central theme in the preaching of Jesus was the coming of God's reign. In keeping with his Jewish faith, Jesus understood God's reign as both personal and social, spiritual and political, for here and hereafter. It calls people to do God's will "on earth as in heaven." And God wills peace and justice and fullness of life for all humankind (John 10:10) and the integrity of creation. No wonder then that Jesus used the text of Isaiah 61:1-2 to launch his public ministry. He claimed to fulfill the promise of an Anointed One (Messiah) who would bring good news to the poor, liberty to captives, sight to the blind and let the oppressed go free (read Luke 4:16-21).
Catholicism has always emphasized that Christian faith demands care for the neighbor in need. But toward the end of the 19th century, the Church began to teach explicitly that our faith requires us to work for social justice. Christian faith demands that disciples oppose unjust social structures and work to ensure justice for all. And more than the blind "lady justice" weighing the scales in precise measure, giving everyone no more than their due (Aristotle), the biblical and Catholic sense of justice has a largesse to it. Like their God, God's people should side with the poor and oppressed, favoring those to whom justice is denied.
7) Universal spirituality
Spirituality is surely one of the buzzwords of our time; even people who disavow religion will readily claim to be "spiritual." Indeed, the Catholic attitude is that everyone is a spiritual being. For we are alive by God's own breath of life (Genesis 2:7), endowed with an "original" grace that draws us toward God. Philosopher Blaise Pascal summarized well our resultant desire: "There's a God-shaped hollow in the human heart that nothing else can fill."
Catholicism's greatest asset may well be its spirituality and the extraordinary variety of spiritual charisms that mark its life. It is in stark contrast to much of what passes for "new age" spirituality—a warm, fuzzy feeling about a very private relationship with the divine. Catholic spirituality can be summarized as "putting faith to work"—allowing Christian faith to permeate every aspect of daily life. It is sustained by our active membership in a Christian faith community and through disciplines of prayer, worship and conversation. It bears the fruits of compassion, justice and peace for ourselves and for the world.
8) Catholics are 'catholic'
We like to say that catholic means "universal," and indeed it does. That was Aristotle's favored meaning of the word. Its roots are the Greek katha holos, which literally mean, "to include everyone." This was likely why early Christian authors like St. Augustine began to use it to describe the Christian community. However, James Joyce may have said it best (in Finnegan's Wake), "catholic means 'here comes everybody.'"
To be catholic calls a community to welcome all people, regardless of their human circumstances. It demands that we reach out with love for everyone, neighbors next door and on the far side of the world—to care without borders. It requires that we respect people with religions that are different from ours, being open to dialogue and learning from them (Vatican II, On Non-Christian Religions, #2). And St. Augustine's favored use of catholic was "to be open to the truth, wherever it can be found." Parochialism and closed-mindedness are against the Catholic faith.
9) Devotion to Mary
Since the beginning of the Church, Mary has held pride of place in the communion of saints. And why wouldn't she, given her role as the mother of Jesus—the one who bore him, raised him to adulthood and was at the foot of the cross. In that moment of terrible suffering, we believe that through his words to St. John, "Behold, your mother," Jesus gave over Mary as mother to disciples ever after (read John 19:26-27).
A great debate arose in the early Church about whether or not Mary could have the title "Mother of God." Some said she did not deserve it, being the mother only of the human Jesus. But the faith of the common people insisted that she had borne in her womb this person who was God among us as one of ourselves, and so should be called "Mother of God."
They won the day. Yet, our turning to Mary is also based on a very human instinct. We remember how she interceded with Jesus at the wedding feast of Cana; though he didn't feel ready to launch his public ministry, he honored the request of his mother. Surely for a good son, this pattern continues in eternity. If Mother Mary intercedes for us, how can Jesus decline?
In the years prior to celebrating the Second Millennium, Pope John Paul II repeatedly called Catholics to ask forgiveness for the many ways and times that we have failed to live up to our faith. We must lament and repent that the core convictions outlined above have often been more honored in the breach than the observance. Yet, woven together, they ever challenge us with the great life-giving vision that is Catholic faith. There is no more worthy way to live than with those beautiful truths and values that make us Catholic.
Thomas H. Groome is Professor of Theology and Religious
Education at Boston College and director there of the Institute of Religious Education
and Pastoral Ministry. This Update is adapted from his book What
Makes Us Catholic: Eight Gifts for Life (HarperCollins, 2002), also
available from Recorded Books (read by author) at 800-638-1304.
NEXT: Eucharist—Spark of Mission (by Pope John Paul II) | <urn:uuid:9ff3a88c-6aea-45a1-9c5e-b51496269cbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0904.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961542 | 3,248 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Singer and songwriter Eric Clapton played this Fender Stratocaster on… (Sinead Lynch / AFP/Getty…)
Fender Musical Instruments Corp., whose electric guitars helped define rock ‘n’ roll, has called off its planned initial public offering of stock.
The company, which is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., but makes some of its prized custom guitars at its manufacturing facility in Corona, blamed the scrubbed IPO on the economy here and abroad.
“Current market conditions and concerns about economic conditions in Europe do not support completing an initial public offering at what we believe to be an appropriate valuation at this time,” Chief Executive Larry Thomas said in a statement Thursday.
According to a filing this month with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fender planned to have a total of about 26.4 million shares outstanding after going public, which would have valued the company at around $395 million.
The company – whose guitars have been played by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and other superstars of rock, pop and country – traces its history to the 1940s when Southern California inventor Leo Fender came up with a solid-body electric guitar design that could be mass produced.
His Telecaster, Stratocaster and Precision Bass guitars were pivotal to the early days of rock ‘n’ roll.
Fender sold his company in 1965, but the firm went on to produce instruments that played a role in some of rock’s iconic performances, such as Hendrix’s rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” played on a Stratocaster at Woodstock.
Iconic rock guitars and their owners
Guitar maker Fender files for initial public offering
Bob Dylan's Newport guitar: Random choice or something more? | <urn:uuid:87fac838-27e2-439d-8970-95ccbe665f56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/19/business/la-fi-mo-famed-guitar-maker-fender-changes-its-tune-no-ipo-20120719 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961187 | 374 | 1.664063 | 2 |
|01-16-2003, 09:51 AM||#1|
Join Date: Jul 2001
'BEING LIKE THIS IS NO LIFE'
'BEING LIKE THIS IS NO LIFE'
17:00 - 15 January 2003
Motor neurone disease sufferer George Faulkner wants to die. His life has become so unbearable that he wants the law to be changed to allow a doctor to put an end to his suffering. George - using a special machine - and his wife, Susan, tell LYNETTE PINCHESS their heartbreaking story. Main picture by MARK LEE
Slowly but surely George Faulkner spells out the words on his special machine. It takes ten minutes...but he's ready and the computerised voice speaks for him: "I would like to die because there is no life living like this."
While his body is being ravaged by motor neurone disease, George's mind is as sharp as ever.
That is one of the great tragedies which make this cruel disease so unbearable.
Like fellow MND sufferer Diane Pretty, George supports the controversial right-to-die argument.
Last year Mrs Pretty, 43, lost her challenge at the European Court of Human Rights for her husband to help her commit suicide without facing prosecution.
The Faulkner family were among the 50,000 people who backed Mrs Pretty's petition calling for the law to be changed.
George, who is not fighting the cause legally, was disappointed when Mrs Pretty lost her case.
The 53-year-old grandfather, longs to be free from suffering. He is in constant pain and it gets worse each day.
He knows he will never get better from this incurable disease and wants to have medical assistance to die with dignity and avoid, what he believes, will be a distressing death.
While his wife, Susan, respects his wishes, she says she could not help him end his life. "He knows I wouldn't want to do it," she says.
But if a doctor could give George a lethal injection, he's in no doubt - he would have it today and Susan wouldn't argue.
However, so far, he has refused to ask his doctors to help him die.
As well as reducing his speech to a barely understandable gabble, the disease has also robbed George of much of his ability to move.
He communicates with a special machine, which has the alphabet on a screen, and a device strapped to his head which selects the letters when he presses it against the back of his chair.
It is a slow process, so Susan takes up the story of how the disease struck and changed both their lives forever.
"You wouldn't let a dog suffer like this," she says at their home in Meredith Close, The Meadows. George interrupts but I can't make out what he is saying. Susan, however, recognises the familiar saying: "...just wasting away. I am not going to get better and it's the knowing I'm not going to get better."
The couple, who have a son, Jeff, and two daughters, Mandy and Julie, used to lead a normal happy existence.
George worked as a cleaner up the road at County Hall.
He enjoyed a pint and a smoke while having a game of darts or pool - but all that changed in June 2001.
Walking back home from the club with Susan, he complained of pins and needles in his leg. The sensation was so bad that he couldn't move but eventually got home by dragging his leg.
Weeks passed and George suddenly started falling over. Four months later, hospital tests revealed he had motor neurone disease.
Since the diagnosis, his family have been shocked by his rapid decline. He can barely lift his stick-like arms and has lost the use of his legs.
He spends every day confined to his downstairs bedroom, the monotony broken only by hospital visits or a rare trip out.
And little is left of his sense of dignity - he needs to be fed, washed, shaved, and helped to use the toilet. Sometimes he struggles to swallow water or tea which he drinks through a straw.
His wife of 35 years has to do almost everything for him - right down to scratching him if he feels an itch.
"He is in pain," she says. "When we lift him up we hurt him. Every day it's getting worse. He can talk a little bit but it's difficult to understand and he gets flustered. He gets depressed and fed up. It's depressing to see him go like this so quick. It's hard for us to see him suffer."
Fortunately for Susan, their 34-year-old son, Jeff, lives at home and is able to help get his dad from his wheelchair into the reclining seat where he spends most of his day,
in front of the television or watching his tropical fish.
One of his few remaining pleasures is having a cigarette, which Susan lights for him and holds to his mouth while he takes a drag.
"He used to be active," says Susan. "He was always doing something. If somebody needed a bit of plumbing or anything, he'd do it."
George takes daily doses of tablets to try to slow down the disease and ease the pain and wears special pads to help straighten his cramped fingers. Doctors cannot give a long-term prognosis as life expectancy in MND varies.
But both George his family are dreading what the future holds.
The Motor Neurone Disease Association says the average life expectancy after diagnosis is 14 months. But one of the most well-known sufferers of the disease, scientific genius Prof Stephen Hawking has had symptoms of the disease for about 40 years.
Before I leave, George has one last message for me on his machine: "I wouldn't wish this on the devil."
Suicide in England is legal but helping someone to kill themselves is a crime under the 1961 Suicide Act and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
In Holland, people whose suffering has become "unbearable" can choose to end their life under strict guidelines with the say-so of two doctors.
But Nottingham British Medical Association spokesman Dr Paddy Keavney believes this country is unlikely to follow suit. He believes it would be a dangerous route to take and could be abused.
"Ours is a very traditional response. A doctor's job is not to assist to kill anyone," he said. "We do our best to make the quality of life, and, if necessary, the quality of dying, as comfortable as possible."
He added: "Motor neurone disease is extremely distressing. I am extremely sympathetic."
Dr Alan Whiteley, George's consultant neurologist at the QMC, said it was down to society to decide which path to take, not just doctors.
"It is very difficult for people in his predicament as it is with a lot of other people who have illnesses that can be terminal.
"We are hampered by the law and, yes, doctors generally feel they would like to help people to have a peaceful end to their life.
"It is a very complicated issue whether we should allow assisted deaths."
After Mrs Pretty died last May, her husband Brian has continued to pursue the right-to-die campaign through ukActNow.org whose members are calling on MPs to support a change in the law.
Mr Pretty said: "For people in that position to be denied the basic human right of saying goodbye to their family and friends at home, at a time of their choosing, and leave in a way they feel dignified, is a disgrace. Diane was incensed by her lack of rights as I'm sure Mr Faulkner is.
"At the end Diane went through everything she had dreaded and there was nothing I could do to help, so I do feel bitter that she had to suffer after all she'd already gone through."
The ukActNow.org website has the support of people who are ill themselves or have seen a relative suffer. They include Katie, from Notts, a multiple sclerosis sufferer in her early fifties who says: "I believe the law should be changed to allow people, like myself, to benefit from medical assistance to die with dignity when our condition gets unbearable.
"I have the right to refuse treatment but also need the comfort of knowing that I could choose to end my suffering earlier rather than later."
Nigel, also of Notts, says: "My mother had cancer and suffered a long and painful death. She spent her last weeks in a hospice and asked me to help her to die."
The Motor Neurone Disease Association is open-minded on the subject.
A spokeswoman said: "We neither support nor oppose any attempt to change the law regarding euthanasia or assisted suicide because we believe it is a matter of individual conscience and it is not for the association to make judgements."
Diane Pretty hit the headlines when she mounted a legal battle to let her to die with dignity after fighting motor neurone disease for two years.
In 2001, the human rights organisation Liberty wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking for an assurance that Mrs Pretty's husband, Brian, would not be prosecuted if he helped his wife take her own life.
When no such assurance was forthcoming, 43-year-old Mrs Pretty, from Luton, took her case to the High Court in London and then the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Her website, entitled Justice4Diane, calls for a compassionate law for the UK that allows a doctor to end the life of a terminally ill adult at that person's request. A list of strict safeguards are proposed.
These include a doctor being satisfied that the patient is competent and suffering unbearably from an incurable illness with no prospect of improvement.
Before her death, Mrs Pretty said: "The law needs changing so that I, and people like me, can choose how and when we die and not be forced to endure untold suffering for no reason."
Motor neurone disease is a progressive disease that can affect any adult at any time. The cause is unknown and there is no cure. Three people a day die from the disease in the UK and it affects over 5,000 people in this country at any one time.
It kills off nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord which cause muscles to stop working, leaving a sufferer unable to walk, talk or feed themselves. But the intellect and senses are unaffected.
Death from respiratory failure and pneumonia is imminent when the breathing muscles become affected.
Most sufferers are aged 50 to 70. Famous people who have died of MND include actor David Niven, footballer Don Revie and journalist Jill Tweedie.
The MND Association can be contacted on 08457 626262.
How laws works in Holland
Euthanasia in Holland, which has been commonplace since 1984, became legal last year.
Patients must have made a voluntary, well-considered and lasting request to die, must be faced with a future of unbearable suffering and there must be no reasonable alternative. As second doctor has to be consulted.
Euthanasia, or assisted suicide, was used discreetly for decades in Dutch hospitals and homes without fear of prosecution, despite being illegal. Around 2,000 to 3,000 patients a year have had the lethal injection that kills in minutes.
Once the risk of prosecution was removed, fears were raised about the system being abused.
One study published in the British Medical Journal in 1995 found that almost two-thirds of cases had gone unreported and in some cases alternative treatment was available in contravention of the guidelines drawn up by the courts and Royal Dutch Medical Association.
Opponents also claimed euthanasia had been offered to people suffering from depression or even as a convenience. | <urn:uuid:9e8011d8-18ea-4f7a-ac34-0f441a6896d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?p=45972&mode=threaded | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982244 | 2,441 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Engineering Among “World’s Best Schools”
Rensselaer has been named one of the top engineering schools in the world. Industry-focused website Business Insider ranked Rensselaer fourth on its list of “World’s Best Engineering Schools.” The rankings were based on surveys of engineers, professionals, and entrepreneurs working at technology companies.
“Rensselaer’s engineering programs are held in very high esteem among the academic and scientific communities. We have long been recognized for the quality of our academic programs, the unique experiences we afford our students, and the ability of our graduates to make
significant contributions early in their careers.”
Business Insider asked survey respondents to rate how valuable degrees from different engineering schools are to the future careers of graduates. Rensselaer placed fourth with a score of 4.16 out of 5, behind Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the top-ranked California Institute of Technology. Rounding out the top 10 were: University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon University; Cornell University; Georgia Tech; Harvard University; and Princeton University.
Survey results show the two most important factors in choosing an engineering school are the skills and knowledge acquired in school (74 percent), and the brand value of the school (19 percent). The survey identified IBM, Cisco Systems, Intel, Microsoft, and Oracle as key employers of Rensselaer graduates.
Today, 3,000 undergraduate students and 700 graduate students are enrolled in the School of Engineering, and 70 percent of incoming first-year engineering students were in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. The School of Engineering’s seven academic departments offer 30 different degree programs. Research conducted at Rensselaer addresses some of the world’s most pressing technological challenges—from energy security and sustainable development to biotechnology and human health—and the School of Engineering’s 165 faculty members are at the leading edge of their fields. The engineering faculty’s annual research expenditures total more than $50 million. | <urn:uuid:9a0189e4-ce0e-4b93-a995-ce27f0529961> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rpi.edu/about/inside/issue/v6n12/best.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951434 | 422 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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Jim Fitzpatrick: This is an operational matter for which Royal Mail has direct responsibility. I have therefore asked the chief executive of Royal Mail, Adam Crozier, to provide a direct reply to my hon. Friend.
However, as a result of the White Paper Your health, your care, your say, there are a number of
programmes and initiatives underway to encourage people to improve their health and to improve their health knowledge. These programs and initiatives should help reduce incidence, by helping people to lead healthier lives and make healthier life choices.
An important part of reducing mortality from cancer is early detection and we are working with the healthy communities collaborative, part of the improvement foundation, to test locally developed approaches to raising awareness of cancer symptoms in local communities, including black and minority ethnic communities. We would hope that if a person developed symptoms that may be cancer, that they would recognise the symptoms as abnormal and seek medical advice.
The NHS Cancer Plan sets out our strategy for improving cancer services for all patients and we have seen significant improvements in the management and provision of cancer services for all cancer patients, regardless of their ethnicity. The plan noted the need to provide patients with culturally sensitive information.
As announced in November 2006, by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, the Cancer Reform Strategy will build on the success of the NHS Cancer Plan and will look at ways that we can improve awareness of cancer, the early detection of cancer and patient experience.
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has made to Cumbria Primary Care Trust prior to its announcement that no community hospitals within Cumbria will close.
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by her Department in the last five years on providing information to parents on preventing tooth decay in children.
Ms Rosie Winterton: Oral health promotion can take the form of educational and awareness campaigns aimed at population groups, or personal information and advice given by dentists, hygienists or other members of primary and community dental teams in the course of examining or treating individual patients.
Information on local national health service oral health promotion campaigns is not collected centrally although over the period 2003 to 2006 the Department contributed £1.1 million to pilot the Brushing for Life scheme intended to get families with young children into the habit of brushing their teeth regularly with fluoride toothpaste.
It is also not possible to quantify what proportion of the activity supported by the £2.2 billion gross budget in 2005-06 for NHS primary dental care services contributed to raising awareness of oral hygiene and the prevention of dental disease. One of the Governments objectives in introducing from April 2006 local commissioning arrangements for primary dental care services and changing the basis of remuneration for dental practices away from item of service fees was to give dentists more scope to focus on preventative care. Primary care trusts are also now required to provide oral health promotion programmes to the extent that they consider it necessary to meet all reasonable requirements within their areas. To assist them, we published an oral health plan for England Choosing Better Oral Health in November 2005.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment she has made on the level of access to NHS dentistry in (a) Portsmouth, (b) Hampshire and (c) England; and if she will make a statement.
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Information Centre for health and social care publishes quarterly data on the number of patients receiving care or treatment from national health service dental services in the previous 24 months.
Information is held at primary care trust (PCT), strategic health authority (SHA) and England level. The data for the 24-month periods ending March, June and September 2006 for England and the then existing PCTs within the geographical areas of Portsmouth and Hampshire are provided in the following table. Information could be provided in the exact form requested for Portsmouth and Hampshire only at disproportionate cost.
|Number of patients seen in the two years ending 31 March, 30 June and 30 September 2006 (including orthodontic patients) in England and the specified PCTs|
|31 March 2006||30 June 2006||30 September 2006|
|Number||Per 1,000 population||Number||Per 1,000 population||Number||Per 1,000 population|
1. PCT boundaries are as at 30 September 2006. The Information Centre will publish information on patients seen in the 24 month periods ending 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December 2006 by the new PCT boundaries (PCT boundaries as at 1 October 2006) on 23 March 2007.
2. Portsmouth City Teaching PCT remains a PCT after 1 October 2006. The other PCTs listed are those that now form Hampshire PCT as a result of the 1 October 2006 PCT boundary changes.
3. Patients have been identified by using surname, first initial, gender and date of birth. Each unique patient ID is normally assigned to the dental contract (and therefore PCT) against which the most recent claim for routine treatment was recorded in the 24 month period.
4. The information shows number of patients seen by dentists and the location in which these patients were seen. It does not show the patients home address. Most patients live within the PCT area in which they receive primary care dental services but some will attend a dentist further afield (near work for example).
5. The count of patient IDs is a robust statistical indicator of the overall level of patient involvement with NHS primary dental care. As with the previous registration system there will be some duplications and omissions. Patients will be omitted if two or more share the same surname, initial, sex and date of birth. Patients may be counted twice if they have two or more episodes of care and their name is misspelled or changed (for example on marriage) between those episodes of care. The risk of duplication increases if the episodes of care are at different practices.
6. None of the above factors is likely to affect the overall count by more than one or two percent. but at a PCT level there may be local demographic factors which make the local total more susceptible, e.g. a high proportion of women changing names after marriage, a local concentration of surnames prone to be misspelled, and or a transient patient base.
The Information Centre for health and social care
NHS Business Services Authority (BSA)
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she plans to take to review dental manpower in England; and what mechanisms she plans to put in place to satisfy dental manpower needs over the next five years.
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Report of the Primary Care Dental Workforce Review published in 2004 identified a shortage of dentists to which the Department responded with two major initiatives. Through the Project 1000 campaign, the Department supported the national health service in recruiting the equivalent of 1,453 additional whole time dentists including some 500 overseas dentists. For the longer term, the Department increased the number of undergraduate training places in English dental schools by 170, a 25 per cent. increase in capacity. The first cohort of students to take these additional places will graduate in 2009 by when there will have been three years experience of the devolution of the commissioning of primary care dentistry to primary care trusts (PCTs). As part of these new arrangements, PCTs are responsible for assessing local needs and commissioning services to reflect these needs. The Department will work with the NHS to allow local need assessments and commissioning plans to feed into long term work force planning at national level.
Ms Rosie Winterton: A table listing the primary dental service resource allocations for 2006-07 for all primary care trusts (PCTs) in England as at 31 July 2006 is available in the Library. This set out the net allocations awarded to PCTs and the assumed gross budgets based on illustrative assumptions about levels of patient charge income for each PCT. Strategic health authorities agreed with their PCTs locally how these allocations would be redistributed within the new PCT areas that took effect from 1 October 2006.
It is for PCTs to monitor and manage patient charge revenue locally in the context of managing their overall net financial commitments. The Department is not in a position to make a reliable estimate of patient charge revenue at national level ahead of receiving final outturn data for the full financial year. The Information Centre for health and social care will be publishing information on income from dental patient charges in due course.
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dental schools provide training for dentists in England; and how many places were offered by each dental school in each year since 1990.
|Home/EU domicile, year 1|
|Next Section||Index||Home Page| | <urn:uuid:4da7b9d1-1ba0-482a-b713-cf747948501a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070327/text/70327w0023.htm | 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 | 0.944482 | 1,826 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Santa Fe Railway
MAY 27, 1936
The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I knew only from stories. The one just outside of town with big blue letters: manifest: a town with a rich past and a bright future.
I thought about my daddy, Gideon Tucker. He does his best talking in stories, but in recent weeks, those had become few and far between. So on the occasion when he'd say to me, "Abilene, did I ever tell you 'bout the time . . . ?" I'd get all quiet and listen real hard. Mostly he'd tell stories about Manifest, the town where he'd lived once upon a time. His words drew pictures of brightly painted storefronts and bustling townsfolk. Hearing Gideon tell about it was like sucking on butterscotch. Smooth and sweet. And when he'd go back to not saying much, I'd try recalling what it tasted like. Maybe that was how I found comfort just then, even with him being so far away. By remembering the flavor of his words. But mostly, I could taste the sadness in his voice when he told me I couldn't stay with him for the summer while he worked a railroad job back in Iowa. Something had changed in him. It started the day I got a cut on my knee. It got bad and I got real sick with infection. The doctors said I was lucky to come out of it. But it was like Gideon had gotten a wound in him too. Only he didn't come out of it. Andit was painful enough to make him send me away. I reached into my satchel for the flour sack that held my few special things. A blue dress, two shiny dimes I'd earned collecting pop bottles, a letter from Gideon telling folks that I would be received by Pastor Howard at the Manifest depot, and my most special something, kept in a box lined with an old 1917 Manifest Herald newspaper: my daddy's compass.
In a gold case, it wore like a pocket watch, but inside was a compass showing every direction. Only problem was, a working compass always points north. This one, the arrow dangled and jiggled every which way. It wasn't even that old. It had the compass maker's name and the date it was made on the inside. St. Dizier, October 8, 1918. Gideon had always planned to get it fixed, but when I was leaving, he said he didn't need it anyway, what with train tracks to guide him. Still, I liked imagining that the chain of that broken compass was long enough to stretch all the way back into his pocket, with him at one end and me at the other.
Smoothing out the yellowed newspaper for the thousandth time, I scanned the page, hoping to find some bit of news about or insight into my daddy. But there was only the same old "Hogs and Cattle" report on one side and a "Hattie Mae's News Auxiliary: Charter Edition" on the other, plus a couple of advertisements for Liberty Bonds and Billy Bump's Hair Tonic. I didn't know anything about Hattie Mae Harper, except what she wrote in her article, but I figured her newspaper column had protected Gideon's compass for some time, and for that I felt a sense of gratitude. I carefully placed the newspaper back in the box and stored the box in the satchel, but held on to the compass. I guess I just needed to hold on to something.
The conductor came into the car. "Manifest, next stop."
The seven-forty-five evening train was going to be right on time. Conductors only gave a few minutes' notice, so I had to hurry. I shoved the compass into a side pocket of the satchel, then made my way to the back of the last car. Being a paying customer this time, with a full-fledged ticket, I didn't have to jump off, and I knew that the preacher would be waiting for me. But as anyone worth his salt knows, it's best to get a look at a place before it gets a look at you. I'd worn my overalls just for the occasion. Besides, it wouldn't be dark for another hour, so I'd have time to find my way around.
At the last car, I waited, listening the way I'd been taught--wait till the clack of the train wheels slows to the rhythm of your heartbeat. The trouble is my heart speeds up when I'm looking at the ground rushing by. Finally, I saw a grassy spot and jumped. The ground came quick and hard, but I landed and rolled as the train lumbered on without a thank-you or goodbye. From the Hardcover edition.
Excerpted from Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. Copyright © 2010 by Clare Vanderpool. Excerpted by permission of Yearling, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. | <urn:uuid:888bb10d-0ed6-4dbe-907d-19b2860471ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.randomhouse.com/book/196748/moon-over-manifest-by-clare-vanderpool/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985855 | 1,057 | 1.59375 | 2 |
OCTOBER 27, 1948
PARIS, Tuesday—On Saturday morning last Brig. Gen. Howard Peckham called for us at our hotel and took us to Orly Airport where we boarded a plane for Stuttgart, Germany. I had been invited by the women doctors of Germany to speak at their meeting in Stuttgart, which was also to be a public forum.
We had a good flight to the German city and on our arrival we drove directly to the home of Charles LaFollette. Richard Winslow, who is secretary-general of the United States delegation to the U.N. and who accompanied us, had been in Stuttgart for the UNRRA and came along on this trip in the hope of renewing many of his old acquaintances who are now working with the International Refugee Organization. Gilbert Stewart, of the Public Information Office of our delegation, also came along.
After a few minutes' stay at Mr. LaFollette's home, I went off with several of the German women doctors, most of whom spoke some English, to the "Gasthaus," which fortunately had been spared in the bombing during the war. The building has long been used for the entertainment of foreign visitors, and in this much-bombed-out city it must be a blessing to the people now.
Our luncheon was designed, I think, to give me some idea of their difficulties in obtaining a variety of foods. Potatoes and other vegetables reappeared in different guise in the hors d'oeuvres, soup and the main course. Cooked fruit was served for dessert. It was a very good luncheon if you did not have to have the same thing day in and day out, but the women told me again and again in answer to my inquiries that the food available to them was always the same.
"Potatoes and vegetables, vegetables and potatoes," I was told. "On Sundays if we are lucky we get a little meat." There was too little milk, they said, except for babies up to one year.
These doctors are working in different fields. One of them, for instance, took care of children. Another had a general medical practice. As the luncheon progressed, several of them read to me reports on conditions with which they are familiar.
A portion of the report read by Dr. Leni Eidemann was particularly interesting and I quote it here to show that some of the women, at least, are becoming aware of the true situation.
"We are fully aware," she read, "and regret very much that not only Germany has to suffer from the consequences of the war and National Socialism, but that all European countries are terribly struck and have to fight great difficulties. One problem, however, is characteristic for Germany and seems to be our most difficult and most critical problem, which cannot be solved without foreign assistance. It is the problem of German expellees."
The English translations of the reports were done by the women themselves for my benefit, as they feared I would not understand German.
It is very hard for nationals of any country to face the fact that their present sufferings were brought on by past actions. When I was in Germany in early 1946 the people still seemed to be stunned. Now, after three years of occupation, they have done a great deal of work. There is hope, but the problems loom very large.
In Stuttgart, for instance, after three years, housing facilities are only 65 percent of what they were before the war and very little has been rebuilt in the way of schools and hospitals. The schools are so crowded that the children go on a staggered schedule, and hospital beds are totally inadequate.
As so often happens, overcrowding and a lack of calories and certain necessary vitamins and proteins have greatly increased the incidence of tuberculosis. One doctor told me that when a child is found to have tuberculosis and should be hospitalized for at least two years, he faces the prospect of spending three months at most in some sanitarium. When older people are found to have tuberculosis and it is evident that they are not going to get well, they are not welcomed at hospitals at all.
Also, displaced-persons camps are a burden, and should be removed as soon as possible from the German economy. German expellees from Czechoslovakia and parts of Germany taken over by Poland have meant that a tremendously large number of people are migrating into Germany. From 1945 to 1947 more than fourteen million destitute people came into the British and United States zones, which were already overpopulated and devastated by the war. That's a large migration of people, to say the least, and they are not taken care of by the IRO but are entirely charges on the Germany economy.
I visited one small town where German expellees form one-quarter of the entire population. They are living in made-over factories under deplorable conditions of overcrowding, insufficient heat and inadequate sanitation. Though there have been no epidemics as yet, one doctor told me that there has been many cases of tuberculosis.
I kept thinking to myself that this is what a man like Hitler could bring upon the people of his own nation. And it is no worse, of course, than what he brought on the peoples of many other nations of Europe who are now struggling under similar conditions to rebuild their countries and rehabilitate their people.
It sometimes is hard to visualize how we might bring about a world fellowship with so many people suffering such hardships. Nevertheless, I feel there is a possibility of building an understanding of democracy and a desire to live in a world without war, particularly among the women and the young people of Germany. The women, of course, can have a tremendous influence in Germany, for at present they far outnumber the men. These women, however, will have to learn to use their power wisely. | <urn:uuid:b2f28bda-5bd2-4813-8c2d-f1da2b37b6f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1948&_f=md001108 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98667 | 1,197 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Lawton-Fort Sill, Oklahoma: The City with a Plan
30 Apr, 2012By: Juli Anne Patty
Creating a strategic plan for economic growth can be done in many ways. Some communities aim for growth of any kind. Others simply try to keep up with growth as it happens. But Lawton-Fort Sill, Oklahoma, is a city with a long and distinguished military history, and that means strategy and self-determination are part of its DNA. Growth is already happening in Lawton, and that’s exactly why community leaders decided it was time to take the reigns. The new Lawton-Fort Sill Economic Development Corporation is leading the charge.
Growth for Good
Lawton isn’t new to economic development. As Oklahoma's third-largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) with a population of more than 200,000, Lawton is one of Oklahoma’s prominent shopping, medical, recreational, education and religious centers. It serves as a hub for the area's cattle, dairy and agricultural industries and the home of manufacturing and processing companies, including one of Goodyear’s largest and most advanced manufacturing facilities, as well as a number of high-tech, defense and aerospace companies.
The plan in Lawton, however, is not simply to grow, but to grow intelligently. In launching the Lawton-Fort Sill Economic Development Corporation, Lawton’s leaders plan to bring all decision makers to the table to harness the area’s resources and create sustainable, strong growth.
“We aren’t interested in a growth-at-any-cost kind of plan,” says Barry Albrecht, the newly named president of the Lawton-Fort Sill Economic Development Corporation. “We’re creating good quality growth within a long-term plan.”
Quality is a central theme of the Lawton plan, and Albrecht and his team are focusing their efforts on attracting ideal businesses and industries by creating a custom incentive program that addresses each company’s individual needs.
“The state of Oklahoma and our local entities have created some of the most advanced and meaningful incentive programs in the country today,” says Albrecht. “Instead of a cookie-cutter incentive approach, these incentives offer value in key areas that reflect the needs of the industries we want to foster in our community, needs such as tax reductions, tax credits on land acquisitions, customized build-to-suit opportunities and incentive lease programs where the lease is dynamically reduced for a long-term commitment in exchange for providing a certain level of job creation.”
The Future of Oklahoma Industry
Lawton is strategically located within an hour or less of three major military installations, a fact that has shaped the area’s business growth significantly. Atlus Air Force Base sits west of Lawton, while Sheppard Air Force Base is south. Fort Sill, northwest of downtown Lawton, is the historical anchor of the area and continues to be a major influence on life and business in the community. Today, Fort Sill is one of the largest employers in southwest Oklahoma, providing the area with a total workforce of 7,400 citizens and 9,300 active-duty soldiers, along with thousands of students who rotate through the base annually for training.
Nestled amongst these major military hubs, Lawton developed a strong military character, a factor that, according to Albrecht, offers benefits for the community as well as the businesses that call it home.
“One of our primary industries is workforce development. The military is a powerful workforce development entity, just as much as a university,” says Albrecht. “Also, a strong work ethic is one of the characteristics companies desperately need, and the military provides that. It’s an inherent part of the military training.”
Lawton clearly has a generous share of military resources and influence, but higher education is also a major part of the community’s business appeal. Lawton is home to a number of educational entities, including universities, satellite campuses and training centers.
The largest four-year higher education institution in southwest Oklahoma, Cameron University, averaging 6,000 students, is a 100 year-old higher education institution under the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents. The university offers more than 50 degrees through two-year, four-year and graduate programs and maintains a unique commitment to student preparation. In a new 2012 initiative called the Cameron University Guarantee, if a Cameron graduate enters the workplace in his or her field of study and an employer determines the graduate is lacking a basic skill relevant to his or her position, Cameron will provide additional training at no cost to the student or employee.
Businesses and citizens of Lawton also have easy access to a number of other educational opportunities, including Columbia College, Great Plains Technology Center, Platt College, The University of Oklahoma and Webster University at Fort Sill.
With the combined educational forces of the military and Lawton’s many colleges, university and training centers, the area has developed a highly capable workforce that has attracted a variety of industries, including the defense industry, health care, research and development, and food processing. And they’re just getting started.
“Oklahoma has established itself as a true leader in aerospace and defense and with the existing assets we can build on that industry base,” says Albrecht. “Oklahoma is committed to establish the state as a national leader in the research, development, test, evaluation and commercialization of unmanned systems and related technology.”
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry is another target market. As a recent NPR article on the subject pointed out, technological advances often begin with government research, and UAVs are the newest example. A concentration of UAV-related high-tech companies is already hard at work in Oklahoma, developing not just the UAVs, but also working in ancillary areas such as software and programming.
Oklahoma makes an ideal site for UAV testing because it is home to the Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark, also known as the Oklahoma Spaceport, which occupies a former Air Force base, with a 13,000-foot runway. Currently, since the FAA does not permit UAS operations in the National Airspace by exception only, authorization to operate UASs in Restricted Airspace is a key to development and testing.
Fort Sill has authorized an Oklahoma State Agency authorization to fly UASs in its 1,600 cubic miles of Restricted Airspace. This access to restricted airspace, at any time and for any state-sponsored customer (as long as there is a military purpose or linkage) places Oklahoma’s UAS operations at the forefront of aerospace R&D, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) in the United States. This RDT&E advantage has brought national attention to Oklahoma’s UAS ambitions and capabilities.
Lawton also has remarkable cooperation among academics, businesses and the government, which has allowed a unique agreement that gives researchers access to the restricted airspace.
Seeing the technology’s potential for accomplishing a wide range of difficult jobs, such as crop spraying and pipeline inspections, Governor Mary Fallin recently formed a council to promote Oklahoma as the best site for companies to build unmanned aerial systems for military, civil and commercial use.
A Cooperative Approach
Lawton’s low cost of living, low unemployment and central location are all a major benefits, but what really sets this area apart is the deliberately cooperative approach the city and state have taken to economic development.
“It is truly a breath of fresh air to see a governor truly committed to job creation,” says Albrecht. “I have seen the state legislators working together cooperatively for the best interest of job creation in the state of Oklahoma.”
That spirit of cooperation is alive in Lawton, and that’s where the Lawton-Fort Sill Economic Development Corporation comes in.
Formed from the economic development arm of the Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber, the Corporation is still fully owned by the Chamber, but operates with its own mission and board of directors. The restructuring involved a national search for the ideal candidate to lead the Corporation, resulting in the hire of Albrecht as president. An 18-year economic development professional with a strong defense industry and traditional economic development background, Albrecht also has extensive experience working with high-tech and defense companies including TRW, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, ISIS Corp., Lockheed Martin and unmanned aerial vehicle programs.
A former rotor wing-fixed wing aviator in the Military Intelligence Corps, Albrecht leads with the exact qualities he sees in his new home: work ethic, strategic vision and teamwork. That’s the Lawton way, and the way to a successful future. | <urn:uuid:8410c387-69e1-4b6b-be98-a808e2994753> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tradeandindustrydev.com/Region/Oklahoma/lawton-fort-sill-oklahoma-city-plan-6400 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954382 | 1,835 | 1.53125 | 2 |
How I was helped by SupermanBy Geraldo A. Barbosa
The title may lead you to expect a cartoon story. Comical it may be, but it happened in real life. I am one of the few people–perhaps the only person–ever rescued by Superman.
In the late 1970s, I was a professor of physics in Brazil, where I was building an optics laboratory at a federal university. I had graduated from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where lasers had already become common laboratory equipment. It was also quite common to encounter problems with these newly created marvels. The laser companies, eager to please and increase their clientele, always helped as much as they could. They replaced defective tubes and fixed electronics at lightning speed. Just a telephone call, and zap! All problems solved.
Back in Brazil, inflation was roaring and the bureaucracy created complex processes for the expenditure of any government funds. For overseas purchases, the red tape was almost impossible to cut through. The simplest request could take more than a year to be approved through an exasperating rigamarole of form-filling, stamps, signatures, and various other formalistic delays designed to forestall expenditures–preferably until the resquestor changed careers or died of old age. Even replacing an item under warranty could take more than a year, and required the same expedition through all the red tape a fertile mind could dream up.
In my lab a new Coherent-brand krypton laser tube proved defective. I called Coherent, explained the problem, and asked them to prepare a replacement. They promised to do everything as fast as possible. I also explained the many Brazilian bureaucratic steps necessary to perform this exchange so they could help meet the requirements.
A few days later my phone rang. An angry customs officer complained that a large box with my name on it had arrived, and that it was presently violating all applicable laws and import policies. Coherent had just placed the new tube in a box and shipped it as they would do in California–without any documentation. This was a mortal sin against our bureaucracy. Apart from storage fees, the volume of supposed illegalities created a huge sum of taxes and fines to be paid. Collecting all possible composure, I tried to explain the whole story and emphasized that this equipment actually belonged to the federal government. Deaf ears. Insurmountable barriers. A serious offense had been committed.
Days passed. I tried phone calls, technical consultations, legal support, but found no sign of a breach in the steel chain around this problem. Even worse, although the address was at the university, it was my name on the box. The problem would crash directly on my head.
I decided to try face to face negotiation. I went to customs to talk to the officer involved. The explanation was simple and, I thought, persuasive: there was no purchase, it was only a replacement. And anyway, it already belonged to the same government that was now in effect trying to tie its own hands and charge itself an import fee. I begged his understanding, and again hit the same brick wall.
In desperation, I demanded a written document. If I could not leave customs with the box at that moment, then I would have to be released from any responsibility in case that fragile tube cracked, leaking the rare krypton gas into the atmosphere where it might contact innocent bystanders. I required that the document would detail my failed attempts to remove this complex piece of equipment from the customs warehouse.
Suddenly this became a delicate situation for the officer–not an expert on rare gases, I hoped. He called a few colleagues aside to deliberate over the problem’s new dimensions. I recall glances alternating between the laser-tube box and me, and nervous whispers. I heard one of them speak the words “Kryptonite” and “Superman.” A few minutes later, the officer in charge emerged and told me that as a special exception they were going to liberate my equipment, and would I please take it away as soon as possible?
So, do you know anyone else who was ever rescued by a superhero? Got yourself in a tight spot? Blocked by bureaucratic red tape? Call me: I have a friend who can help you.
Geraldo Barbosa is a professor of physics at Northwestern University.
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Publication Designer and Production: Nancy Bennett-Karasik | <urn:uuid:d39e4e1c-2b78-4d91-8626-f56ba379fdeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200704/international.cfm?renderforprint=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976616 | 976 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Poll: More than half of Israeli Arab youth oppose National Service
Some 63.7% participants believe National Service is an impractical solution for Jewish-Arab inequality.
More than half of Israeli Arab youth are opposed to participating in National Service, according to a public opinion poll published on Tuesday.
Some 63.7 percent of respondents between the ages 17-20 said that National Service was an impractical solution for creating equality between Arab and Jewish Israeli citizens.
The survey was conducted by the Israeli-Arab youth association Baladana as part of a campaign to stop the sector's youth from volunteering for National Service.
Baladana said it was making this appeal due to the instances of economic inequality and discrimination of Israeli-Arabs across the country.
"We are fighting to win over public opinion and I believe that our standpoint will eventually represent the majority of Arab youth in Israel," said Attorney Ayman Ayuda, who chairs the campaign.
In 2006, only 240 Israeli Arabs volunteered for National Service. Today, there are 1,022 volunteers - a number expected to rise 1,400 by next year.
Baladana said it would continue its information campaign in Israeli Arab schools over the next few months. | <urn:uuid:d809a20f-82ed-4c18-bb76-f720a396c0d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.haaretz.com/news/poll-more-than-half-of-israeli-arab-youth-oppose-national-service-1.7832 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962052 | 244 | 1.734375 | 2 |
“Walk a mile in their shoes.” “Mile after magnificent mile.” “Give ‘em an inch, they take a mile.” “Always go the extra mile.” “My mind is racing a mile a minute.” Is there are common thread developing? Every truck officer in Illinois worth his salt has heard a trucker say “but don’t I get a mile off the state highway?”. Well, sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. The problem isn’t whether the driver is entitled to a mile of reasonable access, the problem is why he thinks he is entitled. An even bigger and more expensive problem is when a driver is hauling an oversize/overweight permit load, and his 1-mile entitlement is based on poor advice from someone he beleives is an authority on the issue.
The mile of access being discussed in this article revolves around a special provision for vehicles travelling on state highways under the authority of an oversize/overweight (OSOW) issued by the Illinois Department of Transportation. In this instance, the OPER 993 provision sheet allows the permit load to go off the assigned permit route for one mile onto “another contiguous state highway”. The provision then states four reasons when this is acceptable.
This word study focuses on the phrase “contiguous state highway”. What this phrase means is that if the permit load is operating on state highway “X” (assigned) and turns onto state highway “Y” (unassigned), the driver is legal as long as he only drives one mile for one of the four reasons. The “state highway” language is what is at stake. This provision does not allow the driver to go one mile onto a county, township, village or city highway.
In August 2011, a trucking magazine published by a national trucking association ran a legal piece on this Illinois provision. The magazine contracts with a law firm to answer truck law questions in a special section each issue. Here is their interpretation of this provision:
Let me read that provision to you again. “The assigned permit route includes a distance of one (1) mile onto another contiguous state jurisdiction highway …” Your permit only allows you to go up to 1 mile off route into a different state [emphasis added]. Your permit does not allow you to travel any distance off route in the same state where your permit was issued.
Really? This is sound legal advice? Per statute in 625 ILCS 5/15-301(a), IDOT cannot even give authority to operate OSOW onto a local road within Illinois! Yet somehow they can authorize a trucker to move OSOW for one mile into a “different state” because an uniformed attorney says so? I sure hope that law firm is paying the fine for the trucker who confidently crossed the border into another state from Illinois thinking he was on the level.
This is serious business. It presumed that Illinois probably has some of the highest fines for overweight vehicles, but that does not mean overweight fines are necessarily cheap in other states. And forget the fines. What a tragedy if the driver got stuck under an overpass, damaged a structure or was involved in a fatal crash. His best defense is “I was relying on legal advice promoted by a professional organization to which I am a member”. He will be eaten alive. And that article was read by thousands of truck drivers. Who knows how many relays of this information has been passed along via email or word of mouth. The bad advice horse is out of the bad advice barn and it ain’t coming back.
The goal here is not to pick on the authors for misinterpreting the law. They are probably a fine legal firm and do a lot of good for the industry, just as the association they write for is doing some pretty awesome work. The goal of the article is to expose the potential catastrophe deriving from an uninformed singular opinion.
By the time you have read this, this article has been vetted by a select group of police officers, trucker industry leaders, attorneys, and state regulatory officials. A plurality of leadership prevents topical issues from being taken out of context. Content may derive from a singular person, but without peer review and input from others, a singular opinion serves no purpose other than promote and expose bias on the part of the author.
Truck law is hard, complex, and voluminous. Be wary of those “leaders” who act and opine alone. While their good intentions and motives are commendable, there is a good chance they could very well be a mile off base. | <urn:uuid:4eaaaafa-7026-434c-929c-20cee0019fbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://illinoistruckcops.org/?page_id=1645 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961488 | 973 | 1.640625 | 2 |
During a recent Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), said in response to the bribery scandal surrounding former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) that “regardless of how many people are involved in the case and regardless of rank, prosecutors and investigators must undertake a thorough investigation and use this case as an opportunity to get rid of all corruption.”
This all sounded nice and dignified, but he was in fact just saying what people wanted to hear, using empty phrases that are impossible to realize.
Do prosecutors really have the ability to conduct a thorough investigation?
If someone else had not come forward to try and keep themselves out of prison, would prosecutors have ever found out about Lin? Also, how could one simple sentence from Ma’s lips allow us to rid all corrupt elements?
During the meeting, all of those legislators and high officials sat in front of Ma, some publicly criticizing Lin, even though they are exactly like him.
However, can Ma tell the difference? Will prosecutors be able to clarify everything?
Legislators are habitually corrupt, but when have prosecutors ever investigated a legislator?
There was former Legislative Yuan speaker Liu Sung-pan (劉松藩) and former KMT legislator Ho Chih-hui (何智輝), but both of them fled the country.
Ma also said that “we must do everything in our power to defend the value of incorruptibility,” reiterating again something that is almost impossible to accomplish.
The president will actually only do anything to consolidate his own power and will make sure all of his KMT political allies get all the power they can, until corruption reigns freely and incorruptibility disappears without a trace.
If Ma had been just a tad more careful, he would never have chosen to promote this political clown Lin in the first place. Ma was reckless in choosing Lin and now it is impossible to clean up the mess.
Ma continued his lecture by saying that this crisis should be used as an opportunity to clean up the government and the political system and he said it in such a way that it sounded like the crisis was already over.
Ma claims he is clean and not corrupt, but he won the presidency after taking advantage of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) corruption scandal and has never really been serious about creating an effective system for cleaning up the house and ridding it of corruption and inefficiency.
Ma has failed to do anything aside from dreaming up slogans about building an incorruptible government.
Ma has held several top posts, serving as minister of justice, minister of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, mayor of Taipei, chairman of the KMT and finally as president, so he should have a thorough understanding of how the legislature works and the corruption of legislators should be ingrained in his mind.
By now, then, he should have a comprehensive plan for legislative reform as well as plans for the regulation of legislators’s behavior, but he has no such plans. Instead, he is turning a blind eye to corrupt legislators just to consolidate his own position and power.
After listening to the recording of Lin soliciting bribes, Ma’s only response was to say that it was all “unbelievable and unthinkable.” However, what really is unbelievable and unthinkable, is an inept president only capable of lecturing and shouting slogans. | <urn:uuid:adeb73f9-2b8e-4314-a0a6-02dd79fb270e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2012/07/09/2003537289 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978917 | 748 | 1.796875 | 2 |
A study that considers the
dynamic implications of the life of the risen Lord Jesus
©1999 by James
A. Fowler. All rights
Lutheran professor, Karl Paul Donfried, writes in his book, The Dynamic Word,
Methodist pastor, Maxie Dunnam, former World Editor of the "Upper Room" devotional, concurs as he writes in his book, Alive in Christ: The Dynamic Process of Spiritual Formation: He defines "spiritual formation" as
James S. Stewart, Scottish Presbyterian professor and preacher, adds in his classic book, A Man in Christ:
Jacques Ellul, of the French Reformed tradition, and an author whose writings have served to ignite fire in my soul, writes in his book, The Presence of the Kingdom:
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity:
Evangelicals have used certain Biblical and theological words so often, so loosely, for so long, that they now require a re-think as to their true Biblical meaning. It is easy to get in a rut (defined by some as a grave with both ends extended). It is easy to settle in to the "givens" of a particular religious vocabulary and assume that everyone understands what everyone else is talking about.
I fear that many Christians have been restrained from understanding the Scriptures as God would seek to apply them to their lives, because they approach the text of Scripture from an super-imposed pre-suppositional "grid" of vocabulary and interpretation. In fact, I wonder if some of the narrow, theologically-slanted and conservatively-maintained definitions and interpretations which evangelicals have imposed on other Christians, have not kept Christians as ignorant of true Christianity, as did the denial of the Scriptures themselves to the masses in the Middle Ages. Back then it was the denial of physical access; today it is the denial of the interpretive access of the Holy Spirit. Back then the Bible was chained to the pulpit; now it is chained to ideological constructs and semantic formulations.
It has been the propensity of the Western church to "box" up Christian thought into neat little air-tight packages, the composite of which becomes our accepted "belief-system," or what we call "the gospel". The Western mind has a "lust for certainty" which allows for no "loose ends", no paradoxes, no antinomies. We want to get everything "figured out", cut and dried; categorized, formulized, systematized, theologized--fossilized! If God will not fit into our "reasonable categories", then we will have to reduce Him to fit. We want to get a handle on it, so we can "handle it". But God is not an "it".
We are "thing" oriented, instead of God-oriented, and theology is the biggest "plaything" in the evangelical play-pen. We want logical formulas, precise techniques, definite doctrines, exact theology. We do not like intangibles-such as the invisible dynamic of the Spirit of God at work in His created order, so we formulate tangibles - golden calves-or their counterpart, ideological idols carved in the concrete of inflexible minds.
Even the present attempt to move beyond the static definitions of staid evangelicalism is fraught with its own inherent danger. Definitions by their very definition are static. A definition is an attempt to "nail down" and particularize to the point of precision of thought. There is no such thing as a "dynamic definition", yet it is my objective to ascertain how the divine dynamic of Jesus Christ applies to certain Biblical categories. The warning of James Stewart Stewart, Scottish preacher and writer, A Man in Christ, is probably appropriate: "Those who have succeeded in defining doctrine most closely, have lost Christ most completely." With that warning ringing in my ears, I proceed to consider some of the dynamic implications of certain Biblical and theological words, remembering that the dynamic is in Jesus Christ, not in the definition.
The traditional definition of grace as "an undeserved gift of God" tends to portray "grace" as an entity, a "gift", something we can "lay hold of" or" possess." Grace becomes something static. The "undeserved favor of God" still suffers from the same tendency, even if more abstracted.
Grace is a distinctively theistic concept, conceivable only when the distinctive separation between God and man is effectively maintained, conceivable only when the Creator God can act toward the creature man in the operative and dynamic function of the Greater acting on behalf of the lesser.
The grace of God is free and spontaneous. There is no inner necessity or external obligation to account for what God does. God acts functionally, as He does, because he is God.
Grace is divinely determinative. It is the "divine initiative" of God.
God is a self-giving self who expresses Himself in grace. Grace can never be detached from the personal presence and action of God. This is why grace cannot be adequately viewed as a separate "gift", or a mere attitude of undeserved favor in the mind of God. Grace is not a substance or commodity. Grace is not an attitude or moral persuasion. Grace is not a power or a force. Grace is not quantitative. Grace is as complete as God Himself, and expresses the quality of Himself, His character within His creation.
The content of grace is the expressive function of Himself in His fullness. As Jesus Christ is the functionally expressive agent of God , the "Word", the One who incarnates God, and makes visible the invisible character of God, it can be said that there is no grace apart from Jesus Christ. The self-giving of God takes place through His Son.
Grace cannot be fully defined as a static "gift" or as a static "attitude" of favor. Grace needs to be defined personally, not mechanically; qualitatively, not quantitatively; actively, functionally, dynamically, not statically. Grace is the dynamic free-flow of God's activity of givingness, consistent with His character.
The particular event of Christ's redemptive passion is rightfully made the focal-point of God's grace. The redemptive expression of grace was God's intent from before the foundation of the world, and all consequent expressions of grace are grounded in redemption. But as Joe Carson Smith notes in "Christian Standard" magazine (9,9,79),
There is such an historicizing and theologizing tendency in evangelical theology. Protestant theology has tended to have an event-centered concept of grace, tying grace either to the event of redemptive grace, or to the event of conversion grace. We must beware of limiting grace to an historically redemptive event or an existential event of decision-making. An event-centered concept of grace inevitably becomes a static concept of grace.
Historical understanding: Roman Catholicism taught that when a person received the redemptive grace of God in conversion grace, there was a infusion of God's grace into man whereby man could co-operate with God's grace in living the Christian life. Thus man could by his repentance, obedience, and partaking of the sacraments merit more "grace." This additional grace could become the secondary basis for a better "right standing" with God. The Reformers of the Protestant Reformation rightly reacted against this progressive and quantitative concept of grace, arguing for a narrowly defined redemptive grace, that became an event-centered grace, which viewed grace primarily as the attitudinal favor of God that prompted God to send Jesus. They tried to avoid using "grace" in reference to the regenerative and sanctifying activity of God in the hearts of men, ascribing that activity to the work of the Holy Spirit. Such an event-centered "grace", a past-tense view of grace, a "grace" for justification, but not for sanctification, has been the Protestant theological tendency to this day. American evangelicalism has tended to focus also on the conversion "decision" event of grace as well as the redemptive grace.
God's grace is the dynamic sufficiency of God's activity for the entirety of the Christian life. God's grace is the basis of our identity, our standing, our behavior, our obedience, our strength, our speech, our stewardship, our reactions to the trials and sufferings of life, etc. God's grace is the dynamic enabling for all ministerial function and for all eschatological expectation.
To say that "grace" is "the undeserved favor of God" is not wrong, per se, but it has led to static conceptions of grace.
Hans-Helmut Esser in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology points out that the Apostolic Fathers "hardened the development in the understanding of grace. Grace was institutionalized as grace for the community and for office. It became an aid for the preservation of correct teaching and the ethics of the new law." Static.
Paul's view of grace is comprehensive and dynamic.
T.F.Torrance writes - The Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers
Grace is the dynamic free-flow of a self-giving God, expressing His activity consistent with His character. Such was His expression historically and redemptively in Jesus Christ. Such is His expression presently for the entirety of the function of Christian living. Such is His expression eschatologically and eternally.
The definition of faith in many evangelical circles has to do with "believing the right things", i.e. the doctrinal statements of a particular denomination. Faith is often viewed as nothing more than mental assent to the veracity of the historicity of Jesus and particular theological statements.
J.I. Packer - "Simple assent to the gospel, divorced from a transforming commitment to the living Christ, is by Biblical standards less than faith, and less than saving, and to elicit only assent of this kind would be to secure only false conversions."
C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity - "Faith is used by Christians in two senses or on two levels. (1) simple belief-accepting or regarding as true the doctrines of Christianity. (2) Faith in the higher sense of trusting God.
Jacques Ellul - Living Faith - (remarkable contrast of belief and faith)
Faith is not just believing the right things, historical or theological. Faith is man's receptivity of God's activity!!
John Calvin (Institutes III, xiii,5) - "faith is a thing merely passive, bringing nothing of our own to conciliate the favor of God, but receiving what we need from Christ."
William Barclay -The Mind of Christ - "The first element in faith is what we can only call receptivity - not simply receptivity of facts; not just receptivity of the significance of the facts; but receptivity of Jesus Christ."
Faith - our receptivity of HIS activity. Faith is personal. Faith is not just faith in a procedure, or a promise, or in the power of faith, but faith is receptivity of a Person. Faith is not receptivity of an offer or a benefit. The content of that which we receive in faith is Personified Truth, the expression of God's Word.
Faith is the continuous response of man to God's grace. Our receptivity of His grace activity. The "obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5; 16:26) is but the receptivity of the divine dynamic that alone fulfills the divine demands; the receptivity of the divine expression that alone fulfills the divine expectation.
C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity -
Jacques Ellul - Living Faith -
G.W. Bromiley - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (revised) -
The implications of this dynamic receptivity of "faith" are sobering. "Whatever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). Whenever we do not allow for the receptivity of the grace-activity of God, always consistent with His character, then the result can only be inconsistent with the character of God, and therefore "sin." "Without faith it is impossible (no dynamic) to please Him" (Heb 11:6).
A true understanding of faith must take into account the continuous on-going feature of "our receptivity of His dynamic activity."
Martin Luther - "When the article of justification has fallen, everything has fallen. This is the chief article from which all other doctrines have flowed."
John Calvin - "Justification is the main hinge on which religion turns."
Dare we suggest that the majority of contemporary Christians do not have a clue as to the meaning of justification? Justification used to be a legal term, but its primary usage today is as a computer word-processing term, pertaining to the justification of margins; right justification, left justification, center justification, etc., the proper alignment of text. If we read that connotation of "justification" into Scripture we will obviously arrive at a different interpretation than did the theologians of yesteryear. Apart from the computer usage of "justification", many would conceive of justification as self-justification, the attempt to justify one's self, to conceal with apologies or excuses, to gloss over, to whitewash, to "cover-up." We have a problem in understanding "justification" in English speaking culture today. Many New Testament translations have chosen to avoid the word "justification" altogether, and refer only to "righteousness."
"Righteousness" has historically been cast into legal framework, carrying with it a sense of meritorious righteousness in response to the law. The Greeks considered themselves righteous in accord with social law, by being "civil"; The Romans considered themselves righteous in conformity to Roman law; Jewish thought regarded righteousness as conformity with God's revealed law.
Paul's primary emphasis is to establish that righteousness is not based on our performance of conformity to external legal criteria.
Righteousness is first and foremost, an attribute of God. God is the "Righteous Father" (Jn 17:25). Jesus is referred to as "Jesus Christ the righteous." (I Jn 2:1). Righteousness is never an inherent attribute of man. Righteousness is always an expression of the divine activity in accord with the righteous character of God.
Righteousness is not something that we as mankind ever "own", or possess, or manifest in and of ourselves. There is none righteous (Rom. 3:20). That is why Luther called it "alien righteousness." Seebass -Dictionary of New Testament Theology - "It is not we who possess righteousness, but righteousness which possesses us." Righteousness is personified in God in Christ.
Righteousness is not a result of man's performance. Much of what Paul writes is a polemic against "righteousness according to the works of the Law." Paul takes the concept of righteousness, the dynamic grace expression of God's character of righteousness, and turns it against the legal conceptions of his day, specifically Judaistic legalism. Yet even in the apostolic fathers, righteousness has been cast in the context of a "new law", a "Christian law". By the fourth century with the amalgamation of the church with the Roman empire, the concepts of Roman law continued to "bleed" into Christian theology, to the extent that "righteousness" came to mean a "right standing" with the so-called divine Roman church, which could be purchased legally.
Martin Luther rightly and adamantly reacted to such a righteousness by works of church law, and the Protestant Reformation rallied around the theme of "justification by faith". But the reformers (or their immediate followers) failed to kick over the whole underlying presupposition of legal, forensic, judicial basis of righteousness, insisting on merely "declared righteous"
The reformers, in their polemic protest against Roman Catholicism and their works righteousness according to "church law", insisted on leaving no room for meritorious performance righteousness. Nothing man can do to be righteous; only on the basis of what Christ has done. So they had a very focused emphasis on the "finished work" of Christ the historical, the theological, the legal and logical implications of what Christ did on our behalf vicariously. They did not want to allow for even a "crack" of possibility that man's behavior had any merit before God in deeming a man righteous. Their teaching was Biblically solid. They were reacting against the Catholic doctrine of "infused graced" or "infused righteousness" which tended to make a Christian's behavioral righteousness at least a secondary basis of being "right with God." The reformers wanted no part of that- it smacked of "works." So they emphasized what Christ did as us vicariously, and they emphasized what Christ did for us, redemptively, -but they backed off from clear explanation of what Scripture says about what Christ does in us and through us - and Protestant theology has followed their example for over 400 years.
Protestant theology, in general, has been paranoid that any discussion of behavioral righteousness in Christians will somehow lead back to "performance righteousness" "works"! In fact, they have been as paranoid as Luther was of the book of James. They have over-protected the idea of the "alien-righteousness" of Christ, and thus rejected by their neglect the personal and behavioral implications of righteous living. The over-emphasis of judicial or forensic righteousness by Protestant theologians, has even caused some more recent Roman Catholic theologians to chide the Protestants, saying that if righteous behavior were ever exhibited in a protestant Christian, then some Protestant theologians would necessarily conclude that such was legalistic "works".
So as not to unduly impinge upon the reformers of the 16th century: Luther - "Justification is the declaring righteous for His sake, which is followed by a real making righteous. ...to reckon as righteous must not be understood as an opposition of 'to make righteous', for to be justified without merits in the sense of 'to forgive' is at the same time the beginning of a new life." Calvin: "We dream not of a faith which is devoid of good works, nor of a justification which can exist without them. ... You cannot possess Him (Christ) without being made a partaker of His sanctification; for Christ cannot be divided. Christ has been given to us for justification and for sanctification."
T.F. Torrance - Theology in Reconstruction -
The experiential, behavioral factors of righteousness have been overlooked in mainline protestant theology. We have missed the dynamic of the righteous character of God being lived out in His people to His glory. It is imperative that we understand that Christians have been made righteous by the presence of Jesus Christ, the Righteous.
Robert D. Brinsmead - "The Dynamic, Ongoing Nature of Justification by Faith"; "Present Truth" periodical, 6/75 -
T.F. Torrance - Space, Time and Resurrection -
What we need is a new reformation, which will take the subject of justification or righteousness all the way back to Biblical understanding. A complete restoration of the dynamic restorative process of righteousness by the Righteous One, Jesus Christ.
David F. Wells, The Search for Salvation,
Foerster, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, (Kittel's) - root words from which sozo and soterion are derived mean "to make safe."
Salvation. To make safe from what? Not to make safe from erroneous thinking by understanding your "erroneous zones". Not to make safe from economic and/or political oppressors (liberation theology).
Perhaps the most popular conception is that we are made safe from going to hell. And yet, the objective of Christian salvation is surely more than just an escapist incentive for the acquisition of an everlasting "fire insurance policy."
Salvation has to do with being made safe from misused humanity, dysfunctional humanity, in order to be restored to the functional humanity God intends by the presence of the functional dynamic of God in man by His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
We are being saved unto full participation in the risen, ascended Life of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the dynamic of God's Spirit.
We are being saved unto the purpose of our creation and existence in glorifying God. (Isa. 43:7)
We must be painfully honest in reappraising our popular misconceptions of salvation in evangelical theology today.
Several years ago. "I FOUND IT" campaign of Campus Crusade. What is the IT they were claiming to have found? Salvation? Eternal Life? The implication is that "salvation" is an IT; something, rather than Someone. Such is sloppy salvation terminology!
We need to understand a dynamic restorative and functional salvation process - Not just preventative salvation. Not just acquisitional salvation (the acquiring of spiritual benefits.) Salvation is not a "benefit" dispensed by a "benefactor." Yet Darrel L. Bock (Bibliotheca Sacra - Apr. June, 1986), "Jesus as Lord is the divine dispenser of salvation"..."Jesus is the dispenser of divine salvation and forgiveness." Such is a separated concept that separates salvation from the Savior, and creates a static view of salvation. Jesus does not dispense salvation like a bubble-gum dispenser; He does not dispense salvation like an airline ticket dispenser; Jesus is not like a medical dispensary dispensing the "gos-pill". Salvation is only in the dynamic activity of the Savior. Jesus Christ is salvation.
Salvation is not an entity, a commodity, a "package", a spiritual "goody"; Salvation is not a heavenly entrance pass, a ticket to heaven, an eternal life package. Salvation is not a "possession in my pocket'.
Evangelical theology has swung from a God-centered theology to a man-centered theology, and has wrenched "salvation" from the grace-activity of God, placing it into the hands of men, to be manipulated by men (or so they think).
When we use the phrase "got saved", it has static connotations of an event in time, a transaction, a static state of being.
Conrad Murrell, Salvation When?
Salvation is the dynamic functioning of the Person of Jesus Christ within us, the restorative activity of the Savior.
Modern theology has reduced salvation to depersonalized formulas, static arguments of the length of one's ordo salutis.
J.S. Stewart - A Man in Christ ,
W.L. Liefeld, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (revised)-
Salvation is a process not a process of accumulating "good works" as in the cultic sense of salvation process, but the process by which God's dynamic grace is continuously applied to our lives, in the "saving life of Christ." Salvation is the dynamic process of the work of the Savior in His people
This central reality of the functional dynamic of all things in the person and work of Jesus Christ, Himself, is the truth that is so often obliterated and obfuscated,...as the natural propensity of man is to reduce Christianity into a manageable religious belief-system.
Karl Paul Donfried - The Dynamic Word -
T.F. Torrance - Reality and Evangelical Theology -
The story is told that when Ghatama Buddha
was dying (over four hundred years prior to the time of Christ),
some of his disciples asked how they could best remember him.
He told them not to bother; that it was his teaching, not his
person, that mattered. Such is the basis of religion - ideological,
philosophical, educative belief-systems. Such is not the case
with Jesus Christ and Christianity. Everything centers in Him.
Everything is inherent in Jesus, His Person and His continuing
activity. Everything functions only by the dynamic of the risen
and living Lord Jesus Christ. | <urn:uuid:105cb058-de43-4a8e-888d-6607e38ef713> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christinyou.com/pages/dynamicxst.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943327 | 4,968 | 1.648438 | 2 |
ATHENS – Greece said it would spend 10 billion euros to buy back bonds in a bid to reduce its ballooning debt and unfreeze long-delayed aid, setting a price range above market expectations to ensure sufficient investor interest.
The bond buyback is central to the efforts of Greece's foreign lenders to put the near-bankrupt country's debt back on a sustainable footing, and its success is essential to unlocking funding Athens needs to avoid running out of cash.
There have been questions about whether it will tempt enough bondholders to cut Greek debt by a net 20 billion euros, the target set by euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund. The buyback plan announced on Monday appeared designed to quell those concerns.
"It indicates they really want the swap to succeed," said Ricardo Barbieri, strategist at Mizuho, on the pricing.
"Some investors might be tempted to participate in the swap because of the ability to simplify their position, should they wish to maintain exposure to Greece, otherwise an opportunity to exit totally, completely their positions at a level that is better than Friday's close."
The buyback will be conducted through a modified Dutch auction that introduces an element of competition among investors and set a price range above Friday's closing prices.
The range set varied from a minimum of 30.2 to 38.1 percent and a maximum of 32.2 to 40.1 percent depending on the bond maturities of the 20 series of outstanding bonds.
It featured a spread of two percentage points between the highest and lowest price offered on each bond.
The prices were well above the levels Greek bonds eligible under the buyback closed at on November 23, even though Greece's lenders last week said they did not expect the bonds to be purchased for more than the closing price on that date.
The bonds, which have a nominal value of 63 billion euros, closed at between 25.15 to 34.41 cents in the euro on that date according to Reuters data.
That price range had been rendered irrelevant after Greek bond prices rose subsequently in the secondary market, forcing Athens to offer a higher range to ensure sufficient interest, a Greek finance ministry official said.
Athens said it would not spend more than 10 billion euros on the buyback. Investors must declare their interest by December 7 and the expected settlement date is December 17.
Greek government bond prices rallied sharply on the news, with bond prices rising across the strip.
In a Dutch auction, if a bondholder tries to get a price close to the upper limit there is a risk he or she may be left out if the buyback amount is filled at lower prices. There will be one settlement price for each series of bonds.
Euro zone officials said the bloc hoped Greece would be able to repurchase at least 40 billion euros of its own bonds.
Athens unveiled the structure of the buyback before a meeting of euro zone finance ministers, at which Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras will brief his counterparts.
Despite the better than-expected terms, some analysts said it remained to be seen whether the buyback would be successful. Greek banks are under pressure from Athens to participate, but there is skepticism over how many foreign investors will do so.
"I still have my doubts regarding how many investors will participate on the buyback at these prices," said Diego Iscaro at IHS Global Insight. "The prices may be higher than expected .. but my doubts are whether they'll be high enough to encourage a high participation rate."
Even if the Greek debt buyback is successful, Athens' long-term debt problems have yet to be fully resolved. Greece's EU and IMF lenders want to cut the country's debt - which is expected to peak at 191 percent in 2014 - to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 but there has been speculation that some write-off of loans will be necessary.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that Greece's creditors may look at writing down more of its debt but not before the current bailout program has run its course.
So far, Berlin has insisted a writedown of Greek debt held by euro zone governments would be illegal, though its finance minister has also recently signaled that some kind of debt 'haircut' for official lenders might be needed eventually.
"If Greece one day handles its revenues again without taking on new debt, then we must take a look at the situation and assess it. That is not going to happen before 2014/2015 if all goes to plan," Merkel told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
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Paris Gay Pride buoyed by promise of gay marriage law
AFP - Always colourful and raucous, the annual Gay Pride parade in Paris on Saturday was further buoyed by the promise of France's new Socialist government to legalise gay marriage and adoption rights.
"This is a special parade because it is the first time we have a government, a president, a parliament who are in favour of progress," said Nicolas Gougain, spokesman for the the gay rights group Inter-LGBT.
Organisers were expecting record levels of attendance from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual) community at the parade heading from Montparnasse to the iconic Place de la Bastille.
Symbolically, French Minister for Families Dominique Bertinotti turned out to see the floats set off.
"I go everywhere where the future of the family is at stake," she said, adding that "every bit of social progress benefits society as a whole".
Bertinotti said she was "confident" the law "would be passed in 2013".
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said ahead of the march on Friday that "the right to marriage and adoption for all would be put in place" during President Francois Hollande's five-year mandate, but did not specify the date.
The crowd, however, remained sceptical.
"We need to wait and see if these are not just empty promises," said Ludovic, a 25-year-old nurse, wearing a gold wig.
"But it would be good if it does happen so that people who want to get married can."
"We are sceptical about announcements made at Gay Pride," said one woman accompanied by her female partner, both sporting rainbow-coloured hats and celebrating their first Pride.
Many considered being given equal status to heterosexuals in the eyes of the law more important that actually getting married.
"It's equality that counts," said French actress and director Zabou Breitman, co-hosting the parade with fellow actor Charles Berling. "They have the choice to say no to marriage."
A number of European nations allow gay marriage, but not France, where only married couples and not civil union partners can adopt.
European nations including Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Britain allow gay adoption.
In neighbouring Belgium, gay marriage was legalised in 2003 and adoption in 2005.
But it takes a while for society to change, said Chille Deman, president of the Belgian Gay Pride.
"Laws are extremely important in changing mentalities but change won't come just from that."
Over 80 groups paraded behind the Paris Pride banner that said "2012, equality doesn't wait".
Last year's parade in the French capital drew 36,000 supporters according to police, but organisers claimed the figure was "over half a million". | <urn:uuid:227eed8d-f490-4a0e-a951-7b7b4665d112> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/guide_europe/country_by_country/france/paris_gay_pride_buoyed_by_promise_of_gay_marriage_law | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965673 | 597 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Could music be the key to the perfect world - and why are comfortable shoes so damned important?
‘The Bibble’ is the story of an extra terrestrial road trip during which an extraordinarily average fellow deals with discovering that the fate of Earth and its five sister planets may just rest on his shoulders. Jaunting around the cosmos in a camper van powered by a Bloody Stupid Generator, Thelopius Rumblebutt and his companions discover a plot to end the world, stumble across the most feculent man in known history, do battle with Beelzebub, and drink copious amounts of a cocktail that has been known to start wars.
Could one man be responsible for life on Earth? Is the universe as we know it run by aging alcoholics with a penchant for extended holidays? Can an utterly normal bloke from Swindon save the world as we know it? Does he even know that he has to? And why is that chartered accountant wielding a cudgel? There's only one way to find out...
'The Bibble' is complete at 93,000 words. | <urn:uuid:44010fb8-65db-43b3-b0d5-e2808a59940b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://authonomy.com/writing-community/profile/54f5ba9b-ad4c-4881-9977-4d37929c4ef6/stanny/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962541 | 224 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Recording, the First Amendment, and Judge Posner
On Tuesday, a divided Seventh Circuit panel invalidated an Illinois eavesdropping statute that prohibited all recording of conversations without two-party consent, including conversations involving police officers performing public duties in public spaces. I wrote about the case here and here and have had an interest in the front-end protections for recording for a few years.
The decision is going to spark discussion for two things. One is the very sweeping First Amendment approach from the majority. The other is the equally sweeping dissent by Judge Posner.First the majority. The tricky part in the debate over First Amendment protection for recording is finding a place withint the text of the amendment to ground the protection, since the act of recording is not, in itself, speech. In my article, I suggested both the Press Clause (riffing off an argument by Barry McDonald) or the Petition Clause, at least where the video is or may be used in civil liitgation. The Seventh Circuit went broader:
The act of making an audio or audiovisual recording is necessarily included within the First Amendment’s guarantee of speech and press rights as a corollary of the right to disseminate the resulting recording. The right to publish or broadcast an audio or audiovisual recording would be insecure, or largely ineffective, if the antecedent act of making the recording is wholly unprotected.
The court compared this to a prohibition or regulation of printers' ink or, more interestingly, to regulation of campaign finance--all recognize protection for acts and things that, while not speech, enable speech. I appreciate the breadth of the argument. Note that it assumes that the recording is going to be published and used for speech, which is not always or necessarily the case--as where the recording is going to be used as evidence in an official complaint against an officer or in litigation (hence my Petition Clause argument). And the court did not require any inquiry into the ultimate use. Still, to the extent all of thse are First Amendment protected, the argument makes snese.
From there, the court held that the law was content neutral, but failed intermediate scrutiny (which is not always easy to do) for a couple of reasons. First, it banned an entire medium of communication/information gathering. Second, the state's privacy interests were undermined by the fact that other ways of documenting public conversations--including listening and taking notes, video recording, and still photography--were not prohibited, even though they potentially implicate those interests. The accuracy and immediacy of audio recording (as compared with human memory) did not alter the privacy calculations. And, although the court did not reach the issue of alternative means of communication, it noted that
audio and audiovisual recording are uniquely reliable and powerful methods of preserving and disseminating news and information about events that occur in public. Their self-authenticating character makes it highly unlikely that other methods could be considered reasonably adequate substitutes.
It is contestable whether recordings are inevitably or unquestionably accurate or clear. But adequate alternative means typically should not allow the prohibition of one entire medium simply because other, different, not-always-as-effective media remain available.
Now to Judge Posner. No surprise that he dissented, given some questions he asked during oral argument. The surprise is the opinions assault on modern First Amendment doctrine, his endorsement of (or at least reference to) a more limited originalist understanding of the First Amendment, and his criticism of rigorous First Amendment judicial review and courts' regular willingness to invalidate a broad range of laws on First Amendment grounds.
A sampling of comments:
The invalidation of a statute on constitutional grounds should be a rare and solemn judicial act, done with reluctance under compulsion of clear binding precedent or clear constitutional language or—in the absence of those traditional sources of guidance—compelling evidence,
or an overwhelming gut feeling, that the statute has intolerable consequences.
* * *
Judges asked to affirm novel “interpretations” of the First Amendment should be mindful that the constitutional right of free speech, as construed nowadays, is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. The relevant provision of the First Amendment merely forbids Congress to abridge free speech, which as understood in the eighteenth century meant freedom only from
censorship (that is, suppressing speech, rather than just punishing the speaker after the fact). A speaker could be prosecuted for seditious libel, for blasphemy, and for much other reprobated speech besides, but in a prosecution he would at least have the protection of trial by jury, which he would not have if hauled before a censorship board; and his speech or writing would not have been suppressed, which is what censorship boards do. Protection against censorship was the only protection that the amendment was understood to create. . . .
The limitation of the amendment to Congress, and thus to federal restrictions on free speech (the First Amendment does not apply to state action), and to censorship is the original understanding. Judges have strayed so far from it that further departures should be undertaken with caution.
This is surprising stuff. For one thing, Posner himself has joined or written a number of decisions striking down laws on First Amendment grounds and adopting a broader view of free speech than he suggests in these quoted portions. For another, it seems beside the point in this case. The bulk of the dissent is devoted to emphasizing the privacy interests involved here and arguing, in essence, that the majority did not accord them sufficient weight in the balance. While perhaps right, it is much different than arguing that applying the First Amendment to something like audio or video recording is a vast or novel expansion of the right. Perhaps the point is that the majority did not sufficiently acknowledge the novelty of the First Amendment claims or interpretations here.
The dissent does reflect Posner's pragmatism. For example, he suggests that a judicial "gut feeling that the statute has intolerable consequences" is enough for invalidating a law. He also seems to acknowledge that the case would be different if the recordings were being used to record unlawful activity, such as police misconduct. So maybe his comments are not as far reaching as they seem. And he is, of course, correct that modern free speech does not look anything like Blackstone or what many may have expected in 1791. But I, and most others, would say we are better off for that.
An interesting rhetorical flourish from a judge known for them.
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Any chance at all this goes up to the Supreme Court? Perhaps Posner is throwing a bone to the originalists, because it's pretty clear, as a self-proclaimed pragmatist, he generally has no use for the doctrine.
Posted by: q | May 10, 2012 12:39:55 PM
Maybe. Although none of the justices is ever truly originalist on the First Amendment.
Posted by: Howard Wasserman | May 10, 2012 1:17:54 PM
I thought Posner didn't respect originalism much.
Posted by: Joe | May 10, 2012 6:48:27 PM
Fantastic--I'm putting the quote about "an overwhelming gut feeling" as a bonus question on my legal philosophy final tomorrow. (We ended the semester discussing Posner's pragmatism.)
Posted by: Mark D. White | May 15, 2012 8:26:22 PM
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The Guardian has published several articles on suspected military strikes, over the last several days, by the Israeli Air Force, which likely targeted sophisticated weaponry (possibly Russian made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles) reportedly on its way to the Iranian backed terror group, Hezbollah, illegally based in Lebanon.
Israeli officials have been warning for months that the IDF will not allow the transfer of advanced Syrian weapons – including chemical and biological weapons – to terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front and Hezbollah.
Assuming reports of the Israeli strikes are accurate, it may indicate that Assad had decided test Israeli resolve to prevent such arms transfers.
Harriet Sherwood’s latest report on the conflagration in Lebanon, ‘Israeli warplanes violate Lebanese airspace‘, Feb 1, included these passages:
Israeli warplanes flew over Lebanon again on Friday, two days after air strikes targeted a convoy of arms or a weapons research base inside Syrian territory.
Under UN security council resolution 1701, passed following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, Israeli planes are forbidden from flying over Lebanon. [emphasis added]
Sherwood is referring to the UN security council resolution which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
14. Calls upon the government of Lebanon to secure its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms or related materiel and requests Unifil as authorised in paragraph 11 to assist the government of Lebanon at its request;
15. Decides further that all states shall take the necessary measures to prevent, by their nationals or from their territories or using their flag vessels or aircraft;
a. the sale or supply to any entity or individual in Lebanon of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, whether or not originating in their territories, and;
b. the provision to any entity or individual in Lebanon of any technical training or assistance related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance or use of the items listed in subparagraph (a) above, except that these prohibitions shall not apply to arms, related material, training or assistance authorised by the government of Lebanon or by Unifil as authorised in paragraph 11;
So, by any reading of 1701, arms transfers from Syria to Hezbollah (in Lebanon) are prohibited and, therefore, Israeli efforts to prevent such transfers would arguably be justified, according to at least the spirit of the resolution.
Further, and more relevant to the current crisis, 1701 includes the following, which specifically prohibits the continuing presence and arming of Hezbollah – an illegal militia – in Lebanon, by calling for:
- security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorised in paragraph 11, deployed in this area;
- Full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state;
- No foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of its government;
Yet, it is widely known that Hezbollah has flagrantly violated 1701, as it has continued to maintain and develop a military infrastructure, including sophisticated offensive and defensive weaponry, south of the Litani river, and are believed to possess nearly 1,000 facilities in southern Lebanon, located in up to 270 civilian villages.
Here’s an IDF map illustrating Hezbollah’s ‘illegal occupation’ of Lebanon.
Not only has Hezbollah failed to disarm, but has in fact acquired (from Iran and Syria) an astonishing array of up to 50,000 rockets (4 x the amount they possessed at the end of the 2006 war) which threaten Israel and the entire region – all under the eyes of UN observers (UNIFIL) tasked with preventing the Shiite terror group’s re-arming.
Interestingly, Sherwood does add, further in her report, that “Western…sources said Israel’s target was a convoy of trucks carrying Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles from Syria to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon”, but, not surprisingly, fails to note that such a transfer would necessarily violate 1701.
Even if Sherwood is to argue that reported IAF missions over Lebanon technically violate 1701, the absence of any context regarding Hezbollah’s flagrant violation of the letter and spirit of the resolution for over six years represents another classic example of a Guardian omission which serves to grossly distort the political reality of the region. | <urn:uuid:4a396263-93be-490b-b283-fd07ec4b8c6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cifwatch.com/2013/02/03/harriet-sherwood-misleads-on-syrian-weapon-crisis-with-distorted-reading-of-res-1701/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=0dd3db7641 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942515 | 990 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Will a name change help Flint Township's dismal economic outlook and bolster its reputation? Chuck Hughes, a former township treasurer who works for the Flint School District, thinks that freeing the township from the shackles of the word "Flint" will certainly help.
"I think the issues with Flint are Flint's issues, and they are made Flint Township's by simply having Flint in the name," he told Roberto Acosta of MLive. "We're at the mercy of Flint to fix their image."
A name change committee has been formed, and any change would have to be approved by the township committee and voters.
Of course, there's a strong argument that Flint's economic vitality during the boom years is the only reason Flint Township even exists in its present form, but a sense of history doesn't seem to be part of this debate. (Hughes salary, by the way, comes from a city of Flint entity.)
Some of the possible names being floated include West Point and Bishop, a nod to the airport. (I'm surprised West Pointe, with that all-important silent 'e' wasn't suggested.) Do readers have any other ideas? How about Fair Weather Friend Township? | <urn:uuid:f9e6bb6b-2cc1-49b2-a611-de39b46d911f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.flintexpats.com/2012/05/flint-whats-in-name.html | 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 | 0.97229 | 243 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Internet showdown side-stepped in Geneva
Probably for the best
The international showdown over who should run the Internet has been side-stepped at the very last minute following 12 hours of intensive talks in Geneva.
More than 200 negotiators met at an extraordinary meeting on the weekend before the World Summit on the Information Society in order to thrash things about and hopefully prevent the entire meeting from being disrupted by three controversial issues.
Most significant among these issues was over who should run the Internet. Western countries want ICANN to continue to head it, whereas the rest of the world wants the ITU to take over to lend a more international flavour.
The two sides were stuck in a deadlock (despite extra days of meetings) which threatened to put the entire meeting - the first of its kind concerning the Internet - at risk. And so, in true diplomatic form, all sides agreed to put the issue on the back burner.
Discussion papers dated 5 December (the first day of the special weekend meeting) suggested that a “Preparatory Committee” be set up that will hold its first meeting in the first half of 2004 and review “those issues of the Information Society which should form the focus of the Tunis phase of the WSIS” - to be held in 2005.
And that is what everyone agreed to - since agreement was going to be impossible, farm the issue out to a committee to report back in a year’s time when hopefully the hot potato will have cooled down.
And it’s a good job they did manage to broker this compromise. Both sides had dug their heels in and the argument threatened to damage or even break up the meeting. And if that had happened, a huge raft of agreed-to, widespread and positive agreements on how to improve and encourage the information age would have been lost.
The equally contentious issue of free speech and the role of the media on the Internet was also broached. China didn’t like the Western wording about press freedom. And so the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights was used as the reference point instead. The exact paragraph may read: “Nothing in this declaration shall be construed as impairing, contradicting, restricting or derogating the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, any other international instrument or national laws adopted in furtherance of these instruments.”
We say “may” because we only have the papers provided to the meeting on Saturday. Aside from announcing a compromise had been met, the exact wording has yet to be released and the Geneva press office is helpfully not answering its phones, but with any luck it should be posted on the official site soon.
So is everything agreed? No. There still remains the thorny issue of whether richer Western nations should provide aid to poorer nations to bring them into the information area and if so, how much money exactly and how that is to be managed. That should give the politicians plenty to grandstand about while the vast majority of the work has already been argued over and agreed to by civil servants.
In oddly connected news, ICANN has just revamped its website and given it a far more accessible and friendly feel. Discussion topics are actually flagged rather than carefully hidden; relevant information is easier to get hold of; and the ponderous and knowingly dense prose about ICANN and its roles has been turned into real English.
It seems that new head Paul Twomey knows what is needed to save ICANN and he’s working fast on it. With the WSIS decision to move the Internet governance issue back a year, the starting pistol has been fired. He now has 12 months to make ICANN acceptable to the rest of the world. It won’t be easy. ®
WSIS official site
Will December make or break the Internet? | <urn:uuid:3f4b98e6-9c14-4db2-b140-f6cf0da3d92d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/12/08/internet_showdown_sidestepped_in_geneva/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954884 | 784 | 1.757813 | 2 |
NEW YORK -
AP Photo: Mark Humphrey, File
FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2008 file photo, Booker T. Jones, left, Steve Cropper, center, and Donald "Duck" Dunn, right, of the group Booker T. & the MGs, acknowledge the applause as they are inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn. Bass player and songwriter Dunn died in Tokyo, Sunday May 13, 2012. He was 70.
Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bassist who helped create the gritty Memphis soul sound at Stax Records in the 1960s as part of the legendary group Booker T. and the MGs and contributed to such classics as "In the Midnight Hour," "Hold On I'm Coming" and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," died Sunday at 70.
Dunn, whose legacy as one of the most respected session musicians in the business also included work with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd's Blues Brothers as well as with Levon Helm, Eric Clapton, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, died while on tour in Tokyo.
News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour. Cropper said Dunn died in his sleep.
"Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live," Cropper wrote on Twitter.
Dunn was born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1941, and according to the biography on his official website, was nicknamed for the cartoon character by his father. His father, a candy maker, did not want him to be a musician.
"He thought I would become a drug addict and die. Most parents in those days thought music was a pastime, something you did as a hobby, not a profession," Dunn said.
But by the time Dunn was in high school, he was in a band with Cropper.
Cropper left to become a session player at Stax, the Memphis record company that would become known for its soul recordings and artists such as Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes and the Staples Singers.
Dunn soon followed Cropper and joined the Stax house band, also known as Booker T. and the MGs.
It was one of the first racially integrated soul groups, with two whites (Dunn on bass and Cropper on guitar) and two blacks (Booker T. Jones on organ and Al Jackson on drums), and was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The group had its heyday in the 1960s as backup for various Stax artists. Dunn played on Redding's "Respect" and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," Sam and Dave's "Hold On I'm Coming" and Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour."
Booker T. and the MGs had its own hits as well, including "Hang `Em High," "Soul-Limbo" and, before Dunn joined the band, the cool 1962 instrumental "Green Onions."
"I would have liked to have been on the road more, but the record company wanted us in the studio. Man, we were recording almost a hit a day for a while there," Dunn said.
In the 1970s, the group's members drifted apart. Jackson was killed in Memphis in 1975 by an intruder in his home.
Cropper and Dunn reunited when they joined Aykroyd and Belushi's Blues Brothers band and appeared in the 1980 "Blues Brothers" movie.
"How could anybody not want to work with John and Dan? I was really kind of hesitant to do that show, but my wife talked me into it," Dunn said in a 2007 interview with Vintage Guitar magazine, "and other than Booker's band, that's the most fun band I've ever been in."
Dunn also did session work on recordings by Clapton, Young, Dylan, Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty, according to his discography.
Dunn once said that he and Cropper were "like married people."
"I can look at him and know what he'll order for dinner," he said. "When we play music together we both know where we're going."
Dunn received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2007.
He is survived by his wife, June; a son, Jeff; and a grandchild, Michael, said Michael Leahy, Dunn's agent.
Nekesa Mumbi Moody is the AP's music writer. Follow her at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi | <urn:uuid:ea3f777e-a0b5-4a75-ae33-4bad02ca36f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=385952 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990554 | 967 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Cross-posted in Parenting...
My beautiful daughter is going to turn 3 in November. She is really healthy, petite (25# now) but rarely ill, great energy. She is still nursing. Her teacher called me today to let me know that some of her hair came out (not ripped out, just pulled out) when another child pulled her hair. The teacher said that Linnea wasn't hurt or bothered at all, and showed her how it doesn't hurt by pulling some of her hair out!
The teacher is concerned that there is a problem....I have only had boys with very short hair, and this is new for me. Her hair is soft and fluffy and has never been thick. Could it be that she is just shedding baby hair and getting big girl, thicker hair? Could it be seasonal?
Does anyone else know about this? I don't want to be reactionary and take her to our family practitioner before checking out what's normal for other kids. Thanks! | <urn:uuid:29f7c968-8d73-473c-a701-48210ec2aa6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1364360/2-yos-hair-falling-out | 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 | 0.990813 | 202 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Tag: "study" at medical news
Takeda responds to the FDA advisory committee recommendation
..., placebo-controlled outcomes trial. The PROactive study
included 5,238 patients with type 2 diabetes and a history of macrovascular disease, who were force titrated up to 45 mg daily of either ACTOS or placebo. In this study, there was no difference in the number of macrovascular events between standard ...
Science steps in to discover wonders of Toe-tankhamun
...dred years. Jacky Finch, who is carrying out the study
at Manchesters KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, is recruiting volunteers whose right big toe has been lost in order to test an exact replica of the artificial toe. A model of a second false Egyptian big toe on display in the British Museum, al...
RAND presents first Victor Fuchs Research Award to economists at Carnegie Mellon University
... at www.bepress.com/fhep This paper is the first study
to demonstrate the benefits of generous drug cover...gs, which led to lower drug costs. However, the study
found that consumers increased their use of other types of medical care as a substitute for prescrip...
Brief motivational interviews work best long term for college students sent to alcohol counseling
...in the context of a BMI." White added that her study
helps to illustrate that studies that do not follow students for a long time may miss important effects of interventions. She used the term "sleeper effects" to describe clinical improvements that are not apparent right after treatment, but emerge s...
Landmark study finds adult Delawareans with disabilities in only 'fair' to 'poor' health
... is only "fair" to "poor," according to a landmark study
conducted by University of Delaware researchers. ...graphy and Survey Research. "The results of this study
show that the health of Delaware adults with disabilities is not in a good state, and there are serv...
Obese girls less likely to attend college
...end college as non-obese girls, according to a new study
from The University of Texas at Austin. The study
also shows obese girls are even less likely to enter college if they attend a high school where obes...
Medical students respond positively to simulated patient experience
...eloped the teaching scenario and conducted a pilot study
to determine the simulations success in a non-trad...ingly positive and the results will lead to future study
of program expansion, he said. Survey results showed that 98 percent of participants rated the corre...
Childhood sun exposure may lower risk of MS
...less sun exposure during childhood, according to a study
published in the July 24, 2007, issue of Neurology...he beach and playing team sports as a child. The study
found the twin with MS spent less time in the sun as a child than the twin who did not have MS. Dep...
Should adult male circumcision be recommended for HIV prevention in the US?
...ave sex with men (MSM). The African trials did not study
MSM. While some observational studies have suggested that circumcised MSM in the US may have a decreased risk of HIV infection, say the authors, it is impossible to draw firm conclusions from such observational research, which is prone to bias. Adu...
Investigating the causes of Parkinson's disease
...hool of Biomedical Sciences, will lead a five-year study
after receiving an award from the PDS under its Ca...s in the brains of people with Parkinsons. This study
is aimed at providing a platform for the development of drugs to stop nerve cell death. Dr Kieran ...
Cancer research summaries
...ancer, according to the results of a retrospective study
published in The Lancet last month. Before donat...cancer less than 5 years after giving blood. The study
population comprised all individuals with no history of malignant disease who had received at least ...
UGA study explains why anti-smoking ads backfire or succeed
...me are successful, and a new University of Georgia study
helps explain why. Hye-Jin Paek, assistant profe...ulating for the past five years. Paek and Gunthers study
adds to that evidence and helps explain how anti-smoking ads can be effective. The researchers su...
Low hospital staff levels increase infection rates
...infection rates. The authors concluded that this study
backs up findings from their earlier general study
on ICU infection risks, namely that employing more than two nurses per patient per day would prevent...
Children and young people show elevated leukaemia rates near nuclear facilities
...red France, two looked at Canada and there was one study
each from the USA, Japan, Spain, the former East Germany and the former West Germany. Although our meta-analysis found consistently elevated rates of leukaemia near nuclear facilities, it is important to note that there are still many questions to...
Lower mortality rates associated with hospitals that rank highest on quality of care indicators
Boston, MA -- A new study
from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) sh...rformance for all three conditions, said Jha. This study
really provides an important validation of the HQA efforts and suggests that paying attention to the...
6 out of 10 doctors aren't frustrated that patients can't lower cholesterol
...ard Hobbs from the University of Birmingham. Our study
also highlighted discrepancies between what family doctors do when a patient has high cholesterol and what they are advised to do by national guidelines. Key findings included: Doctors in South Korea (80%) were most likely to be happy with ...
First of its kind report on how children with brain tumors perform at school
...e than boys in getting good grades, according to a study
published in the July 17, 2007, issue of Neurology... may need remedial help as early as possible, said study
author Pivi Lhteenmki, MD, PhD, with Turku University Hospital in Turku, Finland. For the study, r...
Study finds HIV protease inhibitor drugs may adversely affect the scaffolding of the cell nucleus
...the cell nucleus, said Catherine Coffinier, Ph.D., study
author and an assistant researcher at the David Ge...in ZMPSTE24 is intriguing, said Loren Fong, Ph.D., study
author and an associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The ...
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals submits supplemental new drug application for Lubiprostone to treat IBS-C
...he supplemental application is based on a clinical study
program that included two Phase III, multi-center, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials involving 1,171 adults, followed by one long-term, open-label safety and efficacy extension trial involving 522 adults diagnosed with IBS-C. In ...
Threats to hope -- Desperation affects reasoning about product information
... bigger house but afraid you cant afford it" A new study
by researchers from University of Southern Califor...rm exams to participate in a purportedly unrelated study
conducted by the Office of Student Affairs, asking students to report on a variety of things, includ...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | <urn:uuid:a4ab6d5e-0a9f-448f-ad23-a3c8a41df319> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bio-medicine.org/tag-4/study/6/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948763 | 1,513 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Behavioral Health Center Staff De-stress During Therapeutic Recreation Week
In recognition of National Therapeutic Recreation Week (July 9 - 15, 2012), the adjunct therapy staff at Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Center in Toms River will participate in the same stress-relieving activities utilized to help patients heal and cope.
Throughout the week, staff can participate in a book discussion, mask-making, hula-hooping and outdoor games, pet therapy and “Adjunct Therapy Jeopardy” – all of which are modeled after Behavioral Health’s adjunct programs and activities designed to treat patients.
“Once they get involved in these activities themselves, staff members really appreciate how these types of therapies can be beneficial to patients,” said Lisa Monogan, Director of Adjunct Therapy, Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Center. “We focus on not only educating but demonstrating the importance of fun, relaxation, socialization and creative expression.”
According to Monogan, adjunct therapy is a mix of all different disciplines or modalities – including recreational, pet, art, music, exercise and psycho-educational therapies – that is intended to heal patients by using self-expression as a means to healthy coping.
Adjunct therapists at the Behavioral Health Center will be recognized with an appreciation lunch. Monogan will also travel to other facilities within the Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Network – Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, N.J., Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, N.J. and Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J. – to host appreciation lunches for adjunct therapists at each location.
National Therapeutic Recreation week was established by the National Therapeutic Recreation Society, a branch of the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) to enhance public awareness of therapeutic recreation programs and services while expanding recreation and leisure opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
To register for a free mental health screening or for more information about the Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Center, please call the 24-hour Access Line at 1-800-300-0628.
The Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Center offers an extensive array of high-quality, clinically-focused programs. These programs include a 100-bed acute care psychiatric facility which provides inpatient and intensive outpatient programs for adults and older adults diagnosed with psychiatric and dual disorders.
At the Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Center, the multidisciplinary staff includes experienced professionals in nearly every facet of behavioral health care. This allows us to provide truly customized and highly specialized treatment tracks, as well as programs for the dually diagnosed. | <urn:uuid:0857e380-8c04-461e-b6b6-2841271e40b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://manchester-nj.patch.com/announcements/behavioral-health-center-staff-de-stress-during-therapeutic-recreation-week-1a35841b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933122 | 541 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Cyber-babe Lara Croft has had many accolades so far--she's been on the cover of The Face, nominated as one of the top 20 most influential figures of the 20th century by TIME magazine--and now the Tomb Raider heroine will be getting her own blue plaque on a building.
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in the UK on buildings or public places to commemorate a link between the location and a famous person or event. Others already commemorated include Mozart, Virginia Woolf, and Jimi Hendrix. However, Lara Croft will not be the first fictional character to be engraved on a blue plaque--detective Sherlock Holmes also has one on his "221B Baker Street" address in London.
The site of the former Core Design offices in Ashbourne Road, Derby, is soon to be the site of a new block of flats developed by Radleigh Homes. The housing developers are going to be putting up a blue plaque on the wall to let visitors know that Lara was "born" there.
Radleigh Homes senior sales manager Paul Walters commented, "We were aware of the history of the building, but it was actually a local resident who wrote to the local paper and suggested it. We're really keen on the idea to mark Lara's 'birthplace.'" He added that the building's likely completion date is the middle of 2008, and as soon as work is finished the plaque will be placed on the building's exterior.
Core Design was founded in 1988 and was acquired by Eidos Interactive in 1996. The development team created the Lara Croft character for the first Tomb Raider game, released on the PlayStation and PC in 1996. A number of sequels followed, including Tomb Raider II and III. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness was the last Lara title which Core Design worked on, as Eidos then handed over the development of the series to Crystal Dynamics.
The reasoning behind this, according to Eidos' product acquisition developer, Ian Livingstone, was to freshen things up. "I think a lot of the team at Core Design were exhausted and they were struggling with the [PlayStation 2] tools." In 2006, Core Design was sold to Oxford-based development studio Rebellion, which took over the material assets and management of former Core staff. Core moved from the Ashbourne Road offices in 2000. | <urn:uuid:e2a3c1d2-60f2-4a9d-9e75-7e2645de7451> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.gamespot.com/news/lara-croft-birthplace-gets-blue-plaque-6169591 | 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 | 0.979306 | 477 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The inspector general for Iraq reconstruction has written a swan-song report about the shortcomings of America’s $60 billion rebuilding effort, which began a decade ago this month amid high hopes but ended mired in fraud and mismanagement.
Perhaps most striking in what amounts to a postmortem of the endeavor are the reflections of senior Iraqi officials, whose meager gratitude for U.S. aid doled out during the war is vastly eclipsed by their stinging criticism of missed opportunities. Senior U.S. officials acknowledged some of the complaints in the report, which is scheduled for release Wednesday. Some said the United States is viewed as accomplishing little because it set out to do too much.
“With all the money the U.S. spent, you can go into any city in Iraq and you cannot find one building or project” that stands as a testament to America’s investment, acting Minister of Interior Adnan al-Asadi told the inspector general. “You can fly in a helicopter around Baghdad and other cities, but you cannot point a finger to a single project that was built and completed by the United States.”
That may be an overstatement. Tangible signs of the effort endure, even if many are dilapidated. But the viewpoint identified a key criticism of the American legacy, which has come into sharper focus after the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces at the end of 2011.
Even before the report’s findings, the conventional view was that U.S. officials took on too much, sought insufficient Iraqi input and planned for a long-lasting U.S. military presence that never materialized. The lessons are pertinent to the Afghan war, the only American reconstruction effort with a higher price tag, where U.S. officials have been begun to scale down unsustainable reconstruction projects.
In an interview with Stuart Bowen Jr., the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he was grateful for America’s investment in Iraq. But Maliki lamented that the billions in aid “could have brought great change to Iraq,” if it had been managed better. The Americans, the prime minister said, were at times overly eager to spend their budget. In one case, he said, the U.S. government insisted on spending $70,000 on a school project though the principal wanted only $10,000.
Rafi al-Issawi, a respected Sunni politician who worked closely with U.S. officials and served as finance minister until recently, said the United States failed to build landmark reconstruction projects. In his home town of Fallujah, the Euphrates River bridge remains an emblem of British rule early last century. After nearly destroying the city in pitched battles with insurgents, the Americans left behind a wastewater treatment plant that cost far more than budgeted and serves a fraction of the residents.
Justice Minister Hassan al-Shimari said the Americans built goodwill by bankrolling small projects near their bases, but few were self-sustaining.
“If I were a government minister in 2004, I would have given the Americans a vision,” Shimari said. “That’s what was missing, because there was no mission, there were no priorities.”
Americans interviewed for the report acknowledged the lack of coordination. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a critic of Iraq war policy, said interagency cooperation was an “utter, abject failure” and that government divisions worked at cross-purposes, forming a “circular firing squad.”
Leon Panetta, the recently retired secretary of defense, said the military was thrust into a reconstruction role for which it wasn’t prepared. “The U.S. military was in Iraq to fight a war,” he said.
U.S. officials said planners failed to consider that Iraq might not allow U.S. troops to stay beyond the end of their mandate. The Iraqi government refused to give U.S. troops immunity after 2010, forcing hasty adjustments.
Former ambassador Christopher Hill, who was in Baghdad in 2009 and 2010, said U.S. officials became too fixated on “spend rates” as a measure of achievements as troops were leaving.
His predecessor, Ryan Crocker, said a key mistake was failing to ensure that Iraqis supported costly projects. Sometimes Iraqis appeared to express their support by “head nod” during meetings but were actually uninterested in projects, he said. A similar pattern has dogged U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, where Crocker later served as ambassador.
Bowen said the United States failed to invest enough in capacity-building programs that could have bolstered Iraq’s fledgeling governance institutions. Iraq is now amassing substantial oil wealth, but its political and institutional architecture is far from sturdy.
“It’s not close to becoming a failed state,” Bowen said. “But it’s a country fraught with significant challenges at this moment, which requires reconciliation, consensus and inclusion of a broad array of groups that have over the past two years tended to be excluded.” | <urn:uuid:2a9eefc6-ff9a-4fcf-a5fa-ce6be48e8886> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insidebayarea.com/politics-national/?third_party=iraq-reconstruction-failed-to-result-in-lasting-changes-report | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977268 | 1,067 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Never mind the snow. Spring is here.
Snowfall has been sparce, but low temperatures through winter were near average across the north country to make up for last years warm spell.
Its not like last year, said Buffalo National Weather Service meteorologist. We were breaking records last year. We were 40, 50 degrees above normal.
He said this winter was a shock for many who were expecting light snow and higher temperatures again this year.
An Ogdensburg observer recorded 41.6 inches of total snow for the season, according to the Burlington office of the National Weather Service, 21 of which fell in December.
More snow is on the way, however. Lake effect snow through Thursday could dump up to 20 inches of snow in typical lake-effect areas of Oswego, Jefferson, and Lewis counties. St. Lawrence County can expect 4 to 8 inches of snow falling up to a half inch per hour and wind gusts up to 25 miles per hour through today.
The snow Monday night and Tuesday morning were enough to close seven schools in St. Lawrence County and give six schools across Jefferson and Lewis counties a two-hour delay.
The lake effect snow will be enhancing what were experiencing in the current system, said Burlington National Weather Service meteorologist Kimberly McMahon. The bands will meander a little bit, so its hard to know where itll hit the most right now.
She said it is unusual to have lake effect storms of this extent in March.
In the past, the lake has been frozen over, she said.
A winter storm warning cautions that visibility while driving will be reduced and road conditions will be icy.
Temperatures from December through this month have been pretty close to average, according to officials from the National Weather Service in Buffalo and Burlington. Watertown was an average of 28.1 degrees from December through March, while Massena has been nearly 23 degrees on average. | <urn:uuid:269fba13-1d1b-4c95-b9ff-2adcddda6d0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ogd.com/article/20130320/OGD01/703209832/1045 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970681 | 392 | 1.515625 | 2 |
President Signs College Cost Reduction Act
Galvanizing the Community
The Results Are In
Around the Country
Q & A
News Show Looks at Higher Education
Doing What Works Web Site
President Signs College Cost Reduction Act
Law Provides Largest Student Aid Increase Since GI Bill
Implementing a proposal from his 2008 budget plan, President George W. Bush on Sept. 27 signed into law the largest increase in federal student aid since the GI Bill of 1944. The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 increases funding for the Federal Pell Grant Program by $11.4 billion over the next five years, raising the maximum annual award to $5,400 by 2012. Unlike loans, Pell grants do not have to be repaid. More than 5 million low-income students receive this federal financial aid annually.
"Pell grants send an important message to students in need: If you work hard, and you stay in school, and you make the right choices, the federal government is going to stand with you," said President Bush.
The legislation also makes it easier to repay loans, by
Capping loan payments so that borrowers would not have to devote more than 15 percent of their discretionary income to repaying Stafford student loans. Starting July 1, 2009, this applies to both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans, regardless of when the loans were taken out. After 25 years, any remaining balances will be cancelled.
Forgiving loans for borrowers working in public-sector jobssuch as those held by members of the military, law enforcement agents, firefighters, nurses, librarians and early childhood teachersafter 10 years of service and loan repayment. Furthermore, students serving in the National Reserve who are called to address a national crisis will be able to defer loan payments for up to 13 months at the end of their service.
In addition, the bill may provide tuition assistance of up to $4,000 per yearfor a total of $16,000to undergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching certain subjects, such as science and math, in low-income public schools for at least four years.
Galvanizing the Community
Charter School Provides Greater Choice to Colorado Latinos
Principal Lawrence Hernandez is quick to correct anyone who tells him low-income parents do not care about their children's education. Pointing to his charter school as proof positive, he says, "The most powerful thing they've done is to have chosen an option for their kids."
In fact, it was seeing "the urgency of parents who wanted something better for their children" that compelled Hernandez, his wife, Annette, and several community activists to create the Cesar Chavez Academy (CCA) six years ago as a public school choice for the largely rural and Latino community of Pueblo, Colo. "For the longest time," he explains, "the parents who had influence always got what was best for their kids, and sort of everybody elsewhich was the other 90 percent of people in the communitywould hope that their children got a good education. But when we came along, what we really did was galvanize the entire community."
By drawing on charter privileges that allow greater autonomy than traditional public schools in exchange for promised results, CCA offers students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade a longer school day, smaller classes and a more rigorous curriculum requiring any assignment receiving a grade below 80 percent to be redone. According to the results from last year's state exam, its students in grades 3-8 outperformed others at both the district and state levels in reading, writing and math by an average of 25 percentage points. For the past three years, CCAwhich was recently featured in a publication from the U.S. Department of Education spotlighting K-8 charter schools that have closed the achievement gaphas ranked in the top 8 percent of schools statewide based on overall academic performance.
Attracted to the school's special features, Lynn Rodriguez was one of the first parents to enroll her children at CCA. She transferred all three of her sons, hoping the school's tutoring programs, in particular, would help shore up her oldest son's skills.
Her expectations were exceeded.
"[Compared to] what they were learning in their [traditional] public schools," she said, "at Cesar Chavez Academy ... it seemed to me they were getting their education two years ahead. All my boys have always said, 'They teach us to think at a higher level.'"
Since the 2001 opening, enrollment at CCA has more than quadrupled, from 240 to 1,100 students, while 3,000 are on the waiting list. (Spaces are awarded by lottery.) A number of parents drive their children from as far as 30 miles away for one of the school's coveted seats. The principal's two youngest children attend the school as well as most of the staff's.
To meet the rising demand, in 2004, Hernandez, along with a committee of parents and business and community leaders, also founded locally a college prep high school, which now has 500 students, and next fall will open another Cesar Chavez Academy in an area in Colorado Springs with similar demographics.
While CCA was intended to serve Pueblo's low-income populationof which nearly one in three Latinos lives in povertynow it is more common to see "in the same classroom a child of a doctor or lawyer sitting next to a child of a migrant farm worker," said Hernandez. "That's a powerful statement for the kind of choices parents are making for their kids."
Based on the founders' philosophy that "schooling is most effective when it respects and reflects the history and culture of the children and families that it is intended to benefit," Latino traditions are celebrated throughout the school. Students take Spanish every day. After-school activities include playing in the "Mariachi Aguila" band, which recently placed second in an international competition. Adorning the walls is various artwork of an aguila, or eagle, the symbol of the Mexican-American civil rights movement led by the school's namesake, César Chávez.
Raised in Pueblo in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood, Hernandez understands firsthand the challenges faced by many of the families his school serves. He was the first in his family to go to college (afterward earning his master's and doctorate degrees at Stanford University, and later teaching at Harvard's School of Education). While it was his mother who taught him to read and his father who secured a small scholarship to help pay tuition, he said he received little to no guidance from the school system. The experience gave him the impetus for developing a supportive school that helps make college possible for under-resourced children.
In preparation for the academic rigors of higher education, CCA students do research papers as early as the fourth grade and are required to assemble a portfolio of their best work, complete a thesis project in history or science, and give a series of oral presentations as part of their graduation requirements. Keeping them on their toes, they also must deliver impromptu speeches and papers for what is respectively called "Stand and Deliver" and "Writing on Demand." Hernandez has been known to walk into a room without notice and announce a topic that students must immediately address.
For those who want to take on greater challenges, CCA offers an honors curriculum for fifth- through eighth-graders that allows them to complete their high school freshman coursework, so by the time they graduate they can go directly into the 10th grade.
Nancy Gordon, one of the school's founding teachers, said the high standards have been a lifesaver for many of the struggling students who arrive. "When the children come in so low, we don't just want to make a year's growthwe want to pull them up even further."
CCA's academic program is designed to help ensure that no one fails. To help students exceed the 80-percent benchmark required for every assignment, teachers provide one-on-one tutoring after school as well as on Saturdays. Assessments are constantly administered to gauge student performance, providing data for teachers to customize instruction, develop individual student achievement plans, and, if necessary, enlist the assistance of the school's prevention specialist who will make home visits to build parent support.
Furthermore, because the typical school day is from 7:20 a.m. to 6 p.m.eight hours of classroom instruction followed by after-school enrichment activities in which all students must participatemore time is devoted to learning.
With a longer school day, coupled with a small-class ratio of one teacher to 13 students, the staff is able to cover more material and give more individualized attention. Last year, to help maintain student-teacher connections, CCA was organized into three separate academies: pre-kindergarten through second grades; third through fifth grades; and middle school (sixth through eighth grades).
The reorganization has provided a greater network of support, especially for new educators, says Candice Leland, who joined CCA last year. As part of teacher collaborative efforts, Leland meets with her fifth-grade writing team, her academy colleagues, and her teacher mentor. She also likes the idea that students see only two teachers a day through grade 3 and from thereon a teacher for every subject. "I really think that benefits the students because it allows the teacher to get really strong in one subject, and then the students get the best of everything."
By Nicole Ashby
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings (pictured above with members of the STARBASE program at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio during her back-to-school bus tour) addressed the Business Coalition for Student Achievement on Sept. 5, in Washington, D.C., about how the No Child Left Behind Act is working to raise student achievement and accountability in the nation's public schools. She also spoke about the need for Congress to strengthen and reauthorize the law this year. An excerpt of her remarks follows.
"... I've yet to meet a parent who didn't want their child learning on grade level. And thanks to No Child Left Behind, for the first time, families have a right to expect that their child will be performing at or above grade levelby 2014.
"That's seven years from nowplenty of time, especially since we set this goal in January 2002. We're talking about grade-level work. Not nuclear physicsjust fundamental, grade-level work. ...
"The latest results show more than 70 percent of schools met annual progress goals last year. In other words, they're doing it!
"Do we still have room for improvement? Absolutely. ... And we can and will do more. My department is already partnering with more than half of the states to make the law more flexible and workableincluding finding better ways to measure student progress and help more kids get tutoring. ...
"At the same time, we must not make the law so 'flexible' that it loses its power or its urgency. ...
"Everybody knows that the more complicated the system, the easier it is to manipulate or obfuscate or confuse the bottom line. The law already includes reasonable accommodations for children with disabilities, those learning English, and those who start a new school in the middle of the year. But to move from reasonable accommodations to gigantic loopholes is a step in the wrong direction. ...
"... Instead, I look forward to working with you to fulfill the promise we made five years ago so that not only do we leave no child behindwe make sure every child is moving forward."
The Results Are In
The latest Nation's Report Card reveals the continued progress and record gains made by America's schoolchildren, particularly by younger and minority students. Released in late September by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed fourth- and eighth-graders' scores to be not only improved in reading and math since the last assessment in 2005, but also the highest in the report card's history (with the exception of eighth-grade reading scores, which increased slightly). Moreover, while African-American and Hispanic students posted all-time high scores, the achievement gap between white and African-American fourth-graders in reading narrowed to its lowest point ever since 1992, when a new reading test was first given. Overall, 48 states and the District of Columbia either improved academically or held steady in all categories. More than 700,000 students nationwide participated in the 2007 assessment in reading and math. For detailed results, visit http://www.nationsreportcard.gov.
On Nov. 12-13, the winners of the 2007 No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools Program will be honored at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., represented by the principal and a teacher from 287 schools in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The program honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that are either academically superior or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement. Schools are selected based on having either: 1) at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds dramatically improving their performance to high levels on state tests; or 2) students, regardless of background, achieving in the top 10 percent of their state on state tests or on nationally normed tests for private schools. For a list of 2007 winners, visit http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/2007/2007-schools.html.
Around the Country
Michigan To comply with federal regulations that require states to evaluate the effectiveness of their teacher preparation programs, the Michigan Department of Education recently published the performance scores for the state's 31 programs. Almost all of the programs passed, and the two that did not will have two years to improve before facing state sanctions. Criteria for determining the ratingthe maximum being 70 pointsinclude the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification scores, new teacher surveys and program completion rates. Oakland University in Auburn Hills and Hope College in Holland each earned the top score among all the institutions, which was 68. Under Title II of the Higher Education Act, every October states must submit to the U.S. Department of Education information on certification and license requirements, pass rates on state assessments and teacher standards.
New York The New York City Department of Education won this year's Broad Prize for Urban Education. Funded by the Broad Foundation, the annual award honors large urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among disadvantaged and minority students. Among its merits, New York Citywhich received $500,000 for college scholarships for graduating high school seniorsnarrowed the high school achievement gap between the state average for white students and New York City Hispanic and African-American students by 14 and 13 percentage points, respectively. The other four finalistsBridgeport Public Schools (Conn.), Long Beach Unified School District (Calif.), Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and the Northside Independent School District (Texas)each received $125,000 for college scholarships.
- Nov. 11-17
Geography Awareness Week, sponsored by the National Geographic Society as part of a multi-year campaign to highlight the diversity of peoples, places and natural wonders around the globe, with this year's focus on Asia. For events and K-12 resources, visit http://www.mywonderfulworld.org.
- Nov. 12-16
International Education Week, founded in 2000 by the departments of Education and State to provide an opportunity for foreign students living in the United States to share their cultures with American classmates. For ideas and materials, as well as an online quiz about cities of the world, visit http://iew.state.gov.
- Nov. 27-28
White House Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Conference, Los Angeles, sponsored by a consortium of federal agencies for grassroots leaders interested in federal grant opportunities. To register online, visit http://www.fbci.gov or call 202-456-6708.
- Nov. 28-Dec. 6
Supplemental Educational Services Regional Workshops, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide free technical assistance for organizations interested in becoming approved providers of supplemental educational services for disadvantaged students: Nov. 28, Portland, Ore.; Nov. 29, Tacoma, Wash; Dec. 4, Nashville, Tenn.; and Dec. 6, Jackson, Miss. Visit http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/list/fbci/
suppserv-workshops.html or call 1-800-USA-LEARN.
Q & A
What are Parent Information Resource Centers?
The Parent Information Resource Center (PIRC) program is a nationwide effort designed to build successful family involvement in education as parents move beyond traditional activities, like helping children with homework, toward a shared responsibility for school improvement. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement, the program generally focuses on projects serving parents of low-income, minority and limited English proficient children in elementary and secondary schools. There are 62 PIRCs, with one in every state, the District of Columbia and most U.S. territories. To locate a center in your area, visit the National PIRC Coordination Center's Web site at http://www.nationalpirc.org for the directory.
Specific activities sponsored by PIRCs and their partnering organizations often include helping parents to understand the data tied to school accountability systems and the significance of what that data means for opportunities afforded to their children under the No Child Left Behind Act, such as supplemental educational services and public school choice. Additionally, PIRC projects provide resource materials and coordinate conferences covering high-quality family involvement programs.
For example, the PIRC serving Texas uses a student group called the Youth Education Tekies to provide computer training for parents and other adults in the community so they can learn how to access online information about their children's schooling, particularly the state's education Web site, where school, district and state accountability data are posted. These and other efforts fostered by PIRCs are profiled in the latest publication in the Department's Innovations in Education series, entitled Engaging Parents in Education: Lessons From Five Parental Information and Resource Centers. The 65-page guide also includes tips for connecting with hard-to-reach parents, building community partnerships and setting up a parent center. For a copy, visit http://www.edpubs.org or call 1-877-4ED-PUBS, with identification number ED003668P, while supplies last.
News Show Looks at Higher Education
The November edition of Education News Parents Can Use will focus on how the U.S. Department of Education, higher education institutions and other key stakeholders are working together to better prepare students for college and the jobs of the 21st-century marketplace.
Today, over 90 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require postsecondary education or training, yet a staggering 60 percent of Americans have no postsecondary credentials at all. This crisis is even more evident among low-income and minority students, whose low participation in higher education is due partly to lack of access to information about opportunities, limited funds and language barriers. Guests on the November show will: discuss the importance of taking Advanced Placement (AP) classes and other rigorous courses in preparation for college; provide tips and services for helping all students succeed once enrolled in a postsecondary institution; and explore the latest financial planning tools and federal aid programs designed to help students pay for college or other kinds of postsecondary education.
Each month, Education News Parents Can Use showcases: schools and school districts from across the country; conversations with school officials, parents and education experts; and advice and free resources for parents and educators.
To learn about viewing options, including webcasts, visit http://www.ed.gov/news/av/video/edtv/; or call 1-800-USA-LEARN.
Doing What Works Web Site
The U.S. Department of Education recently unveiled a new Web site to support educators across the nation working towards No Child Left Behind's goal of having every student proficient in reading and math by 2014.
"Doing What Works"available at http://dww.ed.govprovides an online library of resources for teaching practices that have proven to be effective. It draws primarily from the evaluations of research findings compiled for the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), which was established in 2002 by the Department's Institute of Education Sciences.
For practical applications based on the findings of WWC, the Web site includes:
- Videos of leading researchers discussing the research base behind high-quality instructional practices;
- Slideshows illustrating strategies that have been successful in teaching English language learners (ELLs) at schools around the country; and
- Downloadable tools to help teachers identify their strengths and weaknesses for improving ELL instruction.
The site is also ideal for building professional development activities for groups of teachers. Other topics will cover: cognition and learning; early childhood education; high school reform; literacy; math and science; and school restructuring.
How are we doing?
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The Achiever is a monthly publication for parents and community leaders from the Office of Communications and Outreach, U.S. Department of Education (ED). Margaret Spellings, secretary.
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The Achiever contains news and information about and from public and private organizations for the reader's information. Inclusion does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any products or services offered or views expressed. This publication also contains hyperlinks and URLs created and maintained by outside organizations and provided for the reader's convenience. The Department is not responsible for the accuracy of this information.
Thank you for your interest in The Achiever, the U.S. Department of Education's monthly bulletin on No Child Left Behind, the historic, bipartisan education reform law signed by President Bush in January 2002. We are delighted to hear that the newsletter is providing you with the resources needed to help you in your efforts to improve education.
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- Write in the body of the message: unsub nochildleftbehind | <urn:uuid:ed755e7b-41a6-4900-ac18-74b9ec5a1a99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.ed.gov/news/newsletters/achiever/2007/1107.html?exp=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959739 | 4,827 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Amicable exchange of views in RotterdamA day-long seminar in Rotterdam last week generated an amicable exchange of views.
The seminar, "The Doctor and the Foreskin" was organised by the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) parallel to the conference of the International Association of Bioethics. It came hard on the heels of the decision of the District Court of Cologne that non-therapeutic infant circumcision was contrary to the German Basic Law.
The first presentation of the day was by Gabriela Gomez, from Venezuela, about "scale up" of "voluntary medical male circumcision" and saw no problem with this. She thought talk of "mutilation" was unhelpful.
Michel Garrene's presentation was provided a measured response to the African HIV research. He acknowledged that the authors had proved efficacy at the individual level but demonstrated that that they had failed to prove effectiveness at a population level.
Anton van Niekerk, a moral philosopher from South Africa, pointed out that if someone produced a vaccine that was only 60% effective they would be laughed out of the arena.
Tom de Jong, a Danish Paediatric Urologist, gave a synopsis of how foreskin problems should be tackled, as opposed to circumcision.
Morten Frisch gave details of his research on the sexual effects of circumcision. He also mentioned his experience with Brian Morris as a reviewer of his paper.
Trond Markestad gave a synopsis of the situation in Norway. The religious communities, including the Church of Norway, had concluded it should be permitted, whereas the human rights organisations had concluded it should not.
Three different proposals have emerged:
- Prohibit circumcision under age of 16, supported by the Centre Party, Humanists and the Children’s Ombudsman.
- Permit circumcision of children by anyone, supported by Jews, Moslems and the Church of Norway.
- Permit circumcision of children, but only by a doctor, supported by Norwegian Medical Association, who are concerned that a ban would drive the practice underground, thus resulting in more harm to children.
Arie C Nieuwenhuuijzen Kruseman, President of KNMG, concluded with a conciliatory tone. | <urn:uuid:a23a9539-0f15-41c0-a6ef-cc081fc2298e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://circumstitionsnews.blogspot.com/2012/07/rotterdam-amicable-exchange-of-views.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973498 | 461 | 1.710938 | 2 |
To expand on one part of the Adele Wilde-Blavatsky and the Collective Response issue…
Wilde-Blavatsky said at the beginning of her article
Last month, an American-born Iraqi woman, Shaima Alawadi, was viciously murdered in the United States. According to reports, her daughter stated that a racist note was left outside the family home before the attack. Alawadi’s death came shortly after another allegedly racially-motivated murder, that of African-American man Trayvon Martin.
The Collective Response treated that account of the murder of Alawi as true. But is it? I wanted to explore that question yesterday but I didn’t have time, and overnight BenSix provided a helpful link in a comment.
The story sounded wrong to me from the outset – if it were a racist attack, why would it single out one particular woman inside a house? That’s not how racist attacks usually go – unless the one particular person is an activist or organizer or the like. Racist attacks on random people to “send a message” target people on the street or everyone in a house that is torched or fire-bombed. Going into a house to kill one person sounds like a very odd kind of racist attack.
And it turns out there are reasons to think that’s not what it was.
But records obtained by NBCSanDiego revealed that Alawadi was having problems with her husband and daughter. Investigators said Alawadi was planning to divorce her husband and move to Texas.
The warrants also show that the victim’s daughter Fatima was upset about the family’s plan to have her marry one of her cousins. Police found a text message on the teenage daughter’s cell phone, at the time she was being interviewed by detectives. The text read: “The detective will find out. Tell him ‘[can't] talk’.”
Records also show a possible suspect was near the house on the day of the crime. A neighbor gave police a description of a possible suspect spotted running from the crime scene.
The suspect is described as a “darker skinned boy in his late teens or early 20s … with a skinny build, carrying a donut shaped cardboard box.” He was seen at 10:30 a.m., about 45 minutes before Alawadi’s daughter called 911.
Records reveal that on Nov. 3 last year, Fatima and 21-year-old Rawnaq Yacub were contacted by police for possibly having sex in a parked car. Officers contacted Alawadii, who went to the incident location. Alwadi was driving her daughter away from the area when Fatima said “I love you mom,” then jumped out of the car while it was moving at 35 mph.
Fatima was transported to the hospital with multiple injuries, including a possible broken arm, according to police. The 17-year-old told paramedics and hospital staff that she was being forced to marry her cousin and did not want to do so, which is why she jumped out of the car. Fatima refused to talk to police at the hospital, according to the documents.
Since the March 21 incident, police have asked a judge for permission to search the car of Alawadi’s husband, Kassim Alhimidi.
So, possibly nothing like the Trayvon Martin case at all. Possibly not in any sense a racist attack. | <urn:uuid:1f578dd8-86ae-4cfa-a01e-4e655ab1058f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/04/a-note-was-left/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981798 | 728 | 1.734375 | 2 |
I have been asked to update the blog post regarding Miller v. Alabama (US 2012), the recent US Supreme Court decision regarding mandatory life sentences for juvenile criminal defendants convicted of capital murder. There is some question about whether or not the decision will be applied retroactively. If the decision applies retroactively, the State of Mississippi would be required to give new sentencing hearings to all defendants who were given mandatory sentences of life without parole for crimes committed while they were juveniles.
As noted in the last blog post, State Attorney General, Jim Hood, believes that the Miller decision will not have a large impact for juveniles that have already been sentenced to life without the possibility of parol due to the mandate of the parol statute (Ms Code § 47-5-138). This implies that Jim Hood does not believe that the Miller decision will be applied retroactively. The US Supreme Court did not provide a clear answer in its decision and previous case law does not provide a clear answer. Thus, there will be litigation on the issue of Miller being applied retroactively and the Court may be required to decide the issue in a future case.
In Scriro v. Summerlin, 124 S.Ct. 2519 (US 2004), the US Supreme Court provided the analysis of this issue. The opinion was written by Justice Scalia and it declined to apply the new rule that the decision to impose the death penalty must be made by a jury, calling that rule procedural. The analysis turns on the categorization of the new rule. In short, a "new rule" announced by the Court is retroactive if it is a substantive rule and prospective only if it is a procedural rule. A new rule is substantive if it places particular persons or conduct covered beyond the State's power to punish. However, a rule is merely procedural if it does not produce a class of persons convicted of conduct the law cannot make criminal (under the new rule). A procedural rule may still be given retroactive effect if it falls into the small category of "watershed rules of criminal procedure" implicating fundamental fairness and accuracy of the criminal proceeding.
The rule announced in Miller v. Alabama (US 2012) can be viewed as both procedural and substantive under this analysis. The new rule is procedural in that it requires an individualized sentencing hearing for juveniles convicted of murder. The new rule is substantive in that it struck down mandatory provisions of state law, which places particular persons (juveniles convicted of murder) beyond the State's power to punish using mandatory sentencing schemes. This issue will undoubtedly be litigated and if decided by the Supreme Court would likely result in a five to four decision. The question is whether Justice Scalia writes the dissent or the opinion.
Justice Scalia would undoubtedly decide that the rule announced in Miller should not be applied retroactively because it is procedural because it requires a specific procedure and does not in anyway affect the accuracy of the trial's finding of guilt or innocence. The correct decision is to say that the rule applies retroactively. The rule that juveniles cannot be subject to mandatory life without parole removes that class of persons from the State's ability to punish them under that mandatory scheme. In essence, the rule is that state statutes providing for mandatory sentences of life without parol are unconstitutional as applied to juveniles. It strikes down the substance of a statue as applied to juveniles and implicates the fundamental fairness dictated by the eighth amendment. While it is true that the rule has procedural implications (i.e. the need for a sentencing hearing), it deals with the substantive law that limits the power to punish given to the states. It is therefore correctly viewed as a new substantive rule that has procedural effects. It should be applied retroactively, so that all inmates and not just new ones will have been sentenced in accordance with the constitution of this land. | <urn:uuid:3b4f5a10-2c57-49c4-a4f9-2a62fb4e8e5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coonlawjacksonattorneyblog.com/2012/08/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951362 | 765 | 1.671875 | 2 |
As Byron said, there's multiple words in the Hebrew and Greek of the Old and New Testaments that the KJV lumps together with the one English word "Hell." First of all, there's no "Hell," in the way that Hollywood and some Churches would have you to believe. I'll have something prepared along these lines that'll give it a passage by passage breakdown for people EVENTUALLY, but with a Young's Concordance, if you're using the KJV, you'll be able to find out which are the passages that have "Gehenna" as the basis for what they're mistranslating as "Hell," which passages are "Hades" that they're mistranslating as "Hell," and which Passage is "Tartarus" that they're mistranslating as "Hell" in the New Testament. "Sheol" is the word mistranslated in the Old Testament as "pit," and "Hell."
From the Old Testament Hebrew word "Sheol" to the New Testament Greek word "Hades," these are direct translations of each other and are simply the English word "grave."
The Lake of Fire, or Tartarus, which is only called "Tartarus" once in one of Peter's epistles is mentioned in Matthew 25, 1Corinthians 5, and this passage in Revelation 20:14 that's been bothering you. Again, there's only one specific passage with the actual word "Tartarus" in the Greek text, but by comparing Scripture with Scripture, then you discern that this "Lake of Fire" is very simply the state of having all of your works burned away from your life that are unfit for the eternal glory that you're destined for in Christ. This does not necessitate afterlife punishment. This is the fire prepared for the devil and his angels with which God is burning away sinful acts and making one's life clean and cleared of all that would be unfit to pass down to future ages.
The passages regarding "Hell" that get mistranslated from the word "Gehenna," as you examine the context that that word "Gehenna" is used in each time that that particular Word is used, then you discover that it's the setting on fire of the course of your life by the tongue. It's the effects of false teaching, abuses of the tongue, abusiveness with the tongue, etc., and it's what comes upon your body and soul, children and disciples around you from what you speak and from the doctrine of your life that's weaved around your life from the songs, entertainment, teachings, and anything else involving words that's in your life that's unfit for eternal glory through Jesus Christ. Again, it's what burns in your body, soul, children that you influence, and any type of disciples of any kind that the course of your life would have, whether officially or unofficially. It's punishment that you receive from being around the wrong words. Jesus said that it's better to fall into the hands of someone that can destroy your body, as in the case of a terrorist, than to fall into the hands of him who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. The KJV will capitalize the "him," but Jesus immediately contrasted the "him" that He was talking about with the goodness of God in the same context. So, capitalizing the "him" in that context couldn't be accurate. An important concern about this, and between "Tartarus," and "Gehenna" is explained most of the suffering of the world -- but neither necessitate afterlife punishment.
And Sheol, or Hades is simply the grave or the state of the body between your death and your bodily resurrection by Jesus Christ so that you can enjoy life on the New Earth. Jesus Christ said about His soon coming crucifixion in John 12:31-33 that back then:
31. Now is come the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world is cast out.
32. And I, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to Myself.
33. This He said indicating the type of death that He would die.
He wasn't just indicating the crucifixion by which He'd die, but the effects of the crucifixion being the judgment of the world, the prince of this world being cast out, and the drawing of all of mankind to Himself.
St. Paul said in 2Corinthians 5 that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, because all of us were in Christ when He died. And through appearing before the judgment seat of Christ, whether we're good or bad, we'll receive the gratuity of grace according to Romans 5, because 2Corinthians 5 goes on to explain that God made Jesus to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, so that we'd be made the righteousness of God in Him. Each of us will receive the things that were done in His Body, whether we're good or bad, because it was for all of us.
There's a gnostic myth that many Churches function under of initiation before Christ will die for the person involved, that somehow only when you come to Christ of your own free will that only then will the crucifixion be for you. But that's an error because 1Corinthians 15:22 says that As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Some will try to argue with this with their myth of cultic initiation into Christianity that they've borrowed from the gnostics that those "in Christ" are only the pious who've recognized their need for Him. But Colossians 1:15-20 says that all people were in Christ before they were in Adam. Romans 5 and 1Corinthians 15 are teaching us about the effects of the death of two men. That's the subject. That's the context within which we're to interpret the first and last Adam.
When Adam died, it was the death of all men. When Christ died, He died for all men; all were reckoned in Him according to 2Corinthians 5. Therefore, all will be made alive unto God through Jesus Christ. And the work of the Cross will work in each life BECAUSE it was for all men, and not because they were so wise and discerning before it was forever too late that they recognized their need for Him -- as though God were only providing under grace another "survival of the fittest" as people had in Old Testament times. As in the death of Adam all die, even so in the death of Jesus Christ all will be made alive. We're saved by His life, according to Romans 5, and according to His faith as both Romans and Galatians teach us. He in His High Priestly Ministry has set a date with each individual that He won't be late for. 1Timothy chapter 2 says that Jesus Christ being the ransom for all is the Good News that WILL BE testified IN DUE TIME, as though Paul were indicating that the fullness of this message wasn't necessarily for the understanding of his generation, although he was systematically laying down the foundation for it's understanding when the times of Visitation from the Presence of the Lord would fall upon the future ages, of which we're now a part of.
Jesus Christ will never give up on you or anyone that you've ever know of, in person or by reputation. He'll keep on seeking and saving the lost until the very last Prodigal Son has returned home. Revelation 5:13, speaking the end from the beginning of the book of Revelation, gives you a very beautiful picture of all beings in heaven, earth, under the earth, in the sea, and everywhere in between singing the praises of Jesus Christ and of our Father in heaven! | <urn:uuid:bdb2e1f4-d086-4fac-a6fd-528c9bf331ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tentmaker.org/forum/discussions-on-universal-salvation/universal-health-care-akin-to-universal-reconciliation/?prev_next=next | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977914 | 1,599 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Frequently asked questions, product highlights and more from your favorite resource for women's plus size active, swim and casual clothing.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Online Fitness Programs Growing In Popularity
The benefits of a
personal trainer and the convenience of the Internet have come together in the
latest fitness trend: online personal training. Nicole Keith, Ph.D., Fellow in
the American College of Sports Medicine explains that online personal training
is convenient and effective.
Keith and a team of researchers tracked the
effectiveness of their own online group fitness program. They followed 40 previously
inactive adults who saw marked improvements in all physical abilities - with a
34-percent improvement in arm curls, a 31-percent improvement in the step test
and a two-inch gain in upper body flexibility."We
also saw mental gains." said Keith. "The participants began to
believe in their abilities during those eight weeks."
All fitness programs come with pros and cons.
While online training is accessible, convenient and affordable, it can also be
risky for clients who are not honest about their abilities. Still, Keith
believes online training programs are here to stay.
Have you used an online fitness program?
What did you think about it? | <urn:uuid:86c9fa38-79a2-4b6a-82ff-b7d729266885> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.junonia.com/2012/01/online-fitness-programs-growing-in.html | 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 | 0.941542 | 259 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Part of the Support for Family and Friends series
Paperback: £13.99 / $24.95
2012, 234mm x 156mm / 9.25in x 6in, 240pp
ISBN: 978-1-84905-243-6, BIC 2: VFJB JKSG
For friends, family members and carers of people with dementia, understanding the condition and coping with the impact it has on their lives can be extremely challenging. This book, written specifically for these groups, explores each stage of the journey with dementia and explains not only how it will affect the person with the condition, but also those around them, and how best to offer support and where to get professional and informal assistance. It focuses on the progressive nature of dementia and the issues that can arise as a result, and gives practical advice that can help to ensure the best possible quality of life both for the person with dementia and the people around them.
A comprehensive and practical introduction to the condition, this book is essential reading for anyone who has a friend or relative with dementia.
30 April 2013
Our latest catalogue on Dementia and Elder Care is now available. With full information on our new and bestselling titles, this catalogue is a tremendous resource not only for those working with people affected by dementia, but also for family members, friends and anyone who works with the elderly. The catalogue includes practical books for...
8 October 2012
JKP are offering 20% off new release Dementia – Support for Family and Friends by Dave Pulsford and Rachel Thompson to all delegates of the UK Dementia Congress 2012! To redeem this offer, simply print off the coupon below and bring to stand 15 before 12:00 on 1st November. To celebrate the release of this book, JKP...
21 September 2012
In honour of World Alzheimers Day 2012 Dave Pulsford and Rachel Thompson, authors of the forthcoming book Dementia – Support for Family and Friends, share their thoughts on a recent dementia survey conducted by BUPA Care Homes. If a member of your family or friend developed dementia and you found yourself caring for them, would... | <urn:uuid:c63cdffc-66c0-4942-96d9-0e0d029d4479> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781849052436?add_item=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936531 | 443 | 1.664063 | 2 |
"Welcome to a new world."
This was the theme of the JBoss World 2005 conference, held from March 1-2 at the CNN Center in Atlanta. This new world centers around "professional open source:" open source software backed up by paid support and consulting. In other words, the company provides the "professional," and the software delivers on the "open source" promise. In an opening video, JBoss founder Marc Fluery explained that "Having a product and having a business model are not the same thing." Much of his keynote address was devoted to explaining the JBoss business model.
Fleury opened his keynote by saying that "the only way to build a business is to listen to your customers," and that what the customers have asked for is training and support. In supplying that, JBoss has grown from two employees to 100 worldwide, creating a company that is cash-flow positive and has the most popular application server in the J2EE space.
Offering a sort of "state of the union" for JBoss, Fleury said that JBoss has made a critical transition from users "trying it out," downloading the app server and putting it on internal test boxes, to "rolling it out," or in other words, putting it on production machines and depending on it. This shift has created new customer needs that didn't exist under the "test it out" paradigm, such as a need for patch management, an assurance of safety and support, and "experts on call at 2 a.m." to diagnose and help fix problems in mission-critical systems.
Fleury contrasted open source and proprietary worldviews and argued that JBoss' model offers the so-called "best of both worlds:" the benefits of open source development, such as innovation, reliability, and access; and the benefits typically associated with commercial software, such as readily available support. The concept, he argues, offers a kind of "customer ownership" of their enterprise software--rather than buying software from a third party, or building it yourself, you enjoy all the benefits of ownership by having access to the source, along with paid support to set it right when something goes wrong.
Fleury encouraged the audience to start thinking of JBoss as more than just a J2EE application server. In this keynote, JBoss was meant to be understood as the JBoss Enterprise Middleware System (JEMS), a collection of well-known, open source Java products, pairing the popular JBoss application server with:
Along with several JBoss products, these are meant to compose a plug-and-play enterprise framework, allowing customers to take whatever pieces they need, employing useful integrations where appropriate, without having to pick up undesirable or unnecessary dependencies.
In describing some of these, Fleury revealed an increased involvement in these projects of which many in the open source world may not have been fully aware. "JBoss employees," he said, "are providing the roadmap and development for Tomcat." He continually referred to Hibernate by the term "JBoss Hibernate." A press release announcing the release of Hibernate 3.0 (PDF, 36K) makes this concept of ownership even clearer: "JBoss, Inc. ... today introduced Hibernate 3.0, the next generation of its market-leading open source object/relational mapping (ORM) technology." [Emphasis added.]
One appeal of the JEMS technical vision is its plug-and-play nature, and the willingness of JBoss to provide pieces that will run together, run on other application servers, or run by themselves in isolation. Fleury also claimed that J2EE is "over-complex" today, and that the JBoss technical leadership saw a great future in "plain old Java objects" (POJOs), arguing that POJOs are already bridging the differences between the major Java platforms: J2ME, J2SE, and J2EE. The company is also invested in standardization, holding a position on the JCP Executive Committee, and participating in several JCP Expert Groups, notably EJB 3.0.
Fleury announced the launch of the JBoss Open Source Federation, an online community for the development and hosting of third-party open source products that integrate with one or more members of the JEMS architecture. The site gives customers who've extended JBoss for their own needs a place to further the development of their projects, potentially offering everyone an expanded menu of products. But Fleury noted, "this is very much for profit; we're not going to be another SourceForge," as members must offer professional support, such as training and documentation, for their projects.
Fluery also announced the JBoss Network. Centered around a customer portal, the network will offer customers how-tos, FAQs, access to support cases, and automatic downloading of bug fixes, security enhancements, and other patches.
Concluding his keynote, Fleury pointed to an ideal combination of forces to continue JBoss' growth: widespread adoption and acceptance of open source software (particularly in middleware), a well-recognized name, leadership of key OSS projects, and a safety net for customers bolstered by a large ecosystem of JBoss adopters and a financially viable business model. "Professional open source software," he concluded, "is redefining the way software is build, marketed, sold, and supported."
Martin Fink, general manager for Hewlett-Packard's Linux Systems Division, followed Fleury, saying that the "Linux story" is becoming a broader "open source story," in that the root causes of Linux's growing enterprise successes can now be seen playing out in other fields. Switching analogies slightly, he said that Linux in particular, and open source software in general, are like the low-cost airlines challenging the more established, more expensive competition, defying expectations by delivering what is often a better product. More importantly, he noted that while the open source story began for many at the operating-system level with Linux, it has since become the paradigm for middleware like JBoss, and there are even inklings of open source becoming a significant means of developing end-user enterprise products, such as Medsphere and several open source CRM products.
Fink also noted an InfoWeek survey citing that while only two percent of businesses surveyed use only open source software, 35 percent use a mix of commercial and open source, and another 25 percent say they use a mix with a growing dependence on OSS. He also noted JBoss' application server market-share growth--from 13 percent to 34 percent in three years--and pledged further support from HP for JBoss, including HP customer service support for JBoss deployments on HP, with HP handling level 1 and 2 calls and JBoss handling level 3 support.
Next, Doug Fisher, Director of the Core Software Division within Intel's Software and Solutions Group, said that "Intel delivers a platform, and the community delvers value around it." The company's goal, he said, was to be the "platform of choice," regardless of the software chosen to run on it. Where JBoss fits in with this is that the open source building blocks, presumably running on Intel's hardware, provide the value-add that customers want. Also noting the poor reception that Intel received when they released some products without Linux drivers, he said the company is committed to bringing open source support to market "in a timely manner." He also said the company is working on major platform innovations, such as hardware virtualization support, dual and multi-core chips, and better power management.
The final event of the conference's opening was a customer round-table, moderated by Burton Group senior analyst and author Richard Monson-Haefel. The roundtable participants were:
Asked about the current status of their JBoss adoption, several of the participants said they had been evaluating it for a while and were moving into more significant deployments. Wright said that Ameritrade is "at the cusp of deploying many of our core apps on JBoss," with three applications moving to JBoss this month. The company is interested in moving some of its legacy applications to a service-oriented architecture, and has spent $2 million making sure JBoss is can support it all. Ripp said that ADP goes with options that are "dependable, reliable, and flexible," and that she had to convince her company that JBoss was up to the task. She said that JBoss "has proven itself" and that in particular "the uptimes are fabulous." Palino said that VeriSign has been testing JBoss "since the first boot camp," and has pushed out its first internal standards that are JBoss-based. Two VeriSign applications, one each in the telecom and naming realms, are moving to JBoss.
For many, JBoss is only part of the mix for their work. Ripp said ADP uses a wide variety, and that "we try to tailor tools to the application." Palino reported that VeriSign mostly uses WebLogic in production, and that in the long term he expected a 50-50 mix of WebLogic and JBoss. A key reason for this is security: "In security, diversity is very important," saying that if a critical security bug appears in one app server, it's crucial have another that isn't at risk.
Scalability was a topic where the open source JBoss was widely lauded by the panel. As Palino put it: "obviously, we have to scale, and JBoss means there's no per-CPU cost." Ripp said that her group has someone who is "addicted to servers," and that ADP has between 100 and 120 JBoss installs, supporting 30,000 clients, and 500 concurrent users in crunch times. Zachary noted that scalability primarily depends on your developers and their code, crediting JBoss with helping them find where to improve.
But can JBoss handle growth well? The panelists offered a guarded optimism: Zachary said that the reality is that as the number of customers increases, access to the experts will decrease. Palino said that JBoss needs to keep its focus on the app server and JEMS, predicting that as new people join JBoss, the tendency will be to try to take the company in a new direction, and possibly compromise what JBoss is. But being an open source company may offer a hedge against this; as Ripp noted, "I think JBoss has done well listening to the open source community."
After so much praise for JBoss, Monson-Haefel's penultimate question drew some very striking responses. He asked the panelists what their "commitment to JBoss" was. Wright reframed this strikingly, and in a way echoed by all the panelists: "our commitment is to our client base." Saying "we're technology agnostic," he praised JBoss for helping deliver value to Ameritrade customers, and predicted that JBoss "can compete with IBM and others" in the J2EE field. Zachary backed up this opinion, saying that JBoss' increased performance means his company can offer better customer service. Ripp said, "As long as JBoss provides us the means to take care of customers ... and as long as it's still fun to work with JBoss, we're committed to working with them."
Monson-Haefel's conclusion to the round-table could well be seen as an appropriate wrap to the keynotes as a whole. Summarizing the panelists' statements that they're using JBoss because of what it can do for them and not some kind of "religious commitment," he said "this corporation has really grown up."
Thus, what started as an open source J2EE implementation has now become a major platform, incorporating other technologies to build a more complete offering. And as the JBoss story has always been about the support as much as the code, the new announcements and the high level of conference attendance reveal JBoss not as a single open source project or even a company, but increasingly as a community of inter-related enterprise participants.
Chris Adamson is an author, editor, and developer specializing in iPhone and Mac.
Return to ONJava.com.
Copyright © 2009 O'Reilly Media, Inc. | <urn:uuid:ca69d934-1595-48de-9430-431f4509b9b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.onjava.com/lpt/a/5663 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968378 | 2,536 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Solar panels will soon help brighten the night a little in the Delmar Loop in St. Louis.
The Moonrise Hotel announced today that they'll be installing solar panels to power not only the illumination and rotation of the moon perched atop its building, but also operations in the Rooftop Terrace Bar.
“We are very excited about our new solar canopy,” hotel owner Joe Edwards said in a press release. “From day one, we have been committed to operating the Moonrise Hotel in a sustainable, eco-friendly fashion and this is one more example of our green efforts. It’s amazing to realize that the sun can supply all the power we need to run our Rooftop Terrace Bar.”
St. Louis-based Microgrid Energy will install the panels. | <urn:uuid:8ac9d72b-558d-4f86-90e8-d9855de85b4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/moonrise-hotels-lunar-sign-run-solar-source | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932944 | 168 | 1.703125 | 2 |
§ 3-6-1.2 Brewpub manufacturer's license. (a) A brewpub manufacturer's license shall authorize the holder to establish and operate a brewpub within this state. The brewpub manufacturer's license shall authorize the retail sale of the beverages manufactured on the location for consumption on the premises. The license shall not authorize the retail sale of beverages from any location other than the location set forth in the license. A brewpub may sell at retail alcoholic beverages produced on the premises by the half-gallon bottle known as a "growler" to consumers for off the premises consumption to be sold pursuant to the laws governing retail Class A establishments.
(b) The license shall also authorize the sale at wholesale at the licensed place by the manufacturer of the product of his or her licensed plant as well as beverages produced for the brewpub and sold under the brewpub's name to a holder of a wholesaler's license and the transportation and delivery from the place of sale to the licensed wholesaler or to a common carrier for that delivery.
(c) The brewpub manufacturer's license further authorizes the sale of beverages manufactured on the premises to any person holding a valid wholesaler's and importer's license under § 3-6-9 or 3-6-11.
(d) The annual fee for the license is one thousand dollars
($1,000) for a brewpub producing more than fifty thousand (50,000) gallons per
year and five hundred dollars ($500) per year for a brewpub producing less than
fifty thousand (50,000) gallons per year. The annual fee is prorated to the
year ending December 1 in every calendar year and paid to the division of
taxation and turned over to the general treasurer for the use of the state.
(P.L. 1992, ch. 472, § 1; P.L. 1996, ch. 100, art. 36, § 9; P.L. 1997, ch. 347, § 1; P.L. 2003, ch. 221, § 1; P.L. 2004, ch. 595, art. 30, § 1.) | <urn:uuid:7829a8e2-8243-4bd7-bbb9-9be604bcc47a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE3/3-6/3-6-1.2.HTM | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936362 | 445 | 1.570313 | 2 |
WASHINGTON--Coming from the territory for which Yasser Arafat is responsible, terrorists last weekend killed 26 Israelis, a portion of Israel's population that is equal to 1,240 Americans.
America is projecting power halfway around the world to collapse the Taliban regime because it harbors terrorists. It would be disgusting for America to call for Israeli ``restraint'' and to disapprove if Israel cleanses its back yard of Arafat's Palestinian Authority regime that welcomes terrorists except when, to distract America, it yet again promises to pass a few through the revolving doors of PA jails.
It is time for a novel approach to the war between Israel and Arafat's Palestinian Authority. The approach should begin with wisdom from a Donald Westlake crime novel mordantly titled ``What's The Worst That Could Happen?'' Westlake's amiable crooks want to rob a Las Vegas Casino, but don't know how. One of them says he has a lot of ideas, but Westlake writes: ``A whole lot of ideas isn't a plan. ... Ideas without a plan is usually just enough boulders to get you into the deep part of the stream, and no way to get back.''
The latest U.S. idea is to send retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni to pick up the shards of the last idea, which was to send CIA Director George Tenet to implement former Sen. George Mitchell's idea for a cease-fire followed by a cooling off period followed by ``confidence-building'' measures. The idea of the Mitchell plan is that neither side is to blame--neither Israel, which wants to exist, nor the Palestinians who do not want it to; neither the Palestinians who want to plant nail bombs on buses, nor Israel, which would prefer the Palestinians not do that. Rather, a mutual lack of ``confidence'' is to blame.
There is this much truth in that idea: the Palestinian Authority lacks confidence in Israel's willingness to commit suicide, and Israel lacks confidence that the PA will stop insisting on suicide as part of a ``peace'' agreement.
The idea behind dispatching Mitchell was to pick up where Dennis Ross left off. (Did you know that Donald Rumsfeld was special emissary to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 1983-84? There were many emissaries before him, and have been many since.) Ross' task, which he undertook with the energy and wisdom of a beaver, was to oversee the Oslo ``peace process,'' which turned on Arafat's renunciation of violence. That process has required lots of overseeing, considering that terrorists have killed more Israelis in the eight years since Oslo began in 1993 than in the 45 years of Israel's existence before that.
The idea behind Oslo was for Israel to ``take a risk for peace''--as though getting on a bus, visiting a pizzeria or disco, and walking down a street are not risky enough for Israelis. Israel would take a risk by yielding something tangible, control of land, for something intangible, Arafat's promises of peace. Israel did that. The current war refutes the Oslo idea.
The idea behind Oslo was to capitalize on the ``spirit of Madrid,'' an Israeli-Palestinian conference convened in 1991, in the aftermath of the Gulf War. The idea behind Madrid was. ... Does anyone remember?
You must remember this. On Aug. 31, Arafat, world's senior terrorist, did a star turn--at one point strolling with America's senior friend of terrorists, Jesse Jackson--in Durban, South Africa, at a U.N. orgy of hate directed against Israel and the United States and bearing an Orwellian title: World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. It was the kind of sewer of ideas that prepares the climate for the sort of things that happened in America 11 days after the conference opened, and what happened last weekend in Israel.
Now Israel should be as bold in its self-defense as America is being in its. In 1982, Israel drove Arafat and his thugs from Lebanon to Tunisia. He and his thugocracy have earned another expulsion from the eastern end of the Mediterranean. If he cannot control his territory, it is in anarchy and Israel must subdue it. If he can control it but won't, he has earned expulsion under the principle America cites in expelling the Taliban from power.
If expulsion strikes the U.S. State Department as, well, immoderate, here is a moderate version of the idea. When next the peripatetic Arafat flys off to visit world capitals, Israel should not let him come back: he cannot land in PA territory if Israel does not let him.
That is more than an idea. It is a plan. | <urn:uuid:68093f82-f7b4-405a-b503-01579795286f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/columnists/georgewill/2001/12/05/whats_next_for_arafat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959357 | 971 | 1.59375 | 2 |
We created Pandora to put the Music Genome Project directly in your hands
It’s a new kind of radio –
stations that play only music you like
Braxton was born in Severn, MD, on October 7, 1968. The daughter of a minister, she was raised mostly in the strict Apostolic faith, which prohibited not only all popular culture, but also pants in women's wardrobes. Encouraged by their mother, an operatically trained vocalist, Braxton and her four sisters began singing in church as girls; although gospel was the only music permitted in the household, the girls often watched Soul Train when their parents went shopping. Braxton's parents later converted to a different faith, and eased their restrictions on secular music somewhat, allowing Braxton more leeway to develop her vocal style; because of her husky voice, she often used male singers like Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, and Michael McDonald as models, as well as Chaka Khan. Braxton had some success on the local talent show circuit, continuing to sing with her sisters, and after high school studied to become a music teacher. However, Braxton soon dropped out of college after she was discovered singing to herself at a gas station by songwriter Bill Pettaway (who co-authored Milli Vanilli's "Girl You Know It's True"). With Pettaway's help, Braxton and her sisters signed with Arista Records in 1990 as a group dubbed simply the Braxtons.
The Braxtons released a single in 1990 called "The Good Life," and while it wasn't a hit, it caught the attention of L.A. Reid and Babyface, the red-hot songwriting/production team who had just formed their own label, LaFace (which was associated with Arista). Braxton became the first female artist signed to LaFace in 1991, and the following year she was introduced to the listening public with a high-profile appearance on the soundtrack of Eddie Murphy's Boomerang. Not only did her solo cut "Love Shoulda Brought You Home" become a substantial pop and R&B hit, but she also duetted with Babyface himself on "Give U My Heart." Anticipation for Braxton's first album ran high, and when her eponymous solo debut was released in 1993, it was an across-the-board smash, climbing to number one on both the pop and R&B charts. It spun off hit after hit, including three more Top Ten singles in "Another Sad Love Song," "Breathe Again," and "You Mean the World to Me," plus the double-sided R&B hit "I Belong to You"/"How Many Ways." With eventual sales of over eight million copies, Toni Braxton's run of popularity lasted well into 1995. By that time, Braxton had scored Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal ("Another Sad Love Song") in 1994, and tacked on another win in the latter category for "Breathe Again" in 1995.
To tide fans over until her next album was released, Braxton contributed "Let It Flow" to the Whitney Houston-centered soundtrack of Waiting to Exhale in 1995. Again working heavily with L.A. Reid and Babyface, Braxton released her second album, Secrets, in the summer of 1996, and predictably, it was another enormous hit. The first single, "You're Makin' Me High," was Braxton's most overtly sexual yet, and it became her biggest pop hit to date; however, its success was soon eclipsed by the follow-up single, the Diane Warren-penned ballad "Un-break My Heart." "Un-break My Heart" was an inescapable juggernaut, spending an amazing 11 weeks on top of the pop charts (and even longer on the adult contemporary charts). Further singles "I Don't Want To" and "How Could an Angel Break My Heart" weren't quite as successful (not that that's an indictment), but that didn't really matter; by then Secrets was well on its way to becoming Braxton's second straight eight-million seller. In 1997, she picked up Grammy awards for Best Female Pop Vocal and Best Female R&B Vocal (for "Un-break My Heart" and "You're Makin' Me High," respectively).
Toward the end of 1997, Braxton filed a lawsuit against LaFace Records, attempting to gain release from a contract she felt was no longer fair or commensurate with her status. When LaFace countersued, Braxton filed for bankruptcy, a move that shocked many fans (who wondered how that could be possible, given her massive sales figures) but actually afforded her protection from further legal action. Braxton spent most of 1998 in legal limbo, and passed the time by signing on to portray Belle in the Broadway production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast (a role originally held by erstwhile teen queen Deborah Gibson). Braxton and LaFace finally reached a settlement in early 1999, and the singer soon began work on her third album. The Heat was released in the spring of 2000, and entered the charts at number two, matching the highest position held by Secrets. Lead single "He Wasn't Man Enough" was a Top Ten hit (and an R&B chart-topper), although the follow-ups "Just Be a Man About It" (a duet with Dr. Dre) and "Spanish Guitar" didn't sustain the album's momentum as well as one might have expected. A brisk seller out of the box, The Heat eventually cooled off around the two-million mark, a disappointing showing compared to her previous efforts, despite yet another Grammy win for Best Female R&B Vocal ("He Wasn't Man Enough").
Braxton appeared in the VH1 movie Play'd in early 2002, and recorded More Than a Woman for release later that year. The singles "Please" and "That's the Way Love Works (Trippin')" announced Braxton's 2005 return with the full-length Libra, her first and only album recorded for the Blackground label. Initially a commercial disappointment, the album was re-released a year later when "The Time of Our Lives" -- a collaboration with the vocal group Il Divo -- became the official 2006 FIFA World Cup anthem. That same year the singer replaced Wayne Newton as the main performer at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Her show, Toni Braxton: Revealed, would run until April of 2008 when she joined the cast of the competitive reality show Dancing with the Stars. After lasting five weeks before being voted off the show, Braxton announced she would be signing with the Atlantic label. Pulse was issued in 2010. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi | <urn:uuid:789677bf-68a5-4522-a523-4cd2ae7a50c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pandora.com/toni-braxton | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97674 | 1,406 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis' Wikipedian-in-Residence Receives National Appointment
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is pleased to announce its own Wikipedian-in-Residence, Lori Byrd Phillips, has been named United States Cultural Partnerships Coordinator in 2012 for the Wikimedia Foundation.
Professionals from galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs) are increasingly interested in discussing partnerships with Wikimedia as a viable way to increase accessibility to cultural resources just as The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has done. It has also served as a creative way to draw new audiences to their collections in our rapidly expanding multimedia culture. In her new role, Phillips will help create an infrastructure to connect local Wikipedians with interested cultural institutions and to provide the resources needed to establish successful partnerships.
Phillips views her new responsibility as another way she can help the cultural sector share their resources freely on a global scale. “I’m excited about the opportunity to help other museums realize the success we’ve had at The Children’s Museum,” said Phillips. “By making the resources and tools created by those of us in the GLAM-Wiki initiative more accessible to other cultural professionals, we hope to make cultural information accessible globally through Wikipedia.”
The Children’s Museum has garnered significant attention in the online world when it became just the second museum in the world to host a Wikipedian-in-Residence (and the first in the United States) in 2010. In July 2011, it became the first museum in the world to include a Wikipedian on paid staff, when it hired Phillips. “It has been extremely satisfying for us to be able to extend learning beyond a visit to the Museum through a large, online audience,” said Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “This provides children and families with an avenue to explore parts of the Museum’s collection they may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience and to dig deeper into the significance and meaning of individual artifacts.”
“Lori has done an outstanding job of bringing our curators and Wikipedia editors together to improve articles in Wikipedia that relate to our museum,” said Angela McNew, director of websites and emerging media of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “Children and families around the world now have access to images and information about our museum objects that are written in their own language. We never would have been able to accomplish this without Lori’s efforts.”
Phillips has been involved in the GLAM initiative for nearly two years, carrying out a number of pilot projects that have served as best practice for museum-Wikimedia partnerships. Lori is also a graduate student in the museum studies program at Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis and has presented, written articles, and blogged for a number of professional museum organizations about her work with museums and Wikipedia. Phillips will continue her work at The Children’s Museum as she takes on her new role.
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is a nonprofit institution committed to creating extraordinary family learning experiences that have the power to transform the lives of children and families across the arts, sciences and humanities. For more information about the tourist attraction and museum, visit www.childrensmuseum.org, follow us on Twitter @TCMIndy, Facebook.com/childrensmuseum and YouTube.com/IndyTCM.
# # # | <urn:uuid:e1dab857-965f-4189-bcff-142beb330712> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childrensmuseum.org/wikipedian-in-residence-receives-national-appointment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949479 | 724 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Free, Family-Friendly Program Introduces Children to Ballet
The School of American Ballet will present free lecture-demonstrations on February and March weekends in Brooklyn and Queens in a family-friendly program suitable for children ages 4 and up. The 45-minute presentation entitled The Beauty of Ballet will illustrate how students develop into accomplished classical ballet dancers, alternating examples of advanced classroom training exercises with the performance of excerpts from ballets such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty. and The Four Temperaments. School of American Ballet faculty member Katrina Killian (a former New York City Ballet soloist) and advanced students from SAB will be featured in the enchanting and informative introduction to the art of classical ballet.
The Beauty of Ballet performance dates, times and locations are as follows:
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 2:00 pm
1:00 pm and 3:00 pm
Walt Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
14 United Nations South
(at Campus Place and Hillel Place)
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Free admission. No tickets required.
Free admission. Reservation required.
Call 718-760-0064 to reserve tickets.
SAB’s presentation of The Beauty of Ballet is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. | <urn:uuid:75d19e2c-0225-499d-961c-63ba5b5c666a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sab.org/news/school_news/sab_to_perform_in_3nyc_boroughs_.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932992 | 311 | 1.59375 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sought on Sunday to break an impasse with Republicans on how to cut the deficit and avert a debt default in an unexpectedly brief meeting at the White House.
The president’s gathering with leaders of both parties came a day after Republicans shied away from a broad $4 trillion deficit-reduction deal over 10 years and urged a focus instead on a $2 trillion plan that would rely mostly on spending cuts without the tax increases that Democrats are seeking.
Congressional aides predicted late last week that Sunday’s session would last four or five hours. Instead it ended after after 75 minutes.
More talks are scheduled for Monday and the White House said Obama would hold a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT before reconvening with congressional leaders.
Obama made clear at the start of Sunday’s session that they were racing the clock. Asked whether a deficit-reduction deal could be reached within the next 10 days, he told reporters: “We need to.”
The Treasury has said it will exhaust its borrowing capacity by August 2, meaning it will run out of money to pay all its debts. Republicans have balked at raising the congressional-set $14.3 trillion debt ceiling without steep spending cuts.
Failure to seal a deal by August 2 could put the United States at risk of another recession, Treasury officials and private economists have warned.
Investor worries about the debt ceiling were expected this week to put pressure on the U.S. dollar, which fell on Friday after a grim jobs report. In early Asian trading on Monday, the New Zealand dollar was near a 30-year high against the U.S. dollar and the Australian dollar dipped.
House Speaker John Boehner, facing a revolt from fellow Republicans over the prospect of higher taxes in a large-scale trillion budget deal, told Obama on Saturday he would only pursue a more modest package of deficit reduction.
The setback for the $4 trillion deal followed Democratic complaints to Obama — whose 2012 re-election prospects are tightly linked to U.S. economic health — that he should not agree to any reforms of popular entitlement programs that would lead to benefit cuts.
Christine Lagarde, the new head of the International Monetary Fund, said a U.S. default would have global repercussions.
“If you draw out the entire scenario of a default, yes, of course, you have all of that, you know, interest hikes, stock markets taking a huge hit and real nasty consequences,” the former French finance minister told ABC’s “This Week.”
(Additional reporting by Steven Holland, Tabassum Zakaria, Jim Wolf, Thomas Ferraro, Andy Sullivan and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Bill Trott)
Raw Story is a progressive news site that focuses on stories often ignored in the mainstream media. While giving coverage to the big stories of the day, we also bring our readers' attention to policy, politics, legal and human rights stories that get ignored in an infotainment culture driven solely by pageviews.
Founded in 2004, Raw Story reaches 5 million unique readers per month and serves more than 19 million pageviews. | <urn:uuid:10914971-d2c5-4338-9774-a79b96a6844d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/10/obama-lawmakers-meet-for-75-minutes-on-debt-impasse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954019 | 657 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Although Barack Obama was re-elected with nearly 52% of the vote, huge numbers of Americans see him as being other than a true American. It's not only that he's black, but many believe that he's a Muslim. For many of these people, if this were true, then it should disqualify him from President. Now the fact is, he's a Christian, but even so, we must ask the question -- why this fetish on the part of so many? What's behind it? Is there an element of racism? Personally, I believe there is. In fact, there is a great fear among White Americans that our hegemony is disappearing. Soon White Euro-Americans will no longer be a majority, and this seems to be driving this pining for an America now lost. In this essay from Sightings, Alexander Rocklin takes a look at this phenomenon and what it portends. It's a good piece, so I invite you to read and consider his voice.
Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion
The University of Chicago Divinity School
Religion Beyond the Pale
-- Alexander Rocklin
A July 2012 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reported that 17 percent of those surveyed thought President Barack Obama was a Muslim. These were mostly conservative Republicans. Assertions that Obama is a Muslim played prominently in critiques of his first campaign and during his presidency. For instance, former 2012 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reported on the cable news program "The O'Reilly Factor" in 2011 that he was investigating a possible conspiracy involving Obama's birth certificate, implying that it might reveal he was a Muslim.
Yet it was not only conservative distrust and right-wing conspiracy behind such categorizations of Obama. One of 2008 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s staffers resigned in December 2007 after sending out an email suggesting that Obama was a Muslim. Later, the Clinton campaign also sent out a photo of Obama in Somali dress (in which he wears a turban-like head covering) to the conservative blog the Drudge Report, though they claimed the distribution of the photo was not meant as a smear.
Why, beginning with the 2008 presidential campaign, were people insinuating or stating outright that Obama was a Muslim? What was at stake in this categorization? The accusation, in the context of post-9/11 America, that Obama is a Muslim is indeed meant as a “smear” by those who used the term for Obama (and the Obama camp’s vehement denial of those accusations showed as much). The Islamophobic use of the term as a smear implies that Muslims (including, by the accusers’ calculations, Obama) are not appropriately religious (Islam being called, in popular and academic fields, not really a religion but a “civilization,” a system of laws, or a political ideology, such as “Islamo-fascism”) or are “extremist,” to name two popular negative associations. There seems to me to be a subtle sort of social-constructive work going on with these allegations that have encouraged this popular (mis)conception, but also something revealing about the slipperiness of categories.
One can see a recoding or re-articulation of a certain value judgment in different, perhaps more acceptable terms: a “religionization” of racial difference. The accusers and spinners of conspiracy reworked their objectionable objections in other terms that would be more acceptable given the current political climate and racial politics. But it is not simply that those who oppose Obama in this way are really racist, or that they could only attack his racial difference in a coded language of religion. Something else is at work here.
This is not to say that critics who see racism in such “smears” are wrong. Surely, for at least some of those who accuse Obama of being Muslim, or of not being American, a racist recoding of difference is a key part of strategies to discredit him among certain audiences. However, such recoding was not necessary. Overt racism is clearly still alive and well—see for example, the overtly racist outpourings on Twitter after Obama’s reelection, or cable personality Bill O’Reilly’s more subtle “traditional America” comment. More than this, what is in evidence here, I would argue, is the way in which religion is constituted through (and helps to constitute) other social categories, such as race, class, national identity, and gender, among others. As one category shifts, so do the others. The categories of race and religion are contested and reworked in specific situations for specific ends and are mutually constituted through the social construction of selves, others, and groups. So talk about religion necessarily involves, implicitly or explicitly, the other categories that help to define it as a category within a specific context.
Through a strategic play of categorizations, certain groups construct other groups or individuals as borderline cases, which they then may push "beyond the pale," disqualifying them. Islam in the US today plays an important role in such othering discourses, used to describe what is beyond the pale: that which is not quite American, not rightly religious, not fully civilized, and not "white." The recent Islamophobic assault in Florida on Cameron Mohammed, a Catholic Trinidadian-American of South Asian descent, shows that it does not matter whether or not the target is Muslim, since Muslim has become another way of saying not American/not white.
"Little Voter Discomfort with Romney’s Mormon Religion." Pew Research Center. July 26, 2012.
"Donald Trump: Obama Birth Certificate Could Say He's 'Muslim' " The Huffington Post. March 31, 2011.
“Where are America’s racist anti-Obama tweets coming from?” Salon. November 9, 2012.
“Bill O’Reilly: ‘White Establishment Is Now The Minority,’ People Support Obama Because ‘They Want Things’.” Mediaite. November 6, 2012.
Feagin, Joe R. and Adia Harvey Wingfield. Yes We Can? White Racieal Framing and the 2008
Presidential Campaign. New York: Routledge, 2010.
Orlando, Alex and Erin Sullivan. "Victim in Pasco hate crime had gun, decided not to use it." Tampa Bay Times. January 5, 2013.
Alexander Rocklin is a PhD candidate in the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School studying the South Asian diaspora in the Caribbean. He is currently a Junior Fellow at the Martin Marty Center.
This month’s Religion & Culture Web Forum features “Medicalized Death as a Modus Vivendi” by Michelle Harrington. Harrington argues that "an unchastened practice of palliative care constitutes a modus vivendi in the political sense. Standardized assessments and interventions purport to provide a way of coping with the fundamental questions of human existence with only instrumental reference to the diverse beliefs of religious traditions; they threaten to homogenize and manage the patient and his or her intimates according to a generic spirituality that serves clinical norms and efficient social functioning." Medicalized death, Harrington concludes, "cannot do justice to the considered convictions of Christians who profess a faith formed around death and resurrection." Read Medicalized Death as a Modus Vivendi.
Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School. | <urn:uuid:31945b64-ccd6-440e-8464-d1ed38fe5c3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bobcornwall.com/2013/01/religion-beyond-pale-sightingi.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956598 | 1,547 | 1.710938 | 2 |
WAUKESHA (WKOW) -- Tens of thousands of gallons of milk could go to waste because it's stuck in the Golden Guernsey plant in Waukesha that shut down last weekend.
The milk, plus cottage cheese, butter and some eggs was never shipped out when the plant closed.
They're now controlled by a bankruptcy court appointed trustee in New Jersey, who says even though the products are just fine, they won't be shipped out, and they won't be given to the local Hunger Task Force because of liability concerns.
Milwaukee's Hunger Task Force Director, Sherrie Tussler, says, "It's disturbing to know that a dairy is closed in Wisconsin and it's full of milk and we're sitting here in Milwaukee in need of milk, a truckload of milk, and we can't get access to the milk."
Tussler says she plans to appeal to the trustee that there's a state law protecting donors of food products if they're given in good faith.
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Persons with disabilities who need assistance with issues relating to the content of this station's public inspection file should contact Program Manager Jessica Miller at 608-661-2794. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, at 888-835-5322 (TTY) or at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:28104f49-2fe6-4029-8f6f-7d386a932eef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wkow.com/story/20559896/2013/01/10/milk-stuck-in-closed-dairy-plant | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955058 | 316 | 1.640625 | 2 |
President Barack Obama said Sunday he is open to any positive thoughts over the ongoing budget negotiations, whether they come from prayer or vibes.
"I always believe in prayer. I believe in prayer when I go to church back home," Obama said at a press conference in Bangkok. "if a Buddhist monk is wishing me well, I'm going to take whatever good vibes he can give me to try to deal with some challenges back home."
At a stop earlier in the day, Obama jokingly told a monk, "We're working on this budget; we're going to need a lot of prayer for that."
At Sunday's press conference with Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Obama also expressed confidence about a fiscal deal, drawing on the democracy theme.
"Democracy's a little messier than alternative systems of government, but that's because democracy allows everybody to have a voice," Obama said. "That system of government lasts, and it's legitimate. And when agreements are finally struck, you know that nobody's being left out of the conversation -- and that's the reason for our stability and prosperity."
The president is on a three-day, three-country swing through Asia that will include the first-ever visit to Myanmar by an American president and conclude with the East Asia Conference in Cambodia. His first post-election overseas trip is intended to demonstrate Asia's economic importance, ensure positive Democratic steps continue, and reinforce actions taken during the last four years.
"Asia is my first foreign trip since our election in the United States and Thailand is my first stop -- and this is no accident," Obama said Sunday. "As the fastest-growing region in the world, the Asia Pacific will shape so much of our security and prosperity in the century ahead, and it is critical to creating jobs and opportunity for the American people." | <urn:uuid:fc10ee21-8d1e-4d9c-a52b-7cf034dd42a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wyff4.com/news/politics/Obama-welcomes-good-vibes-in-Thailand/-/9324082/17463280/-/15dl9wwz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96407 | 375 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Middle East arms sales, such as the massive $67 billion military package for Saudi Arabia, are keeping the U.S. defense industry in business. These days, with the Arab world in turmoil, two presidents booted out and a third fighting for survival of his authoritarian regime, that strategy is being questioned.
The wave of unrest in the region has given new weight to concerns that the vast arsenals of weapons the United States has sold to Arab states over the years could fall into the hands of anti-American forces.
That's what happened in 1979 when Iran's Islamic revolution ousted Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the Americans' key ally in the oil-rich Persian Gulf.
The mullahs inherited a U.S.-made armory, including 77 Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighters and 190 McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms, then top-of-the-line combat jets. The current political turmoil engulfing the Middle East caught everyone by surprise -- the Americans, the Israelis, the regimes themselves -- underlining the dangers that critics have been warning about for so many years.
So far, no extremist Arab regime has emerged although the way things are going that could happen. | <urn:uuid:57e3e960-2531-4513-be90-4c20ed8eb420> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/news/economy/18299-us-defense-industry-depends-on-mideast.html | 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 | 0.939767 | 243 | 1.742188 | 2 |
A heated debate developed the other day at the media launch of a new car which is utilising an engine, the origins of which can be traced back to the early 90s.
My theory is that so long as the design can meet the latest efficiency and emission standards, and it has been developed so that it has kept pace with a buyer's expectation of refinement and ability, then it seems a waste of resources not to use that technology.
Volvo are an example where an old engine is the basis for their latest product and there is nothing wrong with that, the inline five-cylinder engine which can be currently found in the newly-released XC90 has given the company sterling service and has become one of my favourites, simply because it is honest and has character.
The latter is more noticeable now than ever, in the XC90, the 2.4-litre diesel-fed unit is quite audible, there's no doubt the engine is working harder than ever before, dragging around 2125kg, and its output is bordering on what must the maximum given its design parameters.
Nevertheless, I have great affection for the five-potter, it's been the powerplant which has given life to Ford's Focus performance models, and it has spread itself widely through Volvo's own product, both petrol and diesel fed.
The XC90 is one of three Volvo SUVs counting the XC60 and XC70; XC, incidentally, an abbreviation of cross country. The XC90 is by far the biggest of the group and it feels like a big car, it's not cumbersome, but there is a lot of onboard space which translates to comfort, however, it has been engineered to fulfil the role of capable family transport with ability when the seal runs out.
With a generous 218mm of ground clearance the XC90 isn't disgraced off-road, it isn't a complete off-roader but it does have some prowess, the suspension is well firmed to cope with the rough stuff and the drive system is engineered so that grip is maintained at critical times. I took the test car on an easy Rakaia River track which had a solid boulder base and it eased through the undulating terrain with delicate throttle balance and gentle slow speed motion.
The throttle mechanism can be maintained to promote a moderate effect on the engine, power is transferred through a six-speed automatic gearbox and with a sequential shifting system, gears can be locked depending on speed required.
The latter also has its uses, avoiding hunting on hill work and for changing down when approaching a stop are some.
Volvo rate the 20-valve, twin-cammer at a healthy 147kW and 420Nm, it is turbocharged to provide solid power delivery between 1900rpm and 2800rpm, in that part of the rev band the engine is strong and willing, it's a bit gruff but it works to initiate strong acceleration and fluid drive through the transmission.
According to Volvo, the XC90 will accelerate to 100km/h from a standstill in 10.3sec. They also claim a top speed of 205km/h which suggests the engine is still capable of meeting today's performance demands.
It is also an engine which, in diesel form, could be regarded as a fuel miser. Volvo has produced an 8.3-litre per 100km combined cycle claim which equates to 34mpg. The trip computer was constantly listing around 9.4l/100km (30mpg) during the time the XC90 was in my care which wasn't that far distant, helped by an 8.8l/100km (32mpg) figure travelling at 100km/h, the engine turning over leisurely at 1800rpm.
I'm sure the average figure could be improved upon, I enjoyed the surge of the engine and constantly fed it with more fuel that what would probably be deemed to be the norm. But it is an engine which tempts the driver, and I couldn't resist.
At open road speed it cruises quietly and capably, the long flowing corners of Canterbury's high country don't test its handling ability. It's quite composed with controlled body balance and reasonable directional accuracy, given its bulk. It's fair to say, though, the suspension damping rates are set towards the hard side, there is enough compliance so that occupant comfort isn't jeopardised, but it has a far from soft ride.
And therein lies a little twist with the XC90, it is available here in two specifications, Executive and R-Design, the test car was the latter and it has what Volvo describe as sport suspension, comfort suspension is fitted to the Executive.
In terms of handling, I liked the sport set-up, the body is balanced evenly over the suspension, gravitational forces don't work against its composure in a corner.
In the tighter stuff the big 19in sport specification Pirelli PZero rubber (255/50) works hard to maintain composure, but there is no lack of grip and information of how the tyres are doing is well delivered to the driver.
Other R-Design features amount to mostly trim detailing and wheel style.
Four variants of the XC90 are listed by Volvo for New Zealand, they all land at $89,990, incidentally, there's a choice of petrol or diesel, the six-cylinder petrol engine is also an old timer but has been developed to keep pace with the competition.
Major features for that price include full leather trim, satellite navigation, four-zone climate control, Bluetooth/USB/iPod compatible audio, reversing camera and cruise control.
Volvo are strong on safety; column space doesn't allow comprehensive detailing, but one that I must make a mention of are the integrated rear seat child booster cushions. My kids loved them when they were primary school age, it's a quirky Volvo idea from the past, but incredibly functional, nonetheless.
And that is part of the XC's make-up, it is a family-friendly station wagon which can carry seven occupants with ease and in style. While it's price is out of reach for a lot of big wagon buyers, it is very competitive against other luxury SUVs. I'd have one just for the engine sound alone. | <urn:uuid:82957bc0-cf2f-4174-b34e-505e1bfd80f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christchurchstar.co.nz/news/family-friendly-volvo-wagon/1588936/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972522 | 1,293 | 1.664063 | 2 |
'Lord Of The Rings' lawsuit finally settled
What does this mean for the property?
Short answer? Here comes "The Hobbit."
Although pre-production and development have never slowed down on Guillermo Del Toro's "The Hobbit," there was a legal roadblock in place that could have derailed the film, and as of this weekend, that roadblock has been removed.
The lawsuit between The Tolkien Trust and New Line Cinema and HarperCollins Publishers has been settled, with the terms of that settlement being confidential. Really, this has always been about who got what slice of the profit pie, so the final terms don't matter to anyone but the involved parties.
I'm just glad this was wrapped up now, rather than dragging on and getting ugly. Money can screw up even the biggest "duh," and this was certainly a case where a lot of money, both past and future, was on the line.
Here's the full press release from this morning:
[more after the jump]
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tolkien Trust (a UK registered charity), New Line Cinema, and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. have resolved the lawsuit relating to the "Lord of the Rings" films.
The claim was filed in February of last year. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. and the trustees of the JRR Tolkien Estate were co-plaintiffs in the claim, which concerned plaintiffs' participation interest in the "Lord of the Rings" films released between 2001 and 2003. The precise terms of the settlement are confidential.
Commenting on the settlement, Christopher Tolkien said: "The Trustees regret that legal action was necessary, but are glad that this dispute has been settled on satisfactory terms that will allow the Tolkien Trust properly to pursue its charitable objectives. The Trustees acknowledge that New Line may now proceed with its proposed films of 'The Hobbit.'"
Warner Bros.' President & Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn said: "We deeply value the contributions of the Tolkien novels to the success of our films and are pleased to have put this litigation behind us. We all look forward to a mutually productive and beneficial relationship in the future."
The "Lord of the Rings" films produced by New Line are among the most successful films ever created and were released in 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively.
JRR Tolkien is the world-renowned author of works including "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit." The Tolkien Trust is a UK registered charity that has made grants to charitable causes all over the world totaling over $8 million in the last five years alone.
Throughout its history, New Line has created a number of enduring film franchises, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "The Mask," the Austin Powers titles, "Blade," "Rush Hour," "Elf," "Sex and the City" and "Wedding Crashers." New Line became a unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment in March 2008.
Hopefully we'll start hearing big "Hobbit" casting news soon as the film gets closer to production.
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This is one you'll want to watch as soon as you've seen the movieFriday, May 17, 2013
Plus we look back at a more spirited encounter with the comic actorThursday, May 16, 2013
The Channing Tatum/Mila Kunis science-fiction action movie is shooting nowThursday, May 16, 2013
Hollywood's busiest alien spends a little more time with StarfleetThursday, May 16, 2013 | <urn:uuid:625f1410-a832-4b84-a707-a83721b6dbf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captured/posts/lord-of-the-rings-lawsuit-finally-settled | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936965 | 1,189 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Vice President Joe Biden Thursday began a four-day get-to-know-you mission here as the guest of his Chinese counterpart, stressing the importance of the two countries working together to combat the global economic crisis.From the New York Times:
But the trip, carefully choreographed by Chinese leaders, got off to an awkward start when Chinese security officials forcibly shoved foreign journalists out of the conference room before Biden had finished making his prepared remarks in his meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping.
White House and U.S. Embassy officials, visibly irked, tried to intervene but were also shoved by the guards, according to those in the room.
Biden continued speaking, undeterred by the melee...
Mr. Biden [was speaking] nostalgically of his first visit to China in 1979, when he was a senator. Before he could finish his opening remarks, which had been prepared for officials and journalists to hear, Chinese security officers forcefully shoved foreign reporters and some White House employees from the meeting room. It was unclear whether there had been some sort of misunderstanding for the disturbance, rare during such a high-level meeting, but American officials declined to comment on the matter.In a related development:
A wild brawl broke out between Georgetown and a Chinese men's basketball team Thursday night, putting an immediate end to a supposed goodwill game that coincided with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the country.CNN notes that the "Bayi Rockets are an army team which plays in the China Basketball Association, the local professional league. Most of their players serve in the People's Liberation Army."
The benches cleared and fights erupted all over the court with about 9½ minutes left in the fourth quarter. The rest of the exhibition between Georgetown and the Bayi Rockets was called off.
Biden did not attend the game. On Wednesday, he watched the Hoyas beat the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons 98-81... Georgetown and the Rockets are scheduled to play again Sunday night in Shanghai.
The melee was the latest instance of on-court fighting by China, whose players have been fined tens of thousands of dollars by the world and Asian federations for scrapping with opponents.
Georgetown is in China on a 10-day trip which has been cited by the U.S. State Department as an example of sports diplomacy that strengthens ties between the two countries.
The Telegraph-UK noted:
Reports and pictures from the basketball match showed an unidentified Bayi player pushed Georgetown's Aaron Bowen to the ground before repeatedly punching the sophomore guard while sitting on his chest. Chairs and water bottles were also thrown [from the crowd] as the Georgetown players left the court with about nine-and-a-half minutes remaining in the final quarter.Moral of the story is: When push comes to shove, the Chinese really know how to shove!
In an indication of the diplomatic embarrassment, China's censors did their best to erase any mention of the unsavoury incident from the web, although as always in the age of microblogging, struggled in vain to keep up with the deluge of comments and pictures. | <urn:uuid:7d57bff0-1cb2-4acf-b674-771458de0ac4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://obamareport.blogspot.jp/2011/08/chinese-security-officials-shove-white.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978794 | 636 | 1.539063 | 2 |
What can be easier and more straightforward than yeast rehydration, right? Apparently not…
As I’m sure all of you are aware, there is an ever ongoing debate in the homebrewing community in regard to dry yeast rehydration. Some say dry yeast must be rehydrated before pitching while others just drop them straight into the wort. Personally I’ve always belonged to the latter school of thought and indeed have never rehydrated yeast in my life. My main problem with this approach is the idea of letting the yeast just sit in a cup of water for 10-30 or so minutes. Knowing the microbiological prowess of majority of homebrewers this step just screams “contamination” to me. I’ve even seen people say they just use cold water with some fructose in it because “bacteria can’t be active in cold water so there is no need for sanitation”. Another problem is that a lot of new brewers just boil their yeast when they do it by not letting the water cool enough before pouring the yeast into it and then freaking out that there is still no fermentation after 3 days.
Recently this topic caught my attention again and I decided to try rehydrating and show how I’d do it so that perhaps some new brewers would avoid making silly mistakes. As always if there is an error with my approach, I’d be happy to discuss. First of all there is a debate on water vs wort rehydration with evidence seemingly pointing in the direction of “rehydrating in wort kills a lot of the yeast while doing it in water does not”. Names like Jamil Zainesheff and Chris White are often mentioned and their experience and expertise sited. An interesting study HERE addresses this issue and though I find reports utilizing methylene blue vital staining dubious, I’m going to choose to believe this one because it seems credible, well composed and with good references. Perhaps some day I’ll repeat this and check with other stains (been aching to try Neutral Red and Phenol Red as vital stains lately) when I have a little more time and energy. Thus we will continue this little project under the assumption that rehydrating in water is better than in wort and its temperature in terms of RT vs 80⁰F has no significant effect on yeast viability. I think the reason why they die in wort is osmotic pressure and cell wall fragility. These guys are just waking up, their cell membranes are literally like a mesh so they are unable to control what goes in and out, and suddenly they are dropped into this sugar-rich and hop-rich environment and some cells are just too weak and couldn’t rebuild their membranes yet and get killed, i.e. they are unable to retain the water inside and it’s being sucked out by the relatively high sugar gradient outside, sugars rush in, hop acids and oils rush in and so on and so forth and basically poison or physically rupture the cells.
It is fortuitous that I recently came by a whole box of 30 autoclavable 125mL glass cell culture bottles along with some other glassware (they just kind of dropped into my lap as me and some guys were on our way out to celebrate passing our qualifying exams and advancing to candidacy, which also means that I was wondering the night NYC subway drunk and with a box of glassware later that night). For the next couple of weeks there was no obvious application for them until this dry yeast idea came into my mind. So, after washing them in boiling water and soaking in ethanol to disinfect just in case there was anything there, I filled them up with around 100mL water and sterilized in the pressure cooker at 15 psi for 30 minutes. Both Danstar and Fermentis recommend rehydrating in sterile water or wort that is 10 times the weight of yeast so 100 mL for an 11g packet should be good. After that their directions differ in that Fermentis recommends stirring/shaking while Danstar advises not to do it until later and also recommends feeding in a little wort at later stages to get it to the same temperature as the wort prior to pitching. What I decided to do is just rehydrate in room temperature sterile water as per Danstar instructions since I’m using their Windsor yeast and then pitch without the wort additions. After sterilizing the bottles with water in them they were allowed to cool to room temperature and then stored in the fridge until needed.
On the brew day one bottle was taken out and allowed to warm up as the day went on. During wort chilling the yeast packet as well as scissors used to open it were rubbed with alcohol to sanitize and minimize possible contamination and stored under UV light (yes, I finally installed UV light in my hood) until use.
Contents of the packet was poured into the bottle and allowed to incubate for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes the yeast turned into a paste-like mass. It was then gently swirled to resuspend and pitched into the fresh wort. Fermentation started much sooner than the normal 12-16 hours I usually see when just pouring the dry yeast into the wort. This would suggest that rehydration prior to pitching really is better for yeast survival. All in all this procedure barely adds any more time or effort to my brewday, especially if there are already bottles with sterile water available so I’ll continue rehydrating before pitching in future.
Let’s recap the protocol:
- Fill up culture bottles with ~100mL water and sterilize in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes at 15 psi. If such bottles are unavailable, one could use a small jar.
- Allow the water to cool enough to use or store until later use.
- Sanitize the yeast packet and scissors used to cut it with alcohol.
- Pour the yeast into your bottle/jar with sterile water and let sit on our table for 15-20 minutes gently swirling it once in a while.
- When the yeast reach a paste-like consistency gently swirl the container until homogeneity is achieved.
- Pitch into the wort.
- Let ferment.
- Enjoy your homebrew!
UV lamps and hoods are unnecessary and were only used since I have them. Just do it quickly and carefully at your kitchen table and you’ll be perfectly fine.
Hopefully this was an interesting and helpful read for some of you guys. | <urn:uuid:92aed185-12a7-42dc-a05e-35896bd6daef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bkyeast.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/yeast-rehydration/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967269 | 1,335 | 1.53125 | 2 |
I want to install Wine and need telling how to do it.
The Wine website gets me to the Suse 10.2 stuff OK, but then I'm presented with several lines of ?directories? but no indication as to how to proceed from there. I have a .repo file already downloaded to the desktop - do I start somehow with that?
Please help me; I have a lot of Linux jargon and procedures to learn, but I can follow explicit instructions Ok and can then learn.
Thanks in anticipation! | <urn:uuid:2ca64913-287e-4ecf-8733-2a26a8d90d04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/forums/showthread.php/18460-Installing-Wine?p=139247&viewfull=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965267 | 107 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The dictatorships of the 21st century maintain power by adopting the trappings of liberal democracy, says the author of a new book on despots and democracy movements around the world.
Russia's Vladimir Putin is a good example of the savvy modern dictator, said William Dobson, author of The Dictator's Learning Curve: Inside the Global Battle for Democracy, on Tuesday's edition of The Dylan Ratigan Show. "Last week, he went to the parliament, like presidents might, to have a law passed that would help squelch protests."
"It's important to understand that this is more than just a facade," he went on. "I mean, you could rightly point out that East Germany, one of the most totalitarian regimes of the Cold War, was the German Democratic Republic. That's what they called themselves. Now that was just a bland facade. These are regimes that understand that it's actually useful to have an opposition because it soaks up some of the dissent."
One of Putin's advisers, the shadowy Vadislav Surkov, has called this style of government "managed democracy" (sometimes translated as "sovereign" democracy). Here is how the British documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis described Surkov's theories:
Surkov believes that the truth is that the idea of democracy will always be an illusion, that all democracies will always be "managed democracies" whether east or west. So the solution is for a strong state to manipulate people - so that they feel they are free, while they are really being managed.
Dobson was quick to point out that pro-democracy movements in Russia and elsewhere are also become more sophisticated. "There's a very global, dynamic cat and mouse game being played," he said, "where each side evolves, employs a tactic of some sort, and then the other side responds." | <urn:uuid:ac9eaabb-b07e-4730-ade1-894b48765879> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://leanforward.msnbc.com/_news/2012/06/12/12189587-william-dobson-author-of-the-dictators-learning-curve-on-how-modern-tyrants-rule | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974118 | 375 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Friday, March 26, 2010
Spring is upon us and we’ve survived one of the severest winters in our history. County roads have also had to endure a season of freezing and thawing in addition to three major blizzards. That stress will manifest itself in the form of pavement cracks and those annoying potholes. Highway Services crews and contractors will be working all spring and summer making needed repairs.
Residents can easily report potholes online by going to www.montgomerycountymd.gov/potholes or by calling the customer service center at 240-777-6000. Provide details about the exact location -- the street address nearest the pothole or a landmark. During the winter Highway Services equipped foreman pickup trucks with cold patching materials to quickly address problems. Now that the weather is warmer, four pothole patching trucks work every day to make permanent repairs. Highway’s goal is to fix any pothole 36 hours after the time it was reported. | <urn:uuid:2312243f-cea0-46ea-9249-3147178e7b72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/News/Blog/pioBlog.asp?blogID=17&blogItemID=787 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951217 | 207 | 1.6875 | 2 |
About the Program
Science Research Fellows (SRFs) can major in any science (Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Computer Science, Geoscience, Mathematics, Physics & Astronomy, Kinesiology, Psychology). There are three academic components to the progam: HONR 191 (.5 cr) fall semester of 1st year, HONR 192 (.5 cr) spring semester of first year and HONR 491 (.5 cr) fall semester of senior year. In addition, students will complete 1 summer on campus doing a 10 week research project and a 2nd summer (or academic semester) completing an external research internship. See details of each below:
Research Experience I* (Fall) & II (Spring)
In Research Experience I (HONR 191), students learn the basics of science research--how research is different than that learned in a classroom setting, how science works-- which helps to develop the skills necessary for future research experiences. In you first fall semester, students are assigned to work with a science faculty member in small groups (5-6 students) on a research project which culminates in a group presentation. These projects are distributed across the science departments at DePauw.
In the students' first spring semester (HONR 192), science faculty members are matched with interested SRF students on an individual project which begins the preliminary work in spring semester and continues into the summer 10-week program (see below).
Fall 2012 Research Experience I (HON 191: Small Group Projects)
Archives: HON 191 Group Projects: Fall 2004-2011
*New Entering DPU/SRF Students: Please don't confuse the SRF 'seminar' HONR 191 (it's not a seminar) with your first year seminar course. The SRF-HONR 191 fall semester class is called Research Experience I and is taken IN ADDITION TO your other DePauw classes. Typically, the average DPU entering student takes 4 credits (for the average science student-- a math class, a science class with lab, a first yr. seminar course and one other class); however, the SRF student will have that extra .5 credit HON 191 class on Thursday afternoons, 12:40-3:30 pm timebank. You cannot register for the class yourself. It is a 'closed' class in which we must register you--only open to accepted beginning SRF students.
After (fall) HONR 191 and (spring) HONR 192, during their first summer in the program, students spend 10 weeks on campus as paid research assistants working on a collaborative research project with a science faculty member. The projects typically begin just after Memorial Day in May and end after the first week of August, with some much needed time off at the end of the academic year and before the new one begins. Students present their findings in a poster session at an open-university forum in mid- fall. In addition, project results have occasionally been presented at state, regional and national professional meetings, and a few projects have resulted in publications in professional journals.
Archives: Summer Research Projects 2002-2012
Students are expected to complete at least one additional 400 hour (10 wks/40 hr per week) research internship after their on-campus summer. They are eligible as early as summer following sophomore year through the summer following their junior year. Students can choose a semester long internship for academic credit or a summer paid internship. The SRF Program maintains a list of internship opportunities and will help students apply for these opportunities by offering resume and cover letter advice and a summer workshop on how to apply for externships. Students are encouraged to go off campus to a major research university, a government laboratory or a private research corporation. Some students elect to do their internship at a research location outside of the United States. Others may choose a continuing project at DePauw.
Link to Internship Pages Locations/ Contract/ Previous student experiences
SRF students close their DePauw careers by taking a senior-level capstone seminar in their final fall semester. The class provides the opportunity for the Research Fellows to share their research internship experience with other students in the program and to read about and discuss scientific issues that will be relevant to their careers after graduation. Recent class assignments have included writing original research proposals and designing projects to share their excitement about science with the outside world. | <urn:uuid:4b626904-120b-457c-b33c-f058a591ea9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.depauw.edu/academics/honorsfellows/science-research-fellows/about-the-program/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932645 | 907 | 1.523438 | 2 |
I recently came across this fascinating question else where on the net;
And, I too wonder how one would go about formulating such a search on either the command line or the GSE? I am guessing one would need to make sure of wild cards and inclusion list to catch them all."Is there any way to search for occurrences of third declension nouns in the Greek New Testament?"
Anyone have any ideas? | <urn:uuid:af427ea2-cc33-476b-b011-95d780980ccb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bibleworks.com/forums/showthread.php?5423-occurrences-of-third-declension-in-NT | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953447 | 85 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Shirley worked with ATD, mostly in the Surface and Sounding Systems Facility and the Field Observing Facility, for several years. "She was a wonderful role model, always eager to do things," recalls administrative assistant Mary Ann Pykkonen. "When computers came to our jobs, I thought Shirley would say, 'I'll retire.' Well, she didn't." On the contrary, Shirley became a whiz at TeX (pronounced 'tek), the complex word-processing program used in several NCAR divisions. "That's an accomplishment for anybody," notes Maggie.
ATD abandoned TeX in the late 1980s, and Shirley migrated to CGD, becoming a regular in the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group before it split off from CGD. "She helped us out for more than five years, especially with our Network Newsletter," says ESIG administrator Vicki Holzhauer. After calling it quits two years ago at age 79, Shirley returned to her original hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. "She turned 80 last May and came out to visit us again last summer," says Vicki. "She was like a great-aunt to everyone in the group--scientists, students, whatever. Her age was never an impediment to her getting along with people. She was incredibly adaptable."
ESIG dedicated its April/May 1996 issue of the Network Newsletter to Shirley. "NCAR really did come to be her family here in Boulder," says Vicki. Adds CGD administrator Holly Howard, "I remember her very fondly--she was energetic, vivacious, and had a very positive attitude. I thought the world of her." BH
Other issues of Staff Notes | <urn:uuid:bdfda94d-4172-4614-b17d-dcf942f448d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucar.edu/communications/staffnotes/9605/broach.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978961 | 348 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Metrorail will impose only the afternoon portion of its new peak of the peak fare surcharge on Monday. Commuters will get a few weeks' reprieve on paying the extra 20 cents during the morning peak, as the transit authority struggles to adjust its fare programming.
The peak of the peak charge, a new style of fare approved by the Metro board this spring, will eventually be imposed on rail riders who travel at the very busiest times: 7:30 to 9 a.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m. weekdays. While an earlier round of rail and bus fare increases took effect June 27, the peak of the peak charge required an upgrade in Metro's fare-calculating system, so planners scheduled it for the first week of August.
The upgrade proved even more challenging than Metro originally expected. The problem, according to the transit authority, was created by memory limitations in the fare gate technology used with paper Farecards. Metro said it needs the extra time to ensure that the technology can accommodate all the time periods and fares involved in peak of the peak pricing.
This should be done by the end of August, but Metro has not set an exact date for applying the morning surcharge. SmarTrip electronic fare cards are not subject to the same fare-calculating limitations, but Metro is going to treat all cards equally when it comes to imposing the peak of the peak surcharge.
This means that for most of August, a typical 9 to 5 commuter who makes two rail trips a day at the busiest times will pay an extra dollar a week rather than two dollars.
Over the weekend, Metro will place yellow, softball-sized decals on the fare vending machines that advise riders of the partial surcharge.
When the reprogramming is done and the reprieve ends, the paper Farecards riders are buying now will still work, Metro said.
While some riders are paying a buck a week extra, Metro stands to lose $200,000 to $375, 000 in anticipated revenue, depending on exactly when the programming problem is resolved
How to beat it
The peak of the peak surcharge will be assessed when you enter the rail system. It doesn't matter how far you ride, how long you ride or where you exit. That means that if you have some flexibility, you can save the money by entering the system earlier or later than the busiest times. So as of Monday, if you can go through the fare gate at 6:05 p.m. rather than 5:55 p.m., you'll save 20 cents. If you travel on the early side of the afternoon peak, and would normally go through the gate at 4:40 p.m., you could save 20 cents by sliding out of work a little earlier and going through the gate at 4:25 p.m.
Time is money.
If you're still with me, I can make the fare payment system even more complicated by listing some of the other changes coming up in this round.
On Monday, rail riders who use paper Farecards will pay 25 cents more per trip than riders who use SmarTrip cards. Metro had great success moving bus riders to use the electronic cards after imposing a penalty on cash fares. It's hoping for a similar outcome now with a rail fare differential.
Also on Monday, the cost of three Metrorail passes will increase. The Weekly Short Trip Pass will be $32.35, the Weekly Fast Pass will be $47 and the Transit Link Card for
MARC and VRE riders will be $102.
Cheaper SmarTrip cards
The one thing that will be cheaper is the cost of buying a SmarTrip card. On Aug. 29, Metro will drop the charge from $5 to $2.50. So as the transit authority pushes riders away from paper and toward plastic, it will be making the plastic cheaper.
I'm planning to review all these changes and sum up the seven-month string of fare increases for The Post's Commuter page on Sunday. Are there particular aspects of all this that raise questions or comments? Anything you'd like me to clarify? | <urn:uuid:43ef8baf-0cb6-43e8-b785-4db9756a4143> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/post/metrorail-delays-morning-surcharge/2010/12/20/ABusLGG_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956904 | 853 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Students in the Texas A&M Coastal Bend Health Education Center class learn how to bring down their sugar levels with some simple exercises during a class in November at the Del Mar College West Campus. The $25 classes include quarterly blood work, though few patients come back to check their progress.
Rhiannon Meyers is an investigative reporter at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times where she covers a variety of issues, from school district accountability to public health. Rhiannon is leading the coverage of the Caller-Times yearlong series on diabetes. She is spending the year on a Reporting Fellowship on Health Care Performance sponsored by the Association of Health Care Journalists and supported by The Commonwealth Fund.
Click here to contact her with comments, questions, concerns, story ideas or other feedback.
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NDEP's goal is to reduce the burden of diabetes and prediabetes by facilitating the adoption of proven approaches to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes and its complications. Learn more. | <urn:uuid:7885d673-b5bd-4068-ba3b-57b687ebb374> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.caller.com/photos/galleries/2013/feb/03/cost-of-diabetes-am-health-education-center/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93219 | 373 | 1.828125 | 2 |
An oak tree with a trunk of about 2 feet in diameter was uprooted at the Indian River County Jail Wednesday afternoon as a severe thunderstorm and wind gusts rolled through the county.
The National Weather Service in Melbourne had earlier warned of passing thunderstorms that could bring damage from winds.
The tree fell to the northeast, and brought down with it a waist-high chain link fence in the middle of the jail's parking lot. One limb of the tree that had broken off was removed from the parking lot and taken to an empty field to be out of the way, according to an eyewitness.
Jail employee Sherry Matthews said when the storm blew through, it sounded "like a distant freight train. It was real windy, and I looked out and saw hail was falling."
She said the storm hit at around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Wind gusts of 52 mph were recorded at the nearby Vero Beach Municipal Airport around that time, according to Indian River County Emergency Management officials.
"I was on the phone with my husband," she explained. "I told him, 'I think there is a twister coming through.'"
The weather service did not confirm any tornado in the area, or hail.
She said the storm knocked over a sport bike that was parked in the parking lot.
Initial reports claimed there was possible damage to the jail's roof, but Deputy Jeff Luther, spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office and the Indian River County Emergency Operations Center, said an investigation determined that the building did not have any structural damage.
“Someone said they heard there was strong wind, so the captain checked on it,” said Luther. “In 2004 and 2005, there was damage from storms then, so he wanted to be careful and double check. The captain didn’t see any roof damage whatsoever.”
Matthews said that a flagpole may have been knocked over at the front of the building.
“We are going to look through everything in the daylight,” she added. | <urn:uuid:d8c2507e-c354-442c-9ad2-6ecfc24991ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/sep/06/wednesday-storm-uproots-tree-indian-river-jail/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984256 | 420 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Piccadilly Circus is one of London’s most famous landmarks and sightseeeing attractions. The junction of five busy streets in the centre of London, Piccadilly Circus is dominated by huge neon advertising signs.
At the heart of Piccadilly Circus is a bronze fountain, topped by a figure of a winged archer. The statue is popularly called Eros, the pagan god of love, but it was in fact designed in the 19th century as a symbol of Christian charity – a monument to the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, a philanthropist.
Piccadilly Circus is often wrongly spelt as Picadilly Circus or Picadily Circus
Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly Line) | <urn:uuid:f8c63e47-298b-4cc8-be72-5516f7dcdd8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://london-sightseeing.net/piccadilly-circus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940341 | 161 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Checking on the welfare of aging friends and relatives while checking in with them for the holidays has become tradition for many. This season, families should add to their checklist a review of Medicare Prescription Drug and Medicare Advantage Plan coverage. The annual enrollment period for both the prescription and managed health care programs, which currently serve some 25.4 million, continues through Dec. 31. Plans' costs and coverages are changing. It's important that those who already benefit from insurance and those who would be helped by enrolling compare the 50 plans available to find the best deal. Although the federal government makes comparison shopping easy, older adults still might appreciate a helping hand or a computer-savvy partner in the process. Information about the 2009 plans is available in the "Medicare and You" handbooks that everyone eligible for the programs should have received in October, by calling (800) MEDICARE and online at www.medicare.gov. Individuals will need their Medicare number, age, health status, local pharmacy and detailed information on current prescriptions to compare providers. Low-income Medicare recipients may qualify for a subsidy to offset the cost of the premium for the plans. Those satisfied with their current plan don't need to do anything for it to remain in place for 2009. Checking up on this year's options, however, could prevent an unpleasant surprise when new insurance bills come due in January. | <urn:uuid:c93a26cc-df5a-4e3a-abd4-5978e49e087f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.southbendtribune.com/2008-12-09/news/26892712_1_medicare-advantage-plan-medicare-prescription-drug-low-income-medicare-recipients | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960047 | 280 | 1.5 | 2 |
While Gabrielle Ludwig's California junior college association uses a birth certificate as the determining factor of gender for athletic eligibility, the NCAA loosened its requirements in August 2011.
The new policies state: A trans male (female to male) student-athlete who has received a medical exception for treatment with testosterone for gender transition may compete on a men's team but is no longer eligible to compete on a women's team without changing the team status to a mixed team. A mixed team is eligible only for men's championships. A trans female (male to female) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication for gender transition may continue to compete on a men's team but may not compete on a women's team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of documented testosterone-suppression treatment. "As a core value, the NCAA believes in and is committed to diversity, inclusion and gender equity among its student-athletes, coaches and administrators," NCAA Director of Inclusion Karen Morrison wrote in a memo to the NCAA membership. "Since participation in athletics provides student-athletes a unique and positively powerful experience, the goals of these policies are to create opportunity for transgender student-athletes to participate in accordance with their gender identity while maintaining the relative balance of competitive equity within sports teams." | <urn:uuid:29d50b8e-7c60-41f2-9f1a-96516243c236> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_22132489/ncaas-transgender-and-transsexual-rules?source=pkg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94341 | 263 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Concept by international haiku poet Catherine Mair, Katikati.
Sponsored by Creative NZ, Creative Communities, Western Bay of Plenty District Council & Twilight Music Concerts
The unique and peaceful Haiku Pathway which meanders either side of the Uretara Stream was Katikatis Millennium Project, an enduring gift for generations and the largest collection of haiku stones outside Japan.
River boulders are inscribed with haiku poems written by poets from around the world by 2007 there were 30 of these. Also set into the pathway itself are winning poems from the earlier biennial Katikati Haiku Contests organised by Katikati Open-Air.
There are three access points to the pathway from the main road. One (for both vehicles and pedestrians) is immediately south of Mitre 10, another is down steps at the rear of the Katikati Library and Information Centre in the centre of town, while the third is just over the road bridge at the north end of the town. Kayakers can also paddle upstream and come ashore at the landing behind the library.
It is possible to do a loop walk from the carpark, crossing the haiku footbridge and walking upstream, then through the Highfields subdivision and returning along the river bank by way of the third access point (approximately 30 minutes). Visitors may also exit the pathway by the old oak tree, cross the main road at the pedestrian refuge, and walk along the river bank to The Landing reserve where there are three more haiku boulders. It is then possible to walk to the harbour via the Yeoman Walkway, or return to the Haiku Pathway along Katikatis main street.
Guidebooks to the Haiku Pathway, which include a map,are available at the Katikati Information Centre, Katikati Craft Shop and Books A Plenty in Grey St, Tauranga.
Click here for more information. | <urn:uuid:31b64565-9f61-450c-8435-5349bbba0f7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.katikati.co.nz/murals/text/haiku_p_way.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934549 | 388 | 1.835938 | 2 |
From Reverand Debra at Sexuality And Religion:
Yesterday, I blogged about the Catholic Bishops telling their married congregants not to use birth control.
Seems like the nation’s family planning program could be headed in that direction as well. The Bush administration yesterday announced its appointment of Dr. Erik Keroack as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs, the nation’s official in charge of the national family planning program.
Here’s part of the press release we put out:
“It is a cruel joke on low-income women in America who turn to the government for assistance with family planning services to place Dr. Erik Keroack in charge of the national Title X program.
Dr. Keroack is an anti-contraception advocate who has been serving as medical director of “A Women’s Concern,” an organization with an official policy that states “birth control…is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality, and averse to human health and happiness.”
This appointment doesn’t require an approval from Congress.
In the Washington Post, Cecile Richards (the president of Planned Parenthood) was quoted saying “The appointment of anti-birth control, anti-sex education advocate Dr. Eric Keroack to oversee the nation’s family planning program is striking proof that the Bush administration remains dramatically out of step with the nation’s priorities.” | <urn:uuid:c86ad23c-8222-41fc-a015-0b406542eb98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amptoons.com/blog/2006/11/17/bush-appoints-anti-contraception-advocate-to-run-title-x/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949031 | 303 | 1.578125 | 2 |
80s Return (growing severe risk into midweek)
- Blog Post by: Paul Douglas
- May 22, 2012 - 12:09 PM
74 F. high temperature in the Twin Cities Monday.
71 F. average high for May 21.
73 F. high temperature on May 21, 2011.
+5.8 F. May temperatures through the first 20 days of May are running nearly 6 degrees warmer than average.
1.32" rain predicted for the Twin Cities by Thursday afternoon.
90 F. possible Sunday afternoon, probably the hottest, most humid day of the holiday weekend - best day up at the lake?
Severe Risk Later Today. SPC has much of the Dakotas and Minnesota's Red River Valley in a slight risk of severe storms; the biggest concerns: large hail and damaging straight-line winds.
Wednesday Severe Threat. The greatest chance of severe weather tomorrow stretches from central Nebraska into southwest Minnesota. I suspect a few storms may approach severe levels in the Twin Cities metro by evening.
Extended Outlook. The wettest day of the week (according to the European ECMWF model): Thursday, with over 1.4" of rain predicted. Scattered T-storms are likely over the holiday weekend (big surprise); Sunday still looks like the hottest day - if the sun comes out Sunday afternoon temperatures may shoot up into the 90s. Saturday appears to be the coolest day, highs near 70.
"One of the new descriptions, written in cooperation with social scientists, informs those in the storm path: “You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter.” Another warns: “Complete destruction of entire neighborhoods is likely.”....“We were ringing the bell a little louder,” Hudson said. “That’s one of the lessons learned from Joplin".- from a Joplin Globe story highlighted below that describes the new, more dire and urgent terminology used by local NWS offices during "tornado emergencies" - when large, violent, killer tornadoes are on the ground, moving toward urban areas. Photo above: NOAA.
27 glaciers left at Glacier National Park. In 1910 there were 150 glaciers. Photo courtesy of USGS.
May 22, 2011 Minneapolis Tornado. Here's a good overview of last year's violent tornado outbreak in the close-in suburbs and North Minneapolis, from the Twin Cities office of The National Weather Service: "The severe weather season is definitely starting off in a big way this year, not only in Minnesota, but all across the country. On Sunday, May 22, there were 56 reports of tornadoes extending from northeastern Oklahoma, up the Mississippi Valley to northern Wisconsin. The strongest hit was Joplin, Missouri where at least 125 people have lost their lives and thousands are displaced from their homes. In Minnesota, there were reports in Fillmore, Hennepin, Anoka, and Washington Counties of tornadoes and property damage. Here is a radar image, taken at 2:19cst on May 22 that shows the pronounced hook echo southwest of Columbia Heights moving to the northwest at 35 miles per hour. Early estimates by the National Weather Service of the strength of the tornado in Minneapolis is a high end EF1 to EF2 tornado with winds between 100 and 125 miles per hour. The majority of the damage came from mature trees being uprooted and falling on houses and vehicles. Tragically, one man lost his life when a tree fell on his vehicle in North Minneapolis....The storms in the Twin Cities took on a familiar path for residents. On May 10, 2011 an EF1 tornado moved through St. Michael, Minnesota tearing the roof off a house and a severe thunderstorm-- close to developing a tornado-- moved northeast through the downtown area causing golf ball sized hail falling on players and fans at the Twins vs. Tigers game. This severe weather event was also caused by a low pressure system that developed on the lee side of the Rocky Mountains and took a similar track across Minnesota, thus leading to the similar storm paths."
Remembering The Tornadoes Of May 22, 2011. Here's an informative look back at last year's outbreak, the tornadoes that proved major metro areas are not immune to violent winds. Details from the local National Weather Service: "A 3-D look at the Minneapolis tornado from the Chanhassen radar. The "column of red" is a descending core of air moving away from the radar that can sometimes be seen when stronger tornadic storms are close to a radar (greens represent air moving toward and reds away from the radar). The first image where a column appears is when the storm was near I-394 and MN-100 (fourth image in loop), which is where the tornado touched down. This feature began to fall apart as it moved into Anoka county. This coincides with the tornado weakening as it moved through Fridley."
Tropical Depression Alberto. Weakened by wind shear, Alberto fizzled into a tropical depression late Monday, now pushing east, out to sea - not a threat to the Carolina coast. Visible satellite loop capable of CIMSS, and the University of Wisconsin.
Alberto's Track. In the end wind shear aloft was too strong for Alberto, which was downgraded to a tropical depression Monday evening. In spite of drifting over warmer, Gulf Stream waters (low 80s) strong winds aloft shredded the storm, preventing it from strengthening. Above is a map from tropicalatlantic.com, showing the projected track of the soggy remains of Alberto in the coming days.
Pond-size Puddles By Thursday? A slow-moving cool front may squeeze out an inch or two of rain on much of Minnesota Wednesday night and Thursday. Graphic: University of Iowa.
Rainfall Predictions. Once again the heaviest rains (over 1") are forecast to fall from St. Cloud to Crosby and Duluth. Some 2"+ amounts are forecast for the Duluth area, closer to .5" to 1" for the Twin Cities, based on the latest NAM model.
Outlook: Drippy Dew Points. The dew point (an absolute measure of how much water is in the air) is forecast to reach the mid 60s by tomorrow, possibly flirting with 70 by Sunday, up in the oh-zone. Neighbors and friends will be whining about the humidity by Sunday afternoon, no question.
May 19 Kingman And Harper County Tornadoes. Here's an update from the Wichita office of The National Weather Service; one of the tornadoes was a large, violent EF-3 twister.
Weather Service Implements Storm Warning Changes After 2011 Tornadoes. Here's a good article from The Joplin Globe: "JOPLIN, Mo. — The May 22 tornado changed more than just Joplin. It also changed the way people get information about severe weather and the way the National Weather Service informs people about the severity of storms. But one thing has not changed. Eric Wise, the meteorologist who gave Joplin 20 minutes to prepare for the seventh deadliest tornado in U.S. history, is still on the job at the weather service forecast office in Springfield. The Springfield native can recall May 22 as if it were yesterday. “I was watching three different radars — Tulsa, Springfield and Pleasant Hill — as the main storm moved out of Southeast Kansas,” he said. “At 5 p.m., it looked like it would be no more than a shower." Image above: NOAA.
Details On The Joplin Tornado. More facts from NOAA on the extreme EF-5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri one year ago today: "On May 22, 2011, one of the deadliest tornadoes in United States history struck Joplin, Missouri, directly killing 158 people and injuring over 1,000. The tornado, rated EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with maximum winds over 200 mph, affected a significant part of a city with a population of more than 50,000 and a population density near 1,500 people per square mile. As a result, the Joplin tornado was the first single tornado in the United States to result in over 100 fatalities since the Flint, Michigan, tornado of June 8, 1953. The tornado was rated EF-5 on the Enhanced-Fujita Scale, with its maximum winds estimated at more than 200 mph. The path of the entire tornado was 22.1 miles long and was up to 1 mile in width. The EF-4/EF-5 damage path was roughly 6 miles long from near Schifferdecker Avenue along the western portions of Joplin to near Interstate 44 east of Joplin, and generally ½ to ¾ of a mile wide along the path."
More Joplin Details. More information on the historic Joplin EF-5 from the NWS Central Region: "A large portion of Joplin, Missouri was devastated by an EF-5 (greater than 200 mph) tornado, resulting in 158 fatalities and over 1,000 injured in the Joplin, MO area. The Joplin tornado is the deadliest since modern record-keeping began in 1950 and is ranked 7th among the deadliest tornadoes in the U.S. history. The tornado surpassed the June 8, 1953 tornado that claimed 116 lives in Flint, Michigan, as the deadlist single tornado to strike the U.S. since modern tornado record-keeping began in 1950. The deadiest tornado on record in the U.S. was on March 18, 1925. The "Tri-State Tornado" (MO, IL, IN) had a 291-mile path, was rated F5, based on an historic assessment, and caused 695 fatalities. More information on 2011 Tornado statistics can be found at the following web site: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/2011_tornado_information.html
A Year After Joplin Tornado, Records Show Twister Was The Costliest Since 1950. Details from AP and The Star Tribune: "JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The cost of 30 manhole covers that got sucked away: $5,800. A new concession stand at the destroyed high school: $228,600. Shelter and care for more than 1,300 homeless pets: $372,000. The tornado that tore through Joplin a year ago already ranks as the deadliest twister in six decades. Now it carries another distinction — the costliest since at least 1950. Insurance policies are expected to cover most of the $2.8 billion in damage. But taxpayers could supply about $500 million in the form of federal and state disaster aid, low-interest loans and local bonds backed by higher taxes, according to records obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with federal, state and local officials."
Photo credit above: "FILE - This May 24, 2011 aerial file photograph shows a neighborhood destroyed by a powerful tornado in Joplin, Mo. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday, May 30, 2011 that it will consider bringing in trailers, as it did for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, if enough homes are not available."
Safe Boating Week. This is Safe Boating Week in Minnesota - details from the Twin Cities National Weather Service: "There are no specific warnings or advisories for lightning, but all thunderstorms produce lightning. A lightning strike to a vessel can be catastrophic, especially if it results in a fire or loss of electronics. If your boat has a cabin, then stay inside and avoid touching metal or electrical devices. If your boat doesn't have a cabin, stay as low as you can in the boat. Boaters should use extra caution when thunderstorm conditions exist and have a plan of escape. Mariners are especially vulnerable as at times they may be unable to reach port quickly. It is therefore strongly recommended you do not venture out if thunderstorms are a possibility."
|The United States Coast Guard's boating statistics show on average that 80% of all reported fatalities occur on boats where the operator has not received safety training. Learn about boating accident statistics.|
|There are a variety of life jackets and they are designed for different uses. Many drownings could have been prevented if life jackets were used. Learn more about life jackets and how to properly use them by visiting the Life Jacket Resource website. When out on the water - WEAR A LIFE JACKET!|
National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Next week is National Hurricane Preparedness Week, and NOAA has resources on Facebook to answer commonly asked questions: "As we get ready for National Hurricane Preparedness Week -- May 27 to June 2, 2012-- and as part of NOAA's efforts to improve communication about storm surge, the NOAA launched a new storm surge web site. Take a look…"
A Colorful Ocean. Here's an explanation from NOAA's Environmental Visualization Laboratory: "The average chlorophyll concentration during April 2012 is shown here using data acquired from the MODIS sensor on board the NASA Aqua satellite. Phytoplankton blooms can be seen all along the coastline of North and South America, and are monitored by NOAA for use in determining productive fishing grounds, managing coastal ecosystems, and identifying potential human health impacts from harmful algal blooms."
Only In Kansas. Here's a great photo (not for broadcast) from Mike Smith Enterprises Blog: "A just-married couple sharing a first kiss, bountiful ripe wheat, and a landspout tornado*. The photo, in Harper County, is by Cate Eighmey Phototgraphy and the couple is Caleb James Pence and Candra Kim Pence via Facebook. *The tornado is the bowed, narrow tube midday between Caleb's hat and the tree on the horizon."
Dan Rather: Corporate Media "Is In Bed With" Washington (Video). Monday's are tough enough without conspiracy theories, but this might be worth a look - I wouldn't dismiss this out of hand; details from Huffington Post: "Dan Rather slammed corporate media on Friday night, alleging that news coverage is guided by political interests and profits. The former CBS News anchor has recently returned to the spotlight, speaking out about his former employer and defending the controversial Bush National Guard story that ended his storied career at the network. On Friday, Rather appeared on Bill Maher's show to discuss his new book "Rather Outspoken." He spoke out about the controversy again, and stood by his story (his comments start at the 1:50 mark in the video above). He said that he was fired because CBS News caved into the Bush administration's demands."
Blind Chinese Dissident Already Sick of Kardashians. This headline could only come from one source, one of my favorite comedy sites, The Borowitz Report: "In his first interview since arriving in America, blind Chinese activist Cneh Guangcheng told reporters today that he is grateful to be in the United States but is already "sick of these Kardashians." "Who are they, and what do they do?" Chen asked. "I have asked these questions of many people, and no one will answer me. It seems to be some kind of state secret." After being monitored for years by Chinese authorities, Chen said he finds the omnipresence of the Kardashians "troubling". "It almost feels as though I have traded one kind of tyranny for another," he said.
Probable Cause To Impound a BMW? Check out the license plate, and the back-seat passenger. That's a dude driving that 3-series BMW convertible. I have nothing against poodles, but this is just...wrong. Thanks to Tricia Frostad in Chanhassen for passing this along. Another sign of the pending Apocalypse.
Paul's Star Tribune Outlook for the Twin Cities and all of Minnesota:
TODAY: Warm sun, windy. Feels like summer again. Storms north. Winds: S 15-30. High: 82
TUESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy and muggy. Low: 62
WEDNESDAY: Increasing clouds. Strong PM T-storms possible. High: 83
THURSDAY: Lingering showers & heavy T-storms. Drying out late in the day. Low: 65. High: 80
FRIDAY: Cooler. Shower, then clearing. NW 7-12. Low: 56. High: 71
SATURDAY: Muggy, heavy T-storms likely. E 10. Low: 55. High: 72
SUNDAY: Hot sun, steamy. Best day at the lake? Dew point: near 70 Winds: S 10-20. Low: 64. High: 91
MEMORIAL DAY: Less sun, few T-storms likely. Winds: W 7-12. Low: 64. High: 81
Aftermath. In March, 2000 downtown Fort Worth took a direct hit from a violent tornado, killing 5, injuring hundreds. Photo courtesy of "Restless Skies."
A year ago today was a violent wake-up call for people who still believe tornadoes can't hit cities. The same day Joplin, Missouri was leveled by a mile-wide EF-5 tornado packing 200 mph winds - a swarm of 11 tornadoes hit Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. The EF-1 tornado that touched down in Golden Valley and ripped up North Minneapolis was on the ground for 14 miles; half a mile wide, ripping mature, 100-year old trees out by the roots, damaging hundreds of homes.
It could have been worse. A 2000 Ft Worth tornado hit after rush hour, shredding skyscraper walls/windows, leaving 5 dead. Oklahoma City has been hit 112 times since 1890! If you live or work downtown you're not immune. The safest spot is usually a concrete stairwell or interior rest room. Take warnings seriously, and buy a NOAA Weather Radio.
The next 4-6 weeks are prime time for severe storms and tornadoes.
We heat up into midweek; the next frontal zone pushing more strong/severe storms into town Wednesday & Thursday
We cool off late week; another wave of heavy T-storms Saturday before breaking out into 90-degree sun on Sunday.
Memorial Day? Three guesses. Sticky with heavy T-storms.
Why Do Economists Describe Climate Change As A "Market Failure"? No, the (true) price of carbon is not factored into everything we purchase or use, as this article at The Guardian explains: "When free markets do not maximise society's welfare, they are said to 'fail' and policy intervention may be needed to correct them. Many economists have describedclimate change as an example of a market failure – though in fact a number of distinct market failures have been identified. The core one is the so-called 'greenhouse-gas externality'. Greenhouse gas emissions are a side-effect of economically valuable activities. Most of the impacts of emissions do not fall on those conducting the activities – instead they fall on future generations or people living in developing countries, for example – so those responsible for the emissions do not pay the cost."
Photo credit above: "Markets have made a calmer start to the week." Photograph: Tony Gentile/REUTERS
The Week Ahead: EPA To Hold Hearings On Carbon Dioxide Limits For Power Plants. Here's an excerpt of a story at Bloomberg BNA: "The Environmental Protection Agency will hold two public hearings May 24 in Washington, D.C., and Chicago on Clean Air Act new source performance standards that would limit carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. As detailed in a World Climate Change Report article, the proposed NSPS, issued April 12, would limit emissions from new fossil fuel-fired power plants with a generating capacity greater than 25 megawatts to 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. The rule is expected to further the power industry trend toward cheaper and cleaner natural gas power plants."
The "Great Big Book Of Horrible Things": WWII And Climate Change. This is an interesting (and vaguely troubling) article, from ABC News; here's an excerpt: "Sometimes, a little humor is indispensable. Matthew White uses it elegantly in the title of his fascinating new, big and easy-to-read reference book. “The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History’s 100 Worst Atrocities” is a bright door stopper and mind opener. That jaunty title, which often brings a smile to those to whom I mention it, even hints at one reason we may have evolved humor in the first place: A little sugar can make the worst sort of important news at least palatable, so we can swallow it, get it down to where we can try to digest it. And with a growing number of the world’s climate scientists now speaking publicly about the grave global “catastrophe” and the imminent “threat to global civilization” now building in the form of manmade global warming, White’s book offers a simple, painful lesson. It reminds us that humanity has often and recently failed to prevent collective calamity, even when many people can see it coming and try to warn everyone." Photo: Wikipedia.
Book It, We're Toast. The Fate Of The Species. Don't read this if you're already in a bad new. Alarmism? I sure hope so; here's an excerpt from Climate Central: "If you grew up in the 1950’s and early 60’s, you probably remember the faint air of existential angst that lingered constantly in the background. With the creation of atomic weapons, and the booming stockpiles of missile-mounted bombs in the arsenals of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., it seemed perfectly plausible that an all-out nuclear war could wipe out a significant fraction of the world’s population — the first time in history that humanity was capable of such destruction. But as Fred Guterl says in a sobering, important and highly readable new book, those were really the good old days. The nuclear threat has receded, he acknowledges in The Fate of the Species: Why the human race may cause its own extinction and how we can stop it (Bloomsbury: $25), but warns that “the success of Homo sapiens has created new and terrifying risks that didn’t exist a few decades ago.”
Arctic Melt Releasing Ancient Methane. Here's a snippet of a story from The BBC: "Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere. The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient gas could have a significant impact on climate change. Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2 and levels are rising after a few years of stability."
Photo credit above: UAF/Nature Geoscience.
* the actual research paper from Nature.com is here.
Pollution In Thunderhead Increases Global Warming. Here's a story from TG Daily: "Pollution is leading thunderstorm clouds to capture heat, increasing global warming in a way that climate models have failed to take into account. It strengthens them, causing their anvil-shaped tops to spread out high in the atmosphere and capture heat, especially at night, says Jiwen Fan of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "Global climate models don't see this effect because thunderstorm clouds simulated in those models do not include enough detail," says Fan. "The large amount of heat trapped by the pollution-enhanced clouds could potentially impact regional circulation and modify weather systems."
Can Global Warming Be Contained? A Multi-Media Answer. Here's a fascinating article from livinggreenmag.com: "Click on the link to see a thoroughly comprehensive infographic, a text version of the content, and a video highlighting key data on the infographic. Plus, you can answer their poll question. The infographic is fun, but read the text for details. It starts with a succinct description of global warming, and provides many interesting and alarming facts, such as:
- A reflection of the depletion of glaciers, the Glacier National Park in Montana, United States, has fewer than twenty-seven glaciers now, in comparison to over 150 glaciers in 1910. This is a decrease of about 87% in the number of glaciers.
- In 2004, it was reported that Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, is losing about 4 inches annually because of global warming.
Climate Change Hits Globe's Water Cycle. UPI.com has the details: "LIVERMORE, Calif., May 21 (UPI) -- The Earth's dry lands are getting drier and wet ones wetter as climate change shifts and accelerates the globe's water cycle, U.S. researchers say. Changing patterns of salinity in the global ocean during the past 50 years show a clear fingerprint of climate change on the shift in worldwide rainfall and evaporation, they said. Scientists with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California along with colleagues at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization say the Earth's water cycle has strengthened by 4 percent 1950-2000."
The Titanic, Climate Change And Avoidable Tragedies. That's a mouthful, but this Huffington Post article is a worthy read; here's an excerpt: "One of the most legendary maritime disasters was the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic. In a pivotal scene in James Cameron's 1997 film, master shipbuilder Thomas Andrews looks around the magnificent foyer of the grand staircase, swarming with frantic passengers. Rose Bukater asks how serious the situation is. Says Andrews: "In an hour or so, all this will be at the bottom of the Atlantic." The tragedy that was Titanic presents us with some sobering parallels to the great environmental challenges facing our civilization in the 21st century. Titanic suffered a cascading disaster in which sea water from one ruptured compartment spilled over the bulkhead into the next, inexorably causing the ship to founder. Analogously, as our ever-increasing human demands for energy, water, housing, transportation and agricultural land run up against the immovable iceberg that is human carrying capacity, we are witnessing the cascading failure of our fragile terrestrial support systems. Both calamities are the result of a collision between human over-confidence and the implacable forces of nature." Photo: Wikipedia.
Let's End Polluter Welfare. Here's a post from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at Huffington Post: "At a time when we have more than $15 trillion national debt, American taxpayers are set to give away over $110 billion dollars to the oil, gas, and coal industries over the next decade. Clearly, we cannot afford it. When the five largest oil companies made over $1 trillion in profits in the last decade, with some paying no federal income taxes for part of that time, they certainly do not need it. It is time we end this corporate welfare in the form of massive subsidies and tax breaks to hugely profitable fossil fuel corporations. It is time for Congress to support the interests of the taxpayer instead of powerful special interests like the oil and coal industries. That is I joined with Congressman Keith Ellison to introduce legislation in the Senate and the House called the End Polluter Welfare Act. Our proposal is backed by grassroots and public-interest organizations including 350.org, Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and many others."
Fracking In New York: For Farmers Gas Drilling Could Mean Salvation - Or Ruin. Here's a clip of a story at Huffington Post: "ALBANY, N.Y. -- When Dan Fitzsimmons looks across the Susquehanna River and sees the flares of Pennsylvania gas wells, he thinks bitterly of the riches beneath his own land locked up by the heated debate that has kept hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, out of New York. "I go over the border and see people planting orchards, buying tractors, putting money back in their land," said Fitzsimmons, a Binghamton landowner who heads the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York. "We'd like to do that too, but instead we struggle to pay the taxes and to hang onto our farms."
Photo credit above: "In this Feb. 2, 2012 file photo, organic dairy farmer Siobhan Griffin stands in a field with her cows a field at Raindance Farm in Westville, N.Y. While other states are reaping the wealth of the Marcellus Shale, New York has had a moratorium on drilling for four years while it overhauls regulations amid intense lobbying for a ban. Griffin, who raises grass-fed cows and sells organic cheese, doesn’t see gas as the answer. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)."
Fighting Climate Change With Low-Tech Tools. Another must-read article from Bloomberg; here's an excerpt: "In the late 1990s, regulators in some U.S. states began to make electric utilities sell their nuclear reactors to private operators. They weren’t trying to help head off climate change, yet they managed to do just that. Deregulation was supposed to bring down power prices. The sale of nuclear plants to nonutility owners, such as Exelon Corp. (EXC), was part of the process and was intended to serve that goal. But it also helped offset more greenhouse gas emissions in the 2000s than all of the wind and solar generation in the country combined. Increased nuclear output is an example of what I call “low- tech cleantech,” or the intelligent management of our energy infrastructure to make it more efficient. A small improvement in nuclear operations can have a much bigger impact than double- digit growth in renewable power sources for a simple reason: Nuclear reactors today generate far more of the U.S.’s electricity than wind turbines and solar panels."
Heartland Institute Facing Uncertain Future As Staff Depart And Cash Dries Up. Here's an excerpt of a story from The Guardian: "The first Heartland Institute conference on climate change in 2008 had all the trappings of a major scientific conclave – minus large numbers of real scientists. Hundreds of climate change contrarians, with a few academics among them, descended into the banquet rooms of a lavish Times Square hotel for what was purported to be a reasoned debate about climate change. But as the latest Heartland climate conference opens in a Chicago hotel on Monday, the thinktank's claims to reasoned debate lie in shreds and its financial future remains uncertain."
On Blogging, Comments...And Online Civil Discourse. Here's a portion of a post from St. Thomas professor and climate scientist John Abraham at The Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Environment: "A recent posting on The Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media website linked to a very long piece regarding climate change by Christopher Monckton. "As a practicing scientist, I recognize and value the role that The Yale Forum plays in furthering civil discussion on this topic. As a society, we have too few venues of this type where ideas can be discussed, solutions proposed, and our preconceptions challenged. It is not difficult to appreciate the dilemma faced by editors of sites like The Yale Forum when submissions such as that cited are offered, particularly when, as here, the respondent is addressing an earlier posting in which he or she was specifically named."
To See Climate Change, Watch The Sea. Here's an excerpt of a story at thestar.com: "THE Earth turns white when a change in large-scale ocean circulation triggers a sudden worldwide shift toward freezing temperatures. You may remember this apocalyptic scenario as the climax of the 2004 US movie The Day After Tomorrow. But how many of us are aware that the ocean can dramatically effect our climate in reality? In addition to well-known currents near the surface of the sea, such as the Kuroshio current around the coast of south east Asia, Japan and China, there is a massive global current that flows unseen in the deep, thousands of metres below the surface, called oceanic general circulation." Photo credit: Jefferson Beck, NASA.
Climate Scientists Say They Have Solved Riddle Of Rising Sea. Here's a clip from a story at Yahoo News: "Massive extraction of groundwater can resolve a puzzle over a rise in sea levels in past decades, scientists in Japan said on Sunday. Global sea levels rose by an average of 1.8 millimetres (0.07 inches) per year from 1961-2003, according to data from tide gauges. But the big question is how much of this can be pinned to global warming. In its landmark 2007 report, the UN's Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ascribed 1.1mm (0.04 inches) per year to thermal expansion of the oceans -- water expands when it is heated -- and to meltwater from glaciers, icecaps and the Greenland and Antarctica icecaps."
Climate Change As An Afterthought. Here's a portion of an Op-Ed from The Bangkok Post: "...However, there are certain steps that could make an immediate difference and that would involve little political risk. As the summit statement in Pittsburgh noted: ''Enhancing our energy efficiency can play an important, positive role in promoting energy security and fighting climate change''. The statement also said ''inefficient fossil fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption, distort markets, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with climate change''. This is a very important point, and it can be taken a bit further. Until the true costs of fossil fuels are taken into account, clean energy sources will continue to be at a great disadvantage in attracting investment. These costs include not only climate change but also the deterioration of air quality and the potential for more catastrophic accidents at sea, such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010."
© 2013 Star Tribune | <urn:uuid:7fa11484-88cf-44f1-b4bc-0a17989066a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=152220215 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941599 | 7,018 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Gov. Jan Brewer provides behind-the-scenes details in her new book about her handling of Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law last year, including a tense meeting with President Barack Obama and her administration's attempts to avoid being branded racist over the crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Brewer devotes much of the book to defending the immigration law, describing it as a fair, effective and necessary response to what she said amounts to Washington turning a blind eye on border security. She said her administration was aware early on that the state would face an outcry and allegations of racism, and responded by making what they thought were important changes to the law to minimize those concerns.
Brewer's 228-page book is going on sale Nov. 1. The Associated Press purchased a copy early.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wrote the book's foreword, calling Brewer a straight-talker who does what she believes is right even when it's difficult. The book is called "Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border."
Brewer focused heavily on her fight against Washington on the immigration issue, and the book hardly touched on her 2010 successful election campaign. It made no mention of an embarrassing pause during a televised debate that drew national attention.
Brewer blames Obama and his administration for fanning controversy surrounding the immigration law, which grew to include ongoing court challenges, mass protests and boycotts of Arizona.
The Republican governor said Obama, labor unions and other critics of the bill were serving their own agendas by mischaracterizing its provisions while trying to deflect attention from weaknesses in border security.
Brewer wrote that Arizona's illegal immigration crisis had been intensifying as the state became an attractive gateway for drug and human smuggling.
With fallout that included smugglers hiding immigrants in urban drop houses and engaging in shootouts with competitors, the state enacted several laws. That included a 2007 law, recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, to penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Brewer said momentum for an additional state response grew when an Arizona rancher was fatally shot about 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border in March 2010, when SB1070 was already working its way through the Legislature. Authorities said footprints led to the border, but the case is unsolved.
After the rancher's killing, it wasn't acceptable to do nothing about a crisis that puts the public, particularly border-area residents, at risk while burdening the state with added costs for schools, prisons and hospitals, Brewer said. She called it a "state of fear" that needed to end.
The law elevated Brewer to the national political stage and led to a meeting with Obama in Washington. Brewer said she had difficulty arranging the meeting with Obama, but that one finally was scheduled for June 3.
Brewer told reporters after the White House meeting that it was cordial and worthwhile, but she wrote in the book that Obama spent 10 minutes lecturing her about a need for comprehensive immigration reform. She said it amounted to a stump speech and not a useful dialogue.
The Obama administration later sued Brewer to stop the law, arguing that federal jurisdiction over immigration matters pre-empted the Arizona law.
A federal judge allowed some provisions to take effect but blocked others. Those blocked include a widely publicized one that would have required that police, while enforcing other laws, question people's immigration status if officers have reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally.
Brewer said she considered the federal government's lawsuit more of a challenge against the American public as a whole than just Arizona.
Brewer said she drew strength from prayer during the debate, but added she was troubled during one public appearance before a Hispanic group when audience members chanted for her to veto the bill. She said she cut short a question-and-answer period because no dialogue was apparently possible.
In her introduction, Brewer she had thought idealistically that she could cut through politics by proposing practical solutions. But she quickly learned that was incorrect, she said.
She wrote briefly about her relations with the Republican-led Legislature, saying GOP lawmakers expected her to rubber-stamp their bills after she replaced Democrat Janet Napolitano as governor.
Brewer said her vetoes changed that impression, but it still took her more than a year to win legislative approval for holding a referendum on a temporary sales tax increase to help balance the state's budget.
Voters overwhelmingly approved the increase in May 2010, providing Brewer with a major political win that, combined with public support for SB1070, set her up for an easy election win last November.
The book was published by the HarperCollins imprint Broadside Books. Her acknowledgements thank writer Jessica Gavora for helping Brewer share "the truth" on SB1070. | <urn:uuid:42d99664-2e55-43df-92f4-a02bce43f5c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/news/us/2011/10/20/ap_exclusive_brewer_touts_immigration_law_in_book | 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 | 0.978581 | 982 | 1.523438 | 2 |
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Health Insurance Tips
- Review your health insurance policy and make sure you understand coverage restrictions and exclusions. For example, health insurance typically excludes most dental benefits. Understand that if you have a medical condition that results in damage to your teeth, while the medical condition may be covered, dentistry to restore your damaged teeth may not be.
- Understand your responsibilities under your health plan. Have you selected a primary care provider (PCP)? Do you need a referral from your primary care provider for services and procedures your PCP cannot provide? Have you received written confirmation that a requested referral has been approved, or, if you need authorization before a written notice has time to get to you, have you called your insurer to make sure they have authorized the referral? Have you confirmed with your insurer that the services your PCP has made a referral for are services covered by your health plan? For example, your PCP may refer you for infertility treatment, but if your policy doesn’t cover infertility treatment there are no benefits available. Do not assume that if you request a referral from your PCP the insurer will pay for the referred services!
- Keep your insurance ID card handy. Don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call the number on your insurance ID card for assistance in understanding any part of your policy you don’t understand. Call your insurer if you get a bill, a referral, an explanation of benefits form or other document you don’t understand. Other sources of assistance include your insurance agent and your human resources department if your employer provides your health insurance. The Bureau is always available to assist as well, and can be reached from 8:00 A.M-5:00 P.M. through our in-state 800 #, 1-800-300-5000.
- Keep good files. Know where to find your policy or benefits booklet. Keep copies of any health insurance related documents you receive from your insurer, agent, human resources department or health care provider in a file you can easily locate. If you call your insurer, agent, human resources department or health care provider regarding an insurance issue, keep a pad of paper handy. Ask for the name of the person you are talking to and make a note of what you discussed, being sure to indicate the date and time of your call.
- Know your rights. You have a right to receive a response to a request for authorization of services within two working days. If your insurer denies a requested service on the grounds that the requested service is not medically necessary, your insurer must send both you and your provider a written notice explaining why it believes the requested service is not medically necessary. The notice must advise you of your right to obtain any clinical criteria or information relied upon by the insurer in reaching its decision. The notice must also advise you of your right to appeal the decision. By law you are entitled to appeal any health insurer decision you disagree with (not just medical necessity coverage denials). If you lose your appeal, your insurer must sent you a written notice identifying the names and credentials of the persons who made the decision and explaining the reasons for the decision. You have the right to the information relied upon by your insurer in arriving at their decision. You have the right to a second level appeal. You have a right to attend and be represented at any second level appeal. If you are not satisfied, you have the right to complain to the Bureau of Insurance.
If you have any questions or need assistance, don’t hesitate to call the Bureau of Insurance. We can be reached from 8:00 A.M-5:00 P.M. through our in-state 800# at 1-800-300-5000, or (207) 624-8475. Consumer brochures, complaint forms and other information are also available on the Bureau’s website at: www.maine.gov/insurance
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August 22, 2012 | <urn:uuid:7a68e799-9c78-4a30-bd74-04e3d85a6511> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maine.gov/pfr/insurance/consumer/healthtips.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941125 | 814 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Disappearing e-mail is a message sent using a type of distribution management tool for e-mail. A message sent with one of these products may disappear from the recipient's inbox, or may be still there, but altered by the sender. A user of the software can set various policies on messages that control a recipient's access to them after they are sent. For example, a user or company may stipulate a limit on how long a message will be held on the server, or whether a message can be copied, printed, forwarded, or saved. Some of the products allow a sender to retrieve messages from a recipient's inbox or to revise them, a capability that would be appreciated by a sender who had succumbed to e-mail rage or by an e-mail newsletter editor who discovered a serious error too late.
According to Omniva (formerly called Disappearing Inc), their product, Policy Manager, enables the electronic equivalent of sending a message written with disappearing ink: at a certain point, the message - which contains a stored encryption key that expires when the sender stipulates - is no longer readable. There are several other products available, including Atabok's VCNMail 2.0, Authentica's MailRecall. Larger companies, including Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook, are also including distribution management features in their most recent versions. | <urn:uuid:6d49d507-287b-4973-a871-1d61bdeb6fd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/disappearing-e-mail | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933126 | 273 | 1.765625 | 2 |
May 31, 2012 The U.S. economy added less jobs than expected in May. At the same time, the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits rose, and the number of planned layoffs in hit an eight month high.
May 31, 2012 Location, location, location. Economist Enrico Moretti says in his new book that it's more important than ever to move to areas with highly educated workers in order to find employment.
Jun 1, 2012 More long-term unemployed workers turn to food stamps and other government programs.
May 30, 2012 There are 12-step programs for things that hold us back in life: alcohol, eating. What about not living up to our paycheck potential?
May 29, 2012 Housing prices in March were up a tiny bit from the month before, but it is the first time in seven months that the data hasn't shown a decline.
May 25, 2012 Some point to the Facebook stock flop as sign of a slowing tech sector. Meanwhile, employment growth for unskilled workers in the U.S. remains stalled.
May 25, 2012 There are millions of Americans who've been out of work for more than six months. One woman shares how she stays hopeful.
May 17, 2012 The actual percentage of job losses by women the past three years is lower than the 90 percent Mitt Romney stated last month.
May 15, 2012 While the overall unemployment rate in the country exceeds 8 percent, some graduates in the right fields face an almost certain change of a job.
Heidi N. Moore
May 4, 2012 The government released its closely-watched employment report for April. While the unemployment rate ticked down to 8.1 percent, only 115,000 new jobs were added to payrolls for the month, well below forecasts. | <urn:uuid:7f0b24c8-68c1-41f9-83d3-19c95c7b0d13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marketplace.org/story/related/4084%205427/56012?page=10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937972 | 365 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Moved from MMRCA thread... assuming this is an appropriate thread.
Viv S wrote:
The IAF needs to enforce local air superiority (if not air dominance) and that can't be done from rear areas.
Are we still thinking of "Air Dominance" or even "local air superiority" vis-a-vis the Chinese? Is that a realistic or likely objective? Is anything more than "contested airspace" a realistic outcome from the IAF?
IOW, is IAF : PLAAF :: PAF : IAF?
(i.e. IAF isto PLAAF, as the PAF is unto IAF). Anybody has anything to argue for or against this formula? Is this true in 2012? Will it be true in 2020? What about 2030?
Viv S wrote:
Instead of outcomes over the battlefield as a whole, its better to look at it in terms of sectors or zones of influence. While maintaining air dominance or air supremacy, of the sort exercised by the USAF, is obviously out of the question, the IAF can enforce air superiority over friendly troop positions extending to the FEBA, and total checking of enemy air activity in a region... say 75 km from its forward air bases.
Coming to the PAF-IAF, IAF-PLAAF analogy, I admit I've mused over the similarity often, but I'm not convinced by it.
Firstly, the disparity in forces isn't as lopsided - in terms of fourth generation fighters the IAF's inventory is roughly speaking 4:1 against the PAF and 1:2 against the PLAAF.
Secondly, there's the technological superiority that the IAF maintains vis-a-vis both forces - the PLAAF because it can't access western tech and the PAF because it can't afford it.
Thirdly, the IAF is clearly the better trained force and by a considerable margin. While there's been an improvement in Chinese standards over last two decades (before that they were truly abysmal), its still constrained by being a very insular force. That PAF too while placing a strong emphasis on pilot training, is hampered by budgetary concerns - flight hours logged are still a function of the amount of imported jet fuel the service can afford (making foreign exercises too an expensive proposition).
The IAF on the other hand, not only trains hard but also extensively exercises with numerous friendly air forces. Also, Indian military as a whole remains more open and thereby more amenable to change. That often results in allegations like the CAG jeopardizing national security, but on the whole is preferable to the state prevailing in our neighborhood where uncomfortable facts are swept under rug.
Finally and possibly most importantly, the geography has not been a good friend to the PAF. Most of its assets are concentrated in a thin belt running along the length of the country 50-250km from the border. The IAF-PLAAF front on the other hand, spans a massive area with challenging terrain, making it harder for the superior force to concentrate its resources for a decisive result (as opposed to a slugging war of attrition).
All in all, at least in a single front war I'd expect the IAF to be able to fight the PLAAF to a stalemate - prevent it from significantly influencing the ground war while clocking a superior attrition rate. I don't believe the PAF has the capacity to do the same vis-a-vis the IAF.
(BTW this line of discussion is mostly off-topic, so its best pursued on a different thread.)
I agree that your reading of the current situation corresponds pretty closely with my own view. But what of the mid-term future? Say 10-20 years hence. The IAF/PLAAF matchup today is what the IAF/PAF matchup was 20 years ago. Will the next two decades end with IAF/PLAAF matchup reminiscent of the PAF/IAF today?
I will also note that all the first three reasons you state were the exact same ones proffered by PAF in the years gone by as to why they could hold their own against the IAF. PAF had roughly half the number of the latest greatest 4th generation aircraft as the IAF (F-16s, M2000 and MiG-29s). PAF had access to the qualitatively better American gear as compared to the Indian Russian/Anglo-French kit. Third, the PAF with its extensive secondment to the middle-eastern air forces etc had a better trained air/ground crew. Now it can be argued to what extent all this was true or not, but that was the argument. The parallels in the arguments are striking.
That was the situation in say 1990. In the next two decades the IAF really took off and the IAF/PAF today is more of a mismatch. PAF has gone from looking for air superiority to trying to maintain a tight air defense to now largely trying to make any punitive strike by India expensive. "Defeat" the IAF is not a realistic objective for the PAF anymore.
The primary reason for this sea change is that the Indian economy took off, while Pakistan's ... well not really. Today the shoe seems to be on the other foot. PLAAF is gearing up to face down the USAF in the coming decades. Let's just say that as time passes the IAF would not unduly vex the PLAAF planners or give them sleepless nights.
More than economies, the critical difference that will keep mounting is that the PRC is now an innovator itself and has a fairly mature (compared to India) aviation industry. India is still at high seas industrially and wholly dependent on high technology imports. Nor does this seems likely to change much in the next 20 years. | <urn:uuid:da6c2266-7329-4dc2-8f12-eef7e0f7984d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6312 | 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 | 0.962936 | 1,202 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Now comes the states' turn.
For the next few months, state regulators could play an important role in setting wholesale telephone rates if the Supreme Court decides, as many expect, not to intervene and extend federal regulations that require the regional Bell companies to offer their rivals deep discounts for access to their networks.
Under a ruling by a federal appeals court in March, the rules will expire next week. The odds of intervention by the Supreme Court to preserve the rules grew longer on Wednesday when both the Bush administration and the Federal Communications Commission withdrew from the case and sided with the four Bell companies. The new state power would derive from the fact that there would be no regulations on the books; thus any change in rates would be subject to commercial negotiation and arbitration overseen by the states.
But their authority may be short-lived. In the long run, the new position of the commission and the Bush administration could make state regulators the biggest losers.
Officials say that eliminating the older rules, as the administration and commission hope and expect to happen, will most likely lead to the adoption of new rules that will strip the states of the broad discretion that the older rules granted them.
On Thursday morning, Michael K. Powell, the chairman of the F.C.C. and a longtime critic of the regulations, told reporters that if the Supreme Court did not extend the old rules, the agency would soon begin preparing new ones.
''My goal will be to do something that will limit disruption and will be as simple and as easy to execute as possible,'' he said after a commission meeting on other issues. ''There is competition, there is going to be more competition. It's going to be better than what we had before, and I'll even go so far as to say that this isn't a prediction, it's a promise.''
Mr. Powell did not say what the new rules would look like, but he has repeatedly criticized a rate structure that he says delegates too much authority to the states. Commission officials and industry experts said they expected he would propose one national standard that would not give the states much latitude.
When a deeply divided commission approved last year the rules that the court struck down in March, Mr. Powell said that the majority had improperly invoked states' rights in a ''trivial misuse of a cherished constitutional precept.''
''The impulse to leave much more telecom policy to state commissions may run against the winds of technological change,'' he said at the time. ''Communications is converging; distance is fading as a meaningful construct in an Internet, cyberspace world; mobility is ascending. These are the circumstances that necessitate, at a minimum, a coherent national framework of rules. States can play important roles in such a regime, but I am of the view that primacy must rest with the national government.''
Regulators from Arizona, California and Michigan joined the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners on Thursday in petitioning the Supreme Court to extend the rules and reverse the appeals court. The court is expected to rule on the petition next week.
Earlier this week, West Virginia joined three other states -- Connecticut, Michigan and Rhode Island -- in prohibiting any rate increases without state permission. Other states are expected to issue similar orders.
State officials said that they expected the Bell companies -- Verizon Communications, SBC Communications, BellSouth and Qwest Communications -- to slowly raise their wholesale rates. Efforts by the federal government to pre-empt state authority could prove nettlesome for consumers, the officials said. | <urn:uuid:41a6505d-580b-4c30-90fa-4178fb7da126> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/business/technology-states-big-role-in-phone-rates-may-be-only-a-cameo.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963704 | 711 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The announcement of Windows Azure a week ago at Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2008 marked the second time this year that I've had to reflect on what it's like to get what you wish for. (The first, of course, was Microsoft's decision to make Internet Explorer 8 render Web pages in standards mode, which has resulted in massive incompatibilities for that browser.) You see, I've been a huge proponent of cloud computing solutions for some time now. And yet, with Microsoft finally moving beyond its previous tentative steps into this new computing model, I'm suddenly fearful that the company is moving too fast.
Windows Azure, as the lowest level of this platform is now called, is big. Very big. Very big and very complex. It is both wide and deep, confusing and new, but in a scary way. But you don't have to take my word for it. Just examine Microsoft's own press release for Windows Azure, and you'll note that the phrase "Windows Azure" doesn't appear until over 370 words into the release. If you watched last Monday's PDC keynote, you may also notice that it took Ray Ozzie approximately 30 minutes of preparatory explanation before he finally unveiled that Microsoft was indeed releasing something called Windows Azure. This is a product that defies any simple explanation.
So let's see if I can step back and try to work through a description of Windows Azure in a way that will be approachable by mere mortals. Looking at Microsoft from a mile high view, we see a very complex company. It sells desktop software solutions, server software solutions, online services, digital media, video game and entertainment solutions, PC accessory hardware, and other products and services. Most people are familiar with the notion of Windows being a desktop operating system, and understand that applications run on top of Windows, and that both Windows and its applications can interact with server systems, portable devices and other hardware, and online services. Windows is a platform, but its only one of many platforms that Microsoft makes. Indeed, Microsoft could very easily be described as a platforms company. Platforms are something that Microsoft does quite well.
Windows Azure is the foundation, or lowest functional level, of a new Microsoft platform with the awkward name of Azure Services Platform. Microsoft describes it as a cloud-based operating system that provides the development, run-time, and environment for the Azure Services Platform. That sounds confusing, but remember that desktop versions of Windows, like Windows Vista, can be said to provide the development, run-time, and environment for the applications and services that run on top of them. Azure, like desktop Windows, can be targeted by developers, who can create applications and services that run on top of this OS.
When people think of cloud computing, they often envision some sort of nebulous Internet cloud, which is vague enough to cause old timers some concern. But cloud computing basically means "hosted elsewhere" rather than hosted on-site. And scary or not, you're most likely taking advantage of some cloud services today. For example, Web-based email services like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail are all cloud computing services because they are hosted elsewhere (i.e. "up in the cloud"). So are services like Facebook, Flickr, and Google Docs. To a growing generation of young computer users, cloud computing solutions define virtually their entire computing experience.
Microsoft's move to cloud computing has been in the works for some time. One obvious example of this transition is Exchange, the company's corporate-oriented email solution. Exchange has traditionally been offered as an on-site (or "on-premise") software install. That is, Exchange is something that a company's administrators and IT pros need to install, deploy, and manage. More recently, Microsoft has begun offering Exchange as a hosted services, first through partners and then through its own data centers. In such a hosted scenario, Exchange is being offered as a cloud computing service because it is hosted (and managed) elsewhere. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach, and because Microsoft knows that not all companies will simply move to this model, it also provides "federation" capabilities that allow on-site Exchange servers to interact with hosted (cloud-based) Exchange servers as if they were in the same environment. Again, Microsoft gets platforms, and its experience here will pay off as it moves to a more cloud computing-centric business model.
Windows Azure and the wider Azure Services Platform take this model to its logical extreme. As part of this upcoming platform, Microsoft will offer its business customers two choices for all of its server offerings. They will be able to install, deploy, and manage local server products on-site as always. Or they can access hosted versions of the servers, as services, up in the Azure cloud. (OK, there's a third option: They can mix and match as needed as well.)
In the context of Windows Azure and the Azure Services Platform, the "cloud" is Microsoft's own datacenters. The software giant will be responsible for hosting, updating, and managing all of the hardware, virtualization, and software resources needed to serve its customers. It will offer what it calls "five nines" of reliability, or 99.999 percent uptime, through a service level agreement (SLA) with its customers. And it expects, over time, that most of its corporate sales, which are already on a subscription model of sorts, will migrate to the cloud over time.
Naturally, there's a lot more going on with Azure. In the next part of this preview, I'll dig a bit deeper and examine the parts that make up this frightening--but exciting--new platform. | <urn:uuid:d77fd162-307c-479f-9e6d-259072b635c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://winsupersite.com/cloud/windows-azure-preview-part-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958317 | 1,163 | 1.710938 | 2 |
With the rise of social media, and its power to harness “the voice of the crowd” to effect change, it’s become easier to enlist the masses to support a cause. That new-found ability should not enable us to set aside our ethics because the technology is new. The same rules against bullying and using people in need still apply.
Take the case of the Denton, Texas Travel Center’s flagpole. As described here by Bud Kennedy in the Fort Worth, Texas Star-Telegram, their flagpole (unused for ten years) was spotted by an Oklahoma country singer who I will not name here. He shot a video describing the problem of having an empty flagpole in that particular area (The United States, specifically Texas) while engaged in that particular business (serving travelers through that area). In the process of trying to get a flag raised, he recorded the whole confrontation, including a company employee lowering the flag this fellow hung while trespassing. He edited it into a YouTube video with appropriately supportive music. As the video went viral, calls for a boycott ensued, and, in the end, the corporation apologized. There’s a new flag up, too. So now the boycotters are not boycotting, the Oklahoma country singer got his name in the paper and a bunch of pageviews for his YouTube video for resolving an issue that wasn’t an issue until he made it an issue. So now everything’s okay, right?
Well, how about organ donation? In this release from earlier this year, the CEO of Facebook announced a new feature: you can now add your organ donation status to your Facebook timeline. Never mind the fact that you could, if you chose, list that information in your profile in prose. Now there is a button to push, a category to add. And a brand new thing to insist upon if you were going to be Facebook friends with someone, a requirement for contact, a method of exclusion. While that was not the CEO’s intention, I’m sure, these things do happen. And this announcement was made, by the way, just a couple of weeks before the IPO for Facebook went live. The personal gain from the release is debatable, but if any publicity is good publicity….
I’m not against flying the flag, but I’m also not against an empty flagpole, particularly if it’s broken. I’m not against public confirmation of organ donation status, but I’m also not against keeping that information quiet. I’m not against a little gratuitous PR (oh look! this is my blog!), but I am of the opinion that if you’re actually interested in doing good for more than just yourself, publicizing your actions takes up time and energy that you could be using to do more good. So does filming. And YouTube videos. And reprogramming a social networking website with millions of members.
I am against mass pressure to do something you don’t want to do when refusal is completely acceptable. Admittedly though, there are causes you favor no matter who benefits most. Where do we draw the line? Simple: it’s the answer to the question “who’s getting used?” | <urn:uuid:d48a1636-1b66-434f-bfd1-4b82c00e381b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://johnchristianhager.com/tag/bullying/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951051 | 676 | 1.5 | 2 |
Federal Pell Grant: The maximum award for 2012-2013 is $5,550.
A Federal Pell Grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid. Federal Pell Grants usually are awarded only to undergraduate students who have not earned a bachelor's or a professional degree. (In some cases, however, a student enrolled in a postbaccalaureate teacher certification program might receive a Federal Pell Grant.) You are not eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant if you are incarcerated in a federal or state penal institution or are subject to an involuntary civil commitment upon completion of a period of incarceration for a forcible or nonforcible sexual offense.
How much money can I get?
Amounts can change yearly. The maximum Federal Pell Grant award is $5,550 for the 2012–13 award year (July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013). The amount you get, though, will depend on
- your financial need,
- your cost of attendance,
- your status as a full-time or part-time student, and
- your plans to attend school for a full academic year or less.
You may not receive Federal Pell Grant funds from more than one school at a time.
Effective on July 1, 2012, you can receive the Federal Pell Grant for no more than 12 semesters or the equivalent. You’ll receive a notice if you’re getting close to your limit. If you have any questions, contact your financial aid office.
If you’re eligible for a Federal Pell Grant, you’ll receive the full amount you qualify for—each school participating in the program receives enough funds each year from the U.S. Department of Education to pay the Federal Pell Grant amounts for all its eligible students. The amount of any other student aid for which you might qualify does not affect the amount of your Federal Pell Grant.
How is my Federal Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used calculated?
Scheduled award: The maximum amount of Federal Pell Grant funding you can receive is calculated for an award year. An award year is a period from July 1 of one calendar year to June 30 of the next calendar year.
Your scheduled award
- is partially determined by using your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that is calculated from the information you (and your family) provided when you filed your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSASM);
- is the maximum amount you would be able to receive for the award year if you were enrolled full-time for the full school year; and
- represents 100% of your Pell Grant eligibility for that award year.
Percent used: To determine how much of the maximum six years (600%) of Pell Grant you have used each year, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) compares the actual amount you received for the award year with your scheduled award amount for that award year. Of course, if you receive the full amount of your scheduled award, you will have used 100%. It’s possible that you might not receive your entire scheduled award for an award year. There are a number of reasons for this, the most common of which are that you are not enrolled for the full year or that you are not enrolled full-time, or both.
If you did not receive the full amount of your scheduled award, we calculate the percentage of the scheduled award that you did receive. For example, if your scheduled award for an award year is $5,000, but because you were enrolled for only one semester you received only $2,500, you would have received 50% of the scheduled award for that award year. Or if you received only $3,750 for the award year because you were enrolled three-quarter-time and not full-time, you would have received 75% for that year.
Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU): ED keeps track of your LEU by adding together the percentages of your Pell Grant scheduled awards that you received for each award year. The table below shows examples of the LEUs of three students who received differing amounts of their scheduled awards over a four-year period.
How can I see my Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) percentage?
Infomration from http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/PellLimit.jsp. | <urn:uuid:c74da314-734c-4918-a392-64cc5797285c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ciu.edu/print/8756 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964558 | 898 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Our first trip to Ireland was a frenetic long weekend in Dublin where we proceeded to run about the city in order to see and do as much as possible. We weren’t able to explore the Irish countryside like we had wanted, so we planned a brief day trip outside of Dublin to get a taste of the famed Irish countryside.
Malahide Castle sites on 250 acres of land just outside the seaside town of Malahide, which is less than ten miles from Dublin. As you approach the castle, it looks exactly like a castle should. In fact, it looked a little too much like a Disney version and I was worried that it was all a reproduction. Luckily, as I would learn through the tour, it was not.
The castle itself dates back to the 12th century and was in the Talbot family until the 1970s, when the building was sold to Ireland, thus ending 800 years of family ownership. Today many of the rooms in the castle have been restored and furniture added that give the visitor an idea of what it was like to live in this impressive building.
The tour lasted about thirty minutes or so and was a great primer not only on the castle and the Talbot family, but also of Irish history. After the tour we browsed around the gift shop before walking back to the train station.
We visited the castle in late November, but had we been there in the summer we also would have been able to visit the Fry Model Railway. The railway is apparently a huge working model railroad from the 1920s and frankly would have been really great to see, but alas, it was not to be. We’re not much into gardens and flowers and such, but if you are then the grounds surrounding the castle are a treat and include several hectares of plants and lawns.
While not the most impressive castle in Ireland, a visit to Malahide Castle is a great way to spend an afternoon and is a very easy trip to make from Dublin. The train ride out to the castle was almost as enjoyable for me as was the building itself.
Getting there: You can certainly drive to the castle, as it is only 10 miles from Dublin, but train is extremely convenient. We took the Dublin DART train from the Connolly Station to the Malahide stop, which cost a little over 4 Euro roundtrip, per person. After we arrived in Malahide, there were signs directing visitors to the castle, which included a lovely walk through the castle grounds.
Castle Tours: The Castle is open year round from 10:00AM – 5:00PM, with some exceptions. The tour fee for an adult is 7.50 Euro and 4.70 Euro for children. The castle is also part of the Dublin Pass program. | <urn:uuid:af85bbd6-2be6-465f-a1ba-642068f7575c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://landlopers.com/2010/11/29/malahide-castle-irish-estate-close-dublin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984647 | 566 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Webinar on" Open Source: A Guide for the School Districts Technology Leadership Team" Tuesday March 16th 2010
I will be giving this Webinar for NSBA TLN series on Tuesday March 16th, at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern, 5pm GMT. It will be held on Elluminate, and I am pretty sure that it will be recorded and accessible after that for open viewing.
Hope to "see" you in the crowd !
Open Source: A Guide for the School Districts Technology Leadership Team
Because of the low costs associated with Open Source software. people install it easily at home and in the classroom with few problems. Additionally, because Open Source software is promoted by many enthusiasts, who communicate their enthusiasm very well, generalizing Open Source at the organizational level seems a no-brainer. The problem is that installing software on a computer isn’t the same as making it work on dozens or thousands of computers. There are challenges that you must consider before taking on a transition to Open Source. This webinar presentation is about getting to know what you could avoid in implementing Open Source in your organization.
Reserve your space by sending an email to Crissy O'Donnell at firstname.lastname@example.org. Please include your name, district and title.
UPDATE: The Webinar was a success, with around 100 attendees ! You can have access to the complete session (webinar, audio , and slides) at Learn Central site. | <urn:uuid:4252cf4a-4729-4224-8c4a-90f44ecc9b97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.revolutionlinux.com/en/post/2010/03/14/Webinar-on%22-Open-Source%3A-A-Guide-for-the-School-Districts-Technology-Leadership-Team%22-Tuesday-March-16th-2010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954156 | 303 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Emergency workers early Wednesday freed a worker on the site of the Second Avenue subway, after the man spent hours trapped in a trench some 75 feet below street level near East 95th Street in Manhattan.
The worker, whose name was not immediately released, was removed from the underground work site at 12:28 a.m. on Wednesday, according to a fire department spokesman. The man had been trapped in a trench that filled with mud and water in the worksite for roughly four hours, the spokesman said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is building the Second Avenue subway line, declined to comment early Wednesday.
A crane with a 170-foot boom at a Long Island City, Queens, construction site collapsed on Wednesday, injuring nine workers, authorities said.
The crane was lifting a load at 47-27 Center Boulevard when it suddenly collapsed onto the building at about 2:20 pm. It is unclear what caused the apparatus to fail. The workers were taken to area hospitals, and their injuries were not considered life-threatening, authorities said.
Early Wednesday, workers at One World Trade Center hoisted the first section of spire atop the building. After all of the sections are in place — sometime next year — the structure will reach its symbolic height of 1, 776 feet. The sections had a long journey to New York from Quebec.
See the slideshow here.
Federal investigators cited two contractors for a total of 11 safety violations connected to the April 3 crane collapse that killed a worker on the extension of the No. 7 subway line on Manhattan’s West Side.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that Yonkers Contracting Company Inc. didn’t conduct required inspections of the wire rope that lifted and lowered the boom of the Manitowoc crane. That cable snapped in the accident and sent the boom plummeting down into the open construction pit at 11th Avenue and West 33rd Street, where it struck and killed construction worker Michael Simermeyer.
A woman was seriously injured by a construction truck Thursday afternoon next to a high-profile Midtown development site.
A truck doing work at 220 Central Park South–a building under demolition that’s the subject of a contested fight between two of the city’s most powerful developers–struck a pedestrian on 58th Street, pinning her under the truck, a New York Fire Department spokesman said. The fire department removed the woman, who was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital, the spokesman said. Her name wasn’t released, and the investigation is ongoing.
The property, which runs through the full block between 58th Street and Central Park South, is considered one of the best development sites in the city given its park-side location and has been closely watched in the real estate industry.
Construction has resumed on the West Side extension of the no. 7 subway line, six days after a crane collapsed at the 33rd Street site, killing one worker and injuring three.
Cranes swung over the massive concrete pit and a cement-mixing truck hummed at Site J along 11th Avenue, which will eventually become the new final stop of the 7 line. The expansion will extend the line 1.5 miles west and south, from Times Square to a location across the street from the Javits Center.
Although work has resumed, the crews haven’t brought in a crane to replace the Manitowoc 2100s that collapsed on Tuesday evening in the fatal accident, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman said.
By Ted Mann and Danny Gold
City investigators are trying to determine what caused a crane to collapse Tuesday night at a 34th Street site of the subway’s 7 line extension, killing one worker and injuring three others.
The crane collapsed around 7:20 p.m. Tuesday and fell into Site J of the 7-line project, said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is building the extension. The site of the collapse is located between 33rd and 34th Streets on the east side of 11th Avenue.
Killed in the accident was Michael Simermeyer, 30 years old, of New Jersey, an employee of subcontractor J & E Industries, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. Joseph Degidio of Mahopac, N.Y., an employee of another subcontractor, Yonkers Contracting Company, sustained an injury to his lower leg.
A nearly century-old warehouse being torn down as part of Columbia University’s expansion into Harlem collapsed Thursday, killing one construction worker and injuring two others, the city’s top buildings official said.
A preliminary investigation by the city found workers had cut a structural beam supporting the two-story warehouse near Broadway and West 131th Street, causing steel beams, bricks and reinforced concrete to collapse onto the workers and bury them in debris.
“Once they cut that structural beam, the site became unstable and there was a collapse,” said Department of Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri.
The contractor, Breeze National, received citations for two violations at the site on March 5. The demolition firm had been cleared to resume work, a spokesman for the Department of Buildings said.
Prosecutors zeroed-in on emails from a crane mechanic as evidence the company’s owner valued fast and cheap work over safety — a mindset that allegedly led to the death of two workers in 2008 crane collapse.
Testimony by the former crane mechanic, Tibor Varganyi, also revealed his lack of experience in design principles. Prosecutors have said he performed tasks usually reserved for an engineer without formal training or a high school diploma.
James Lomma, the owner of two crane companies, is on trial for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in connection with the May 2008 collapse. His companies, New York Crane & Equipment Corp. and J.F. Lomma Inc., are also charged.
Varganyi, who earlier pleaded guilty to the same charges his former boss is facing, will likely avoid jail time in exchange for his testimony against Lomma. He had been tasked with finding a firm to build a replacement bearing for a crane turntable.
Several Harlem streets remain closed after a parts of a five–story building collapsed onto a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus traveling along 125th Street Tuesday morning.
No serious injuries have been reported, but 18 people–including two police officers–suffered minor ailments, said Cas Holloway, deputy mayor for operations.
The building had at least one complaint of falling bricks on Sept. 7. That was followed up with a problem-free inspection, said Holloway. But BJ Group, owner of the Danice clothing store next door, said his employees have complained of pungent fumes and “unusually strong vibrations.” | <urn:uuid:5335818d-fc71-4dc7-8783-4101a23bef24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/tag/construction/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962556 | 1,381 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced the award of $12.3 million to strengthen and expand educational opportunities for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students. These two-year grants are being awarded to 11 campuses in Hawaii and Alaska to improve their academic quality, instruction and facilities. They will carry out a wide range of activities such as faculty development and exchanges, curriculum development, counseling services, and the purchase or upgrading of library materials or laboratory equipment.
"It's critical that we improve academic outcomes and increase the college graduation rate of Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students," Duncan said. "These grants will enhance the capacity and quality of schools to better prepare students for success in college and careers, for leadership and service to their communities, and to lead fulfilling lives."
To be eligible for grants through this program, an institution must have an undergraduate enrollment of at least 20 percent Alaska Native or 10 percent Native Hawaiianstudents.
More information about the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institution program can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iduesannh/index.html
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT | <urn:uuid:6aa2a973-b0a1-4060-aa5c-6cece7716e57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://votesmart.org/public-statement/746041/education-department-awards-123-million-to-strengthen-educational-opportunities-at-alaska-native-and-native-hawaiian-serving-institutions?flavour=full&flavour=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952511 | 231 | 1.6875 | 2 |
GOVERNMENT is considering compelling all banking institutions to list on the Local Index of the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX).
The move is in line with the recently launched Namibia Financial Sector Strategy (NFSS), which aims for the local market capitalisation of the NSX to be 75 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2021.
In 2009, the NSX's local market capitalisation was only about 9 per cent of Namibia's GDP.
When he launched the NFSS, Bank of Namibia (BoN) Governor Ipumbu Shiimi admitted that the 2021 target was a "very audacious goal".
So far, only FNB Namibia has a primary listing on the NSX.
"There is envisaged to be a regulation that would prescribe mandatory listing [of banking institutions]," the NFSS states.
In addition, all Namibian incorporated financial institutions with an embedded value of a certain amount, as well as their foreign holding companies, will be "encouraged" to list on the NSX, the NFSS states. The amount of the embedded value must still be determined.
The NFSS says that the NSX has been faced with a "challenge of a lack of liquidity as not much trading has been taking place".
This, the NFSS says, is partly ascribed to the "buy-and-hold strategy adopted by most investors in Namibia, partly due to a lack of sufficient instruments".
"The reason for holding on to trading instruments has often been cited to be the need to comply with local investment requirements." Long-term insurance companies and pension funds have to invest a minimum of 35 per cent in Namibia.
The NFSS states that there is "definitely a case for improving the liquidity on the local exchange". | <urn:uuid:38628bf2-99c4-4925-95ae-88008f56a414> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/201208300625.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947808 | 375 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Can Seattle Save the World?
What do we intend to accomplish asking a question like that?
It’s a bit irreverent, sure. That’s the point. We seem to have countless meetings, forums and symposiums these days that do a great job of describing the region’s (it’s not just Seattle, of course) many efforts in fighting disease and poverty worldwide. Most of them, legitimately, are focused on promoting a cause.
As a journalist, it’s my job to also help the community probe such causes — poke at them, see if they’re half-baked or cooked just right. We’ll do more of that tonight.
I was at one such event yesterday, at Seattle-based PATH, for World Malaria Day where experts discussed some of the locally based projects aimed at fighting malaria overseas. It’s stunning to realize our community is now one of the world’s headquarters for the global fight against malaria.
But it was also sobering to recognize that, despite some tremendous progress, we remain on a knife’s edge in this global battle against a major killer. Everyone wants this battle to succeed, so it can be difficult raising questions about effectiveness, cost and performance. It can be especially difficult to do in public because of the risk of undermining popular support. It’s a dilemma.
We’re also big on microfinance here. The anti-poverty scheme pioneered by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been carried out by organizations like Global Partnerships for many years — long before most of us had even heard of microfinance.
Yet microfinance is in kind of a mess right now, something like an identity crisis. Yunus is having political battles that get a lot of media attention, but the more important problems raise questions of a loss of purpose — of truly focusing on the needs of the poor. These are also tough, complex issues that some advocates of microfinance worry will hurt the cause.
Yes, chocolate. I can partially reveal now why I convinced Joe Whinney, founder and president of Theo Chocolate, to join this panel discussion focused largely on health. The main reason is that I didn’t want it to be limited to health. Global health is really a subset of development, which is about fighting poverty.
Whinney is a business owner and an activist. He got into the chocolate business aiming to improve the lives of poor farmers. And he will say that we will never get rid of poverty unless we all change our ways — of doing business and how we behave as consumers.
To put it simply, you can vaccinate a kid against disease but if you buy the wrong kind of chocolate bar you’re dooming that child to slave labor and poverty.
Our first goal for the event will be to make sure we recognize that something special is happening here with respect to global health and poverty.
Secondly, we will consider our special responsibility. Are we heading in the right direction? Have we defined the problems correctly? What are we doing to correct the problems?
Or are we all just naive, thinking that we can save the world? And save it from what exactly?
We’ll begin with Bill Foege — the man who figured out how to eradicate smallpox, former head of the CDC and an adviser to Bill and Melinda Gates. Following my chat with Foege, we’ll explore the issues with Chris Elias, president of PATH, UW health activist Wendy Johnson and Whinney such as:
- Does improving health actually reduce poverty?
- Is our approach to fighting disease in poor countries too techno-fix oriented?
- Is the philanthropic, or charitable, approach a long-term solution just a short-term band-aid?
- What can the rest of us do to help … save the world?
For those who would like to use Twitter to follow and participate, or even suggest questions now, see #SEAsaves and chime in. My colleague Charla Bear has graciously agreed to live-blog the event on Humanosphere.
And, of course, you can always just actually come to event. | <urn:uuid:7c132216-ec9d-4d51-a76a-acd56a406b84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.humanosphere.org/tag/seasaves/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943635 | 870 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Details -- however minimal -- have begun to surface about the amateur filmmaker whose movie ridiculing the Islamic prophet Muhammad sparked deadly protests in Egypt and Libya.
Four Americans have been killed in the demonstrations, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. In Cairo, protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy compound and tore down the American flag. "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger," they chanted.
All this over a few movie clips that look like they were produced by a group of high schoolers in a Video 101 class. Reminiscent of low-budget, unfunny comedy sketches, the clips -- supposedly from a movie called "Innocence of Muslims" -- depict Muhammad as a freewheeling, womanizing shyster who promoted child abuse. It sparked violent protests on Tuesday after clips of the film surfaced on YouTube, some of which were later dubbed in Arabic.
But so far only scant details are known about the movie's shadowy writer/director who calls himself Sam Bacile. The only interviews with him have been done by phone, and what little information he has revealed raises more than a few red flags.
So is there a Sam Bacile, and does "Innocence of Muslims" even exist?
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bacile identified himself as an Israeli-American real estate developer based in California. But Internet searches reveal no trace of a real estate developer doing business under that name. His age is in question as well. The Wall Street Journal said he was 52 while AP reported his age at 56.
Bacile has reportedly gone into hiding following the protests. Speaking by phone to the Times of Israel, he said he was not anticipating the violent reaction provoked by the film. "I feel sorry for the embassy. I am mad," he said.
But according to Steve Klein, who claims to have worked as a consultant on the film, Bacile knew it would ignite violence. Speaking to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Klein claimed to be reluctant to help Bacile with the movie, telling him, "You're going to be the next Theo van Gogh." The comment was a reference to the Dutch filmmaker who in 2004 was gunned down by an Islamic extremist after he made a movie that criticized Muslim societies' treatment of women.
In fact, Klein himself is a shadowy figure. He apparently authored a self-published book on Islam (with a poorly designed cover), but aside from that, he has not left many tracks. In a phone interview with the Atlantic on Wednesday, Klein said he believes Bacile is not Israeli and, most likely, not Jewish. He also said that Bacile was a pseudonym and that he did not know his real name.
Update: According to the Times of Israel, officials for that country confirmed that they have no record of Israeli citizenship for a Sam Bacile.
Bacile claims to have made "Innocence of Muslims" on a budget of $5 million with the help of 100 Jewish donors, but one look at the film clips on YouTube will call that claim into question. The movie appears to have been shot using a consumer-grade DV camcorder with amateur actors, fake backgrounds and cheap sets. The lighting and sound are of equally low quality. In Hollywood dollars, $5 million may be considered low-budget, but if the filmmaker really spent that much money on this shoddy work, it's his donors who should be doing the protesting.
Meanwhile, efforts to uncover the film's anonymous funders have so far turned up nothing. Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for the Atlantic, tweeted on Wednesday: "I would love to know more about Mr. Sam Bacile, whom no Jew I know has ever heard, and his 100 mysterious backers."
That's assuming there even is a film. In early July, two 13-minute clips were posted on a YouTube account by someone with the username Sam Bacile, but no one has come forward claiming to have seen the finished product. Moreover, IMDb lists nothing for the project or Bacile himself, to say nothing of the supposed 59 actors and 45 crew members who worked on it.
According to the AP, Bacile said he screened the movie to a "nearly empty" theater in Hollywood, but he did not name a specific venue. Google searches reveal no evidence of a screening ever being announced, and given the subject matter, it's unlikely that an established Hollywood screening room would have agreed to show it.
Whatever details continue to emerge, the only thing we know for certain is that someone intended to create an inflammatory attack on the Muslim faith, which considers depictions of the prophet Muhammad extremely offensive, and that he intended to make it clear that his film was funded by Jews.
On Tuesday, Bacile told the Wall Street Journal that Islam is "a cancer," and that the movie is meant as a political statement, not a religious one.
What statement he truly intended to make is one of the many questions that remain unanswered.
To contact the editor, e-mail: | <urn:uuid:3114fe73-5fe6-4cd9-b3c1-f5eb517ca76d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/383624/20120913/sam-bacile-innocence-muslims-steve-klein-islamic.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977543 | 1,034 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Published in Obesity and Diabetes Week, December 26th, 2005
"Diabetic cardiomyopathy was the most dangerous diabetic complication facing diabetics, with its exact mechanisms remaining obscure. Our study was conducted to investigate the expression of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in myocardium of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats," researchers in People's Republic of China report.
X.M. Zhang and colleagues at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou employed "streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats to study the alteration of the TSP-1 and NPY expression in...
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Learn more about a six-week, no-risk free trial of Obesity and Diabetes Week | <urn:uuid:fa63297a-6d5e-4431-9467-95a67da63e43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Obesity-and-Diabetes-Week/2005-12-26/1226200533328OD.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933814 | 180 | 1.539063 | 2 |
One of the really difficult aspects of cloud computing for most established IT organizations is the fact that the move to clouds, even private clouds, is not a simple, intuitive one. Replacing the bulk of both technology and process with a focus on capacity as a service--an automated, self-administered service--results in many organizations "experimenting" with the cloud, but few pushing any barriers. To make matters worse, we are in that wonderful "discovery" phase of a technology, where there are few if any guides to how to do it right, with minimal risk, and those that do exist are generally personal opinions, not "burned in" recipes for success.
This post does not pretend to be such a recipe. However, over the course of the last several months, culminating in some great conversations with some really smart people the last few weeks, I've come to realize that there is a basic maturity model for moving from data center consolidation architectures to true open market cloud architectures.
Remember maturity models? They've been around for some time, but a couple of years ago there was a small burst of creativity among system integrators and analysts alike, and maturity models were defined for a variety of IT subjects, ranging from business processes to technology architectures, such as SOA. The basic idea was to lay out some milestones, or even "gateways", to be achieved by IT as they worked towards achieving some idealized computing or process goal.
To that end, below is a simple five phase maturity model that I and others believe describes the stages of evolution for an enterprise data center trying to achieve cloud Nirvana: | <urn:uuid:fdfe9694-b71d-47ac-a73f-cc0db712caa7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8300-5_3-0-1.html?keyword=mature | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966192 | 329 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Last week, during the Mobile World Congress, Nokia announced the PureView 808; a phone whose prime selling point was a camera packing — wait for it — a 41MP camera sensor. Now of course, megapixels aren’t everything; they are only one ingredient in the mixture that results in a great camera that takes great photos, and an 8MP phone is perfectly capable of taking better photos than a 41MP phone.
However, there’s more to PureView than the megapixels, and you can read all about that here. It is definitely cool that they packed such a large megapixel count in a phone.
Moving on, however, something that’s unfortunate about this cool technology is that it was implemented on a phone that runs the Symbian OS. No need to fear, however; Nokia have officially confirmed that PureView is headed to Windows Phone — a real OS — sometime in the near future. Jo Harlow, Nokia’s Senior VP of Smartphones recently told Finnish newspaper Aamulethi when asked about when we can expect Nokia Windows Phone handsets to pack PureView, “I can’t say precisely when, but it will not take very long.” This is a rough translation of course; the original answer is in Finnish.
Perhaps we can expect the inevitable new lineup of Nokia devices that run Windows Phone Apollo to pack PureView. | <urn:uuid:7713f97d-5048-43af-8f1e-a55f1435ec4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techie-buzz.com/microsoft/nokia-confirms-pureview-technology-windows-phone.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958426 | 288 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Update (Apr.21 1pm): Here is an update from the Google Blog: "Back on the map"
An observant Digg user has pointed out that Google has changed the Google Local name back to Google Maps. Google switched from Maps to Local back on October 6th, 2005. While the URL still resolves to local.google.com the title tag, title bar and the service name above the search field now say Maps instead of Local. Here is a before look. Google Local for Mobile appears to have kept the same name.
This name change does make you wonder what might be next from Google. Perhaps this could now mean that street maps will no longer hinge on an underlying business directory being present before they offer this map content to new countries. I'm not sure about you, but we here at Google Maps Mania feel MUCH better about the change of heart and wonder if there are any more plans in the works that accompany the product re-naming decision. Stay tuned! | <urn:uuid:2bb742ab-51b3-4610-bc2a-a78504fe3a10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mapsmaniac.com/2006/04/google-changes-name-from-local-back-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938744 | 200 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Last week, I covered a news story about flooding on Japan’s Kyushu Island and the southern part of Japan. According to locals, it is the heaviest rain and flooding in recorded history. This is an MSNBC video with a July 15, 2012 update to this South Japan flooding. It originally aired on the NBC Nightly News.
The torrential rains have caused both flooding and mudslides in various parts of the South. At least 25 people have been killed, and thousands are evacuated.
At the height of the rains, floods, and mudslides, more than 250,000 people were evacuated. | <urn:uuid:9353c836-8935-4e90-adbd-bdddec9036e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://writingshares.com/msnbc-weather-video-southern-japan-flood-update-for-july-15-2012-at-least-25-dead-and-250000-evacuated/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977603 | 126 | 1.65625 | 2 |
DOHA, Qatar -- Syria’s biggest political opposition bloc Friday elected a Christian, George Sabra, as president, a move Sabra said showed that the Muslim-majority nation will not allow its national uprising to descend into sectarian war.
Sabra, a geography teacher who once wrote for the Arabic version of “Sesame Street,” immediately demanded that the international community provide arms to the rebels so that they can protect Syrian civilians from regime attack.
Western nations, he told reporters after the vote by the Syrian National Council, should “support our right to survival.” He added, “To protect ourselves, we need weapons.”
Tens of thousands of Syrians have died in the uprising, which began as peaceful demonstrations against the government of President Bashar Assad. But it has become a bloody civil war pitting the Syrian army and air force against rebels who despite a lack of heavy weapons have seized large swaths of Syrian countryside and have fought loyalist forces to a standstill in Aleppo, the country’s largest city.
Sabra seemed stunned by his sudden elevation to the council’s top post. “It is an unbelievable moment in my life,” he told reporters. “I promise to become a representative for all the Syrian people.”
It was uncertain whether Sabra’s selection would rehabilitate the Syrian National Council in the eyes of the United States. Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. no longer would recognize the council as the primary anti-Assad organization, saying too many of its members had lived in exile for decades and that a new opposition group should include more representation from people fighting inside Syria.
Sabra may help fit that requirement. A longtime member of Syria’s communist party, which renamed itself the Syrian Democratic People’s Party in 2005, Sabra went into exile only in October after serving two months in prison for inciting dissent. Previously, he had served eight years in prison during the regime of Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez Assad.
Sabra credited his election to the intervention of a conservative Islamist from Homs, a Sunni Muslim city that has been the scene of brutal fighting between rebels and pro-Assad forces for most of this year.
Until the Islamist, Wasal al Shamali, who was here representing the Supreme Council for Revolutionary Commands, a collection of rebel-held cities in Syria, spoke on Sabra’s behalf, Sabra wasn’t even a member of the group’s top governing committee, the general secretariat. The Syrian National Council has been criticized because its 41-member secretariat includes no women or Alawites, the religious offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Assad belongs.
Shamali, however, said that Sabra should have his place on the general secretariat.
“I didn’t even know his name,” Sabra told McClatchy. “He was in tears.”
Added Sabra: “After that, who can talk about sectarianism when a Muslim sacrifices his place for a Christian?”
The group later elected Sabra its president, 28-13, over Hisham Marwah, an Islamic legal scholar.
Sabra said his selection should signal to the international community: “Look at Syria. There is no sectarianism inside Syria. All the people here, Muslims, voted for Christians.” | <urn:uuid:6e1ade61-f567-4cc7-b8ed-9b3049ea4d06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/09/3090187/anti-assad-syria-national-council.html | 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 | 0.974253 | 712 | 1.789063 | 2 |
CHICAGO -- Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today visited the Vincent de Paul Center in Lincoln Park to mark the state’s success in providing funding to give 25,000 more children in Illinois access to pre-school, a goal he set in his first State of the State address in 2003. Including the $30 million increase in the new budget for the coming fiscal year, Illinois has increased preschool funding by $90 million – or 50 percent – over the first three years of Governor Blagojevich’s administration.
“On Tuesday night, we passed a budget. Now, a $54 billion budget contains a lot of things, but for me, one of the best parts of the budget is the money we spend on early childhood education. When I announced my first budget in early 2003, I set a goal of increasing spending for early childhood education by $90 million over three years, which meant sending 25,000 more three and four year olds to pre-school. And on Tuesday night – we passed a budget and fulfilled that commitment,” said Gov. Blagojevich.
“Fulfilling that commitment means that we have increased early education funding by 50 percent. And if you’re someone interested in the budget, that’s a significant statistic. But far more important than dollars and percentages is what this commitment means for children. When it comes to educating children, the experts all agree that pre-school is the single best investment that a state can make,” the Governor added.
“Investing in Illinois means investing in our families and in our children,” said Maria Whelan, president of Action for Children, one of the leading organizations in the Early Learning Illinois campaign. “We applaud the governor for having the vision to recognize this.”
“This Governor understands what’s important to our future. He knows that if we want kids to be able to read by 3rd grade and succeed later in life, we have to give them an early start,” said state Sen. Carol Ronen (D-Chicago).
“These preschool increases represent a significant ‘down payment’ toward ensuring that every child has access to high-quality preschool services – the single greatest investment we can make in the well-being of children and our entire state,” added Jerry Stermer, president of Voices for Illinois Children. “We are ensuring that children enter kindergarten ready to succeed both in school and for the rest of their lives.”
Early childhood education is critical to helping at-risk children begin their formal educations with the same level of skills and abilities as other children. Research indicates that kids who start school behind their classmates often stay behind. For example, children who do not recognize the letters of the alphabet when they enter kindergarten demonstrate significantly lower reading skills at the end of first grade. According to Pre-K NOW, a national early childhood advocacy organization, eighty-eight percent of children who are poor readers in first grade will still be poor readers by fourth grade. Seventy-four percent of children who are poor readers in third grade remain poor readers when they start high school.
The Chicago Longitudinal Study on Early Childhood Education reported in 2001 that low-income children who attend quality preschool were:
29% more likely to complete high school;
41% less likely to be placed in special education; and
42% less likely to be arrested as a juvenile for a violent offense.
A similar study conducted by the University of North Carolina found that children who attend preschool have better reading, language, and social skills in kindergarten than children who did not attend preschool.
National experts in the field of early childhood education have recognized Illinois for its dramatic progress in recent years. In April, Pre-K Now, the leading national early pre-k advocacy group, recognized Gov. Blagojevich for making the most significant investment in early childhood education during a period of budget deficits. The report, Leadership Matters: Governor’s FY 2006 Pre-K Proposals, released on April 21, 2005, described Governor Blagojevich as a “Pre-K budget hero” for continuing his push for pre-school expansion despite difficult financial conditions.
The Pre-K Now report found that Illinois has the fourth largest separately-funded early childhood education program in the country. Only California, Massachusetts, and Florida are larger, according to the budgets introduced this year by those states’ governors. New York, for example, provides only $251 million for early childhood, according to the report, compared to Illinois’ $273 million for Fiscal Year 2006. The report also found that Illinois had the second largest increase in funding of any state, behind Florida which implemented a new constitutionally mandated program for $400 million.
In 2004, the National Institute for Early Education Research ranked Illinois as one of the top three states for its early childhood education program. Illinois received praise for its teacher training as one of only 13 states to require certification for its early childhood teachers.
In addition to new investments in pre-school education, the Fiscal Year 2006 budget also provides $330 million in new K-12 school funding, including nearly $99 million more for Chicago Public Schools. Gov. Blagojevich has secured $2.3 billion in new education money over the past three years – a rate of increase faster than any other state in the Midwest, and eleventh in the entire country, even before the most recent boost. Overall, the FY 2006 education budget represents a 19.8 percent increase over the FY 2003 budget, the first year Gov. Blagojevich was in office. | <urn:uuid:7e925e62-7e8a-46c7-9eb7-de631ec2693d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www3.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=1&RecNum=4012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963982 | 1,165 | 1.578125 | 2 |
A sting operation conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and the St. George Police Department has resulted in the arrests of three suspects allegedly trying to sell counterfeit merchandise.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and St. George police met the three individuals in the parking lot of a Walmart in Washington City. Agent-in-charge Mark Cutchen was quick to point out that the apparent operation has no connection to Walmart—that was just the meeting location chosen by agents and the suspects.
The three were detained, questioned and eventually released as the investigation continues.
Authorities did not go into details about what counterfeit items might be involved.
Counterfeit items are typically smuggled into the U.S. and not only constitute an economic threat to manufacturers, but can also pose a public threat in that they do not conform to industry standards and quality control. | <urn:uuid:8b3bb0cf-c39e-441d-b343-9f355c887238> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://utahpublicradio.org/post/st-george-police-investigate-counterfeiting-sting-operation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974164 | 172 | 1.515625 | 2 |
There are a few words that can possess an oxymoronic or paradoxical meaning that tend to defeat the entire purpose of the word. The most obvious example:
This sentence is indescribable.
Specifically, words such as "indescribable." The paradox is that the description of something as "indescribable" means it now the opposite of "indescribable" but I am not interested in the paradox itself. I want to know what to call the word "indescribable" in the sense that word defeats its own purpose. By using the word it becomes inaccurate. Other examples seem hard to find, but this is close:
(spoken) How quiet!
In this case, "quiet" also makes itself suddenly inaccurate. The paradoxical nature is again obvious but what I am trying to find would be more akin to "self-referential meaninglessness" or "a word that makes itself inaccurate." | <urn:uuid:b3b7f054-f258-444f-b5a0-81e29926a235> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/23581/is-there-a-term-for-a-word-that-defeats-its-own-purpose/23606 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967453 | 192 | 1.789063 | 2 |
The Door to the North Opens a Little
Jules Verne Trophy
Round the World
On her 43rd day at sea, the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran covered just 296 nautical miles point-to-point, as the South Atlantic continues to prevent the crew making anything like rapid progress towards the Equator.
The eastward option seems out of the question, since it adds considerably to the distance and offers no possibility above 35° South. Only the direct route, with its slack irregular winds, remains. Its only advantage at present is that it is the shortest way home. Geronimo's abilities in low wind conditions are now vital if the French crew is not to remain imprisoned in an area where the chances of escape are looking slim.
"A long day of calms, sun and banks of haze. The very soft blue of the sea is a unusual sight for the lookout sitting on the front beam to warn the helmsman of drifting rafts of dense algae. Geronimo is in the South-North Falklands current, which drags icebergs as far north as Montevideo.
The calm and silence means there's not much to say about today, and no doubt the same will be true of tomorrow. Our route to the north is closed. There's no point brooding over time slipping away. We mustn't think about the Jules Verne or positions...especially not about positions. We have to tell ourselves that it's a nice spring day at sea and that we'll do our best to go as fast as we can with the few sighs of wind we have. We're also telling ourselves that it's fate, normal even, because you can't go all the way around the world without running into calms.
And after all, Geronimo is unrivalled in slack winds. We have to make the most of the boat's talent and the application of her crew, adjusting our trim constantly to gain a quarter of a knot, then another, and never, never going below to look at the chart table to bite your nails as you look at the course,"
This morning, at the start of her 44th day at sea, Geronimo found some additional breeze and was heading north at a steady 19 knots. | <urn:uuid:e9665504-6921-485a-aa39-67fdb968ccb8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sailing.org/news/7096.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964812 | 463 | 1.648438 | 2 |
As a member of the House of Delegates, one of the responsibilities I take most seriously includes oversight of issues relating to educational policy. I wanted to take the time to inform members of the district of a particular piece of legislation presently in my committee that has been garnering quite a bit of press lately—granting in-state tuition at Maryland colleges and universities to illegal immigrants.
Let me first be clear of my position: I strongly oppose this bill.
The bill would exempt illegal immigrant students that have attended and graduated from a Maryland public high school from being charged the “out of state” tuition rates they currently must pay. I find this to be flawed public policy.
The bill is flawed in two ways: economically and on principle. Passage of this legislation could have a real financial implication for all the taxpayers of Maryland, costing residents almost $1 million a year as early as 2014, and more than $3.5 million by 2016. To me, this makes for bad legislation: with the state facing a serious financial deficit, the government should exhibit caution before entering into new spending on any program, especially a program such as this.
The more fundamental problem with such a piece of legislation is that it is yet another attempt to take away the incentives that exist for immigrants to enter our country legally.
If governments were to grant all the rights and privileges of natural citizens to illegal immigrants, other potential immigrants would have much less motivation to choose the appropriate and legal methods through which they might become legal citizens. To state the issue simply: Why would one go through the rigors of becoming a legal citizen when another can skip the process and still enjoy the same benefits?
While I concede that the federal government has shirked its responsibility to meaningfully reform immigration in America, there is no excuse to condone, and certainly not to reward, illegal behavior.
Moreover, the bill causes me concern because it will allow undocumented immigrants to take in-state slots away from legal, otherwise-deserving Maryland residents, some of whom would be coming from our district.
Our country and our communities have a long tradition of working hard and playing by the rules. Many of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents were all asked to do that.
Such hard work and adherence to the rules was true also of past generations’ efforts to become fully integrated citizens of the United States. If this is a past we are proud of, and if it is a tradition we wish to continue, we must not pass laws such as this.
Rewarding illegal behavior is irresponsible in any context. Because of this, and other reasons, this bill will not receive my vote on the floor of the House of Delegates. As always, I welcome your feedback on this or any other issue. | <urn:uuid:8c7ba25b-0e2d-4720-b789-2e801bd992c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://essex.patch.com/articles/delegate-in-state-tuition-for-illegal-immigrants-the-wrong-direction-for-maryland-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971774 | 560 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
How prepared do you think San Diego is for the next wildfire? Would you pay more in taxes for better fire protection? Or is there another way to pay for increased fire protection? We discuss the challenges faced by San Diego's regional fire services and some of the recommendations for improvement.
Regional Fire Services Deployment Study For The County Of San Diego Office Of Emergency Services
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors controls a $5 billion budget and makes decisions affecting your health and safety. They oversee services that range from prosecuting criminals to feeding the poor. Learn about your supervisor’s priorities and how the group spends your money.
MAUREEN CAVANAUGH (Host): I'm Maureen Cavanaugh, and you're listening to These Days on KPBS. People who lived through the last two major wildfires in San Diego County remember what it's like having fires rage out of control. We live in a region were the danger of wildfire is a yearly—and some would say year-round—threat, so our ability to fight fires is a community priority. But according to a new study, our community firefighting effort is suffering from some major gaps. Joining me now to talk about the new Regional Fire Services Deployment Study are my guests. Stewart Gary, he has 35 years experience in the fire service, including 5 years as a paramedic. He is principal investigator with Citygate Associates, a nationwide fire consulting firm, which conducted the study. And, Stewart, welcome to These Days.
STEWART GARY (Principal Investigator, Citygate Associates): Good morning. Thank you for listening this morning.
CAVANAUGH: Chief Augie Ghio is with me. He’s San Miguel Fire Chief and president of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association. Chief Ghio, welcome back.
AUGUST GHIO (President, San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association): Thank you. Glad to be here again.
CAVANAUGH: We invite our listeners to join the conversation. How prepared do you think San Diego is for the next wildfire? Would you pay more in taxes for better fire protection? Or is there another way to pay for increased fire protection? Give us a call with your questions and your comments. The number is 1-888-895-5727, that’s 1-888-895-KPBS. Stewart Gary, this report of yours is called the Regional Fire Services Deployment Study. What is a deployment study?
GARY: It’s a baseline assessment of what risks are present in all of the communities in the county, which are quite diverse and large, of course. What – where the fire stations are, how they’re staffed, how they’re equipped. And fire service deployment is customer service literally at the street level. It’s sending the men and the women on the right equipment in the right timeframe to the emergency that’s been called in. And it’s the baseline. Logistical support, headquarters, fleet maintenance, training, everything feeds frontline customer service which is boots on the ground going to the emergency.
CAVANAUGH: And when the county came to you what did they want to know about fire services in San Diego County?
GARY: Well, after much discussion, after, of course, the two fire storms, multiple county studies on reorganizing different fire agencies and the revenue headache, it became apparent that there was no universal baseline countywide for what we have, what gaps, if any, exist and where a desirable outcome needs to be from a deployment perspective. And from that, we can calculate backwards the level of effort to increase the service level if necessary, modify it in other locations and then support that and sustain that service level. So this became the foundational study. It did not look at every nuance of every agency, 50-plus agencies. That would be an incredible job. So it primarily focused, again, on street level deployment, key supporting issues to support that deployment such as training, aircraft resources for wildland fire attack and then it took a less detailed look at the issues like fleet apparatus maintenance, fire prevention, for example. Fire prevention programs are very critical. The study was not focused in depth on how best to deliver those. It was mainly the street deployment.
CAVANAUGH: How do you conduct a study like this? How do you actually do the research?
GARY: Well, it’s interesting and it evolved over the last decade of computer tools. And in the old days in the fire service, literally a hundred years ago, the insuring service office plotted the spacing of fire stations a mile and a half apart because that was the distance a team of horses could pull a fire steamer at full gallop without exhaustion. And our industry really used mile and a half spacing for about 75 years until geographic mapping tools came into play and we could model virtual fire truck travel over the street networks, so nowadays we build a math model that literally virtually drives the fire stations over the road network. The model is sensitive to terrain, topography, one-way streets, freeway interchanges, and in the case of the San Diego study, we received prior incident response data from a little over half a million incidents over three years and we used the actual prior history travel times to calibrate the computer geographic model.
CAVANAUGH: I see.
GARY: So we have a pretty good predictive model of where and what travel times should be. And then we also used all those response statistics to look regionwide and by quadrant of the county what prior customer service was or was not delivered.
CAVANAUGH: Now there are 50 fire agencies in San Diego County. Did you send out questionnaires to all of them?
GARY: Yes, to all the local government agencies. 54 agencies responded to a mammoth online questionnaire. They answered dozens of questions both about their deployment, also their organization, their staffing, their fiscal status, so thousands of answers were received. And the County now has, really, the first ever large dataset about all of the public agency fire departments. The only departments that did not participate in the online study were the military fire departments just given their unique governance and fiscal support from the Department of Defense.
CAVANAUGH: I’m speaking with Stewart Gary. He’s principal investigator with Citygate Associates, a nationwide fire consulting firm, which just conducted a study of San Diego’s fire services deployment. And also with me, Chief Augie Ghio of the San Miguel Fire – he is San Miguel Fire Chief and president of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association. We’re taking your calls about this new fire study and about San Diego fire preparedness, 1-888-895-5727. Okay, so, Stewart, here come the questions about the report. What are the challenges that this study found that face San Diego County Fire Departments?
GARY: I’d like to characterize it by saying—and I agree with one of the supervisors in the public meeting last week—that the glass, depending on your perspective, is more like two-thirds full. After two devastating firestorms, everybody assumed that there were catastrophic things wrong with the fire deployment system, that fragmentation, i.e. 50 agencies meant that there was an ineffective response. And we really found the opposite. There is increased coordination between all the agencies. Most – many of the communities, both cities and fire district departments, have very good response times and while there are gaps, those gaps can be improved over time as the economy and public finances allow. So there’s really not a destitute need for a mammoth fix to the street level fire deployment system. The challenges San Diego County faces, and in addition to just their current recession, is the terrain and topography. San Diego County’s not flat Kansas with a checkerboard grid street network, all right-angle turns, very economical to serve for fire truck travel times. San Diego County is really bisected by the canyons, the mesas, the terrain that goes from the mountains down to the ocean. And it’s very, very expensive to serve efficiently with – for fire truck travel times.
CAVANAUGH: How does our terrain factor into the study’s recommendation that San Diego needs 14 more fire stations?
GARY: We looked at the national best practice advice that to keep small fires small in buildings and to keep emergency medical patients treated and stabilized, and in life threatening situations moved to the hospital, that the first due fire unit should arrive at the emergency location within about 7 minutes of the time of call 90% of the time. And that’s from the time 9-1-1 is called. So in that 7 minutes, there’s 3 components. The dispatch center has to understand what you’re saying as an emergency caller, notify the proper unit to respond, the crew in the station or out in the field has to understand what they’re being asked to go do, don the proper protective clothing, get the unit moving, and then there’s driving time. So the driving time component we measured consistent with national thinking is 4 minutes driving time from a fire station. That’s a little more, by the way, than the old insurance service mile and a half figure. And when we looked at the four minute coverage countywide, in many of the challenging canyon-mesa areas it was difficult to deliver to 90% or better of the road network. And depending on the area of the county, that measure was somewhere in the 70, low 80th percentile of road coverage. And when we looked at the 5th minute of coverage, one more travel minute, the percent of increase jumped way up to the high 80 percentile. So we then looked for fire station gap areas. We looked for neighborhoods that were beyond the fifth minute of driving time that were the size of an entire missing fire station area, so we’re not talking about five homes on a dead-end cul de sac but we’re talking about hundreds or thousands of units in an area that would be the size of a normal first fire station area. And we found those gaps in both North County and in the City of San Diego in the southwest region where additional fire stations would be necessary to completely cover the urban road miles at 90% of the time by the fifth minute of travel. So I know that’s a lot of complicated…
GARY: …math but we’re trying to design a system that gives effective customer service outcomes at a travel time that’s reasonable for the tax base to provide and balance the two factors, so four-minute driving time if that model were built out to cover 90% of the geography would be cost prohibitive for the small number of calls for service—additional calls for service—it would pick up because the system’s really doing fairly well today and we just need to improve those small gap areas over time. And that’s what I want to stress is, there are many communities, especially the core older, built-up communities, downtown San Diego, downtown Oceanside, you know, downtown El Cajon, they have very good response times today. They’re meeting best practice thinking and standards in the core communities. San Diego County, like many of my clients in California and across the U.S., as suburban sprawl occurred, the spacing of fire stations became thinner and thinner.
CAVANAUGH: Certainly, yes. Yes. Let me ask Chief Ghio, Stewart Gary has just given us a very technical breakdown of what it takes to have, you know, to determine where a fire station should be and if a community has too few fire stations because of the response time involved, is this – did you go into this, however, as head of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association, kind of knowing that San Diego needed some more fire stations?
GHIO: Oh, yes, we did. Remember, my background came from the City of San Diego where I spent almost 30 years so we had, over a period of time and over a few fire chiefs, done some studies within the city to determine how many more fire stations we needed. And, on a countywide basis, a lot of jurisdictions would like more boots on the ground or response assets. Stewart brought up the issue. It’s really the return on the investment; how much are the citizens willing to pay for an appropriate level of response? And then you have to define it. That’s what this study really does for us and it’s that blueprint to where each individual agency now can say based on my local needs, my local funds, my growth issues, where should I be? How could I get there? What would it take to fund it? And start to develop those plans and prioritize it. But, yes, we know we need more fire stations in San Diego County but, Stewart, I’d like you to jump in on this one, too. Part of the study also alludes to the fact that maybe we have to take a look at, in the future, a different response configuration. Maybe the type of service we’re providing today has to morph into something else in the future that would better meet the demands. 73% or 78% of our responses are medical aids. Does the current response configuration, considering more growth, meet that need in the future? Stew?
CAVANAUGH: Stewart Gary?
CAVANAUGH: Would you like to respond?
GARY: It’s an interesting question and one that both elected officials and the communities will have to have a policy discussion and make a philosophical shift. The current fire deployment system in the United States is based on fixed location, 24 hours a day staffing. However, many of those stations have very few calls for service per day, per week or per month. But it was considered to be an equity issue, that every neighborhood ought to be within arms reach of their neighborhood fire station. The latest thinking, driven by the economy, is a more demand-based deployment where we’ll actually concentrate more firefighters at peak hours of the day in highly populated areas where there are more calls for service. And those could be done on different types of units with different spacing, not even necessarily located in fire stations. So that’s the shifting we’re seeing now in the economy, Chief Ghio, is to go to demand-based deployment, peak hours-based deployment and not have as many resources on duty at slow times of the day, the week or the month cycle. The downside is, is fire’s a random event.
GARY: And public officials have to understand that if they staff for the EMS peak hour call volumes at three o’clock Wednesday afternoon when rush hour traffic is starting to build and generate auto accidents, that most deadly home fires are in the middle of the night because they start unnoticed and get serious before someone’s awakened and can call the fire department. So its’ going to be a tough balancing act but we’ll see a shift to demand-based deployment and answering the most calls with the resources we have available.
CAVANAUGH: We have to take a short break and when we come back, we will continue our conversation about this new Regional Fire Services Deployment Study and find out what more fire stations might do to help San Diego County with its next firestorm. 1-888-895-5727 is the number to call if you’d like to join the conversation. You’re listening to These Days on KPBS.
CAVANAUGH: I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. You're listening to These Days on KPBS. We’re talking about the new Regional Fire Services Deployment Study issued for San Diego County. Stewart Gary was principal investigator on that study, and Chief Augie Ghio is San Miguel fire chief and president of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association. We’re taking your calls about how prepared San Diego is for the next wildfire. The number here is 1-888-895-5727. Chief Ghio, when we talk about the region requiring 14 more fire stations at a cost of about $92 million, I think the question that might come to mind is, well, how will – how would that help us when we have our next wildfire?
GHIO: It would help us to some degree because it would give us more boots on the ground response resources at the time we need it. So 14 more fire stations would give us almost three more strike teams available in the San Diego region. At the local level, what the communities that would require these have to think of is, is it worth the return on the investment? Am I gaining enough efficiency in road miles covered or response time improvements to warrant that expense and have I got the money to do it?
CAVANAUGH: Of these recommendations, the consolidation of the fire dispatch centers from 5 to 2, more training, more consolidation of agencies, which of them, Chief Ghio, do you find to be crucial that we really implement before we face another wildfire?
GHIO: Well, the reality is, is that we can’t implement all of them probably before the next wildfire because it could happen this season. But I think it’s real important for the County Fire Chiefs, for all the agencies throughout San Diego County, to work with the County Board of Supervisors to identify and prioritize which ones of these will be actionable items, develop an implementation and possibly a funding plan, and then track our progress on that into the future so that this really important blueprint towards the future doesn’t become a dust collector. I think that there are really three areas we have to look at. On a regional basis, I think it’s very important to work on consolidating the dispatch centers and possibly even the training functions because the more we can get some efficiency and cost effectiveness in dispatch centers and training, the better we’re going to be able to serve the first responders out there. On a regional level, if we can independently, with surrounding jurisdictions, look at shared services agreements such as North County has done between Rancho Santa Fe and some of the other units up there, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Encinitas, and what El Cajon, La Mesa and Lemon Grove have done, we need to keep working towards that. And then at the local level, what can be immediately implemented is improving our response times, taking a look at what we’ve got, where we need to improve our chute times, how fast our firefighters are getting into the turnouts, our dispatch times, how to improve those and bring down that processing time so that we can gain that efficiency. We – Some agencies may be able to pick up 30 seconds or a minute right there with no additional response resources. So there’s some low-hanging fruit and then there’s some mid- and longer-term planning that needs to be done.
CAVANAUGH: Let me take a phone call. We’re taking your calls at 1-888-895-5727. Jeanne is calling from San Diego. Good morning, Jeanne, and welcome to These Days.
JEANNE (Caller, San Diego): Good morning. My question is why we haven’t partnered with the military, which is a strong presence in San Diego, and used their helicopters to dump the water and why we even need helicopters with them around because they are very present.
CAVANAUGH: Thank you for that call. And I’m going to give that to you, Chief Ghio.
GHIO: Okay. Jeanne, that’s a real good question. We have agreements through CAL FIRE with the military. We have crosstrained with CAL FIRE for those rotary wing helicopter assets. However, remember the main mission of the military is the defense of the country so they may or may not be available immediately when we need them, if at all. So it’s real important to have strong, adequate local resources for that air support because we do need rotary wing. We may even need fixed wing. This study doesn’t really address the needs; it’s – it addresses the consolidation of the services that we’ve got for support functions. Stew, would you agree with that?
GARY: Yes, and it’s an example of something that sounds very easy but ends up being technically complicated if not dangerous to do simply and quickly. The study had a chapter on aerial firefighting, air resources and helicopter programs and included several pages on coordination with the military. And the headache is, the military ships, even if they’re modified to be able to drop water or fire retardant, the crews rotate between overseas deployment and San Diego bases fairly frequently. So just as CAL FIRE and San Diego City helicopter crews and the sheriff train their military counterparts, they may only have them for half of one fire season and then they rotate out on another deployment and that training cycle with the military has to start again. The military radios are different. The military pilots have to be trained how to fly in the hot updrafts, that hot air coming off a fire is dangerous. Dropping water near firefighters on the ground is dangerous. So there’s a training component there that is just a chronic headache to keep the military up to speed with. However, the local government agencies do do that training and the military is committed to it, it’s just not a singular solution. So Chief Ghio is right, the local government agencies also need their trained firefighting helicopter pilots available year-round in the climate of San Diego and not be solely dependent on the military.
CAVANAUGH: We’re taking your calls at 1-888-895-5727 or you can post your comments online at KPBS.org/thesedays. Erik is calling from San Diego. And good morning, Erik. Welcome to These Days.
ERIK (Caller, San Diego): Good morning, Maureen. How are you?
CAVANAUGH: Quite well, thank you.
ERIK: Good, good. I wanted to ask your guests—and this is Erik Bruvold from the National University System—and we did a report last year that showed San Diego lags significantly behind Orange County and Los Angeles County on per capita fire expenditure. And, in addition, San Diego’s got many more departments with all the overhead that’s involved. So isn’t this really a call that once again we need to look at consolidation and upping the resources on – at least if we benchmark against LA and Orange County?
CAVANAUGH: Let me start with Chief Ghio on that.
GHIO: Well, first off, Erik, yes, we do need to do more to consolidate resources and improve our ability to respond to the community needs countywide. But I think one thing that comes out very clearly in this report from Citygate is that we actually do a pretty darn good job. We actually collaborate, communicate and cooperate very well when we have the large scale regional disasters or fires and we actually come together pretty seamlessly as one organization. But as the study does report, and it validates the LAFCO micro- and macro-reports that were done a few years ago, we do need to work towards consolidation and unifying this county and emergency services for fire and EMS. That is, long term, the best solution for San Diego County.
CAVANAUGH: And Stewart Gary, before you respond, I want to just throw in the idea that Los Angeles and Orange Counties, they both have actual county fire departments with firefighters and a traditional command structure. How do you think, if you do, that San Diego might benefit from that kind of a county fire department?
GARY: This is Stewart Gary. Two points to respond. First, Erik, generally Erik’s question is spot on and, yes, consolidations will yield, if not economic savings, operational efficiencies. For example, you might find two rural, east county fire agencies that have insufficient leadership and training staff but by putting them together you don’t necessarily save dollars but you now have a more effective, safer organization. So those issues have to be pursued, as do consolidation and communication centers. We took the budgets of all the agencies and rolled them up and today in San Diego County, not counting the military but including CAL FIRE, there’s $517 million—$517 million—being spent annually in the county on fire protection. And there are 460 primary engines, ladder trucks and specialty units staffed every day with over 914 career firefighters. That is a significant force. Yes, it’s fragmented across multiple agencies. Yes, it goes from four-person crew staffing in downtown urban San Diego to, hopefully, one or two volunteers on a rig way out in the rural eastern mountain or desert areas. Los Angeles County started in the late 1950s with a countywide system and a countywide tax base that is separate from the general fund of that county. The devil in the details now in California where the counties do not have large singular agencies is how do you get the individual agencies to agree to merge a portion of their existing tax revenues to fund joint fire services? And under the California Constitution and Government Code, there is no one entity, including the legislature, that can force a local city to give up its fire department and merge it into a larger whole. So they tend to be a ‘one-two-three at a time’ cooperative venture, either through contracts or joint powers associations, and you gradually build up larger and larger fire departments. There’s just not going to be a quick way to convert San Diego County and get 17 cities and several dozen fire districts to morph all into one. The second answer to the question, which is also difficult because Los Angeles voters have been paying into a countywide tax base for decades. A voter in one community understands they’re paying into the collective good. But if you were to form a San Diego County agency and merge the taxation today in order to fix the gaps, if I’m a Carlsbad voter why do I want to tax myself more to fix 10 or 11 missing fire stations in the City of San Diego? So there’s going to be a very difficult conversation between what is the regional base amount that every voter ought to pay for the common protection and where individual communities are short resources and ought to be raising those revenues themselves.
CAVANAUGH: Let’s take another call. Wayne is calling from San Diego. Good morning, Wayne, and welcome to These Days.
WAYNE (Caller, San Diego): Yes, good morning. For a change, you’ve got two excellent folks here. Gary is absolutely right, the devil is in the details. And Ghio, I want to emphasize his comment that this thing should not become a dust collector. I did the 1970 study of a similar nature but nowhere near as good as this one, and not just because of the better technology, I will admit. But the big issue here, the elephant in the room, is that when these firestorms get too big for the resources, they’ve got to stand back and work the flanks. They just cannot fight these firestorms that are moving under 40, 50 mile an hour winds or better. And the – They are absolutely right about the response time. So as an old Air Force SAC man, I want to say that one possibility they want to consider is to get aircraft in the air at critical times so they can hit these fires while they’re small. Otherwise, it’s irrelevant to the firestorm much as we need these improved response times.
CAVANAUGH: Thank you so much for your call. Would you like to respond?
GHIO: Yes, I would. This is Augie Ghio, again. Wayne, excellent, excellent perspective. It is critical to have a blend of air resources and ground resources attacking a fire, and our goal is to keep fires to 10 acres or less 90% of the time in this county and we’ve done a pretty good job on it. When you look at an average of 1000 wildfire starts a year in San Diego County and we’ve only had two, and they were catastrophic, the 2003 and 2007 in recent history, that really got out of control. CAL FIRE and all the local agencies have done a pretty good job at achieving the goal. The issue is that without partnerships, without more dollars and aerial support of the proper configuration, we just can’t really match that air attack at the local level because, remember, although CAL FIRE does have air assets locally in San Diego County and Southern California, the fires generally start north of the San Diego line and those resources most of the time are shifted north of San Diego to fight those fires first, so we’re without those state resources. So we need to build up local air assets, not just ground resources, and that’s a cost. Now a real interesting point is San Diego Gas & Electric and Sempra Energy have partnering through the County Fire Chiefs Association and County Office of Emergency Services to make a heavy-lift, type 1 helicopter available with heavy water drop capability this next fire season just like they did last fire season. So we’re actually looking outside the box in how to provide some of that. And the County of San Diego a few years ago did the super scoopers and they’ve made some dollars available again for a call when needed contract. So little by little, we’re improving those air resources.
CAVANAUGH: I’m wondering, Chief Ghio, the County Board of Supervisors adopted this study and they sent it off for about four months to be studied for implementation, how these recommendations could actually take effect. Are you being consulted during that time of implementation? Is anybody from the County going to come to you and say what should we do first?
GHIO: Yes, they are. And I have to give it to all the board of supervisors. Ron Lane and especially Dianne Jacob, they, even in the development of this report, they brought together firefighters – fire chiefs from throughout the County of San Diego including the tribal fire chiefs, to have input into what would be the deliverables. The next step is to bring a similar group together and talk about the actionable items, the priorities, the implementation plan, the funding strategy, and then how we’re going to report on our progress.
CAVANAUGH: I wanted to ask you finally, Stewart, if I may, I know that this study was done before the City of San Diego began implementing brownouts around – in fire stations around the city. Can you speculate about how the brownouts might have played into the study findings? What do you think that that’s doing to response times?
GARY: Well, certainly in the neighborhoods that are closed today, the response times are longer because the unit has to – another unit has to travel from much further away to cover the call. I can’t speculate on the overall impacts. Most brownout plans, and I was not consulted on San Diego’s, take the slowest fire companies out of service and try to spread that pain across the system so you don’t take your busiest, highest call volume unit out of service. You pick a slower unit and then you try to rotate that pain around the slower, quieter neighborhoods. And, again, we’re back to equity. Do you have neighborhood equal access or do you get the most calls for service answered by the people you do, in fact, have available today? And that’s very appropriately what the City’s chosen to do. They only have so many dollars so they’re going to answer the most calls for service with the dollars they have available.
CAVANAUGH: Stewart Gary and Chief Augie Ghio, I want to thank you both so much for speaking with us today. Thanks a lot.
GHIO: Thank you.
GARY: Thank you.
CAVANAUGH: And if you didn’t get a chance to have your call on air, please do place your comment online, KPBS.org/thesedays. Coming up, a legal update on local campaign finance laws, that’s as These Days continues here on KPBS. | <urn:uuid:46843ea9-fed7-427e-839d-1382c458948c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/may/25/study-examines-opportunities-improving-regions-fir/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956509 | 6,774 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Four Scouts earn Rank of Eagle; Troop beats National Average
Four Ontario Boy Scouts were honored Saturday for achieving the rank of Eagle, the highest rank in Scouting available to youths under the age of 18. The Scouts who earned the rank of Eagle are Bryan Diesenberg, Billy Remis, Ian Stead, and Bobby Young.
The Eagle ceremony took place at North Ontario United Methodist Church and was attended by fellow scouts, family members, friends, and town, scout and church representatives. The Scouts received personalized citations from Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senator Mike Nozzolio, President Barack Obama, and Rex Tillerson, president of the Boy Scouts of America.
Ontario Boy Scout Troop 127 has achieved a rate of 15 percent of its Scouts earning the rank of Eagle during the last four years, much higher than the national average of 6 percent.
“The troop’s rate is uncommon and it is very difficult to have a rate that high,” said Chris DiGiacomandrea, district executive of the Seneca Waterways Council, BSA. “It tells me first and foremost that the troop has strong, committed, and supportive leaders. Earning Eagle Scout requires a lot of dedication and hard work. The only way to get there is to have someone by your side when things get tough. It is also an award for the families, friends, and many others who helped the scouts attain this honor.”
The Scouts’ Eagle projects included organizing and building a canoe rack and picnic shelters at Casey Park, benches for the Ontario business area and Pines of Peace, and a food drive. Stead is attending the University of Rochester in pursuit of a degree in biology or environmental science. Remis is a senior at Wayne Central School District and plans to earn his degree in mechanical engineering technology. Young is attending Clarkson University where he is studying mechanical engineering, and Diesenberg is attending SUNY Fredonia where he is enrolled in the Visual Arts and New Media program.
“I’ve known these four young men since they first joined the Troop as young Webelos,” said Soren Lindahl who was their Scoutmaster throughout their time in Boy Scouts. “It is very gratifying to see the fine young men they have become and earn the rank of Eagle.”
Paul Diesenberg was Scout Committee Chairman during the period the boys were with Troop 127. He and Lindahl recently retired from their positions. Jason Gorton is now the Scoutmaster of Troop 127. | <urn:uuid:7a33c7f8-37b4-433f-aea1-fa4b67d03dac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.waynetimes.com/community/four-scouts-earn-rank-of-eagle-troop-beats-national-average | 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 | 0.973752 | 517 | 1.78125 | 2 |
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