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THE WEB IS BACK. Or at least Bing, with its new social-focused interface, is trying to make the Web relevant again – while making Google less relevant in the process.
Over the coming weeks, Bing users will not only get search results, but social recommendations from multiple sources including Facebook and Twitter (and yes, Google Plus.) Search will transform into conversation, tapping your friends and other “influencers” to guide your actions. So for example, if I’m looking for a good sushi restaurant in Los Angeles, Bing will find Facebook friends who posted about sushi in LA and may have a recommendation for me.
It’s search with a pulse. It’s not even a search anymore – it’s discovery.
But most of all, the new Bing is a call to arms against the modern, siloed, fragmented Web.
Planet of the Apps
The World Wide Web is now the Planet of the Apps. Bing wants to be the unifier, to break down the silicon walls and be the one-stop shop for people, places and ideas. There are still some blind spots, but Bing is at least trying to be the Master Curator of All Things Social online.
And let’s also be honest – Bing, meaning Microsoft, wants to kick Google’s ass in the process.
Google’s “Search Plus Your World” approach delivers results from its own Google Plus social network pages more prominently than other Web properties like Wikipedia. This is supposed to make search more personal and relevant – who you know and what your friends like, or share, or do, will have a greater influence on what you see in your search results.
The problem, at least for now, is Google focuses primarily on Google Plus, and even then still delivers results as part of a list entwined with static pages. Google provides links but doesn’t necessarily spur conversations. And it’s still a walled garden at least in term of the broader social web – Google in fact is becoming less like the web and more like an app.
Communities of Intent
Bing isn’t perfect either and still has a long way to go to catch Google in terms of market share and ad dollars. Bing merely won a battle in what will be a long war.
But this battle also represents a significant shift. What true social or conversational search does is move us from interest to intent.
Facebook is great at revealing interest – whether I like cars, for example. Seeing this, an advertiser may target me with car ads. But just because I “liked” the Mercedes page doesn’t mean I want to buy one. I may already own a Mercedes, or maybe I just liked a video they posted. I have an interest in the brand, but uncovering my intent is a far more difficult proposition.
But what if advertisers knew I was looking to buy a Mercedes very soon, and could target me at the very moment I expressed that interest? I’d be a more valuable lead, and therefore media or search properties like Bing could charge a lot more for the pleasure of reaching me.
Communities of Interest are broad and largely static, but “Communities of Intent” are specific, focused, and fleeting. The more that search moves away from providing static results and toward providing fluid conversations that lead to identifiable actions, the more that Communities of Intent will give advertisers quality prospects – and give people ads that they may actually want to receive.
(Disclaimer: Microsoft, which owns Bing, is a client, however I don’t work or communicate with the Bing team.) | <urn:uuid:8193a1fe-b3dd-45a7-810b-70cc3b1d9c2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://belowthefold.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/05/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931309 | 757 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Published: 13 August 2005
There's the wreckage of a car bomb that killed seven Americans on the corner of a neighbouring street. Close by stands the shuttered shop of a phone supplier who put pictures of Saddam on a donkey on his mobiles. He was shot three days ago, along with two other men who had committed the same sin. In the al-Jamia neighbourhood, a US Humvee was purring up the road so we gingerly backed off and took a side street. In this part of Baghdad, you avoid both the insurgents and the Americans - if you are lucky.
Yassin al-Sammerai was not. On 14 July, the second grade schoolboy had gone to spend the night with two college friends and - this being a city without electricity in the hottest month of the year - they decided to spend the night sleeping in the front garden. Let his broken 65 year-old father Selim take up the story, for he's the one who still cannot believe his son is dead - or what the Americans told him afterwards.
"It was three-thirty in the morning and they were all asleep, Yassin and his friends Fahed and Walid Khaled. There was an American patrol outside and then suddenly, a Bradley armoured vehicle burst through the gate and wall and drove over Yassin. You know how heavy these things are. He died instantly. But the Americans didn't know what they'd done. He was lying crushed under the vehicle for 17 minutes. Um Khaled, his friends' mother, kept shouting in Arabic: "There is a boy under this vehicle."
According to Selim al-Sammerai, the Americans' first reaction was to put handcuffs on the two other boys. But a Lebanese Arabic interpreter working for the Americans arrived to explain that it was all a mistake. "We don't have anything against you,''she said. The Americans produced a laminated paper in English and Arabic entitled "Iraqi Claims Pocket Card" which tells them how to claim compensation.
The unit whose Bradley drove over Yassin is listed as "256 BCT A/156 AR, Mortars". Under "Type of Incident", an American had written: "Raid destroyed gate and doors." No one told the family there had been a raid. And nowhere - but nowhere - on the form does it suggest that the "raid'' destroyed the life of the football-loving Yassin al-Sammerai.
InsideYassin's father's home yesterday, Selim shakes with anger and then weeps softly, wiping his eyes. "He is surely in heaven," one of his surviving seven sons replies. And the old man looks at me and says: "He liked swimming too. "
A former technical manager at the Baghdad University college of arts, Selim is now just a shadow.He is half bent over on his seat, his face sallow and his cheeks drawn in. This is a Sunni household in a Sunni area. This is "insurgent country" for the Americans, which is why they crash into these narrow streets at night. Several days ago, a collaborator gave away the location of a group of Sunni guerrillas and US troops surrounded the house. A two-hour gun-battle followed until an Apache helicopter came barrelling out of the darkness and dropped a bomb on the building, killing all inside.
There is much muttering around the room about the Americans and the West and I pick up on this quickly and say how grateful I am that they have let a Westerner come to their home after what has happened. Selim turns and shakes me by the hand. "You are welcome here," he says. "Please tell people what happened to us." Outside, my driver is watching the road; it's the usual story. Any car with three men inside or a man with a mobile phone means "get out". The sun bakes down. It is a Friday. "These guys take Fridays off," the driver offers by way of confidence.
"The Americans came back with an officer two days later," Selim al-Sammerai continues. "They offered us compensation. I refused. I lost my son, I told the officer. 'I don't want the money - I don't think the money will bring back my son.' That's what I told the American." There is a long silence in the room. But Selim, who is still crying, insists on speaking again.
"I told the American officer: 'You have killed the innocent and such things will lead the people to destroy you and the people will make a revolution against you. You said you had come to liberate us from the previous regime. But you are destroying our walls and doors.'"
I suddenly realise that Selim al-Sammerai has straightened up on his seat and his voice is rising in strength. "Do you know what the American said to me? He said, 'This is fate.' I looked at him and I said, 'I am very faithful in the fate of God - but not in the fate of which you speak.'"
Then one of Yassin's brothers says that he took a photograph of the dead boy as he lay on the ground, a picture taken on his mobile phone, and he printed a picture of it and when the Americans returned on the second day they asked to see it. "They asked me why I had taken the picture and I said it was so people here could see what the Americans had done to my brother. They asked if they could borrow it and bring it back. I gave it to them but they didn't bring it back. But I still kept the image on my mobile and I was able to print another." And suddenly it is in my hands, an obscene and terrible snapshot of Yassin's head crushed flat as if an elephant had stood upon it, blood pouring from what had been the back of his brains. "So now, you see," the brother explains, "the people can still see what the Americans have done."
In the heat, we slunk out of al-Jamia yesterday, the place of insurgents and Americans and grief and revenge. "When the car bomb blew up over there," my driver says, "the US Humvees went on burning for three hours and the bodies were still there. The Americans took three hours to reach them. All the people gathered round and watched." And I look at the carbonised car that still lies on the road and realise it has now become a little icon of resistance. How, I ask myself again, can the Americans ever win? | <urn:uuid:8044e880-c430-48ad-b874-d82bb9c79624> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christusrex.org/www1/news/indep-8-13-05a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987004 | 1,346 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Clovis, a character from Lucas Turnbloom's comic strip "Imagine THIS."
By Rob Tornoe, Editor & Publisher
Amid the rise and success of hit TV shows such as "Family Guy" and "American Dad," animator-turned Hollywood powerhouse Seth MacFarlane has been dogged with accusations of joke-stealing and lack of originality in his work.
Now, cartoonists are pointing out the similarities between his new motion picture "Ted" and popular comic strip "Imagine This." The strip, created in 2008 by cartoonist Lucas Turnbloom and syndicated by Universal Uclick, centers around a slacker and his foul-mouthed teddy bear sidekick who drinks beer and has anger issues.
Tall Tale Radio podcaster Tom Racine compared panels from "Imagine THIS" with scenes from "Ted" (click to view more).
"Certainly, the idea of someone talking to a stuffed animal isn't new," said Tom Racine, host of Tall Tale Radio, a popular podcast about comics, animation, and movies. "But 'Ted' feels like it was just taken directly from 'Imagine This' with little or no attempt to change it."
Racine created a shot-by-shot graphic pairing panels from "Imagine This" and screenshots from "Ted." In one, both Ted and Turnbloom's bear character Clovis are leaning back while drinking a beer. In another, both sets of characters sit lazily on the couch eating cereal.
Turnbloom, who has devoted the last five years developing "Imagine This," said he was devastated when he found out about MacFarlane's movie.
"Many cartoonists, myself included, hope that their strips might someday be developed into a movie or a TV show," he said. "I guess 'Ted' proves I was right to believe that my strip had cinematic potential."
There is no evidence that MacFarlane was influenced by "Imagine This," and the cartoon world (and Hollywood, for that matter) is replete with stories about stolen jokes, reworked gags, and outright theft of ideas, all of which are extremely difficult to prove. Turnbloom himself isn't pressing the issue or accusing MacFarlane of stealing his work.
But John Glynn, vice president of rights and acquisitions at Universal Uclick and gocomics.com, where "Imagine This" runs, said the similarities between the two are too striking to simply shrug off.
MacFarlane has been accused of stealing the idea for "Family Guy's" Stewie from Chris Ware's "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth." (click to enlarge)
"I see lots of similar jokes, concepts, and premises that come through our submissions and editing processes, so I know people can arrive at the same place totally separate of each other," Glynn said. "In those cases, I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I'd give that benefit to Mr. MacFarlane here, but the similarities are hard to deny."
This isn't the first time MacFarlane has been called out for similarities between his creations and comic characters.
When "Family Guy" first aired, comic book fans were angered over the striking similarities between Stewie and Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, a character from Chris Ware's popular comic "Acme Novelty Library." Corrigan, created by Ware in 1991, is an infant with a football-shaped head who fears his mother and invents things to try to escape.
Ware told Entertainment Weekly that the similarities between the two characters were "a little too coincidental to be simply, well, coincidental," but added, "If I let it get the better of me, I wouldn't get any work done. I'd just sit around and stew about it."
"I'm not sure how artists can protect themselves against huge media conglomerates," Racine said. "I think it's important for creators to point this sort of thing out, but usually, not much can be done about it."
Neither Seth MacFarlane nor anyone at his production company, Fuzzy Door Productions, could be reached for comment.
© Copyright 2012 Rob Tornoe, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
Rob Tornoe is a cartoonist and columnist for Editor & Publisher. Rob can be reached at RobTornoe@gmail.com.. | <urn:uuid:cd8c7115-c8de-4e57-aa88-c7e1d1db4152> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cartoonblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/29/12479735-ted-creator-seth-macfarlane-accused-of-ripping-off-a-cartoonist-again?chromedomain=entertainment&lite | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974594 | 908 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The Centre for Cities thinktank this week published an excellent overview of the state of play of Local Enterprise Partnerships across the UK.
The report, Sink or Swim: What next for Local Enterprise Partnerships, succinctly presents the challenges for the country’s 33 LEPs, particuarly around the need to avoid mission creep and to ensure the private sector’s pre-eminence in the partnerships is maintained.
But in the stats to support the report, there’s a stark fact that should give the Black Country LEP pause for thought.
During last summer’s chaotic formation of the LEPs (which Vince Cable admitted was ‘Maoist’) , the burning question in the West Midlands was whether Birmingham and the Black Country could work in unison. After weeks of wrangling and dispute, the parochialism of the region won out, and the two went their separate ways.
Birmingham, however, has since welcomed into the camp Solihull, South Staffs, Redditch, Burton and Bromsgrove, neatly illustrating the need for LEPs to cover ‘natural economic areas’. The government wants LEPs to break out of local authority boundaries to represent an area’s total ‘travel to work’ area. In other words, there’s no point having an LEP influencing economic activity in an area if half its residents work elsewhere.
As the Centre for Cities report says:
In areas where large numbers of residents commute to work elsewhere it will be significantly more difficult for LEPs to influence their own economic prospects.
The report’s figures show that fewer than 80% of Black Country residents actually work in the area, one of the smallest proportions of any of the LEPs. Staffordshire and Worcestershire are at around the same level, but of course parts of their areas have decided to join the Birmingham LEP as well as their own.
The challenge to the Black Country is clear – the wealth of more than 20 per cent of its residents is created elsewhere (ie Birmingham), yet it holds little or no sway over this very significant slice of its economy. With Birmingham salaries generally higher than in the Black Country, what’s the betting that this proportion rises to 30% in terms of total wealth?
Birmingham’s LEP has already shown how it can act as the economic powerhouse to neighbouring regions that are part of its LEP. Its proposed city centre-based Enterprise Zone will create an investment pot of more than £700m, much of which will be targeted at an ‘enterprise belt’ encircling the LEP area, way beyond Birmingham’s city boundaries.
This of course, won’t include the Black Country LEP area, which will have to plough its own furrow and achieve its aims while in control of less than 70% of its own economy.
The Centre for Cities report says LEPs have six months to prove themselves, or to be consigned to history as just another ineffective tier of local government bureacracy.
We think the Black Country LEP will have to work harder than most to meet that deadline.
- Are the LEPs ready to roll, or do they need a push? (centreforcities.typepad.com)
- NLGN says Government must avoid creating “gated business community” in declaring deprived areas ‘Enterprise Zones’ (nlgn.org.uk) | <urn:uuid:aa51edca-21bc-4e90-820a-2a482c45b97e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thechamberlainfiles.com/a-question-of-scale-a-challenge-for-the-black-country-lep | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951394 | 732 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The top Africa envoy for the United States told reporters in South Africa Thursday that Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was the "clear" victor in last month's presidential election.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer is visiting southern Africa to consult with the region's governments on Zimbabwe's election crisis. Almost four weeks after Zimbabweans voted in elections on March 29, the government has failed to release the results of presidential polling.
"The most credible results we have today are a clear victory for Morgan Tsvangirai in the first round and maybe a total victory," Frazer said, according to Agence France-Presse. Frazer added that "there should be a change."
Zimbabwe's electoral law requires that a presidential candidate receive more than 50 percent of votes cast to avoid a run-off. Unofficial results and reports have indicated that Tsvangirai received about 50 percent.
According to the Associated Press, Frazer acknowledged the possibility that negotiations between the ruling party, led by President Robert Mugabe, and the opposition may be necessary. "There may need to be a political solution, a negotiated solution," she said.
Reuters reported that Frazer, citing the long delay in releasing results, told reporters: "We now doubt the credibility of any results that would be released."
She added that she supports an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, as proposed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Brown and the leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, met in London on Thursday. In a joint statement, they called for "an end to any violence and intimidation and stress the importance of respect for the sovereign people of Zimbabwe and the choice they have made at the ballot box." | <urn:uuid:c06c0cbe-22ef-458c-ba49-2f75ac24df20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allafrica.com/stories/200804240848.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965108 | 363 | 1.601563 | 2 |
- Bikes & Gear
- Training & Nutrition
- Ride Maps
Editor’s Note: Throughout the Tour of California, TrainingPeaks will be providing post-race analysis of how the race played out. TrainingPeaks.com is training and nutrition software used by amateurs and pro teams and they’ll be sharing race data, such as power, speed, and heart rate, from Team Sky riders.
By TrainingPeaks Staff
Today’s stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California was set up to be another day for the sprinters. After a typical long breakaway, the main peloton caught the last few riders of the breakaway with about 12 miles to go. From there, teams jostled for position in an effort to setup their sprinters. Team Sky was at the front for the final few miles, but things didn’t play out according to plan.
As is often the case in cycling, the best-laid plans don’t always work out. Luckily, Team Sky has two world-class sprinters in Greg Henderson and Ben Swift. Henderson was meant to be the lead-out man for Stage 2 winner Ben Swift, but some last-minute shuffling caused Swift to get caught behind other riders. When Henderson realized he was at the front of the pack with just 300 meters to go, he drilled it 100 percent, went for the win, and got it! A look at the race winning data file direct from Greg’s SRM power meter shows astonishing numbers.
Let’s first understand that power is ultimately what wins any bike race. The more power you can produce, the more likely you are to win, and boy can Henderson put out the power! He averaged 995 watts for the final 27 seconds of the stage–that’s almost a kilowatt of sustained power, or about 1.3 horsepower. He sprinted for nearly 500 meters, an incredible effort for a human engine! After the race, Henderson commented “I was so lactic I was cross-eyed!… I couldn’t even do a victory salute!”
Consider that a typical recreational cyclist might be able to do this for just one second, and that’s on a good day. Also remember, Henderson had just raced for more than five hours in crosswinds, rain and cold. You can view and download the race file here.
If you have a power meter, you know just how hard these guys can pedal, and that is part of what makes training with power so fun: the ability to compare efforts and output among friends. In the next few stages, we’ll see what it takes to get over the climbs, less absolute wattage, but they’ll have to maintain a sustained hard effort for much, much longer. Stay tuned as we head into the hills of California!
Congrats Greg Henderson and all of Team Sky! Watch our interview with Greg: | <urn:uuid:7008a91b-ae9c-4f90-a38e-87d438281faa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bicycling.com/blogs/thehub/2011/05/18/atoc-notebook-trainingpeaks-stage-3-analysis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960819 | 611 | 1.5 | 2 |
I haven’t blogged for quite a while, I know. Life has been rather hectic of late — in a good, my-book’s-getting-published way, thankfully (more about that soon). So I thought I’d return, however briefly, with a bit of a bang.
It would seem that, once again, people are intent on telling us what we can and can’t laugh at. Physicist Stephen Hawking — a gentleman I happen to admire and respect a great deal — has been featured in a cartoon which shows two people discussing him and referring to the fact that he’s recently been seriously ill. The caption reads: “I wonder if they’ve tried switching him off and switching him on again”.
Now, I know. Bad taste, right? I mean, the guy was ill and, you know, disabled. We can’t laugh about things like that, can we? Well, if The Motor Neurone Disease Association is to be believed, no. It’s taboo. It’s forbidden — it is, they say, distasteful and mocks disability.
Speaking as someone with a severe physical disability, though, what do I say?
Firstly, Stephen Hawking does not need a charity to speak for him. He has a voice synthesiser, and the last I heard it was working just fine. I understand that the charity was, to a degree, speaking for those who cannot represent themselves. But even so, this in itself does not mean that they are right. (Just in case there’s any doubt, I think they are wrong.)
Secondly, it was funny. I laughed. As someone who is, in my own way, rather dependent on technology, it struck a chord with me. This cartoon was actually rather clever. It doesn’t just speak about Hawking and disability. It speaks about how reliant we’ve become on technology and, to my mind, the whole question of where man ends and machine begins.
Thirdly, humour at the expense of someone with a disability does not necessarily mean that they are being cruelly mocked. Yes, humour can, at times, be used as a weapon — but in my own experience jokes about my disability, jokes aimed directly at me by people I know, often have more to do with inclusion than anything else. We rib people in a friendly way to make them feel, at times, special. The friendly leg pull that says “you are one of us”.
Fourthly, is it just me, or are these associations/charities becoming just a little bit distasteful themselves in the opportunistic way they pounce on these stories — in an attempt, the cynic in me insists (or is it the realist in me?), in an attempt to promote themselves? After all, this particular cartoon featured in a regional newspaper and probably wouldn’t have come to the attention of more than a handful of people had The Motor Neurone Disease Association not insisted on speaking out about it and labelling it offensive.
Ultimately, I have to say I find the very idea of being told what I can and cannot laugh at execrable. To say, as has been said, that such a cartoon reduces Hawking to a condition and the technology he uses is, frankly, far more insulting to the esteemed professor than any cartoon could ever be. By all means, defend those who need to be defended — but I very much doubt that Hawking wants or needs this kind of representation. He probably found it amusing, too.
But maybe that’s too much of a leap for me to take so, instead, I’ll simply say this: if any charity out there ever feels the need to come to my defence without my explicitly requesting it, don’t. It’s presumptuous and offensive… one might even say prejudiced. | <urn:uuid:6642a5fa-8181-4832-b725-ace0af9ea7e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://garymurning.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978073 | 813 | 1.734375 | 2 |
As Congress Puts Controversial CAPPS II Program on Hold, ACLU Urges TSA to Abandon Super Snoop Profiling System
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON - Following Congressional action to put the notorious Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System, otherwise known as CAPPS II, on hold, the American Civil Liberties Union today strongly urged the Transportation Safety Administration to completely abandon its plan to build the controversial system.
"CAPPS II contains fundamental flaws that cannot be fixed," said LaShawn Warren, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "This system, which has not been shown to be an effective tool in blocking terrorists, would cast a cloud of suspicion over every traveler by subjecting their personal information to government scrutiny."
In official comments filed with the TSA today, the ACLU also said that the agency has failed to include a safeguard mechanism to ensure that the system is not used to unfairly target racial, religious and ethnic minorities -- as any law enforcement profiling program like CAPPS is apt to do.
The CAPPS II program is a vast integrated database that would run several searches on individual travelers' personal information using unknown criteria and unknown sources of information. Examples of records to be searched could include financial, educational and medical. Based on certain indicators in that information, the computer would assign a threat rating to the passenger - high, unknown or low. People rated as high or unknown threats would then be subject to heightened scrutiny or barred altogether from flying.
Just last week, lawmakers included language in an appropriations bill forbidding CAPPS II program from going beyond testing unless the TSA can demonstrate that it will not "produce a large number of false positives," that there is an "internal oversight board to monitor" the program, that there are "sufficient operational safeguards to reduce the opportunities for abuse," and that "there are no specific privacy concerns with the technological architecture of the system." The spending bill now awaits the President's signature.
Also last week, the ACLU also responded to reports that the private airline company JetBlue had shared five million passenger records with a subcontractor for the Pentagon. The company was then was able to match 40 percent of those records with further personal details - such as income, occupation, and Social Security number - obtained from a data merchant. The ACLU launched a web feature to allow JetBlue passengers issue a Privacy Act request to obtain any records that the government obtained through JetBlue. As of today, more than several hundred requests have been filed.
"Congress took an important first step in putting CAPPS II on hold especially in light of the JetBlue fiasco," said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU's Liberty and Technology program. "JetBlue demonstrates that once you establish a huge data-mining program, the results can't be predicted."
In addition to the ACLU, individuals and organizations from across the political spectrum are expected to file comments against the program, including Americans for Tax Reform, the American Conservative Union, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA).
The ACLU's comments are available online at: | <urn:uuid:e6408e1f-1dae-4209-adc1-4ae078797da9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aclu.org/national-security/congress-puts-controversial-capps-ii-program-hold-aclu-urges-tsa-abandon-super?quicktabs_content_video_podcasts=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948496 | 631 | 1.515625 | 2 |
By Richard F. LaMountain
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Arizona v. United States. The case will decide the fate of Senate Bill 1070: the Arizona law that, in its own words, seeks to "discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence" of illegal immigrants.
Eleven state attorneys general, including Oregon's John Kroger, have filed a "friend of the court" brief urging the court to invalidate SB1070. The court should reject their arguments and uphold Arizona's law.
Kroger et al's strongest objection is to SB1070's provision, as summarized by Arizona Republic reporter Michael Kiefer, that "requires an officer to make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there's reasonable suspicion that person is in the country illegally." That provision, Kroger's brief maintains, violates federal law because "Congress has ... vested federal officials alone with discretionary authority over enforcement activities in aid of [illegal immigrants'] removal, including oversight of nonfederal officers engaging in such enforcement."
But this is a tenuous argument. In United States v. Vasquez Alvarez (1999), the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted that federal law "evinces a clear invitation from Congress for state and local agencies to participate in the process of enforcing federal immigration laws" -- and, indeed, affirmed a "preexisting general authority of state or local police officers to investigate and make arrests for violations of federal law, including immigration laws" (emphasis added).
As well as the 10th Circuit, writes former U.S. Justice Department official Kris Kobach, the 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th "have all recognized the inherent authority of state and local officers to make immigration arrests."
Kroger and friends also allege that SB1070 creates a "hostile environment" for illegal immigrants, but nowhere do they note illegal immigrants' burden on Americans.
That burden is profound. "Illegal immigration costs U.S. taxpayers about $113 billion a year at the federal, state and local levels," estimated the Federation for American Immigration Reform in 2010. An estimated 8 million working illegal immigrants take jobs from unemployed Americans. And, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, roughly a quarter of federal prisoners are foreign nationals -- many here illegally -- who have smuggled drugs or weapons or committed murder, rape or other depredations upon U.S. citizens. SB1070 seeks, justifiably, to mitigate these costs to Arizonans.
How, conversely, does the Obama administration approach illegal immigration? It has suspended action against many of the 300,000 illegal immigrants who had faced deportation and cleared many of them to hold U.S. jobs. It has curtailed raids of businesses known to employ illegal workers. And it proposes spending cuts for federal-state partnerships that enforce immigration law and for fencing and air surveillance on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Actions like these, Arizona says, force the state to "shoulder a disproportionate burden of the national problem of illegal immigration." Its solution, SB1070, is legal, fair and necessary. The Supreme Court should reject the arguments of the attorneys general and uphold Arizona's law.
Richard F. LaMountain, a former assistant editor of Conservative Digest magazine, serves as vice president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform. He lives in Cedar Mill. | <urn:uuid:d02ee7d4-ee8d-4ac5-82a7-c04cf3c566b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/04/arizonas_immigration_law_supre.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935782 | 706 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Lihat Kenyataan Akhbar > Kenyataan Akhbar Y.B. Menteri Kesihatan Malaysia
|Tajuk||Proposal For Postgraduate Medical Subspecialty Training By The Royal College Of Physicians Of Ireland (RCPI)|
PROPOSAL FOR POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL SUBSPECIALTY TRAINING BY THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF IRELAND (RCPI)
1. Development of specialty and subspecialty services are required to cater for the health need of the nation and contribute towards achieving Health for the Nation, balancing demand, quality and cost.
2. It is worth mentioning here that, for basic specialty training, Malaysia has its own four (4)-year Masters Programme, which is conducted in the local universities, in 22 various disciplines. In this regard, the number of scholarships available for Masters’ trainees has increased from 450 to 600 in 2008. Since 2011, the number of scholarships offered for the Masters Programme has been further increased to 800 slots.
3. The Ministry of Health, Malaysia has been conducting the training in a number of subspeciality areas over the years. Since 2001 the Subspecialty Training Programme was formalized in order to have a more structured and systematic training of subspecialists in various specialties.
4. The main aim of the programme is to provide advanced training and experience in various subspecialty areas at a sufficient level for the trainee to acquire the competency to function as an independent consultant. The Subspecialty Training Programme is based on an apprenticeship and mentoring system where the trainee will assume positions of increasing clinical responsibility in a practice environment. While acquiring skills is an important part of the training, the trainees are expected to improve his knowledge through various learning activities to keep abreast of developments in the science and practice of medicine.
5. Currently, there are more than 90 subspecialty programmes established under the Ministry of Health. A specialist wishing to further specialize requires to undergo supervised training under a consultant for 2 to 3 year locally and often followed by additional exposure in overseas centres for about 1 year.
6. Commencing from January 2011, all candidates joining the Subspecialty Programme will be offered scholarship for the entire training period. Annually, the Ministry of Health provides 150 scholarship slots for specialists pursuing the training programme. The number of trainees has increased from 84 in 2001 to about 395 in 2010. Currently as of October 2012, there are a total of 333 trainees in the training programme. The number of new intake varies from 100 – 130 annually. Amongst the popular areas includes Nephrology, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Rheumatology, Urology, Breast & Endocrine Surgery, Intensive Care, Spine Orthopaedics and Neonatology. The number of specialists pursuing overseas training has increased from 52 in 2001 to about 90 in 2010.
7. Following the recent visit by delegates from the Irish Postgraduate Specialists Medical Training Bodies to the Ministry of Health Malaysia in July 2012, it is proposed that the Ministry of Health Malaysia and Royal College of Physicians, Ireland (RCPI) have a collaborative working arrangements with in the area of Higher Specialist Medical Training (HSMT) and Medical education development for medical professionals.
8. For a start the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) has given reassurance that the comprehensive training of the local postgraduate Master programme currently being held in Malaysia are fully recognized and appreciated by them and accordingly sees this collaborative approach as a unique opportunity to work together to the benefit of both the Irish and Malaysian Health Services.
9. Through the strategic collaboration, the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) will be offering training opportunities in basic specialty and subspecialty. Amongst the basic specialty includes areas such as General Medicine, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pathology, Occupational Health Medicine and Public Health Medicine.
10. However, since Malaysia has its own local Postgraduate Training Programme (Masters Training Programme (Program Sarjana Perubatan)), the Ministry will be focusing more on taking up the offer on the Medical Subspeciality Training Programme. The areas that are being offered include Cardiology, Palliative Medicine, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology and Geriatric Medicine. This proposal is seen as timely, since recent development in the regulations and requirement by the UK /Australian authority has reduced the opportunity of our candidates to pursue their overseas training.
11. This programme offers trainees the opportunity to take up structured training positions in clinical departments in tertiary and secondary referrals hospitals in Ireland. Placements will be in internationally recognized clinical departments with proven academics and research backgrounds with practicing Senior Medical Consultant Trainers for a period of one (1) year. The placement will provide both academic development and practical “on the job” training and experience in various subspecialty being offered. In this regards, the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) will be providing on an average 2 to 5 training places for most of the subspecialities being offered commencing from the 2013 intake.
12. It is envisaged that the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) will be able to provide trans-national access to a world-class UK medical education for a broad range of Malaysian specialists. With the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI) being institutions of high repute and are world-renown, it is hope that this collaborative arrangements would have great potential to introduce international and advanced medical education models and teaching methods to Malaysia, to improve on what is already a good system here.
13. In addition it is hoped that with this partnership, both countries will work together more closely to achieve the common goal, which is that of ensuring that Malaysia has the highest quality of medical specialists available to deliver healthcare to its population as well as to be recognized as a centre of excellence internationally. | <urn:uuid:70a6b2a3-7e3e-4c41-9871-3d69989be3f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moh.gov.my/press_releases/343 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944761 | 1,229 | 1.726563 | 2 |
It's time to go a bit off topic again. Oil prices topped $92 per barrel yesterday. By Spring we may have $4/gal gas prices, which is still ridiculously low by European standards. I guess more people will be commuting by bike.
What amazes me about this is not the prices, but the press stories. Over and over we are told the this is due only to speculation. But the fact is that it is a function of supply and demand. Here is an excellent post that explains how demand is just now starting to outstrip oil production. Some of the best and easiest to digest information on oil can be found in posts by Jerome Guillet, who writes under the name "Jerome a Paris". Jerome is a Parisian banker who specializes in energy related finance. He posts to Daily Kos and European Tribune. His series about the lead-up to $100/barrel oil is fascinating. Another super site about energy issues is The Oil Drum blog.
Basically, we are about to reach, or have passed, what is called peak oil. This does not mean that we will suddenly run out, but that production capacity, even assuming continued new oil field discoveries, can't be maintained. Unfortunately demand is being not only maintained, but is rising rapidly. That means prices are likely rise much faster in the future.
If this post is not gloomy enough you should read this article about a major new UN report. Actually, please read it anyway.
What does this have to do with bikes? Well it is good news for the commuter and city bike business.
I'll leave you with one last thought:
"Did you know that the bicycle is the most energy efficient transportation mode? It is 3 times more efficient than walking, 5 times more efficient than using the train and 15 to 20 times more efficient than driving a car." | <urn:uuid:f3461470-0b19-4ee1-b3ef-6195c87625ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/2007/10/oil-prices-and-bikes.html?showComment=1193496660000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96888 | 376 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Be Safe, Baby! Class for Expectant Parents
American Family Children's Hospital, 1675 Highland Ave, Madison, WI
Register online; Attendance is limited to 20 participants
Having a baby is often a very exciting and occasionally stressful time. One thing not to overlook are the essentials of baby safety.
This free class will offer expectant parents classroom car seat education, including how newborns should ride in a car as well as tips on car seat selection and proper installation. Other topics include creating a healthy safe sleep environment for your baby and the “period of purple crying” – a phrase to help parents understand that it is perfectly normal for babies to cry often during the first few months of life.
“Be safe, Baby!” is recommended for parents during the 2nd or 3rd trimester of pregnancy, but may be taken at any time. Classes will be 90 minutes in length and offered at various UW Health clinics in Madison. | <urn:uuid:3fa49ad1-a965-44ce-9aec-6f689ce6dc66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uwhealthkids.org/event/be-safe-baby-class-for-expectant-parents/40423 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964867 | 195 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Larry Sanger wrote a blog on this, and sent out the link on Twitter. Larry notes his disillusionment with "web 2.0," with his concerns being (a) "Facelessness. Frequently, we find ourselves in conversation with people we don’t know. We have nothing invested with them socially", (b) "Groupthink. The second reason Web 2.0 is becoming obnoxious to me is that I really, really hate groupthink," and (c) "Such a godawful waste of time. The first time we see a shiny new Internet toy, we are all oohs and aahs. But, OK…isn’t it time to stop it with the “Which Star Trek character are you?” quizzes on Facebook? ... Seriously, to my way of thinking, there are worthwhile Web 2.0 projects — like, of course, the Citizendium and WatchKnow (not launched yet) — but it seems like the vast majority of the websites, and many attractive and popular features within more worthwhile sites, are a waste of time."
Larry sees the creep of technology as the essential problem. When I challenged him on this, suggesting a much longer term historical arc, he said he was dating his concerns back to the early 1990s.
Now Larry, the co-founder of Wikipedia, is no Luddite, but I suspect that Larry misunderstands the role of communications technology in humanity. He told me to answer him in a blog post, and so here I go...
Socrates was right
Socrates was right. When you start to write things down, when humans embraced literacy, they moved away from the natural forms of human connection. Literacy not only limited the need for memory, as Socrates suggested, it debased human learning by separating the content from the person transmitting that content, as he also suggested. [Orality and Literacy. Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. The Consequences of Literacy.]
In Socrates' world human communication was directly humane. You knew the speaker and you knew the listener. You had known them, most likely, forever. You looked in their eyes, you smelled their breath and their sweat. Your informational (and social) trust was built on a very complex, and very ancient, system of clues. Think of it this way, you know a lover is lying in ways very different than you know an author is lying. Socrates opposed writing and literacy because he didn't want to lose that intimacy.
This is a crucial human question, going back to the very beginning. The first time humans drew on cave walls, and thus created the possibility that some might see this description of the hunt who had not heard the first hand account, technology began to both support, and intrude on, human communication. Is looking at the description of an unknown person's hunting party a waste of time? Is it disconnected trivia or a way of understanding yourself as part of the world?
Today in History
165 years ago today Samuel F.B. Morse sent the first public telegram. And today when I woke up I sent this Twitter message, "Something remarkable, almost tidal, watching the flow of tweets from my friends around the world, as some wake while others sleep."
Morse's invention appeared at one of those moments in time when technologies were radically reshaping human communication. His telegraph, for example, combined with the new technology of the steam-powered rotary press and machine-made wood-pulp-based paper, to completely alter how humans received information.
Suddenly news of the world, and eventually - via Steam Ships and less expensive telegrams and trans-Oceanic cables - personal news, could move rapidly around the globe unfiltered by the elites who had controlled this since the end of the 15th Century. Other things happened as well: photography began to appear. The railroads began to enable travel. The world, or, as Socrates might have suggested, a disconnected, unreliable, undefined sense of the world, was now available whenever people walked out of their doors, or opened their mail.
Something else was happening as well. People were flocking to cities. Suddenly people were surrounded by others they had not known all of their lives, by people they might never know. This altered social networks dramatically, and people began to organize themselves along somewhat superficial lines. The sports club and football club began to arise in England, for example, fraternal and service clubs in the United States. And social information thus began to spread differently, with a new communication level created between "back fence" and pub communication (on one hand) and news from the pulpit (on the other). People began to desire crime news and odd tales of strangers, things which would never have been deemed worthy of publication when publication was expensive. The first version of "blogging" began as writers penned serial stories or experiences which masses of people could waste time on, day after day.
All of these activities - all of these things - separated humans from the most "natural" communications experiences. Yet all of them also created new forms of human connectivity.
When I was a child "the bookworm" was a commonly derided child. Why waste your whole day with your nose in a book? "they'd" ask, instead of going out into the world and living? Yes, parents - back then - told kids to put down their books and go out and play. Yes, they did.
This was one end of the spectrum. The other, as an historic echo of Larry's complaint about Star Trek quizzes (which I have actually never participated in), was the concern that students were wasting their time and their minds on inappropriate reading. "A closer look demonstrates that the concern was not so much to interest children in reading as to interest children in reading the books that parents, teachers, and librarians wanted them to read, books that would provide class- and gender-appropriate role models and instill socially acceptable values in both boys and girls," Suzanne Stauffer writes of the 1880s-1920s period when "sensational fiction" was seen as a critical danger.
The wrong reading could cause groupthink, apparently, "then" as now. In the 1940s Comic Books were blamed for juvenile delinquency. Stauffer again, "Again, librarians and others proclaimed that this type of reading was not only inferior to reading “good books” but was a corrupting and degrading influence."
So the media forms which arose between 1840 and 1950 were (a) disconnecting people from actual human touch experience, (b) creating groupthink in dangerous ways (think about the United States and the Spanish-American War), and (c) creating massive wastes of time - reading comics, watching movies, listening to crappy radio shows, reading true crime stories and trashy novels, sitting around playing records.
Of course that was also true of the media forms which arose before 1840, and those which came after 1950. As soon as Gutenberg created movable type it was being used to provide sensational stories of strangersto the public. And speeches in ancient Rome may have created groupthink on occasion.
The Flip Side
I don't really need to go all Clay Shirkyon Larry to make my point. Each revolution in communication technologies moves humans in two directions - away from the tactile human, yes, but also towards a global understanding, a global connection, a global knowledge.
So, no, I will not tell Larry about the people I've met online who've become close, personal friends in person. I don't really think this has happened for me. Most of my closest friends I knew as a teenager - in person. Yes, we connect constantly via online tools, yes, our relationships are stronger now than they have been in decades because of those tools, but that's not the point.
But I will tell Larry that my blog, Twitter, and list-serve relationships are not faceless, they do not create groupthink, and they do not waste my time.
"Something remarkable, almost tidal, watching the flow of tweets from my friends around the world, as some wake while others sleep."
These are real people. We agree and disagree. We share and we argue. I may learn their "group identities" first - teacher, technologist, politico - but then I discover more, be it their poetry, their children, their eating habits, their fears. It is a fully human thing that I help @jonbecker find a parking spot in Park Slope at 1230 one morning, and that I worry about his car parked in the dark alongside Prospect Park. It is fully human frustration when I can not get @chadratliff to understand my argument. It is fully human fun I have with @damian613 over the plight of Newcastle United. And it is fully human friendship which I feel for bloggers from Karen Janowski to Enda Guinan. Bill Genereux has become an important "classmate" though we've never physically met, and I worry about Goldfish's health. They are only "faceless" if we think it is impossible for, say, a blind person to know faces.
More critically, we are a group - or groups. We have powers that humans have not had before. And we've been waiting for these technologies to offer us these powers for a long time. Humans have been trying to lower the costs of collaboration and knowledge transfer since time began. And now we can do that. Sure we waste time. Humans always "waste time." Sure we become "gangs." Humans always have. But we now have social choices - powerful social choices, which are shifting power in dramatic ways. Democracy could not have spread as it did in the past two centuries without the communications technologies of those times. And neither could knowledge. Both will spread further, faster - are spreading further, faster, even in the United States - because of Web 2.0.
But technologies take learning. It isn't easy. Early adopters look kind of crazy. "Really, you strung wire from Washington to Baltimore to send a Bible quote faster?"
So we need to learn these communication tools, and make them our own. And we need to help others, especially our children, find their own paths within these structures. Because it is indeed human, and is indeed humane.
I woke up this morning to birdsong outside the window and the smell of encroaching summer. And that tells me about the the preciousness of the planet. And I woke up with the Tweets of Aussies saying good night and Brits eating lunch and getting ready for the last day of the Premier League season. And that tells me about the width of the world.
I'm not wasting time. I'm as fully human as the people who came to read the cave paintings at Lascaux 20 years after they were drawn. I am engaged in humanity. | <urn:uuid:6f2f6ea5-9fbf-407b-a114-20a8ea390224> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2009/05/width-of-world.html?showComment=1243212782484 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974696 | 2,251 | 1.664063 | 2 |
|An essential element for the small entrepreneur is the ability to easily access business support services and/or business centers which will provide him/her with business information and business support including advisory services necessary to improve his/her personal and organizational effectiveness, and succeed both at home and abroad. This page lists and rates valuable Internet resources which will help start, manage and grow a successfull small business.|
Last updated February 14th 2012
|Sites are reviewed individually and rated mostly according to content depth and value added, while also considering ease of navigation and speed of loading. For each category best resources are listed first.|
|Useful Tip for efficient browsing: 1) Choose the site you want to explore, 2) Right click on its name, 3) Choose open link in new tab, 4) Go to newly opened tab and enjoy exploring the site, 5) Return to the original tab and resume the visit of ENTERWeb.|
Small Business Administration|
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business. Exceptional resource which provides information and advice on starting, financing or expanding a small business. The «Library & Resources» section is very rich leading to key publications particularly the «Small Business Management Series» where business plans for different ttypes of businesses can be downloaded. Do not miss either the section «Take your business global».
Business Development Bank of Canada
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is Canada's small business bank. It's mandate is to help create and develop Canadian businesses through financing, venture capital and consulting services, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The BDC's services are available across Canada in both English and French through a network of more than 100 Business Centers. Excellent and essential site for Canadian small businesses . In my view very likely the best advice center I have seen in terms of quality of technical advice ( see the section on cash flow), but of course you might think I'm biased, as I worked for them 30 years ago !!.
Business Link is the UK government's online ressource for businesses. It contains essential information, support and services and is the place to go to find guidance on regulations and to access government services. Outstanding site extremely well designed and easy to use. What I liked best was the way it has separated services into services for start up and services for growth and improvement. Do not miss the section on IT and open source software.
A project of the International Finance Corporation, the SME Toolkit offers free business management information and training for small businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on accounting and finance, business planning, human resources (HR), marketing and sales, operations, and information technology (IT). The SME Toolkit offers a wide range of how-to articles, business forms, free business software, online training, self-assessment exercises, quizzes, and resources to help entrepreneurs, business owners, and managers in emerging markets and developing countries start, finance, formalize, and grow their businesses. Excellent site.
US Business Advisor
The US Business Advisor provides small businesses with one stop access to federal government information, services and transactions . It includes sections on business development, financial assistance, taxes, laws and regulations, international trade, etc. Very clear and easy to navigate site obviously designed to respond to small business needs. Excellent site very useful even for non US businesses.
The Small Business Development Center National Information Clearinghouse (SBDCNET) serves as a resource providing timely, relevant research, web-based information, and training services to the SBDC counselors and their clients in the United States and its territories. An excellent site which provides information of interest to the budding entrepreneur and the small business owner. What I liked best is the fact that the site has been clearly structured to respond to the needs and interests of the small businesses. Do not miss their on-line resources, especially the link to publications.
Entrepreneurship.org is an online community designed to build entrepreneurial economies as well as serve as a resource for entrepreneurs, policy makers, investors, mentors, researchers and academics around the world. It features a vast array of content and resources to assist entrepreneurs, business mentors, policy makers, academics and investors through each phase of the entrepreneurial process. The content ranges from resources entrepreneurs need to launch a company to policies and research that has been conducted regarding entrepreneurship. Excellent site. Do not miss the Entrepreneurship Law and Policy Forum sections.
YAHOO Small Business Information
Despite a rather old looking and somewhat unappealing directory structure, it is still an essential site providing a search engine on small business information as well as direct links to organizations, publications, conferences, business opportunities, education, etc.
The Canada Business Network 's objective is to provide small businesses with the resources they need to grow and prosper, including a wide range of information on government services, programs and regulations. Very good and comprehensive site. However I am rather disappointed to see that the "Interactive Business Planner"(which enabled you to prepare a business plan on-line) and the "Online Small Business Workshop" (which was in my view one of the best of its kind) have all disappeared following the government reorganization which seemingly combined three SME support sites into one.
Although a commercial site from PaloAlto Software, this is a very good site providing free full-fledged business plans for all kinds of businesses. You can download sample business plans that have proved successful that you can read and emulate. In addition the corresponding commercial software has received high marks in the specialized press.
Small Business Trends
Small Business Trends is an online publication for small business owners, entrepreneurs and the people who interact with them. Through a network of small business experts the site presents articles on various business topics including marketing and financial management. What makes this site very interesting is the way they look at the various business issues through the new technologies and social media lenses. Very good site. Do not miss the small business radio podcasts.
Claiming to be the world's largest online resource for small businesses, providing essential tools and resources to start, grow, and manage your business, AllBusiness is a site which contains a multitude of news, articles, blogs on a wide variety of small business topics. Very good site although the large number of articles provided is somewhat overwhelming despite the possibility to use an internal search engine. Do not miss the section on free downloads.
Idea Cafe: The Small Business Channel
Idea Cafe is a web guide for small businesses, providing tips and advices as well as pointers to useful resources. What I liked most was the emphasis on down-to-earth practical approach. Despite the space taken by advertising banners it is a very good site. Do not miss the "CyberSchmooz".
Business Owner's Toolkit
The Business Owner's Toolkit is also labelled "total know-how for small business". It's more than just plain marketing "hype" as it includes lots of information, including all the essentials on starting, planning, financing, and marketing your small business. With an emphasis on problem-solving, it offers more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Very much focused on the U.S but still extremely useful for anyone starting or operating a small business.
Bloomberg Business Week
Created by Bloomberg Business Week magazine, this new site offers news and features for small-business owners and entrepreneurs, plus advice, regular columns, and a wide range of business resources. Although very much US focused it is a very good site with a down to earth orientation.
The Profit Clinic describes itself as an "innovative, entrepreneurial, free-wheeling, subversive, no-bull, no-frills, USEFUL site for Small Business" and indeed it is as unorthodox as can be, and very useful as well. A very good site full of australian humor.
LogisticsWorld is a directory of logistics resources on the internet providing information on logistics, transportation, warehousing, distribution, supply, maintenance, manufacturing, etc. An unusual and excellent site. Do not miss the WWW Virtual Libraries on Trucking and Logistics.
Business Resource Center
Business Resource Center is a commercial site providing free resources mostly for new business starters. The Center includes four main sections: getting started, the marketing department, the management center, the financing guide. Basic information but good. Includes a discussion group.
The site includes an online magazine, a Canadian business directory, Canadian specific business resources, a technology centre, and several other promotional tools designed to help Canadians grow their businesses. Despite the obvious focus on Canada it is of interest to anyone wishing to develop his/her own business.
National Fraud Information Center
The NFIC was originally established by the National Consumers League, a nonprofit consumer organization in the United States, to fight the growing menace of telemarketing fraud. An interesting site useful for both consumers and small business owners.
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©1996-2012 ENTERWeb The Enterprise Development Website. | <urn:uuid:5a9cbaf7-bf20-4083-9124-54e251fca509> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enterweb.org/advisory.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93651 | 1,932 | 1.679688 | 2 |
If government can and must play a major role in rebuilding areas ravaged by nature's fury why shouldn't the same government do more to help those American citizens ravaged by the scourge of unemployment?
As Chinese Communist Chairman Mao stated in 1957, "let a thousand flowers bloom." This statement was issued as an alleged initiative to deliberately ...
Ann Coulter helped in her own inimitable, thoughtless, empty, soulless way to help get Barack Obama elected. She created her own self-fulfilling prophecy. Poor Ann Coulter. She must be so pissed off. The heart bleeds.
It's time for a more coordinated message from Democratic Congressional Candidates, House and Senate alike, to link themselves to passage of President Obama's programs supporting the middle class.
Americans should be just as eager to see real Congressmen and women in Washington who want to serve the people, just as much as they're eager to see the real referees back on the field. Even anti-union Governor Scott Walker wanted the union refs back.
Is it any wonder that Republicans have become the Party of 'no'? If they had said yes, our unemployment might be in the range of 5.5 to 6.5 percent by now and the president would be kicking Mitt Romney's rear end even more thoroughly than he is already.
We are witnessing a full-on implosion of the Republican Party. The Republican Party is now no longer a major party, and their nominee for the presidency openly mocking poor people at a $50,000-per-plate fundraiser is no better indicator.
Republicans have not violated any laws that I am aware; they have, in my view, violated the spirit of our public morality.
When the plutocrats and their minions abuse the average citizen, it is called "oppression." When the oppressed presumed to assert their rights as citizens, the Republicans call it "class warfare." We call it justice ... or, the American way. No feints in that.
It's one thing to fire off the inflammatory rhetoric when it's part of the day-to-day grind of a close election. It's another to shamelessly exploit for political purposes the deaths of Americans who've sacrificed their lives to make the world a better place.
Ryan and Mitt Romney claim to be America's comeback team, but that claim is extremely specious if Ryan helped to orchestrate something which put America in a position to need a comeback in the first place.
Mitt Romney's October surprise has arrived early. It is the sad reality that his toughest decisions next year will be what color cravat to wear at his wife's next horse ballet competition and not the choices he'd hoped to make behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.
First they obstruct. Then they complain. ...
Day Two was the Day Of The Attack Dog. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Why should we continue to pay them when they're such miserable failures? We should consider making serving in Congress a part-time, minimum-wage job with no benefits. | <urn:uuid:69d65dc2-2b94-44ed-9f45-08b1bbf8ba7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/mitch-mcconnell/7 | 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 | 0.967675 | 620 | 1.601563 | 2 |
17 stolen calves recoveredA tip from a Wilkin County farmer led to the recovery of 17 calves stolen from Douglas, Todd and Stearns counties Thursday.
By: Amy Chaffins, The Osakis Review
A tip from a Wilkin County farmer led to the recovery of 17 calves stolen from Douglas, Todd and Stearns counties Thursday.
The calves were stolen from eight farms throughout the three counties over the past two weeks.
According to Todd County Investigator Scott Dirkes, they were located on a farm south of Barnesville.
Jesse Robert Ronsberg, 19, of Rothsay and a 16-year-old male from Barnesville were arrested. Ronsberg was booked into the Wilkin County Jail on theft charges and the juvenile was later released to his parents.
Dirkes said the suspects had retagged all the calves after stealing them, but were cooperative in assisting with the identification of the calves.
After contacting the farmers, all of the calves were returned to their rightful owners by Thursday evening.
“We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Wilkin County Sheriff’s Office,” Dirkes said. “They were extremely helpful with this case.”
Osakis dairy farmers Bob Massmann and Norb and Lori Johnson traveled to Barnesville to identify and retrieve their three missing calves.
Massmann said the calves appeared to be fed and well cared for during their 12 days away from home.
Although all turned out well, Massmann said the incident will remain in his mind for some time.
“It does bother you quite a bit,” he said. “It makes you wonder about people today. Just going on a farm and taking what’s not theirs.” | <urn:uuid:2cff4ce8-4f9e-496e-9780-c6bc7871ef86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theosakisreview.com/event/article/id/6656/group/homepage/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982399 | 359 | 1.570313 | 2 |
CHICAGO | The city of Chicago released a new cultural plan on Monday, its first in more than 25 years.
The plan calls for making arts a core subject at Chicago Public Schools, providing tax incentives for creative industry start-ups and developing a large-scale new festival and permanent festival grounds.
According to the plan, most of the initiatives can be done within 18 months. Others will take about five years.
The last time the city released a cultural plan was in 1986 under Mayor Harold Washington. That plan included making Navy Pier a tourist and culture destination. It also included developing a theater district in downtown Chicago.
Funding for the new plan came from the Chicago Community Trust and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. The plan was put together with the input of thousands of Chicago residents after a series of town hall meetings earlier this year.
The city says its creative economy generates $2 billion a year and employs 150,000 people. | <urn:uuid:1083e70d-c560-4bcd-a210-023c0c4ed789> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/chicago/chicago-releases-st-cultural-plan-since/article_27e1b9bc-ef93-528e-93e3-96cb0b560690.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953541 | 193 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Laminate flooring is a practical choice for just about anywhere in your home. Its ease to install and toughness have made it a popular alternative to hardwood, vinyl and ceramic tile. iFLOOR has an excellent selection of these floors in a wide variety of colors, styles and textures. Our direct link to the factories, volume buying power and large warehouse inventory mean you get the biggest discounts on brand name laminates and the fastest shipping to your home. Learn about iFLOOR Laminate
In the mid-nineties, laminate flooring would make a monster splash and quickly grabbed an overwhelming 37% of the flooring marketplace. Its wood look, durability and ease to install gave consumers the alternative they needed for kitchens, baths and even the main living areas of the home.
Laminate floors are comprised of a photo of wood attached an HDF core. The surface of is impregnated with aluminum oxide creating an ultra-tough wear layer. The best laminate floors are even resistant to flame, permanent markers, and are virtually impossible to scratch. Its this durability that has led many consumers right to it, and these floors have only gotten better with time.
The first laminate floors were floating floors, meaning they weren’t attached to the sub floor. A layer of underlayment was first applied, then the floor installed over it. Where the planks connected, glue was required at the seams. But nowadays, glue is no longer part of the equation.
Uniclic was the first glueless locking system offered on any type of flooring and it made installation exceedingly simple. What was a relatively easy process became a very easy process by eliminating the gluing step in the process. It was very common for installers to use too much or too little glue. This either created gaps between planks or swelling where the planks met. Manufacturers adapted and click laminate flooring became the industry standard. In many ways, we can thank laminate flooring for all click hard surface floors.
Laminate has come an incredibly long way and not just in its ease of installation. When at one time it was fairly evident a laminate was a laminate, now they can be nearly indistinguishable from real hardwood flooring. There are cheap laminate floors that still don’t fit the bill, but the better laminate floors look exactly like the wood flooring they intend to mimic.
Today you’ll find hand scraped laminate flooring, antique wood-look laminate flooring, laminates with finely beveled edges and textured finishes... it goes on and on. Whatever you can find in a wood floor you can likely find its virtual clone in laminate flooring.
We have a tremendous selection of the best laminate floors right here. Because we’re able to buy in large volume and can warehouse or own inventory, we get the best price. Our low overhead allows us to then pass those savings onto you and that’s how you get the lowest prices on laminate prices on laminate flooring.
If you have any questions, call one of our factory trained flooring experts and see how we earned our top-rated customer service rating. | <urn:uuid:49cf0928-e9f3-4e79-bbb6-dba7edc16d60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ifloor.com/laminate/filter/laminate_collection/1612,1643,accolade-8mm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95949 | 662 | 1.523438 | 2 |
" How do I find the right yoga class for me?" An important question as there are a variety of classes, styles and teachers to choose from. Yoga, is a practice to create harmony between the body, mind and spirit.
There are 8 steps to achieve this harmony.
1. Yama: Universal Morality
2. Niyama: Personal Moralities
3. Asanas: Postures
4. Pranayama: Breathing Techniques
5. Pratyhara: Control of the senses
6. Dharana: Creating inner awareness
7. Dhyana: Meditation
8. Samadhi: Connection with the Divine
What I have written is just the basic. There is no exact order. It depends on an individual's state of being or path he or she is on. A lot of focus is spent on the Asanas or in simple terms body exercises. There are many approaches to the practice of yoga and different styles or methods of this practice.
No matter the type of yoga they all lead to same benefits. Below are some basic pointers in finding a class that would suit you. (These are my own experiences) These points have helped me in finding what works for me. The first step is to recognize that yoga is an individual practice and to acknowledge that NO two people have the same body, strength, flexibility or needs.
Find a few yoga studios that are in driving or walking distance form your home or your office. Look for classes (timings) that work with your schedule or your budget. Talk to the manager of the studio and let them know that you would like to try out some classes.
They may suggest a teacher or class. Also have a word with the instructor and find out what her/his approach is when teaching, credentials, how long he/she has been teaching at that studio etc. Place yourself somewhere in the middle of the room or where you feel comfortable. You want to be able to see and hear your instructor. During the class do go at your own pace(if you are new) try to be aware of how you feel/ connect with the instructor (verbal instruction, demonstration, modifications of poses, connection, presence) We and our yoga practice are always changing. At different stages we seek different practices so be open in trying out different styles and teachers. We are lucky that we have a huge variety of instructors and styles at our fingertips!
Submitted by Yogalife on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 16:52 | <urn:uuid:f33fd7f5-f8d9-48ee-8399-8d3b6f7ee60f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bkhush.com/dev/content/tips-finding-yoga-practice-works-me | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951402 | 513 | 1.671875 | 2 |
When starting out as a contractor or freelancer, the main two different ways of trading are setting up a limited company and using the services of an Umbrella company.
How does an Umbrella company work?
As a contractor, you will be employed by your Umbrella company, who will take care of all the administration on your behalf. You'll be paid by PAYE (Pay As You Earn) and you'll also be able to offset some of your business expenses against your tax (‘allowable' expenses are those incurred during the course of the duties you undertake while working, and include travel, meals, and accommodation).
All that a contractor needs to do is to provide their signed timesheet, along with details of expenses, to their Umbrella in order to get paid. Your Umbrella company will invoice the client, do any chasing for payment if required and process your expenses - in addition of course to sorting out your tax and National Insurance contributions.
Which IT contractors should use an Umbrella company?
Some contractors either don't want to, or are unable to, set up a limited company and in these instances Umbrella companies are the main alternative to trading via their own limited company. Other contractors just wish to contract in the short term, and don't want to set up and then close down a limited company for such a short contracting stint.
What are the benefits of using an Umbrella company?
The main benefits of using an umbrella are two-fold. Leaving the day-to-day administration to the Umbrella company is a big plus to many contractors who just want to concentrate on their contracting work and don't want to worry about their legal responsibilities as a company director.
Since you are employed by your Umbrella company, IR35 (and indeed the MSC Legislation), no longer apply to you.
Contractor UK also have guides on How to choose an Umbrella company and if you're scratching your head over what an Umbrella company dispensation is, then this article will help you too: What is an Umbrella company dispensation? | <urn:uuid:cf7a36c4-5f19-48a3-84fc-097f6aec40ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itjobsinlondon.com/articles/Guide-to-Umbrella-Companies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969842 | 421 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Blessed John Paul II: Worker Pope ‘raised to the altars’
The Holy Father holds a koala in Brisbane during his visit to Australia in 1986. Photo: The Catholic Weekly
From Bishop Anthony Fisher OP Catholic Outlook, May 2011
Actor-athlete turned scholar-pope. Destroyer of communism. Champion of human freedom. Advocate of peace and reconciliation. Jubilee Pope. Builder of the civilisation of life and love. Enemy of the culture of death. Teacher of faith and reason. Friend of youth and Father of World Youth Day. Defender of the poor. Voice for the voiceless. Living testimony to dignity in old age and sickness. True apostle. Faithful servant of God. Millennial pope. John Paul the Great.
It sounds like a Catholic litany, but these titles came from the world’s secular leaders and journalists in the days that followed the death of Pope John Paul II.
It was undoubtedly the biggest funeral in history. About four million people were there and billions more watched by television or the internet. The outpouring of grief and gratitude for this man and for the way he brought people closer to God crossed all boundaries and was genuine. Many at the time said ‘Santo subito’: sainthood now; already a saint!
Catholics like litanies, long lists of names to describe God or the saints and to ask for their help. It is a natural response to the fact that no one tag adequately captures the greatness of God and His best friends. Now we’ve added a new title to our late Pope’s litany: he is Blessed John Paul.
The New Testament offers a number of very moving vignettes of Jesus’ encounters with John Paul’s predecessor, Peter. ‘Come follow me and I’ll make you a fisher of men’; ‘Put out into the deep’; ‘Be not afraid’; ‘You are Peter, the bedrock on which I’ll build my Church’; ‘I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven’; ‘What you bind and loose is done so in heaven’; ‘Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven’; ‘I have prayed that your faith will not fail’; ‘Confirm the brethren’; ‘Do this in memory of me’; ‘Feed my lambs’; ‘Go out to all the world and proclaim the Gospel’.
Peter and his successors respond on our behalf: ‘Lord, everyone is searching for you’; ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’; ‘Let us build tabernacles for you’; ‘Lord, to whom else could we go? You have the words of eternal life’; ‘Then wash me all over’; ‘You know I love you’; ‘I would lay down my life for you’.
In this conversation between the papacy and Our Lord we hear so many premonitions of John Paul’s life. He made his own the call to ‘Be not afraid’ and ‘Put out into the deep’. He followed, he fished, he taught, he absolved, he celebrated the Holy Eucharist. He left his own homeland to go out to all the world proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. He gave his all.
'To share in the creative activity of God'
Pope John Paul II speaking with workers at the Seven Hills Transfield factory in 1986. Photo: The Catholic Weekly
The longest pilgrimage of this Pilgrim Pope was the 30,000 miles through Bangladesh, Singapore, Fiji and New Zealand to Australia in 1986. In Sydney he held hands and danced in a conga-line with youngsters in jeans. In Melbourne he did impromptu Q&A with primary children. He visited Aborigines in central Australia and encouraged them in their struggle for recognition and reconciliation. He cradled a koala in Brisbane. And, best of all, he wore a hard hat in a factory in Seven Hills in the then-newest diocese he had created: the Diocese of Parramatta!
There he told the workers that he was one of them and that he admired their dedication to ordinary work. Jesus Christ Himself, he pointed out, “although the Son of God, chose to be an ordinary worker for most of his earthly life, toiling away as a carpenter in Nazareth.” Working people had made Australia great. They should never be thought of as mere resources. They should be given opportunities to contribute to the common good and receive their fair share. They should be assisted by technology not mastered or replaced by it.
“People need to work, not just to earn money for the necessities of life, but also to fulfil their calling to share in the creative activity of God. The human satisfaction that comes from work well done shows how profoundly the Creator has inscribed the law of work in the heart of man. The goods of the world belong to the whole human family ... We all need to feel that we are truly productive and useful members of our community. It is our right.”
Economics, the Pope told the people of Western Sydney, “cannot be separated from the ethical and social aspects of life in society ... the worker is always more important than both profits and machines”. As a sharing in God’s creativity and Christ’s service, human work should offer an “uplifting and exhilarating” experience of “working with the Creator in perfecting his design and plan for the world”
Now the Worker Pope, the Pope from Parramatta, is ‘raised to the altars’. Blessed John Paul II pray for us.
On the Vatican’s website you can read the speech Blessed John Paul II made in our Diocese in its entirety. | <urn:uuid:22733c6b-39cf-4bda-aed8-864e856f83c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jceworld.blogspot.com/2011/05/australia-bishop-fisher-praises-blessed.html | 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 | 0.958414 | 1,247 | 1.710938 | 2 |
An Online Shopper Bill of Rights
Online shopping this holiday season is slated to ring up record revenues. And with the high price of gasoline and the extreme weather we've been seeing, expect shoppers to turn to the Internet for an increasing part of their holiday budget.
That is, if customers are happy with their online shopping experiences.
According to JupiterResearch's 2006 report, "U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2005-2010," e-commerce will climb from $81 billion in 2005 to $144 billion by 2010. But that figure hinges on a few conditions. Patti Freeman Evans, the report's author, cautioned that Internet customers are not just opening their wallets, they also are demanding more. Retailers can expect an increasingly experienced population of online shoppers who are smarter about finding free shipping and deeper discounts, she noted.
Moreover, though new people will join the online world, it will get harder to convert larger numbers to online shopping. Ms. Evans urges that merchants who want to continue to increase revenue need to induce existing online shoppers to spend more each year. The adage that repeat customers are the best customers is equally true of online traffic.
So, to keep customers coming this holiday season and beyond, it's time to introduce core beliefs and practices across Internet commerce to ensure great service and product satisfaction in every consumer online retail transaction.
Here is a suggested "Online Shopper's Bill of Rights." Its tenets are based on our own experiences as fervent Internet shoppers. We encourage our partners, colleagues and competitors in retail to join us in making good online shopping experiences an inalienable right for all customers. Online shoppers deserve the right to:
• Find the best prices available, including the use of comparison shopping.
• Know the full price when considering a purchase. Hidden shipping and handling fees do not foster online consumer trust.
• Obtain detailed, relevant product information efficiently and in plain language.
• Access independent product reviews. Consumers should be able to easily research from various objective information sources to make the best decisions.
• Obtain unbiased customer opinions. Trustworthy retail sites should post all customer feedback and show how they responded to problems. It's how retailers respond that makes for a long-term shopping relationship.
• Trust that their personal information is zealously protected. Abusing customer privacy will damage our industry like nothing else.
• Receive fast responses when they order and when they complain.
• Experience an easy, friendly user interface. If customers wanted to be hassled trying to shop, they'd be out driving around a crowded mall parking lot.
• Shop at their own pace. If customers are ready to check out, make it easy to complete a transaction. If they want to browse, make it easy to cruise your site. | <urn:uuid:888c07c3-0429-40a2-a939-35aa03924b3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmnews.com/an-online-shopper-bill-of-rights/printarticle/92758/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930433 | 565 | 1.648438 | 2 |
New Cubs team president Theo Epstein poses for a photograph in front of the the ivy at Wrigley Field. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)
If Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts thought luring Theo Epstein to Chicago tested his resourcefulness, now comes the hard part. Ricketts must maximize revenue opportunities at Wrigley Field to make the baseball better the way the Red Sox did for Epstein at Fenway Park.
The challenges are as different as the charming, old ballparks are similar. In terms of baseball stadium renovation, it's the equivalent of the Red Sox being allowed to use sabermetrics while the Cubs only can employ scouting.
Or as dissimilar as Boston's "T'' system is to Chicago's "L.''
For example, even though Fenway was built two years earlier (1912), Wrigley remains the only major league ballpark with a restrictive landmark status — costing the Cubs as much as $30 million annually in potential sponsorships according to one internal study.
The city lifted Soldier Field's landmark status before its renovation, yet Wrigley remains a protected relic. How interesting that Wrigley's restrictions limit what the team can do to the slope of the bleachers out of respect to the rooftop owners who have more power than any Cubs cleanup hitter.
The Cubs couldn't even get city or neighborhood officials to agree to close Sheffield Avenue for street parties during three marquee series the way the Red Sox do for every home game at Fenway with adjacent Yawkey Way.
Eight miles south, didn't White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf have a state agency fund a $7 million restaurant across from The Cell?
Yet unlike any other city, local ordinances also prohibit the Cubs from playing more than 30 home night games — 24 fewer than the MLB average — or on Friday and Saturday nights. That deprives the team of millions in TV rights fees that run higher during prime time.
Not to mention the $17 million in amusement taxes the Cubs paid to the city of Chicago and Cook County in 2010 through a 12 percent levy on each ticket. That might sound reasonable if Wrigley were a publicly funded stadium. But the Cubs are one of only five MLB teams that play in a privately owned ballpark. Two of those five clubs, including Epstein's former employer, pay no amusement tax. The Cubs pay the highest.
If the Cubs were permitted to lift landmark status to allow signage, increase the number of night games and redirect some of the revenue the amusement tax generates, it would considerably lessen the burden on the Cubs for the proposed $400 million Wrigley renovation.
That sounds like an opening for Crane Kenney, the Cubs president of business operations who never has been under more pressure to make deals.
Rep. Mike Quigley (D-5), a long-suffering Cubs fan, agreed the arrival of Epstein represents an ideal time to take a fresh look at old issues. Quigley cited the potential for job creation in his support for the Wrigley project and considered re-examining restrictions on the Cubs a matter of fairness.
"I'm willing to help fund the expansion and give them some of the other accommodations as long as they understand we're mutually dependent and respectful,'' Quigley said. "Everything around Wrigley Field is inter-connected with the community.''
Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, vowed to keep an open mind but didn't sound amenable to every concession.
"We bent on concerts at Wrigley but more night games is going be tough,'' Tunney said.
The Cubs need someone to help finesse the project such as Janet Marie Smith, an expert in stadium renovation and Orioles vice-president of planning and development. Having once testified to the City Council on behalf of the Cubs against landmarking, Smith is better known for overseeing the preservation and improvement project at Fenway for the Red Sox from 2002 to 2009. In a 10-year, $285 million renovation, owner John Henry funded all but 20 percent in locally approved tax credits.
"We spent a considerable amount of creative energy and dollars not only working to add fan amenities but preserve the things you always remember and at the same time didn't have your baseball players walking into somewhere that looked inferior to their high school gyms,'' Smith said. "I've been in Wrigley's clubhouse.''
Smith's quest to make Fenway's historic landmark look younger and more appealing landed her in Washington seeking permission from the National Parks Service.
"If you ask the National Parks Service about their approach to historic preservation, they will tell you their No. 1 objective is to preserve a building in its original use,'' Smith said. "Not preserve a building, period.''
The Red Sox preserved Fenway well enough to blend tradition tastefully with commerce and ultimately improve the baseball in a way every organization seeks. The way the Cubs seek now.
"If we're lucky enough to follow the same steps with Wrigley Field, it will only mean great things for the fans, for our revenues,'' Epstein said. "In turn it means great things for our baseball operation and for the city of Chicago."
But will the city play ball? | <urn:uuid:f1616f0f-73ff-4a17-9cc0-64d0f4401d4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-30/sports/ct-spt-1030-haugh-cubs-chicago--20111030_1_cubs-wrigley-project-crane-kenney | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959839 | 1,062 | 1.523438 | 2 |
|Cast iron cross marking grave of Michael Pereksta|
Last month I wrote about all the newspaper reports of unnamed "Hungarians" killed in slate mining accidents in the late 19th and early 20th century. I came across the articles while looking for information on Michael Pereksta, who was reported to be my grandmother's cousin.
Today I am, thanks to the kind assistance of the Slate Valley Museum and their volunteer extraordinaire John Jones, able to pinpoint the date and cause of his death, and to share photographs of his grave marker.
He did die in a mining accident as we'd been told. John found two small news articles in local papers reporting the accident, though again omitting his name.
I shall write more about his life, death and the help I received from John and the Slate Valley Museum, but today I focus on his burial at the Saint Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Granville, NY.
|Plaque attached to cross.|
ZOMREL 12 JUNIA 1905,
30 ROKOV STARY
Died 12 June 1905,
Age 30 Years
John sent pictures illustrating the placement of the marker, its condition, as well as the above translation. He pointed out that it was near several other iron crosses, all sharing the same laurel wreath emblem near the base and speculated they had been provided by a burial society. I suspect he is correct.
|St. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Cemetery, Granville, NY|
Michael's cross is in the back, tilting strongly to the right, in the above picture. If you look carefully you can see other crosses nearby.
The photographs were taken by John A. Jones and are published here with his permission. | <urn:uuid:5c41873a-2c8a-426d-831a-4e9a15730015> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nolichuckyroots.blogspot.com/2012/06/anonymous-no-more-michael-pereksta.html?showComment=1340743432381 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973536 | 357 | 1.75 | 2 |
Could You Raise Your Kids on Less Than $15,000 a Year? Millions of Parents Are Forced to Learn How
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Sometimes, it's useful to state the obvious. Here's a fact, for example, that we all know to be true: America's economy is enormous. It's worth saying that out loud and repeating it to ourselves and others, because today's Powers That Be (economic, political, and media) are wrongly forcing a regime of austerity on our nation. They're insisting that we hoi polloi must downsize our middle-class dreams, claiming that America no longer has the wherewithal to do big things.
Their narrow and pessimistic prescription for our future is not only at odds with the American spirit, but also at odds with the facts. The wealth of this nation is naturally huge and expansive--thanks to such fundamentals as the sheer size and diversity of our land, the breadth and depth of our natural resources, and especially the can-do attitude of our enterprising and hardworking people. Far from shrinking down, we have the economic strength today to be spreading the middle class and advancing the historic, egalitarian ideals that were planted at America's founding.
In natural terms, our economy is a giant sequoia. Unfortunately, our present corporate and governmental leadership can't seem to grasp one of the basic laws of nature: You can't keep a mighty tree alive (much less have it thrive) by only spritzing the fine leaves at the tippy-top. The fate of the whole tree depends on nurturing the grassroots.
Sadly, in this time of such potential for greatness, we're led by a myopic crew of leaf spritzers. In Washington, on Wall Street, and in the corporate suites, the elites have taken exquisite care of themselves, with the top one percent tripling their share of the nation's wealth since 1980. How did they obtain this phenomenal boost? By siphoning up shares of America's wealth that had been going to the rest of us. Blithely oblivious to the dangerous shriveling of the grassroots, they've increased their take by offshoring our middle-class jobs, slashing American wages and benefits in practically every sector, busting the ability of unions to fight back, deregulating their nefarious corporate and financial operations, dodging their tax obligations, privatizing and gutting public services (from schools to food stamps), and turning our elections into auctions run by and for billionaires.
This massive redistribution of wealth is not an issue of economics, but of basic morality. In plain words, it's robbery--not only robbing workaday Americans of both their share and their dreams, but also mugging America itself of its unifying ethos. Fair and just behavior--especially by the powerful--are requisites for holding so many millions of us together as a free society.
The importance of this founding ethic has been instilled in us by the phrases, stories, and symbols of our culture: The golden rule (Bible), the general welfare (Constitution), the common good (kindergarten), the social contract (New Deal), the land of opportunity (ubiquitous slogan), E pluribus unum (coins, the dollar bill, and the Great Seal), "one nation... with liberty and justice for all" (Pledge of Allegiance).
These and others reiterate and confirm our ethical pledge of trust in each other, our commitment to the notion that we're all in this together. That's the moral glue that defines and binds us as Americans. But each one is now being openly mocked--cast aside by the rich and powerful as irrelevant to how our economy ought to work... and for whom.
The bare minimum
In this country of unsurpassed wealth, it's an abomination that the power elites are casually tolerating poverty pay as our wage floor. How deplorable that they can actually juxtapose the words "working" and "poor" without blinking, much less blushing... or barfing! Nearly four million Americans are being paid at or below the desiccated federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. For a single mother with two kids, that's $4,000 a year beneath the poverty level. Upwards of 20 million additional Americans are laboring for just a dollar or so above the minimum--still a sub-poverty wage. Where are the ethics in a "work ethic" that rewards so many with paychecks that deliberately hold them in poverty?
Today's minimum was passed in 2007, and the meager purchasing value it had even then has since been devoured by inflation. Consider the kind of life $7.25 buys. At that rate a full-time worker is taking in only $1,250 a month, before payroll taxes. In most places--even if you're single with no children--try stretching that over the basics of rent, utilities, groceries, and gas. Need car repair? Lose your job? What if you get sick? Good luck.
To hide the ugliness, corporate politicos and front groups have draped a thick tapestry of myths, lies, and excuses over the miserly wage. "The only people paid the minimum," goes one of their oldest dodges, "are teenagers working part-time summer jobs for extra cash." Not exactly--in fact, only 6.4 percent of these low-wage employees are teen part-timers. Contrary to the stereotype, the typical minimum-wage worker is an adult, white woman (including many single moms) whose family relies on her paycheck.
In the last couple of years, the hard-puffing right-wing-osphere has conjured up a new, especially nasty canard to explain away such low pay. Buckle-up for this one: "In America, the poor are rich." Yes, scoff these revisionists, it's not uncommon for poverty-wage families in the US to have an air conditioner. Imagine that! They might also possess kitchen stoves, working TVs, and sometimes even cell phones. Why, poor scavengers in Third World nations couldn't even imagine such luxuries. Plus, notice that a lot of our so-called "victims" of poverty are fat, so it's not like they're starving. If you're not starving, you see, you're not really poor. Thus, they conclude with a smirk, those on minimum wage should count their blessings and shut up.
Besides, they add, if you are struggling to make ends meet on $1,250 a month, it's your fault. The latest fashion among far-right apologists for America's widening income gap is to scold the poor for their poverty. Among the leading voices for this socio-psycho-pop nonsense is radio ranter and multimillionaire Michael Medved. In a commentary last year, he both asserted the moral superiority of his fellow one-percenters and pounded the poor as victims of nothing but their own worthlessness. The rich, he informed us, are "strivers" whose behavior should be emulated. To reprimand them as greedy, he instructed, is "wrong as a matter of principle," for they have "created wealth and built beautiful lives for their families." So, he concluded, "gratitude is due."
Then, as if admonishing children, Medved turned to those at the low end of the income pyramid: "Poor people, on the other hand, need to change." Snootily referring to them as "the underclass," he piously opined that to better themselves, the group "needs to learn middle-class habits." Apparently no one has advised him that millions of today's poor--those who are paid minimum wage and those who can't find jobs at any wage--were thoroughly middle-class until Medved's beloved one percent crashed our economy and knocked them into poverty. It's not better habits they need, Michael, it's jobs with better pay.
No can do
Raise the minimum wage? "Holy Ayn Rand!" cry anti-government ideologues. "Holy Milton Friedman!" shriek congressional Republicans, echoed by a few corporate Democrats. "Holy Ronald Reagan!" shouts the entire right-wing chorus--"No way we'll do that!"
Ironically, their excuse is that lifting the wage floor would endanger America's recovery from the economic crash of 2007-2008, for it would deter corporations from creating new jobs. Let's count the ironies: (1) poorly paid workers had no role whatsoever in causing the crash--that was done by the highest-paid CEOs and wealthiest speculators; (2) five years after the collapse, those same CEOs (aka "our job creators") are still deliberately avoiding job creation, even though they're awash in cash and enjoying generous taxpayer subsidies; and (3) the reason they're not hiring is that consumers aren't purchasing their products, thanks to the economic realities of lost jobs, wage cuts, and inflation that have shrunk the buying power of working families.
The one simple step that would immediately add juice to the consumer economy (which accounts for two-thirds of America's economic activity) is to do the one thing that boneheaded lawmakers adamantly refuse even to consider: Raise the spending power of millions of low-wage workers by hiking the legal minimum wage.
How high? Raising it to $10 an hour would elevate 30 million hardworking Americans now paid a poverty or near-poverty-level income. [NOTE: In terms of what $10 buys, this would lift the value of the minimum wage only to what it was back in 1968, when worker productivity was only half of what it is today.] Importantly, while it would still be tough to raise a family on a $10 wage ($20,800 a year), it does move our country a lot closer to the principle that work ought to be fairly rewarded, restoring a measure of ethics to the work ethic.
Such a percolate-up solution would provide a huge and direct lift out of our present doldrums, for those 30 million hard-hit people would put this right back into the economy, buying basic goods and services they've been having to do without. A study last year by Chicago's Federal Reserve Bank found that every dollar increase in the minimum wage produces an immediate bump in the next year of $2,800 per recipient in consumer purchases of everything from kids' shoes to vehicles. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reported in a 2009 study that even a boost to $9.50-an-hour would result in $30 billion a year in new consumer spending.
The man from Bain
Percolate-up, however, is not a comprehensible concept among the Friends of Wall Street in either political party, including the prince of private equity, Mitt Romney. He proudly says, flashing his gleaming smile, that when he was governor of Massachusetts and was handed a minimum wage hike by the legislature: "I vetoed it." He says he'd happily do the same as president. The most important consideration in raising the wage floor, the man from Bain Capital explained in a March interview, is to "keep America competitive" --by which he means: Keep profits of speculative profiteers (like him) high. "So that would tell you," Professor Romney instructed, "that right now there's probably not a need to raise the minimum wage."
Unless, of course, you're a minimum-wage family... or the American economy.
Mitt is merely mouthing the preposterous and perverse corporate line that lifting the minimum would [prepare to be whopper-jawed] hurt low-income workers. Say what? Here it is from one of the empty suits at the US Chamber of Commerce: "It's well understood that raising the minimum wage hurts workers on the lower end of the wage scale in that it does kill jobs."
Actually, no. Numerous in-depth studies show that hiking the wage does not cause either small businesses or giants like McDonald's to rush out and slash their workforce in order to offset the relatively small cost of paying employees a bit better. To the contrary, most studies show that overall job numbers go up. Moreover, pay hikes boost both employee morale and productivity, while reducing the number of workers quitting (thus saving employers big bucks on recruiting and training replacements).
In today's Koch-headed extremist politics, however, reality is no substitute for ideological purity. Using both the "job-killer" hogwash and the right-wing's religious fervor against all things government, assorted politicos are so eager to "help" the poorly paid that they not only oppose increases, but harangue against the very existence of a wage floor. In such places as Alaska, Connecticut, Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, and Washington State, assorted GOP and tea party candidates for Congress have called for abandoning our nation's 74-year commitment to a legal protection against wage gouging. And two of this year's GOP presidential contenders--Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul --also joined the assault. Jettisoning the wage floor, postulated Paul, "would help poor people who need jobs." One wonders, how many of those who would get this "help" were actually consulted by the congressman, and how impressed are they with his assertion that such a move would serve "the cause of liberty."
Meanwhile, prodded by corporate lobbyists and such Koch-funded front groups as the American Legislative Exchange Council, extremist GOP governors and legislators in Arizona, Florida, and New Hampshire have been attempting to lower the minimum wage pay allowed in their states. Florida's finest, for example, proposed cutting by more than half the legal minimum for restaurant servers, knocking them down from a measly $4.65 an hour to $2.15. This was defeated, but it's worth noting that one of the low-wage profiteers behind this despicable push was the Outback Steakhouse chain--owned by Mitt Romney's Bain Capital--from which he still draws a very nice annual payout.
As president-elect in 2008, the man who won by asserting the audacity of hope, made a bold, flat-out pledge: "People who work full-time should not live in poverty... [I] will further raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011."
Great! But that deadline came and went--and so did Obama. It's not like he tried and was beaten back by corporate-hugging Republicans in Congress. Democrats controlled both houses in 2009-10, but he simply made no effort to fulfill this promise. Granted, he was focused on healthcare, his Afghan adventure, and passing the economic stimulus, but even his labor secretary was pointing out last year that upping the wage would be a big, immediate, and popular stimulus. Why not just grab it?
A leading wage-policy expert, Heidi Shierholz of EPI, spoke for a lot of us last month when she said, "I get mystified by the politics surrounding all this." Indeed, it's absurd that the White House has not grasped this issue with both hands. MESSAGE TO OBAMA AND DEMOCRATS: THIS IS A BIG-TIME WINNING ISSUE--DON'T JUST STAND THERE, RUN WITH IT! Look at the positives behind such a policy:
- It's a big boost for millions of Americans and for our foundering grassroots economy, plus it comes with a powerful moral argument that makes it compelling to big majorities.
- Eighteen states have already raised their minimums above the federal level, eight of which have made future raises automatic by indexing the wage to rises in the cost of living. Among states considering raises this year, battles are being fought in Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, and New York.
- Not only do labor and a host of progressive organizations back an increase, but so do thousands of businesses, ranging from Costco to local independents, as well as such associations as Business For a Fair Minimum Wage, the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, and the US Women's Chamber of Commerce.
- Many Republican lawmakers are on board for an increase--the 2007 bill raising the wage by $2.10 got the support of 82 House Republicans and five senators (not a huge number, but a significant bipartisan showing).
- Most important of all, the public is overwhelmingly behind the increase. This June, a Zogby Analytics survey of likely voters found seven out of 10 supporting a raise above $10 an hour (including 54 percent of Republicans). Notably, 71 percent of young people (18-23 years old) favored it. Likewise, last November's "American Values Survey" by the Public Religion Research Institute shows two-thirds of Americans in favor of a $10-per-hour minimum. Included among the supporters were these interesting tallies:
52 percent of Republicans
66 percent of Independents
74 percent of women
73 percent of 18-29-year-olds
73 percent of Catholics
61 percent of white evangelical Protestants
63 percent of college grads
65 percent of those making over $100,000 a year
The only two groups to oppose the raise to $10 were (1) 56 percent of those who identify with the tea party, and (2) 54 percent of those whose most trusted news source is Fox TV.
Who are we?
Last month, July 14 marked the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie's birth (yes, Bastille Day, for those interested in poetic coincidences). The legendary grassroots troubadour wrote and sang the stories of grassroots folks and Depression-era injustice, including this poignant verse:
"Now as I look around, it's mighty plain to see This world is such a great and funny place to be; Oh, the gamblin' man is rich, an' the workin' man is poor, And I ain't got no home in this world anymore."
Imagine the songs Woody would think up about today's disparity between the ever richer gamblers and increasingly impoverished workers in our land of plenty. We're paying a seven-and-a-quarter poverty wage for millions, while the top 10 hedge fund gamblers on Wall Street hauled off a combined $1.753 billion in personal pay in 2010--that's an average hourly wage of $84,278 for each.
The super-rich are fast separating their good fortunes from the well-being of the many. It's not just America's economy they're skewing, but our values. They're destroying the place where egalitarianism, upward mobility, and the middle class once had a welcoming home. That's the fight we're in--a historic fight to decide who we Americans really are. | <urn:uuid:5c11aaa2-c38a-430a-9ada-600026798dd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alternet.org/could-you-raise-your-kids-less-15000-year-millions-parents-are-forced-learn-how?akid=9334.138978.pJpoqw&rd=1&src=newsletter704019&t=4&paging=off&qt-best_of_the_week=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960633 | 3,850 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Wacky warm weather locally; freezing pipes in Sin City
Heading into a mild week weather-wise for Southeastern Georgia and Northeastern Florida, but that's not necessarily the case around the rest of the United States.
While we enjoyed warm weekend days -- including a 81 degree high on Monday that tied a 125-year record -- Arizona's Grand Canyon Airport hit 20 degrees below zero on Sunday, tying the previous record set on Dec. 23, 1990 and Feb. 1-2, 1985 for all-time low. (The only caveat to this record is that the record keeping began merely in 1976 for this reporting station, so it is a rather shallow field of research respectively.)
In Augusta, Ga., where they play the annual Masters Tournament, the temperatures were closer to our mild weekend weather. The Bush Field Airport saw 79 degrees -- tying a record set in 2005. All of the Southeast saw above average temperatures this weekend, but some locations set new records for high temperature of the day. Columbia, S.C., broke its previous record of 77 degrees from 2005, with a new high temp of 78 degrees. Macon, Georgia reached 77 degrees and Columbus, Ga., hit 75 degrees -- both breaking their previous records of 74 degrees from 2000.
On the contrast, West Yellowstone, Mont., got close to its record low of 36 degrees below zero, with a low of 39 degrees below zero.
While you might expect Toronto to be among the freezing, yet they were above average with an afternoon high on Sunday of 48 degrees. Compare that to their average afternoon high of 27 degrees -- must have been downright balmy for that neck of the woods.
Hope you didn't plan your vacation for Mexico this week- while they normally reach afternoon highs in the low 70's. Sunday they only hit 46 degrees in Mexico City. It was actually warmer in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday with a high of 65 degrees (average highs for Sunday there are in the low 30's) than Mexico City, Mexico. And if you were gambling on warm weather in Vegas- yesterday- you lost big! Las Vegas typically hits 60 degree on days like Sunday but lows were as cold as 17 degrees in some parts of the city. Bursting pipes and other cold-weather-related issues arose due to that overnight low.
Copyright 2013 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:9624d3fb-37ff-497a-a0af-5283c108c52b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news4jax.com/weather/Wacky-warm-weather-locally-freezing-pipes-in-Sin-City/-/475702/18125208/-/format/rss_2.0/view/print/-/r7ukiw/-/index.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 | 0.948157 | 495 | 1.523438 | 2 |
You are hereThe Bedford Public House, Balham
The Bedford Public House, Balham
The Bedford public house at 77 Bedford Hill dates back the 1830’s when it was originally opened as a hotel. Long known as a popular live music venue, it has even hosted early gigs by bands including U2 and The Clash. However, the story relating to its reputed haunting dates back to 1876, when The Bedford was used as a venue for the Inquest into the death of Charles Bravo, a case that became a Victorian media murder sensation.
Charles Bravo (formerly Charles Delauney Turner) (born 1845 – died 21 April 1876) was a barrister living at The Priory, Bedford Hill, Balham. On the evening of 18 April 1876 he was found unconscious at this home after taking a fatal dose of the poison potassium antimony. He did eventually regain full consciousness and though in great pain, survived a further 54 hours, during which time he did not shed any light on how he was poisoned. Charles Bravo eventually died on 21 April 1876.
The first inquest was held at the Priory on 25 April 1876. Rather than returning the expected verdict of suicide, the inquest jury returned an open verdict and a trial by inquest followed in the Billiard Hall (now the Ballroom) of The Bedford Hotel (The Bedford), starting on 11 July 1876. A verdict of Wilful Murder we recorded on 11 August 1876, though there was not enough evidence to discern who the guilty party was. "We find that Charles Delaunay Turner Bravo did not commit suicide; that he did not meet his death by misadventure; that he was wilfully murdered by the administration of tarter emetic; but there is not sufficient evidence to fix the guilt upon any person or persons.”
The three key individuals of interest were, Florence Bravo (wife of the deceased), Dr James Manby Gully (the ex lover of Mrs Bravo) and Mrs Jane Cannon Cox (the housekeeper/maid/companion).
The wealthy Florence Ricardo (née Campbell) married Charles Bravo on 7 December 1875, just over four months before the poisoning occurred. Her first husband had been Alexander Louis Ricardo (or Algernon Lewis Ricardo) (born 1843– died 1871) a Captain in the Grenedier Guards (dishonorably discharged) and the son of the Member of Parliament for Stoke on Trent, John Lewis Ricardo (born 1812 – died 2 August 1862). The marriage was an unhappy one and Ricardo is referred to as having been a violent alcoholic who had a string of affairs, so Florence eventually left him. Following the death of Ricardo she was free to marry again, but Charles Bravo proved to be a mean, bullying, controlling husband who resented his richer wife for opting to retain control of her own superior finances.
In 1872, Florence had had an affair with the much older and married Dr James Manby Gully (born 14 March 1808 – died 1883), a well known Victorian physician renowned for his hydrotherapies. Florence fell pregnant in 1873 whilst they were visiting Kissingen in Germany and Dr Gully performed an abortion and the complications with it nearly killed her. Though this effectively ended there sexual relations, they remained friends and Gully was reportedly very angry when he heard that Florence had married Charles Bravo, but according to his Butler, had given his blessings to the union. Through his involvement with Florence, Dr Gully was regarded as a suspect and attended the inquest to testify. He is however regarded as a very unlikely suspect and not thought to be implicated in the death of Charles Bravo.
The third person of interest was the maid, Mrs Jane Cannon Cox. She was a widow with three children and in a bid to save money Charles Bravo had instructed Florence to sack her. On the night of the poisoning she was apparently evasive. She also told the police a lie, probably to deflect attention from herself and Mrs Bravo, saying that Mr Bravo had mentioned committing suicide and taking the poison.
No one was ever brought to justice for the murder of Charles Bravo, but there are a few theories that surround his death. Charles Bravo may have actually committed suicide. It has been suggested that he was actually poisoning Mrs Bravo to gain control of her money but accidently killed himself. He may have been poisoned by Mrs Cox in fear of losing her job, but in her defence it has been pointed out that she stood to inherit, or owned, three plantations in the West Indies, so she had money available and needn't have killed him for fear of being put onto the streets. Another theory is that Mrs Bravo was frightened of falling pregnant again after two miscarriages (one in January 1876 and another just before the murder in April 1876) and that she used the poison to make Charles ill and avoid sleeping with him. This was a genuine fear and Charles Bravo insisted on of Florence giving him a child. He would also exert his control over her by making her perform degrading sexual acts. It is suggested that she may have had experience with antimony as it was sometimes used by Victorian women to control alochol addiction in their husbands and Florence had previously been married to a violent alcoholic.
The truth may never be known. Florence Bravo moved to Southsea, publicly disgraced and disowned. She died of alcohol poisoning two years later at the gae of 33 years. Cox went to her plantations in Jamaica and and returned to England to die in 1913.
There are a few websites now claiming that The Bedford is haunted by, well the most unlikely of the suspects, Dr Gully, who was actually nowhere near the murder scene. I'm not sure of the pimary source for the suggestion that the pub is haunted or what sort experiences are said to have occurred there or whether it is just a story to tie in with this interesting piece of history. | <urn:uuid:80a5a689-ac90-4b1a-97f1-c27ce7d8df77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/greater-london/hauntings/the-bedford-public-house-balham.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990012 | 1,204 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Queer Greer and Coming Out in High School
By A.J. Walkley
When I think back on my teenage years, I can’t help but acknowledge the fact that my high school was not exactly inclusive of all of the students walking through the halls. While I was personally still closeted at that point in my life, it did not occur to me until after I graduated in 2003 that there was never a Gay/Straight Alliance, or any other safety net for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students enrolled there.
The importance of having such a group for LGBT students to be welcomed into cannot be stressed enough, especially today when stories of bullying and teen suicide as a result of such bullying are being publicized more than ever before. More often than not, the source of such bullying is a student’s perceived sexuality. It is not only vital for teens as a whole to become well-acquainted with the trials of being a sexual minority in the realm of high school, but high school teachers as well, so as to be able to appropriately deal with any discrimination they see in the classroom and to stave off potential tragic consequences before they reach that breaking point.
When I wrote my book, Queer Greer, back in 2007, I did so for one overarching reason more than any other – there was no literature I had found at the time that properly spoke to what it was like to come to terms with your sexuality and come out of the closet as a teenager. While there are many more books out there now that tackle this subject, they are still few and far between.
The plot of Queer Greer surrounds the protagonist, Greer MacManus, when her family moves to a new state and she enters a new school her junior year of high school. While she starts to date a football player named Cameron Keeting, her sights soon fall on another – her swim team captain, Rebecca Wilder. The book details the rollercoaster ride Greer finds herself on when attracted to both a boy and a girl, and what that means to her, identity-wise.
I wrote the book that I wish I had had to read when I was coming to terms with my own bisexuality over the course of high school and college. I wanted to make sure that the next generation of LGBT youth coming up and out after me had something to turn to if they needed it – a character that they could relate to and see themselves in.
I don’t think I’ve spoken for everyone in the LGBT community by any means with Queer Greer, nor did I intend to. I do think I’ve written a very realistic portrayal of some of the issues being LGBT raises as a teen, both internally and externally. I hope those currently dealing with these types of issues will read it and take solace in the fact that there are so many others living with similar questions, slowing making their way to their own answers. No matter where you are in the process, it does get better.
I’m happy to report that the high school I graduated from all those many years ago founded their own GSA just about three years ago. I hope it’s helping LGBT students now, even if it didn’t exist for countless others before. I also hope many more schools are following suit.
A.J. Walkley is the author of Queer Greer and Choice. She is currently writing her third novel, Vuto, inspired by her experience as a U.S. Peace Corps health volunteer in Malawi, Africa. Follow her on Twitter @AJWalkley and Facebook at facebook.com/ajwalkley.Link to buy Queer Greer: http://bit.ly/zsnW8Y | <urn:uuid:39c6e6c0-c5df-4c3e-a5e8-c19363aef636> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.helensbookblog.com/2012/04/guest-post-and-give-away.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984511 | 771 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Welcome to Residential Life! Choosing to live on campus comes with many benefits -- such as living in an academically-supported environment, the ability to stay connected to campus through activities that foster educational, social, and leadership development and engaging with students from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and lifestyles.
Residential Life offers a living and learning environment, committed to the academic success and personal growth of our residents. Students can choose to live on an academic theme housing floor -- where students are clustered by academic major, making it easy to form study groups and make friends. We also offer quiet floors, which offer an optimal environment for studying. Our friendly and supportive hall staff are available 24 hours a day to provide guidance as well as educational and social programming for residents.
Living on campus, you'll enjoy the convenience of being close to classroom buildings, library, the Student Rec Center, Hulman Memorial Student Union and easy access to dining halls and a wide array of social and athletic activities.
Discover the living and learning experience at Indiana State! | <urn:uuid:2985ec66-3f09-4deb-a92d-d43c429ea9b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://indstate.edu/reslife/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960208 | 209 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Business-related bankruptcies drop in New Mexico
Posted at: 11/13/2012 7:55 AM
By: The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico's business-related bankruptcies dropped to a six-year low during the 12 months ending with September.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that petitions were filed for 185 bankruptcies in which the majority of the debt was from business activities.
That's a 19 percent drop from 229 petitions with mostly business debt over the same federal fiscal year period in 2010-11. Business-related bankruptcies across the country dropped about 16 percent over the same period.
The 185 filings statewide was the lowest number of business-related bankruptcies since 127 were filed in the 2006-07 fiscal year. The drop in business-related bankruptcies could be a sign of a stabilizing economy, although many bankruptcy experts point to tighter credit standards as the reason.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) | <urn:uuid:38e9311f-9fc3-440c-8b0f-47dc001c49a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2832590.shtml?cat=11687 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952546 | 218 | 1.648438 | 2 |
I am going to blog on the ending of the Simon and Kirby collaboration. I would like to go into it in more detail then I can comfortably cover in one post. So I will be dividing it up into a number of chapters.
The May 29, 1947 issue of Saturday Review had an article by Dr. Frederick Wertham. Dr. Wertham had a very dim view of comic books and their influence on the young. I wonder how many comic book artists and publishers knew about the article or had any idea on how it would affect their livelihood? I suspect not many, I am sure it was far from thoughts of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They were too busy becoming comic book producers by launching crime titles for Prize and more importantly creating a whole new genre, romance comics. Those must have been exciting days for the two, and with the deals they made, Joe and Jack shared the profits from the success of their products. Although the future must have looked bright to our intrepid pair, Dr. Wertham’s efforts started to generate anti-comic sentiments in various communities. It did not all come at once, but built over the years until when his book “Seduction of the Innocent” was published in 1954.
The pivotal date was April 22 and 23, 1954. That was when a Senate committee questioned Bill Gaines. Apparently Gaines appearance was not mandatory, other comic publishers declined to show up. But Bill went to defend the industry, unfortunately his appearance had a completely opposite effect. Gaines testimony was a disaster, public sentiment against comics rose to even greater heights. In a effort to circumvent possible legislation (and perhaps also to drive some competition out of the industry), some comic publishers got together to create the Comic Code Authority. The code was adopted on October 26, 1954. In theory use of the Comic Code was voluntary. But publishers knew that once the Comic Code stamp started appearing on covers, comics without it would not be accepted by many newsstands.
So what were Simon and Kirby doing at the time of the Senate committee hearings? Well comic cover dates were usually two months after the distribution date. Typically it took one month to do the artwork, a month for the printer and a month for the distributor. However even in monthly titles, art may start on an issue before the art for the previous issue was completed. This means an adjustment of 5 or 6 months. So we could expect comics started at about the time of the Senate hearings would have cover dates of about October. Well for some time S&K were producing Black Magic, Young Romance, Young Love, and Young Brides for the publisher Prize Comics. The first issue of Fighting American, also for Prize, came out with an April date. But even more important Bullseye #1 came out with an August cover date. Joe and Jack started this issue before the Bill Gaine’s appearance before the Senate committee. But had they noticed the anti-comic sentiment spearheaded by Dr. Wertham?
Bullseye #1 (August 1954)
Bullseye #1 was more then the just the start of a new Simon and Kirby title, it was the start of Mainline Comics. Years back Joe and Jack had gone from being comic book artists to be being comic book producers. Now they were trying to make the transition to being comic book publishers. Bullseye was the first Mainline comic; Foxhole, In Love, and Police Trap would follow shortly. It was a big step but they would still be receiving income for the comics they produced for Prize. S&K probably tried to keep Prize unaware of their involvement in, let alone their ownership off, Mainline comics. Unlike their usual practice, early Mainline issues did not have any Simon and Kirby signature. Only the fourth issues would carry a stamp indicating it was “another Simon and Kirby smash hit”. Starting up Mainline must have taken a lot of time and effort. Kirby’s efforts largely went to work on the Mainline comics only. S&K still produced comics for Prize, but Jack’s pencils would only appear in Black Magic and Fighting American, they would not appear in the romance titles. For the Prize romances they depended on their stable of freelance artists to fill the void left by the absent Jack.
Bullseye #1 splash (August 1954)
Simon and Kirby did not do many pure westerns, work of that type was limited to a few covers. Prior to Bullseye they had combined the western and kid gang genre to make Boys’ Ranch for Harvey. They even tried western and romance combo, although that turned out to be much more a romance then a western. Now with Bullseye Joe and Jack mixed the western and hero genre. The idea was not unique, perhaps the most famous example would be the Lone Ranger. But you can count of S&K to make an exciting comic out of it. As a baby, Bullseye is saved by his grandfather from an Indian massacre that takes lives of his parents. As he grows, the hero apparently is a natural genius with rifles and pistols as he surprises his grandfather with his accuracy. An encounter with the Indian Yellow Snake leaves Bullseye with the loss of his grandfather and with a target branded on his chest. Bullseye takes to the road playing the part of a peddler, even his horse has a disguise! Of course there is lots of action in the stories, but often humor as well. It is a shame that this title has never been collected together as a reprint volume.
In Love #2 (October 1954) by Bill Draut
As the originator of the romance comic genre, it comes as no surprise that Simon and Kirby would want to include a romance title in their Mainline comics line. But by 1954 there was an abundance of romance comics. So S&K decided that to make In Love unique it would include “novel length” story in each issue. The romances that Joe and Jack produced for Prize Comics often included stories of up to 13 pages long, longer then most of the competition. Now In Love would have stories up to 20 pages long and they would be divided into chapters. I have already described the story from In Love #1 “Bride Of The Star” in a post I did about The First Romance Comic. That story was penciled entirely by Jack. But Jack did only one chapter of “Marilyn’s Men” from In Love #2 the other two were done by Bill Draut. Jack returns to do the entire novelette for In Love #3 “Artist Loves Model”. That story is based on reworking of an unsuccessful syndication proposal. Issues from In Love #4 on do not have these extra-length stories. Whether that was because of S&K felt that the novelettes was not a successful idea, or because of other problems is not clear.
Foxhole #2 (December 1954)
With Foxhole Simon and Kirby entered into the war genre. This was new for them as the closest they had done before was the Boy Commandos which was more a kid gang title then a war one. Here Joe and Jack would add their own twist to make the title unique. The stories in Foxhole were written and illustrated by war veterans.
Police Trap #2 (September 1954)
Mainline comics would also include a crime comic, titled Police Trap. The special angle to this title was that all the stories would be centered on the police, not the criminal. This may have been a response to all the adverse attention that crime comics had received recently, including ones that S&K had launched (Headline and Justice Traps the Guilty). But it certainly resulted in stories that portrayed the police in a better light and the criminal in a worse one.
Mainline seemed to have a good lineup of titles. I would think that of all the Mainline titles, Bullseye would have the best chance to attract attention. It seems a perfect match for Kirby’s talents, allowing lots of action and humor. Although the western/hero combination may not have been unique, there does not seem to be much competition at that time. S&K have shown previously that they could do excellent crime stories. Here there was competition, but crime comics were receiving a lot of bad publicity. By centering the stories on the policemen, Police Trap could hope to escape some of this adverse attention. The other titles, In Love and Foxhole, were probably the weakest entries. Both had plenty of rival publications, in fact at this time there was an abundance of romance comics. Neither was sufficiently unique to be sure of attracting initial buyers. Still they were S&K productions and were done quite well. Given time they could develop a following.
Chapter 2, Problems in the Industry
Chapter 3, Unlikely Port in the Storm
Chapter 4, A Friend Provides a Helping Hand
Chapter 5, The Return to Romance
Chapter 6, A Friend’s Romance
Chapter 7, On His Own
Chapter 8, If At First You Don’t Succeed
Chapter 9, An Old Romance
Appendum 9, Mea Culpa
Chapter 10, A Fly in the Mix | <urn:uuid:f98bf638-9691-406a-a12b-3248fa96199e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/category/serial-posts/end-of-simon-kirby | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985212 | 1,899 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Enlarging images part threeIvan | Tue, 2004-07-06 13:41
A reader pointed out that after enlarging the image, sharpening done directly on the RGB image is not the best one can do.
Here is what he says:
"I would think that performing the sharpening on the L channel (Lightness) on an image in LAB mode would provide superior results. This will sharpen without color artifacts. This is the same idea as using the K channel in CYMK, but will be much smoother - LAB has a much larger gamut. Convert back to RGB or direct to CYMK when you're done."
I agree with him 100%. Compare the edges of the balloons on both images carefully. On the left side I applied Unsharp mask on RGB image directly. On the right, first I converted the image to Lab Color mode (Image/Mode/Lab color) and than selected the Lightness channel in the Channels palette and applied the same Unsharp mask filter. You can spot that on the right the edges are much cleaner and sharper.
Thanks Allan for the valuable tip!
Commenting on this Blog entry is closed. | <urn:uuid:54526af6-df32-4029-8a11-e2152ef0d018> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://creativebits.org/photoshop/enlarging_images_part_three | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938118 | 242 | 1.59375 | 2 |
What is the biggest turnoff? Alanis Morissette and tons of other celebs agree that its not sloppy clothes or bad breath, its bigger: its Earth Hour. As CGG readers know, tonight from 8:30pm to 9:30pm we are all turning off our lights to reach a target of one billion people committed to fighting for climate change. But what celebrities are going to participate?
Linkin Park says “Climate change is a crisis affecting the world right now, negatively impacting the Earth’s ecosystems and the strength and frequency of climate-related disasters such as drought, flooding, and catastrophic storms. Earth Hour is an opportunity for individuals to come together with one voice and declare that we are ready to tackle this critical issue head on.”
KT Tunstall says “In 2009, I’m going to join in for the first time on March 28th at 8.30pm and turn off every light, appliance and pull out all the plugs to support Earth Hour. Experience power to the people – fully off the grid!!”
Gavin DeGraw says “Not only is this going to be great for the environment, but it also shows how powerful an idea can be if people with different backgrounds, cultures, shapes, and sizes all work together. I’m not exactly sure what city, state, or country I will be in on March 28, 2009, but I look forward to sharing this monumental occasion with not only the locals but my friends, family, and all of my wonderful fans around the world.”
Edward Norton says “I am encouraging people toturn off their lights for one hour on March 28th at 8:30 p.m. – EarthHour – and join tens of millions of people around the world in the largest call to action on climate change in history. Earth Hour sends a powerful message to the world that we must act urgently before it’s too late. By turning out the lights, Americans will be casting a vote for action.”
Simple Plan says “Global warming and the devastating effects it has on our planet are among the most urgent and serious issues we face in the world today. It’s up to us to do our share, evolve, adapt and change the way we live. On March 28th, we can all get involved by doing something extremely simple: turn off the lights! It’s easy and a great way to send a message and let the world know that we care about the environment.”
Backstreet Boys say “The Backstreet Boys are proud and excited to be a part of Earth Hour 2009. It is absolutely inspiring for the four of us to come together with millions of people from all over the globe for such an important and monumental cause. On March 28th at 8:30pm, put in your vote to take action against the climate crisis. Get creative for an hour. Turn off your bedroom lights and light some candles. Unplug the electric and serenade your sweetheart with an acoustic guitar ballad instead. Forget the microwave and indulge on that huge bowl of Captain Crunch you’ve been craving. You know that’s what we’ll be doing. Not necessarily in that order though.”
Lets make this Earth Hour count! Are you going to participate and turn off? What do you think the turnout will be this year? Comment below!
By CGG reporter, Caroline Kotter | <urn:uuid:6141c9b4-d740-44e2-9aec-4f64f66109e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dosomething.org/blog/celebsgonegood/celebs-talk-about-biggest-turn-earth-hour | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936376 | 712 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Learning how to forecast accurately can spell the difference between a business's growth and stagnation
Even in his company's earliest days, Alan Burkhard prepared a forecast of yearly revenues and expenditures. "I was proud of myself for doing it because well-managed companies were supposted to," recalls the chief executive of The Placers Inc., a temporary-personnel and job-search firm based in Wilmington, Del. "It was only after five or six years of doing it that I realized our forecasts never worked out."
So Burkhard decided a redesign of his company's budgeting and forecasting procedure was in order. "The secret was freeing myself from my old assumption that next year's forecasts should simply be tied to last year's results plus some factor of growth," he explains.
In addition to revamping the way the company does budgeting and forecasting, he now uses them as a tool to achieve bottom-line results. "At the end of each year, we aim to be exactly where we forecasted we'd be in terms of sales and profits. What the hell's the point of planning if you don't use it to get results?"
It's time-consuming for a company to develop meaningful forecasts. At The Placers, the forecasting process runs from mid-October to mid-December, and every employee participates. Here are the steps involved:
* The preplanning session. The Placers kicks off its forecasting process with an all-day meeting of Burkhard and his senior management team. Their discussion is organized primarily around two subjects: what Burkhard calls key issues (matters like The Placers' strengths, weaknesses, and recent accomplishments; and current market trends and concerns) and key components (internal matters relating to competitive developments, marketing activities, advertising, public relations, staffing, pricing, systems, and the like).
The objective of the discussion is clear: to set the overall tone and context that will guide the forecasting process. During this past October's preplanning session, for instance, management might have seen a need to curtail corporate expenditures because of the economic downturn. Instead, the managers agreed that since the company's corporate clients often replaced laid-off workers with office temporaries, they could cautiously project continued sales growth for the company in 1991.
* The leadership session. Once Burkhard's top managers decide upon their overall forecasting approach, The Placers' executive vice-president of operations meets at the end of October with the company's "leadership" team, the 12 employees who supervise offices or departments. These people will generate actual numbers about projected sales and expenditures, based on the data collected by their own staffs. Since the supervisors will be compiling a highly specific list of numbers -- which include monthly sales projections by client and a breakdown of every type of department expenditure -- Burkhard believes it's essential to train department heads to know what information their employees will gather, how they'll gather it, and why it's important.
* The research process. During November, in addition to regular job activities, all employees participate in the forecasting process. They are guided by worksheets listing every number each department will be expected to generate. For example, salespeople in the office-temporaries division must complete current-client-sales worksheets and expected-client-sales worksheets, which project on a monthly basis how many temporaries will be placed at each location and for how many hours, what billing rates will be on each placement, and what the prospects are for price-level upgrades. Burkhard wants real-life numbers, so his salespeople telephone their major clients to gauge their anticipated personnel needs.
Employees in every department project their operating expenses for the upcoming year in a similarly detailed fashion. "I want them to project the cost of every line item they have some control over, whether it's advertising expenditures, client entertainment, staff training, or whatever," explains Burkhard. Every department head also comes up with a wish list of anticipated capital expenditures that may make it into the final budget.
* The collation of results. By the middle of November department heads collect each employee's projections and submit an overall forecast that is a compilation of the various worksheets. The information is then logged by department into the computer by the accounting department over a two-week period. Burkhard and his management team analyze the resulting first draft. "We may suggest changes if it seems that one department was overly conservative in its projections of sales growth or if business conditions have changed sufficiently since October to warrant it." When management suggests changes, Burkhard's executive vice-president contacts relevant department heads to "negotiate," as the CEO puts it, "a set of compromise numbers that we all feel satisfied with."
* The final forecast. By the end of December the first draft has been massaged into a final version, which is circulated to every employee right after New Year's. Then, on a weekly basis, the accounting department sends all salespeople updates comparing their forecasted sales goals (on a weekly, quarterly, and year-to-date basis) with actual results. Every employee receives similar updates each month that compare forecasted expenditures, by line item, with actual expenditures. "We tell people we expect them to stay on target. And if they're not meeting their forecasted numbers, they've got to figure out why not, how they can adjust their performance, and whether variances represent problems for the business."
Despite recessionary warnings as the company recently wrapped up its forecasting process, Burkhard remained upbeat. "When times are tough, there are greater opportunities than ever for a well-run company, because we can capitalize on the weaknesses of our competitors. The key is keeping our attention focused on the goals we've set through our budgeting and forecasting process."
A CLEAR FORECAST
How to make meaningful budgets
Unrealistic budgets and forecasts are not worth the paper they're printed on. Here's how to make them meaningful:
* Set basic assumptions with management. During recessionary times, it's particularly important to be able to predict how market conditions and economic trends will affect your business. Involve top managers and your financial advisers in the discussions.
* Start early. Spend at least a month collecting specific data about projected sales and expenditures from every department. Then leave yourself another two to four weeks to analyze results and draw up a final report.
* Circulate results. To achieve your forecasted goals, you should keep employees up-to-date on how closely their results match their projections. Every two to four weeks, circulate easy-to-understand reports. | <urn:uuid:e977d260-c429-46b2-94f4-1c9a071b6049> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inc.com/magazine/19910401/4548_Printer_Friendly.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967762 | 1,350 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Did you know that smelling peppermint can potentially help enhance an athlete’s performance?
Archive for the ‘Fitness Tips’ Category
This definitely is not a novice thought but sometimes we all need to be reminded that one usually must fail (not even just one time, although can be several times) in order to achieve success. We found a list of the ’50 Famously Successful People who Failed’ that we wanted to share to help others to just give a reminder that failure is truly the first step to success!
Did you know that the type of music you are listening to while working out could have an impact on your results? According to research found by Brunel University strong physical effects have been found when one mixes carefully chosen music with physical exercise. Dr. Costas Karageorghis from Brunel University stated, “If you co-ordinate your [...]
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- Rebekah C.
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We will have more of our featured members listed soon. Please come back and check for featured fighters and members of Redline MMA in Savannah Georgia. | <urn:uuid:2a9b1f45-6d38-4b54-8e9d-9169d11c1c1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redlinemma.com/fitness-tips | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973466 | 409 | 1.632813 | 2 |
I genuinely dislike writing up Apple-related rumors, but allow me to write up this one, if only because I think wearable computers will finally stop being regarded as a fad in 2013. Only time will tell (pun intended).
Two sources from the ‘supply chain’ told Chinese tech blog TGbus.com (relayed by the usually reliable Netease / Tech.163) that Apple and Intel are jointly building a Bluetooth-equipped smart wristwatch that can connect to other iOS devices, most notably iPhone and iPod devices.
According to the same sources, the Apple smartwatch could find its way to the market in the first half of 2013 and sport a 1.5-inch OLED display with indium tin oxide, aka ITO-coated glass, made by Taiwanese PMOLED panel manufacturer RiTdisplay.
Whether this rumor pans out or not, the potential for an Apple-branded Bluetooth smartwatch has always been blindingly obvious. It would be the ultimate affordable iPhone accessory for many, and if anything the success of Pebble‘s Kickstarter campaign – over $10 million raised from nearly 70,000 backers – proves there’s demand for such a product.
(The customizable, Internet-connected Pebble watch)
Think about it: a small computer – or a custom version of the iPod Nano if you will – that you can wear on your wrist, connects to your iPhone like the Nike+ Fuelband and plenty of other products can, and supports Siri voice control. It would make sense.
Apple has notably rolled out Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology across its product lines, e.g. releasing four new MacBook Pro laptops, the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad and iPad mini as ‘Bluetooth Smart Ready’ devices.
This matters, because Bluetooth 4.0 wireless radio technology comes with Bluetooth low energy (BLE), which is chiefly aimed at low-power and low-latency applications for wireless devices within a short range.
As for the link with Intel: Apple transitioned from using PowerPC processors in its Macs to Intel chips in 2005-2006, although the company is reportedly exploring ways to replace them again, this time with a version of the chip technology it uses in the iPhone and iPad – or with rival ARM’s chipsets. This hasn’t been confirmed, though.
Also: earlier this month, word got out that Intel is working on new manufacturing technology that it said keeps it on track to launch a new generation of ‘mobile’ chips for smartphones and tablets as it rushes to catch up with the likes of Qualcomm.
For now, let’s take the Intel-Apple smart watch talk for what it is: just another rumor. But definitely one that has legs.
Perhaps our in-house Apple expert Matthew ‘Panzer’ Panzarino will share his thoughts on the potential of an Apple-branded Bluetooth wristwatch hitting the market in the first half of 2013 as soon as he gets back at his desk. Either way, we’ll be watching closely. Yes, another intended pun.
(Hat tip to Sascha)
Top image credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images | <urn:uuid:54369d56-c07b-4240-8016-a53837ea7d18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/12/27/apple-intel-bluetooth-smart-watch/?fromcat=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933191 | 652 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Guest: At Wal-Mart, low prices and moral baggage
Published: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 19, 2012 at 6:58 p.m.
What do you do when you run out of wall space at home for your art collection?
If you are Alice Walton -- ranked by Forbes as the eighth richest person in America -- you build a museum to display all the paintings you have plus the ones you expect to acquire. You can do that when your father is Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, who left you a fortune now estimated at $26.3 billion.
The Walton museum complex -- located on Walton property in the little town of Bentonville in northwest Arkansas -- is 1 year old this month. Alice Walton named it Crystal Bridges after a natural spring on the property, but the New Yorker magazine was quick to dub it "Alice's Wonderland."
When I visited, I was struck by the beauty of the landscape and the imaginative architecture, which is in sharp contrast to the company's retail box stores. The art collection includes important American paintings, photographs and sculptures that cost millions of dollars. The New York Times reviewed the works and declared that "Crystal Bridges is poised to make a genuine cultural contribution, and possibly to become a place of pilgrimage for art lovers from around the world."
But Crystal Bridges leaves me with certain conflicts. As a Wal-Mart shopper, I appreciate the low prices and the reasonable return policies. I also admire the company's willingness to jump into the banking game and offer customers bank services at lower prices than they are likely to get from traditional sources.
At the same time that I am having these warm, fuzzy feelings about Wal-Mart, I feel a stab of guilt for patronizing a company with such a poor record when it comes to employee pay and benefits and its less than equal treatment of women workers. There are also legal questions about Wal-Mart involving an alleged coverup of bribery in Mexico.
Most incongruous is how the 99 percent who shop Wal-Mart for its low prices have provided the means for Alice Walton and her family to join the 1 percent club. According to Hedrick Smith's new book, "Who Stole the American Dream?" the Walton family enjoys as much wealth as the bottom 40 percent of the U.S. population, or 120 million people.
It is true that many other museums have been launched by rich people who have the money to spend on million-dollar paintings and exhibit them, usually in ways that have big tax benefits.
I am thinking of Ronald S. Lauder, the Estee Lauder heir, who opened the Neue Galerie in New York City to house his $1 billion collection of Austrian and German art. The New York Times last year noted Lauder's "shrewd use of the United States tax code." In donating his art to his private foundation, the report said, Lauder "qualified for deductions worth millions of dollars."
He isn't alone. Consider the origins of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston and the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. All owe their start to the fortunes of very rich people.
In addition to her passion for art, Alice Walton, 63, is known for her love of horses. Her favorites are the cutting horses trained to separate a cow from the rest of the herd. Like Ann Romney's dancing horse, the cutting horse can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Alice Walton sometimes combines her interest in art with her love of horses. She has been reported to have telephoned in a bid to Sotheby's for a particular painting she wanted while waiting her turn in a cutting horse competition. Given her passion for horses and art, it is no surprise that there is a very large sculpture of a horse inside the museum.
In trying to sort out my angst about Wal-Mart, I am reminded of the experience of a friend married to a very high labor union official and who -- like many of his union colleagues -- saw Wal-Mart as the Great Satan.
When their first granddaughter was born, my friend went to help with the new baby. This meant staying at the small farm where the daughter lives. Everything was going smoothly until they ran out of diapers.
What to do? It was a dark and stormy night and the farm was a long way from a store that stocked diapers. The two women considered their options: Travel 45 minutes to a store that would have diapers or travel 30 minutes to a Wal-Mart.
My friend finally offered to do the unthinkable -- but with one condition. She would go to Wal-Mart for diapers but the daughter was never to tell her labor union father.
"I was scared to death ... getting the diapers and going through the checkout line, that someone would recognize me," my friend said later. "But no one did, and we never told my husband what I had done."
Molly McCartney, a former Washington Post reporter, lives in Holmes Beach.
This story appeared in print on page A6
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:8d3dab8a-f279-4d75-bf12-ecc7a4ef7dec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20121120/COLUMNIST/311209995/2055/NEWS?Title=Guest-At-Wal-Mart-low-prices-and-moral-baggage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971045 | 1,062 | 1.820313 | 2 |
This entry is crossposted on The Baseline Scenario.
The bank lobbyists, it turns out, missed one. They and their congressional allies were able to gut the Volcker Rule, the Lincoln Amendment, and almost everything else that could have had a meaningful effect on the industry.
But, as I point out in a Bloomberg column today, they couldn't get at (or didn't sufficiently understand?) the Kanjorski Amendment. This Amendment was originally proposed by Congressman Paul Kanjorski (chair of an important House subcommittee on capital markets) during the fall. Against the odds, it survived in the final House bill and now -- probably because it has stayed mostly below the radar -- remains in the reconciled legislation.
Kanjorski gives federal regulators the power and the responsibility to limit the activities or even break up big banks if they pose a "grave risk" to the financial system.
The Federal Reserve is in the hot seat on this issue -- and it needs 7 out of the 10 members of the new systemic risk council to agree to any action. But for the first time someone at the federal level must make a determination regarding whether an individual firm poses system risk.
And congressional committees can call upon the responsible people to explain how they determine whether a megabank is or is not dangerous. What are the risk metrics they use? To what extent do they take on board outside opinions? How much do they consult with the bank itself?
This also creates important space for critics. There are many people -- outside of the big banks -- working on developing ways of assessing system risk. Again, congressional hearings can raise the prominence and credibility of this work. The question will be: If the regulators are not taking these perspectives into account, why not?
This may all sound rather technical, and to some extent it is. But it is also intensely and pointedly political. The Kanjorski Amendment makes it clear that system risk must be assessed and dealt with. And it assigns clear responsibility for this issue -- along with a cut and dried list of remedies.
The debate on big banks and the dangers they pose is far from over. | <urn:uuid:e105b952-f893-43d4-bc55-b737c5c820a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-johnson/the-kanjorski-surprise-no_b_640507.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95885 | 437 | 1.632813 | 2 |
US 4067015 A
A system for tracking moving signal sources is disclosed which is particularly adaptable for use in tracking stage performers, although a wide range of other uses is possible. A miniature transmitter is attached to the person or object to be tracked and emits a detectable signal of a predetermined frequency. A plurality of detectors positioned in a preset pattern sense the signal and supply output information to a phase detector which applies signals representing the angular orientation of the transmitter to a computer. The computer provides command signals to a servo network which drives a device such as a motor driven mirror reflecting the beam of a spotlight, to track the moving transmitter.
1. A system for monitoring the movements of a performer over the area over which the performer is to move and for tracking the movements with a light beam produced by a spotlight, said system comprising:
at least one movable miniaturized transmitting means, adapted to be carried by a performer, for transmitting an omnidirectional signal capable of being tracked;
at least first and second detector means for sensing said omnidirectional signal and for respectively producing first and second output signals in response thereto, said detector means being remotely spaced from one another at different locations relative to the area over which the performer is to move and being positioned in a predetermined, fixed pattern with respect to the area over which the performer is to move;
phase detector means coupled to detector means for receiving said output signals and for producing an output in accordance with the phase difference between the output signals produced by said first and second detector means, said phase detector means comprising a first channel for receiving said first output signal and including a first multiplying means for multiplying the first and second output signals, and a low pass filter, and a second channel for receiving said second output signal and including a phase shifter, a second multiplying means for multiplying the first signal and the output signal from the phase shifter, and a second low pass filter;
command position signal generating means coupled to said phase detector means for receiving said output from said phase detector and for generating a position command signal in accordance therewith;
servo motor means;
servo network means coupled to said command position signal generating means for receiving said command signal and for controlling said servo motor means in accordance therewith;
movable tracking means coupled to and driven by said servo motor means in response to said command signal for tracking the transmitting means carried by the performer, said tracking means comprising a fixed spotlight for producing a light beam and a rotatable mirror for reflecting said beam so as to track said transmitting means, said rotatable mirror being controlled by said servo motor and positioned to receive said light beam produced by said spotlight; and
mirror position detector means coupled to said rotatable mirror and to said servo network means for providing tracking error signals to said servo network means so as to control the tracking movement of said mirror.
2. A system for tracking a signal source as in claim 1, wherein:
said transmitting means comprises a radio frequency transmitter.
3. A system for tracking a signal source as in claim 2, wherein:
said transmitting means includes a manual control switch whereby said transmitting means may be manually switched on and off.
4. A system for tracking a signal source as in claim 1, further comprising:
a remote control system coupled to said tracking means for controlling predetermined functions of spot size and color of said tracking means.
The invention described herein was made by employees of the United States Government and may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems for tracking signal sources and more particularly to a system for tracking one or more signal sources and for pointing a device toward the signal sources being tracked.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Many circumstances exist in which it is desirable to track a moving object or person and to follow the moving object or person with a camera, spotlight, microphone or other similar device. For example, in live stage performances particularly of operas and ballets, it is common practice to follow the star performers or soloists with individual spotlights.
Following performers with spotlights night after night as they repeat the same performance can become a tedious job and is considered by many to be somewhat undesirable. As a result, controlling spotlights to track performing artists has traditionally been assigned to semi-skilled workers or super-annuated members of the theatrical electricians crew. This has frequently resulted in faulty spotlight control due to lack of interest, impaired physical abilities, fatique, illness and other human frailties. Naturally, poor spotlight control can be very distracting to an audience and may result in an otherwise flawless performance receiving unfavorable reviews.
A need therefore exists for an automated system whereby performing artists can be automatically tracked with spotlights.
Many analogous situations exist wherein it is necessary to follow a moving performer or object with a spotlight or equivalent apparatus such as in television coverage of theatrical and sporting events. For example, in televising or videotaping theatrical performances, it may be desirable to have one or more isolated cameras follow individual soloists or performers to record in detail all aspects of their performances. Similarly, in sporting events it is often desirable to have one or more television cameras following the ball or individual star players. In such instances it would be useful to have a system for permitting the cameras to automatically track the desired object or individuals to eliminate the need for one or more television camera men. In this regard it it pointed out that camera men are highly skilled, rather than semi-skilled, and thus often command rather high salaries. Accordingly elimination of some individual cameramen and other sophisticated technicians would tend to reduce the cost of televising certain types of events.
A need for a system for tracking individuals also exists in the field of security where it is desirable to use television or photographic equipment to automatically track and record the movements of a watchman or security guard. Many other similar circumstances exist wherein there is a need for a system which automatically tracks individuals or objects.
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide a novel system for tracking individuals or objects.
Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel system for tracking a signal source carried by an individual or mounted within an object.
A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a system for maintaining spotlights trained on moving performers.
Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel system for enabling television cameras, spotlights and other types of devices to automatically track moving individuals or objects equipped with suitable signal sources.
A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a novel system for tracking the movement of an individual or object equipped with a radio signal transmitter.
A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a novel method of tracking individuals or objects.
Briefly, these and other objects of the invention are achieved by providing each individual or object to be tracked with a radio or acoustic wave transmitter. A plurality of signal receivers are spaced in a known geometry to receive the signals generated by the various transmitters. The changing positions of the transmitters are sensed using standard interferometric signal processing procedures on the output signals of the receivers. Servo equipment controlled by these output signals is used to direct a spotlight beam or equivalent apparatus at the moving individual or object.
A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the system of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the phase detector network used in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1.
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and more particularly to FIG. 1, thereof, one embodiment of the system of the present invention is illustrated in the form of a block diagram. A transmitter 10 having an optional frequency selector 12 coupled thereto is shown transmitting a series of spherical or omnidirectional waves 14. The transmitter 10 is shown equipped with a manual control switch 16 for switching the transmitter output on and off.
Although the transmitter 10 may be an ultrasonic acoustic transmitter, it is preferably a miniature ratio transmitter which simply transmits a single frequency constant amplitude signal. The frequency selector 12 is optional as the transmitter 10 must be capable of transmitting only one frequency signal. However, it may be desirable to have multiple crystals or multiple frequency selectors so that an individual transmitter can be adjusted to transmit different fixed frequencies. A need for a plurality of transmitters each transmitting a different frequency signal occurs in circumstances where more than one individual performer or object is to be tracked. For example, in a ballet performance it may be desirable to follow several performers with individual spotlights. In this case, each performer would be equipped with a transmitter 10, the only difference among the transmitters being that each would transmit at a different frequency to permit independent tracking of the multiple performers.
The transmitter 10 may be a VHF or UHF device and must be a miniature, continuous wave, battery powered device of at least 10 milliwatt power output with a 1 in 10.sup.4 frequency stability, and preferably capable of frequency adjustment as described above. Numerous conventional miniaturized transmitters of this type are known and have been disclosed in patents and other publications. Since the individual circuitry of the transmitter is irrelevant to the present invention, those skilled in the art can easily select appropriate conventional transmitters fulfilling the above mentioned specifications on the basis of economic factors, availability and other conventional factors.
Miniature ultrasonic transmitters can also be used, as described above, and selection of suitable conventional transmitters would follow the same guidelines as for the ratio transmitters described above. However rapid attenuation of ultrasonic signals along with reflections and standing wave patterns caused by the reflection of sonic signals from floors and other structures could create difficulties with ultrasonic systems. Thus, in many indoor environments radio frequency systems would be the most trouble free and convenient systems to operate.
Tracking of the moving transmitters is accomplished by phase difference detection according to the present invention. Phase difference tracking of radio or acoustic wave transmitters is based on the fact that such transmitters produce spherical waves of frequency w in the surrounding space. These waves are then detected by several sensors spaced in a known geometry, and changes in the position of a particular transmitter with respect to the sensors is detectable as a change in the phase of the radiated wave. By detecting the relative phase between two or more detectors at any instant, the position of the emitter can be detected using standard interferometric procedures.
The appropriate detector network is illustrated in block diagram form in FIG. 1. In particular, a plurality of detectors 18, 20, 22 and 24 are illustrated positioned across an area which is understood to comprise the normal area to which movement of the transmitter 10 is confined. In the case of a stage, for example, the detectors 18 through 24 may be positioned at regular intervals across the width of the stage located at a convenient height, such as the floor level of the stage or at the ceiling of the theather or auditorium. Alternatively the detectors may be positioned to surround the area of transmitter movement. In the case of a stage, for example, the detectors may be positioned in front, above and behind the performing area. In general, positioning of the detectors may be appropriately selected to provide the best coverage for the particular individuals or objects to be tracked. The spacing of the detectors determines the number of interference fringes appearing across the region of interest, and the location of the detectors relative to the source determines the error in position measurement.
Generally two detectors are required for each degree of freedom of the individuals or objects being tracked, although it is possible to track motion in a plane using only three detectors provided the detectors are properly positioned around the area in which movement is to be tracked. To track three dimensional motion, one pair of detectors must be mounted perpendicular to the plane of the planar motion detectors. In the drawing the detectors 18 and 20 are drawn in solid lines while the detectors 22 and 24 are drawn in broken lines. This has been done to indicate that the system will operate with a minimum of two detectors (i.e. 18 and 20) for sensing linear position although additional detectors, such as detectors 22 and 24, are required to track planar motion in the illustrated embodiment of the invention.
If radio transmitters are used, the detectors may simply be conventional ratio antennas equipped with one or more stages of amplification where required. If ultrasonic transmitters are used, the detectors are conventional transducers such as microphones, also equipped with required stages of amplification. In both cases conventional equipment is available to perform the necessary signal detecting functions.
If radio frequency components are used, the transmitter frequencies are preferably selected in the range around 100MHz, which is in the commercial FM radio broadcast band. In this case the detectors 18 through 24 may be conventional high gain, low noise FM antennas with amplifiers.
The received signals sensed by the detectors are applied to a phase detector 26 which senses the phase difference between signals detected by individual detectors 18 through 24. The details of the phase detector 26 are illustrated in FIG. 2. For ease in understanding the present invention, the illustration in FIG. 2 has been simplified by the assumption that only two of the detectors 18 and 20 are coupled to the system, and that motion in only one direction is to be tracked. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that motion in a plane and motion in space can be tracked according to the same principles with additional detectors and slightly more complicated mathematics,
Referring now to FIG. 2, the signals from the detectors 18 and 20 are applied first to amplifiers 28 and 30. The received signals have the following form:
U.sub.1 = Sin (wt + a) U.sub.2 = sin (wt +b)
where a and b are the phases of the received signals relative to the transmitter, and are related to the relative positions of the receivers and the transmitter. The phase detector includes two channels, in one of which the two received signals are multiplied together, and in the other of which one of the received signals multiplied by the other signal after phase shifting through 90
Referring again to FIG. 2, two multipliers or mixers 32 and 34 are shown. The first conventional multiplier 32 receives input from both of the amplifiers 28 and 30, while the second conventional multiplier 34 receives one input from the amplifier 28 and a second input from a conventional 90 figures, these devices may be replaced by conventional dual matched mixers which are commercially available at lower cost than the illustrated multipliers.
The outputs of the multipliers 32 and 34 are applied to first and second low pass filters 38 and 40, and then to first and second output amplifiers 42 and 44.
In the first multiplier 32, the two input signals U.sub.1 and U.sub.2 defined above are multiplied together to produce the following product:
U.sub.3 = sin (wt + a) sin (wt + b)
= 1/2 [cos (a-b) - cos (2wt + a + b)]
The signal applied to the second multiplier 34 consists of the output of amplifier 28 plus the output of amplifier 30 shifted by 90 resultant product of these two inputs is as follows:
U.sub.4 = sin (wt + a) cos (wt + b)
= 1/2 [sin (a - b) + sin (2wt + a+ b)]
The outputs U.sub.3 and U.sub.4 of the multipliers 32 and 34 are applied to the low pass filters 38 and 40 where the terms including 2 wt are removed, leaving only cos θ and sin θ, where θ = a - b. The angle θ is the phase difference between the received channels, as is well known to those skilled in the art. The resultant output signals from the phase shifter, sin θ and cos θ, contain all of the necessary information to track a transmitter in linear motion. As mentioned previously, additional information supplied through additional detectors may be used to track transmitters in planar and three dimensional motion.
The particular circuitry required for the phase detector illustrated in FIG. 2 is not novel in itself, and does not constitute an aspect of the present invention. All of the components required to produce the illustrated phase detector are conventional and are commercially available.
If ultrasonic transmitters are used, as described previously, a phase detector of the type illustrated in FIG. 2 may be utilized, although it will be understood that the acoustic signals may be converted into electronic signals for processing. In addition, a phase difference detector which is particularly suitable for use with acoustic signals is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,117 to Fothergill.
Referring again to FIG. 1, the outputs of the phase detector 26 are fed to a computer 46 which performs necessary positional calculations. In the simplified example discussed above, the computer, which includes appropriate analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue converters, calculates first the relative phase shift θ and then the position of the transmitter along the stage. The theoritical lines of constant phase difference with respect to the receivers are hyperbolic with loci at the detectors. These functions can be calculated analytically but it is easier to combine the conversion from relative phase shift to positional information with a calibration procedure to account for multi-path reflections and near field effects which will distort the theoretical interference patterns. By storing observed values of θ as a function of the position of the transmitter in the computer, a conversion from θ to the value corresponding to the position of the transmitter while tracking may be made by simply looking up numbers in a table in a computer memory. This technique allows the use of a very small computer or microprocessor.
A coordinate transformation must be performed in the computer from positional information to φ, the angular direction in which a spotlight, for example, must be pointed. The angle φ is an arctangent function of the position of the transmitter, which again may be calculated by the above-described technique of looking up values stored in the computer memory. Both transformations may be combined into one table of numbers in the computer's memory.
The computer 46 may be any commercially available small computer. It will clear to those skilled in the art that the computer is not limited to a small general purpose computer, but a suitable microprocessor may be constructed for use with the system to reduce system costs upon large scale production and distribution.
The computer output, which is in effect a positional command signal, is supplied to a conventional servo amplifier network 48.
The servo network 48 is coupled to a servo motor 50 which is coupled through worm gear 52, or other suitable mechanical coupling apparatus, to a rotatable mirror 54. A conventional spotlight 56 projects its beam on the mirror for reflection toward the position occupied by the transmitter 10, and accordingly tracks the individual or object to which the transmitter is attached. Although the illustrated motor and worm gear assembly permits the mirror 54 to rotate about only one axis to illustrate the basic principles of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention contemplates the use of conventional equipment for permitting mirror tilt also, whereby planar and three dimensional motion may be tracked.
A mirror position sensor 58 is coupled to the rotatable mirror 54 for sensing the angular position thereof, and supplies an output signal over a line 60 to the servo network for indicating the position of the mirror. The servo network 48 develops an error signal representing the difference between the mirror position signal and the command signal from computer 46 and this error signal is used to drive the motor 50 for positioning the mirror 54. The mirror driving system for covering a conventional stage performance should permit pan deflection of 40 spotlight covers a 72 foot stage from a range of 100 feet, and should permit tilt deflection of 20 depending upon the optics of the system. A pointing accuracy of 3 minutes of arc with a sluing speed of 13 3 seconds for full scale deflection across a stage. Naturally, for environments other than conventional stages, or for stages of larger dimensions, systems of different performance capabilities should be used.
It is noted that the servo system could directly drive the spotlight but to do so a large, powerful and consequently noisy servo system would be required. Accordingly, the mirror deflection system previously described is considered to be a superior approach to the problem of rapidly deflecting the spotlight beam.
The above-described system control the pan and tilt motions of the spotlight beam only. Other functions such as spot size and color must also be changed from time to time to provide desired effects. Accordingly, a remote control system 62 is provided for permitting a light technician to control the spot size, beam color or any other parameters from a convenient location backstage or elsewhere. Various types of remote control systems can be used for providing the required remote control function. For example a remote control lighting system of a type similar to the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,263 to Cruse may be conveniently employed, particularly where a pneumatically driven system is desirable.
Control of the on and off switching of spot lights is handled by individual performers as they enter or exit from the stage simply by controlling the manual switch 16 coupled to each transmitter 10. It is desirable to store the point of initial stage entry in the computer or to employ a course-fine system (mentioned subsequently) to insure that the lights point to the position of a performer's first entry onto the stage. Normally, each performer switches on his transmitter just before entering the stage so that the spotlight dedicated to him is turned on and automatically pointed to the area on the stage where he will enter. In this regard, it is noted that the radio waves of the transmitters penetrate curtains and the like so that the spotlights will be accurately pointed at the position of the performer even though he has not yet entered the stage and is behind the side curtain. Where objects such as balls, hockey pucks, and the like are to be followed, the transmitters can be left on continuously and control of the tracking unit, whether it be a spotlight or television camera, can be left to a technician or director who can manually switch the camera or spotlight on and off at appropriate intervals.
In a conventional theater it is anticipated that four automated spotlights will be sufficient to provide coverage for the soloists and star performers in most ballets and similar performances. It is preferred that the automated spotlights defuse rather than focus sharply in order to avoid sharp edge effects. In this case tracking accuracy can be limited to about 5 inches so that the center of the tracking light can be as much as 5 inches away from the signal transmitter being tracked without producing any undesirable lighting effects. The spotlight actuators must be capable of matching the maximum acceleration of the transmitter being tracked, which in the case of performers is 32 feet/sec.sup.2, the acceleration of gravity. A somewhat faster response time will be required where fast moving balls or other objects are to be tracked. The servo systems must also include a suitable deadband to avoid continuous slight motions of the tracking system in response to small movements of performers.
The system of the present invention can be provided with a further degree of sophistication by providing coarse and fine locating circuitry to enhance the speed and accuracy of the tracking network, particularly in locating performers as they enter the stage. Such a system is easily implemented by providing an extra detector or antenna at a distance of one half wavelength of the transmitted frequency or less in distance from one of the other detectors for each degree of freedom of tracking motion. With this detector spacing, one interference fringe exists across the entire stage.
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. | <urn:uuid:801ec539-69e4-44cb-b9ea-cf7fff8c66a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.google.de/patents/US4067015?hl=de | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933604 | 4,953 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Support of Georgian NGOs´ Activities through Educational Programmes, Support of Local Authorities in New Villages for Refugees, Cooperation Expansit
24.02.2011 / 12:12
Organisation for Aid to Refugees, 2010
The project´s goal was to extand OPU activities in Georgia started in 2006 and its´ aim was to support Georgian NGOs associated in Cchinvalskij dom Confederation and to extand activities of Czech-Georgian centres in Gori and Tbilisi. Our effort was to enable refugees from Cerovani, Koda and Verchvebi actively participate in public life and local authorities activities. 30 selected activists participated in three 3-days trainings with 6 Czech and 3 Georgian tutors, concerning different areas, e.g. legislation of Georgia, non-governmental organizations, EU asylum and migration legislation, illegal migration, projects preparation and fundraising. We also helped to establish and register 3 new NGOs, which are going to safeguard refugees´ interests and support local authorities activities. Four NGOs employees from Georgia took part in exchange visits to the Czech Republic, where they had an opportunity to get acquainted with Czech NGOs and state authorities working with refugees.
One of our aims was to present OPU acitivities in Georgia (within the framework of transition programme MFA 2006-2010) to Czech and Georgian ministries (MI, MFA), regional and local authorities. Their representatives were invited to participate in following project acitivities – round table, seminar, and also recieved a final narrative report in Czech, English, Russian and Georgian. One of the main project outcomes is study material and handbook for NGO registration process.
Výše finanční podpory od MZV: 1.300.000 CZK | <urn:uuid:899aed59-8f16-4e9b-a49a-3536438d7bbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/en/foreign_relations/human_rights/transition_promotion_program/target_countries/georgia_1/support_of_georgian_ngos_activities$2548.html?action=setMonth&year=2012&month=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943064 | 359 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Quaker Universalist Fellowship
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The Mystical Path
Pilgrimage To The One Who Is Always Here
Animating the entire creation is something which is eternal something to which people in different ages and different cultures have given a thousand names. Elusive, yet within our grasp; mysterious, yet knowable; remote, yet intimate; this great creative presence is that out of which everything comes, that from which everything derives its vitality. It is that in which everything finds its rest, and that to which everything will return. Just as the mighty wind, though moving everywhere, has no resting place but space, so all creatures and all things have no home but in God.
God's gracious creative presence is within us and around us and seeking to make Itself known to us. This is an awesome miracle seen again and again in human experience.
Yet this divine presence is also beyond the power of our words to describe, and beyond the capacity of our minds to understand. While it is natural that we seek to use the powers of thought and of speech to communicate our awareness of this fundamental reality, we need constantly to be alert to the dangers of being misled by conventional notions and mental cliches, constantly aware of the risks of trying to domesticate God with the limitations of human words and concepts, constantly aware that with a lack of respect for mystery we deprave ourselves. In general, the deeper the experience one has of God, the less one is able to say about it.
As human beings we know ourselves to be imperfect and incomplete. Yet the Creator, while leaving us incomplete, also endowed us with a capacity to finish the work of fashioning our own nature. The Creator gave us the freedom to do so as well the freedom to do so for better or for worse. We long for completeness, and with our efforts to achieve it we arrive at our most noble accomplishments and also suffer our most crushing defeats. We live surrounded by idols, idols which constantly bombard us with false images of completeness. Accumulating money and exerting power over others are two avenues through which people are tempted to fill the void of their incompleteness, two avenues through which they seek to fulfill themselves.
I am told that the average American child who watches an average amount of television sees depicted more than 3,000 murders by the time he or she is twelve years old! From everywhere, it seems, we are assailed with the notion that our nature is innately violent, that our chief preoccupation is with our sexuality, and that our main purpose in life lies in the acquisition of ever more nifty possessions. Unless a vision for our completeness is inspired by the balance, order, harmony and peace which is the natural destiny of the creation, unless the all-powerful word of God leaps to us out of the silence, we shall indeed continue to live in the doomed land of which the scriptures speak:
When a peaceful silence lay over all,
As there is given to us some degree of awareness of the ineffable mystery of God we are shown the way to complete ourselves, both as individuals and as communities, in accordance with the principles of compassion and truth which are the basis of our natural and intended character. We become more exactly who we are meant to be, and we are filled with joy and with a power to act usefully which partakes of divine creativity itself. And just as we perceive that a beautiful thing in some mysterious way expresses and contains all beauty, and a good gesture, no matter how small, somehow contains and expresses all goodness, we also see that the fully realized human being the perfect human being expresses true godliness in a pure, perfect and complete way. Thus, the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth offer a perfected image of the divine life operating under human conditions.
The historic life of Jesus is paradigmatic of all spiritual journeys. All such journeys begin with an obscure and humble birth deep in the mysterious recesses of the soul. There is an education in poverty and simplicity; there are inevitable temptations, mortifications and solitudes; there is self-giving in a life of service and practical compassion; there are "dark nights" of profound forsakenness; there is the painful crucifixion of the self; and there is ultimately a final reabsorption into the source of all.
God sends his word in the person of Jesus Christ to announce just one thing. That thing is: "Wake up!" This theme of waking up, of getting up, of rising up, may well signify the meaning of spirituality the world over. Spirituality is our waking up in our consciousness, in our working lives, in our whole way of living waking up to the divine presence everywhere.
God is equally near to all creatures. God has a net, a hunter's ploy, spread out over all creation. We can penetrate this net filled with creatures and with things and recognize that God is everywhere. The person who knows God most truly is the person who can find the divine presence equally in all things. It is good that a person has a peaceful life; it is better that a person bear a trouble-filled life with patience. But best of all is that a person can be at peace even in the midst of trouble. For God is equally in all things and all places and is available in the same way and to the same degree in every circumstance. God speaks to us in and through even our most troubling predicaments. By listening deeply to the message of any given moment we can discern what we are meant to do, how we are meant to respond. We listen with our hearts. Obedience in its full sense is attuning the heart to God's simple call which is always contained in the complexity of any given situation. Just as the eye perceives light and the ear sound, the heart is the organ for sensing meaning and purpose.
Thus our waking up and our getting up is also an opening up. When we are opened up we are ready to accept and to receive. Spirituality thus becomes the art of wakefulness, of being aware, conscious and alive. Awe, astonishment and praise are the fruits of our wakefulness, our resurrection from dead consciousness. All we can say for this gift of a divine universe, divinely infused and divinely present, is thank you. Thus it is not happiness that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us happy.
* * * *
The title indicates that this essay is about "mysticism," but I have not yet used the word. Not many of those whom we designate as mystics actually use the word themselves. They may be people drawn to a devout and holy life, they may be alive to the presence of God, and they may be inspired to give some testimony or carry out some mission based upon their experience of a divine leading. But people rarely set out to be mystics, nor do they announce themselves to be mystics when trying to explain themselves. Typically what happens is that theologians, philosophers, and analysts categorize a certain type of religious experience as mystical in order to generalize about it for academic purposes.
What I have offered in the opening paragraphs is an expression of how reality might be understood and experienced by a person within Christian spiritual culture who sees things in the way we term mystical. I know that not all Friends are Christians, and my introduction may seem overly sectarian or parochial, but the fact is that most of what we term mystical spirituality occurs within the context of a distinct religious culture, and to try to offer an example stripped of its own spiritual vocabulary would be misleading and false. Since I assume most readers are familiar with Christianity, this seemed to me an appropriate place to begin.
But the first thing I want to emphasize, now that we are proceeding to the analytic or academic part of our consideration, is that experiences and perspectives we term mystical are universal and are manifested in all spiritual cultures and even sometimes among secularized people. There is Jewish mysticism, Christian mysticism, Buddhist mysticism, Islamic mysticism, Vedic mysticism, Taoist mysticism, and mysticism and shamanism practiced among the many spiritual cultures of indigenous peoples.
But what, exactly, is mysticism? Although I said earlier that it is a word used mainly for analytic or academic purposes, it does not follow, unfortunately, that there is a pristine clarity about the term. Mysticism is an affirmation that union, communication, and even intimacy between the human creature and the deity is known in experience to occur. Yet how does this differ from religion or spirituality in general? After all, prayer, worship and sacraments such as the eucharist are all affirmations that connectedness and communication between people and God are possible. What, then, makes something we call mysticism different from religion in general? Indeed, some commentators say that mysticism is nothing else but the fundamental essence of religion, its vital heart and center.
This definitional difficulty does indeed point to another dimension of universality in the mystical idea. I said earlier that mysticism occurs in all spiritual cultures. That is one dimension of its universality. I will now point to another dimension. I will daringly affirm that every human being is a mystic to some extent. A mystic is not a special kind of human being; rather, every human being is his or her own special kind of mystic. Referring once again to the Christian way of putting it, it is true, as the Gospel of John affirms, that there is a light which enlightens every human being ever called to life, and this light within us, if we attend to it and accept it, transforms us into the offspring of God. There are probably very few people who, at some moment or other, have not had a glimmering of this have not felt themselves to be deeply and personally connected to some transcendent reality. It may be a passing or fleeting sensation, and one might not act upon it in any way. A person might not even remember it, or may dismiss it as just a feeling or emotion with no objective reality, but I believe almost everyone experiences it.
So, in the face of some confusion among learned people about defining and delineating mysticism as an idea, I am going to offer a layperson's view. When we identify people as mystics, what distinguishes them from other members of their respective faith communities has to do with a matter of degree. It is a matter of the degree to which they experience, and the emphasis to which they give, certain aspects of spiritual life that are actually universal.
Whereas some people may experience a profound connected-ness with the divine at special moments, perhaps when seeing a sunset or a baby's smile, and then slip back into a more humdrum mode of existence, a mystic is sensitive to the miraculousness of ordinary things and lives with an awareness of God constantly. Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, a 17th-century mystic, perceived the pots and pans he had to clean every day in the monastery kitchen as indistinguishable from the sacred vessels of the altar. Whereas most people accept the coming and going, as if at random, of peak spiritual experiences, mystics take some trouble to prepare themselves to receive the gift of divine grace through spiritual disciplines and ascetic practices. Whereas most people are content to try to communicate with God through the prosaic mechanism of human speech and thought processes, mystics explore ways to transcend the limitations of human commun-ication. They explore ways to experience God on God's own terms, if you will.
Finally, and perhaps most important, many people of faith presume that God's self-disclosure occurred in a remote and heroic time in the past, and that God, although present, has lapsed into silence, leaving us to fend with ancient texts containing the divine message, perhaps accompanied by relatively vague, weak and rare glimmerings of the divine presence in modern times. Mystics are audacious enough to testify that this is not so, that God speaks to us today just as he did to the ancients. Moreover, mystics are apt to insist that even if Jesus were born a thousand times in Galilee it would all be in vain unless he were born again in each and every one of us today.
Mystics are not necessarily people who hear voices and see visions. Some do, as we know. Joan of Arc heard the voices of Saint Catherine, Saint Michael and Saint Margaret. Paul, on the road to Damascus, experienced a light that blinded him for three days and that announced itself to be Jesus. But most mystics do not speak of such miraculous experiences. They are more apt to focus on the miracle of ordinary things just as they are.
It is necessary to explain at this point that, even though I have pointed to the universality of mysticism in religious experience, nevertheless the idea of mysticism is often not well-received in the mainstream religious community. When people with strong mystical tendencies appear, the religious community often does not quite know what to do with them. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, as we know. This is a very extreme example of the matter. However, many mystics experienced very vexed relationships with religious authorities. There are several quite understandable reasons for this.
First, there are various fringe phenomena which bear resemblances to mysticism, and indeed to which mystical practices sometimes lead. Mysticism can shade off into the occult, into forms of magic, and into manifestations of hysteria. Various pathological states of mind can pass themselves off as religious openings. Genuine mystics are sometimes somewhat eccentric, while merely eccentric and even demented people often claim to have spiritual visions. Discerning healthy from unhealthy forms of mysticism can be a genuine nuisance to religious authorities. Nevertheless, it is necessary to point out that, just as we do not abandon love just because some manifestations of love are pathological, neither should we abandon mysticism simply because some examples of it go off the deep end.
Second, there is an inherent conflict between people who regard themselves to be authorities charged with a responsibility for nurturing the institutions of religion, and people who show up claiming they have their own direct communication from God, thereby circumventing the established religious order while perhaps also suggesting that things should be done in a new or different way. Not all mystics are in an avant garde; some are extraordinarily orthodox. Mother Theresa, for example, a person of our own times who was an exemplar of a profoundly mystical spirituality, always disappointed the mass media, who were prone to lionize her, because of her utterly orthodox and non-revolutionary attitudes on issues like the ordination of women or abortion. But mysticism tends to flourish at times of trouble and transition, when people are looking for a new way forward, and mystics, out of their spiritual visions and ecstasies, are often apt to challenge the business-as-usual of religious authorities.
Thirdly, and closely related to this second point, is the matter of two contradictory tendencies in religious life which often result in mystics being held at arms length by the religious mainstream. There is a tendency, on the one hand, to regard religion as something permanent and unchanging. On the other hand is the need to reshape and reinvigorate religion through fresh and spontaneous experiences. No religion could survive in the evolving world if it did not change and adapt; yet no religion can minister to our deepest needs if it does not reveal some permanent and time-transcending realities.
Habit, custom and system are the ways we preserve the gains of the race. Stability keeps the future organic with the past. One of the main functions of religion is to preserve, to teach, and to ensure the continued availability of the gathered wisdom of a culture. Often succeeding in orienting and defining an entire civilization, a religious tradition can enable populations of countless millions of people to relate to each other so that life flows along in predictable and natural-seeming patterns which almost everyone can regard as appropriate and good. There is a very legitimate conservative spirit in religious life.
At the same time, there is also a revolutionary or prophetic dimension to the religious life. This prophetic function is most conspicuous in times of transition, when the old order is disintegrating and being replaced by something new. Conditions slowly but inexorably change, new information and insight is gained, and the inevitable lapses and shortcomings of govern-mental, social, and religious institutions come into view. The religious sensibility must somehow stand outside of cultural and social arrangements, even while upholding them, proposing constantly an enlargement of the sustaining vision and a greater perfection in the expression it is given in institutions and practices.
Even in stable times, when the need for change may not be pressing, the legitimate conserving function of religion can grow formal and mechanical. The wellspring of enthusiasm and of joy can disappear. Semiautomatic performance of religious duties can come to lack any throb of personal experience.
The mystical dimension of religious life thus performs both a revitalizing role and a prophetic role, but individual mystics can get caught in the tension between the conservative and prophetic aspects of religious life. Both are legitimate, but they are often contradictory. Therefore many mystics, but by no means all, have had narrow brushes with the Holy Inquisition and other religious authorities in carrying out their ministry.
The last cause of friction between mystics and the religious mainstream is a little more difficult to explain. A mystical experience of union with the divine, an ecstatic sense of connectedness with the transcendent, can, obviously, be overwhelming. It is an experience that defies human language. Mystics have often resorted to sexual imagery to describe the combination of incomparably high emotion with total union. But their use of sexual imagery is not so much the problem as are other attempts to describe the experience, attempts which seem to obliterate the distinction between God and the mystic, where the mystic and God seem to become one.
When some Christian people of a mystical bent say things like "God became man so that men could become God," or "The knower and the known are one. God and I, we are one in knowledge. There is no distinction between us," other Christian people can begin to feel acutely uncomfortable. Some of the language used by mystics to describe the union with God that they experience can sound like blasphemy or self-idolatry to people who have not had the experience. In a cautious moment a mystic will say something like, "The soul is like a mirror and God is like the sun. Even though one can see the sun perfectly through the mirror, one never confuses the mirror with the sun itself." In a less cautious moment a mystic can say things like: "A good man is the only begotten Son of God."
Needless to say, the spirituality of mystics varies considerably, and academicians and theologians have deployed an array of analytic tools for discussing these differences. We cannot go into this, even in a sketchy way. But I would like to explore further some common elements of mystical experiences as these are expressed in modern language by a contemporary practitioner of the art of contemplative living, Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk. I am going to summarize his thoughts, rather than quote him word for word.
People who have spiritual peak experiences, or mystical experiences, usually come away from them noting three paradoxes which characterize them.
First, one is usually impelled to say something like "I was carried away," or "I was swept off my feet." "I lost myself watching that child trying to catch a minnow in a tidepool." Losing oneself and being carried away are quite appropriate expression for what happened. Yet people also emerge with the feeling that in the mystical moment they were more truly present and more truly themselves that at any other time. So the first paradox of the peak experience is that when the person was carried away they were more truly present, and when they lost themselves, they were more truly who they were meant to be. This first paradox offers a glimmering of why practitioners of mystical spirituality choose a life of detachment, of letting go.
Second, people who have had a peak experience of the sort we are examining are usually alone, but not lonely. In the peak experience their heart expands and embraces everything around them, great and small, every pebble on the shore and every star in the sky. Things near and far, past and future, all find their place in a great embrace of the moment in which the seeker is one with all. This is the second paradox. When the person is truly alone, they are also at one with all. This is the root experience from which a life of celibacy grows.
The third paradox which inheres in these spiritual peak experiences is that everything suddenly makes sense. One's heart is touched, and there is peace, even though all one's problems remain unsolved and all one's questions remain unanswered. Somehow, deep spirituality touches something more profound than our questions, something more comprehensive than all contradictions, something that can support all problems without the need of solutions. The experience is that one moment of true looking and listening yields what no amount of grappling with problems can wrestle from life. This is the insight from which the ascetic discipline of obedience grows.
Arnold Toynbee, the great historian who saw humankind's spiritual quest as the driving force behind the march of civilizations and eras, observed that at the root of all faiths is a belief that there exists at the foundation of reality a mysterious presence, supreme being, creative agency, deity, or principle of lawfulness. Although beyond our human capacity fully to understand or grasp, it is nevertheless close enough to express a truth of which we can become aware and to embody a goodness for which we thirst and to which we can resonate in our way of living.
He went on to observe that religious movements have in common the understanding that to achieve knowledge of God and to perceive accurately how to live in a way consistent with the Creator's goodness requires that we rid ourselves of self-centeredness. According to Toynbee, the curse of self-centeredness takes many forms, as do the strategies of various religions for struggling against it. Among these strategies are the idea of gaining our life by losing it, the metaphor of the crucifixion; various Eastern religious disciplines for practicing emptiness or mindfulness; the use of mantras or the Jesus prayer; the practices of inner silence, the tonsure, uniform garb, and celibacy; the abandonment of personal given names associated with the ego structure for religious names associated with desired spiritual virtues; and the discipline of living in religious communities. All of these are insights and practices through which religious traditions have sought to overcome what Thomas Merton describes as the "rigidity and harshness and coarseness of our ingrained egoism," an egoism which he further describes as "the one insuperable obstacle to the infused light and action of the Spirit of God."
There is an irony here. The ego can turn everything to its own purposes, even spirituality. People can pursue the spiritual path because they desire peace and consolation. A kind of spiritual gluttony can take place where people become much preoccupied with achieving inner bliss. Seeking personal and placid satisfactions, they have no intention of being drawn into a life of great and self-giving service. Spiritual sages like Saint John of the Cross and Meister Eckhart address this problem of the spiritual life quite directly. Let me quote Meister Eckhart:
Whoever dwells in the goodness of God's nature dwells in God's love. Love, however, has no why. If I had a friend and I loved him because of all the good I wished to come to myself through him, I would not love my friend but myself. I ought to love my friend for his own goodness and for his own virtue and for everything that he is in himself . . . This is exactly the way it is with people who are in God's love and who do not seek their own interest either in God or in themselves or in things of any kind. . . . Some people want to love God in the same way as they love a cow. You love it for the milk and the cheese and for your own profit. So do all people who love God for the sake of outward riches or inner consolation. But they do not love God correctly, for they merely love their own advantage.
Many people have the mistaken idea that mystics are invariably recluses. This is a great misconception. While there is a tradition of desert spirituality and of anchorites, most mystically inclined people are very active in the world. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, for example, founded and administered 300 monasteries, monasteries which reformed the agriculture and the economy of Europe. He was counselor to five Popes, wrote and traveled extensively, and organized the Fourth Crusade. Joan of Arc, as we know, led an army in a battle that was a turning point in the Hundred Years War.
If we review a list of persons whose spirituality is characterized by mysticism, both in the Christian tradition and in other traditions, we find that relatively few of them led lives of seclusion. Mystics are often pioneers in human endeavor discoverers, religious or social reformers, artists, national heros. The victories they gain over circumstances reveal something of the super-normal vitality of which they partake. Sharply intuitive and painfully practical persons, mystics are often in closer, more intimate and more bracing contact with the realities which surround them than are other people. They are both highly qualified and purely motivated to render services of practical compassion to their fellow creatures.
But their secret does not involve abandoning themselves to busy-ness and neglecting the spiritual source of all authentic ministry. They are not like some contemporary do-gooders who haul themselves relentlessly from one worthy committee or beneficent project to another in an endless, sometimes desperate round of super-activity. A contemporary journalist, truly amazed, once asked Mother Theresa how she ever managed to find the time to accomplish so much. Mother Theresa's answer was simple: "I pray for six hours every day."
I would like to close by reflecting on how the practice of silence is essential to serious spiritual seeking. God can come to us in many ways. But spiritual sages of both the East and the West agree universally that God's first language is silence, and the practice of silence is common in monasteries and ashrams the world over. It is important to acknowledge the significance of silence and to understand how the practice of silence draws together everything we have said so far.
First, it should be made clear that when masters of the spiritual life speak of silence, they are not necessarily talking about an external hush in the physical realm. They are speaking of an inner silence, a silence of the heart and of the mind an inner silence which can actually be maintained in the midst of physical noise, if necessary.
This inner silence consists of a gentle releasing, a letting go, of mental movies, of preoccupation with the events of yesterday, of plans for the next steps to take on the important project at work, of all inward thoughts and desires, cravings and dislikes, circling thoughts, and inner conversations. By releasing such transient concerns we begin to make a space within ourselves where universal and eternal things can be heard. Inner silence has the quality of alert listening. Thus, through inner silence we become poor in spirit, and being poor in spirit brings us closer to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Even the thinking of theological thoughts is laid aside during the practice of inner silence. For just as reading a recipe for the making of bread does not compare with actually tasting the bread, so is there also a difference between thinking theological thoughts and actually experiencing the divine presence. Indeed, our thoughts about God are at the very best misleading and at worst a form of idolatry, a worship of our own notions.
Inner silence, in addition to its quality of listening, is also characterized by presence. To be inwardly silent is to bring ourselves wholly into the present moment; it is to bring our spirits right to where our bodies are by stopping the circling thoughts and inner conversations which take our minds elsewhere. Our spirits have a habit of wandering around in times past or times future that do not belong to us, while holding in absent-minded regard the only time that does belong to us the present. We are in danger of never really living, but of only thinking about living, or hoping to live. One who practices inner silence has the quality of being thoroughly present here and now. If the divine presence is going to manifest, it will do so now in the present moment, not yesterday or tomorrow, and we are apt to miss the still, small voice if our minds are endlessly chattering about the past and the future.
Only by being present and mentally silent can we see the truth of the situations we are in, undistorted by our own personal agitations and needs, and can thus know what response is called for from us in truth. Without such mindfulness, our ability to respond precisely and compassionately in everyday affairs is crippled.
Inner silence, calming the agitations of our hearts and minds, letting go of all that is stubborn and grasping, is essentially an expression of the love of truth. To be dispassionate, not to let one's own needs or prejudices or emotions color one's actions, is essentially to put truth before everything else. To love truth in this way is to love God, who is Truth. Thus the practice of inner silence is the same as the love of God. To practice it successfully, if we can, means that we can participate in political and social life without demanding anything for ourselves, without there being any narrowness or pettiness of soul to poison our work. It is to establish an inner peace, an inner harmony, which will allow us authentically to contribute to the establishment of an outer peace and outer harmony in the world at large.
Who shall stay the human heart, asks Saint Augustine, that it may stand in stillness and see how eternity, ever motionless, neither of the past nor of the future, nevertheless utters time past and time to come?
We are told that in the beginning there was but one Word, a word which is the mother of all things, a word of grace and truth. This Word abides within each and every one of us, and within every human being ever called to life. Existing in the beginning before all other things were made, this primordial saving Word was uttered out of silence, and to silence we must return if we hope to hear it again. When all voices, sounds, agitations, and mental debates are put away, and a pure stillness and peace and reconciliation are present, then God speaks to us. To enter such silence is to let go of everything, even of every wish and desire, for as we are told, "the Truth awaits eyes unclouded by longing." Out of this inner silence our hearts are touched by something deeper than all our reasonings, something more comprehensive than all contradictions, something that can support all problems without the need for humanly devised solutions. We discover that one moment of true listening will yield what no amount of grappling can wrestle from life. When we drop our questions, paradoxically we find the answers, almost as if the answers had been waiting for us to discover them but had been drowned out by the noise of our questions. Out of such silence leaps the all powerful word of God and we find ourselves seized with meaning.
The more profound possibilities of our human nature become visible
to us, enabling us gradually to grow into what we know we are meant
to be. And in the same measure that we come alive to our own possibilities,
we become alive and alert as well to the needs and to the possibilities
of others. Thus we discover a way of life worthy of our profoundest
enthusiasm, and by living it fully and faithfully we, in fact, do
not labor for ourselves alone. For so to live is to let our lives
pour out teaching like prophecy; so to live is to help make this
world a place worthy of all people, so to live is to prepare a place
where future generations can make their home.
Beginning With Christianity's Apostolic Age
The list of Christian mystical sages is derived from Evelyn Underhill's classic work Mysticism: The Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness, first published in 1911. The last three names on the list have been added by Daniel A. Seeger.
The list of mystical sages from world traditions has been assembled by Daniel A. Seeger.
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Asked by Beth, Georgia
How many, if any, cases of nervous system disorders have been reported because of A-C breast cancer chemotherapy? I'm 45 and had treatment at 39 and 40. I now experience a very exaggerated amount of shaking of the hands.
Dr. Otis Brawley
Chief Medical Officer,
American Cancer Society
Dear Beth, I am assuming you have received adjuvant chemotherapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy is common in treatment of some stages of colon cancer and in some breast cancers. Adjuvant chemotherapy involves giving anti-cancer drugs to patients who have had surgery to remove the cancer and have no clinical evidence of disease remaining, but are at some risk of having undiagnosed microscopic cancer still present. This cancer can grow and spread. The chemotherapy is given to kill remaining microscopic illness.
The physician uses tumor size and other measures to determine those who should get chemotherapy after surgery versus those who should be watched. In breast cancer, stage of disease, age of the patient and some molecular markers are also used to predict those who are at greatest risk of relapse and most likely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. In this cost-benefit analysis, risk of recurrence must be balanced against the side effects of chemotherapy. The concerns of the patient clearly must also be considered.
Drugs commonly used in adjuvant breast cancer therapy are the chemotherapy drugs: the anthracyclines, doxorubicin (Adriamycin) or epirubicin (Ellence); the alkylating agent cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan); the taxane paclitaxel (Taxol); and cisplatin (Platinol).
Other anti-cancer drugs include the growth factor inhibitor trastuzumab (Herceptin), the estrogen blocker tamoxifen, and the aromatase inhibitors exemestane (Aromasin), anastrozole (Arimidex), and letrozole (Femara) are also commonly given as adjuvant therapies. These are the most common drugs but not the only drugs used. The drugs used depend on the presence of certain cancer markers measured by a pathologist as well as the experience of the physician. Some doctors prefer one regimen to another.
All drugs, and especially anti-cancer drugs, have the potential for side effects. The chemotherapies above are very commonly associated with lowering of the white count and risk of infection during the period of administration. A-C or Adriamycin and Cytoxan is a very common regimen and is not itself linked to shakiness or nervousness. Cognitive dysfunction or impaired memory and decreased ability to concentrate are a frequent complaint of some women getting A-C and a number of breast cancer adjuvant therapies.
The Adriamycin (and the other anthracyclines) can rarely cause an irregular heart beat and even more rarely can lead to a weakening of the heart known as cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. Cyclophosphamide has been associated with some bladder irritation at the time of administration and there is a long-term, slight increased risk of bladder cancer. There is also very small increased long-term risk of leukemia among those treated with Adriamycin or cyclophosphamide.
This drug combination often causes ovarian failure in premenopausal women. This leads to menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings and depression.
I should note that a review of known side effects of the other common breast cancer drugs does not show shaking as a reported problem although some are associated with neuromuscular problems.
Common long-term side effects of the taxanes are muscle ache and joint "arthritic-like" pain. Cisplatin (Platinol) can cause pain and numbness in the arms and legs and hearing loss. Traztuzumab is associated with muscle pain and numbness and rarely heart failure. Tamoxifen and the aromatase inhibitors cause anti-estrogen like reactions. They, too, can worsen menopause-like symptoms, cause mood changes, flushing and hot flashes.
Coming next week: More on why your hands might be shaking
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Its 8 months since I first used a dSLR, wandered in the world of photography, and this perhaps marks my first post on photography. Part of digital photography work flow is to “process” photos, something which requires equally or more skill, effort and work than the shooting itself.
360 degrees panorama of my neighborhood.
One of 1st photoshop techniques was blending, and I learned through doing back then when I knew little about photography. The task was to stitch a series of photography to create a panorama. (If anyone remembered seeing that panorama, it was the 360 degrees panorama of our YF youths standing around the camera in a full circle at Cameron Highlands). Then I had only access to Photoshop 7 and doing a panorama stitch meant a digital hand stitching using layers, masks and maybe lots of brushing.
These days at present, whole wide variety does panoramic stitching for us at ease. Photoshop CS especially the latest versions have simple but powerful stitching features. The free, open source Hugin Tools has all the advance feature that meets the extreme panoramic needs. The latest Windows Live Photo Gallery (free with windows) makes panoramas easy. Most software shipped with camera have panoramic stitchers and some point and shoot cameras even does panoramic stitching in camera.
Speaking of in camera processing and computation, the new compact Ricoh CX1 does High Dynamic Range (or HDR for capturing a wider range of shadows and highlights) in the camera.
With all the technology, we sometimes forget that a simple way of creating a panorama years back was just overlapping photos one on top of another. The way I see it, technology can be enabling but crippling. We might create better drawings with a computer, but not draw better if we only trust technology to do drawings for us.
My first “fake” HDR 360 degrees panorama and stereographic/planetary projection.
Not recommending ignorance to technology, I think what is important is striking a balance with technology and creativity. These days I find HDR much the hype and hassle, but constantly trying new creative ways to see and design like creating Vertorama (maybe just a buzz term now but) brings the fun to photography and learning. | <urn:uuid:0246949b-b7bf-405f-b238-836761215a85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lab4games.net/zz85/blog/tag/vertorama/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946395 | 458 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Obama: Gifted, Black and Boxed In
Randall Kennedy's book is the best examination yet of Obama's racial dilemma, says this reviewer.
In the introduction to The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency, Randall Kennedy, the noted professor of law at Harvard and racial commentator, makes the following assessment of Barack Obama's unprecedented predicament: "He is a politician seeking to lead and govern a massive, complex, dysfunctional democracy that has long suppressed the racial group with which he is affiliated." From this unassuming statement of fact and all that it entails, Kennedy, displaying an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of race relations in the United States, constructs a gripping and persuasive case as to why we are not -- and won't be for a long time, if ever -- living in a truly postracial society.
This is not a rant. Kennedy, whose most vivid characteristic as a writer is a relentless reasonableness, engages Obama -- the lens through which he examines all aspects of our society -- on a slew of separate but ultimately related fronts, from the controversies over gay marriage and the nomination of the Supreme Court's first Latina justice to "Beergate" and the continued application of affirmative action in school admissions and hiring.
In unpacking the facts from all of the emotion and cant that have accompanied the election and government of the first African-American president, he gives us something that sadly is extremely rare in our age of highly polarized and polarizing debate: an injection of perspective and evenhandedness into the national conversation on race.
Kennedy is doggedly critical of Obama without falling into the trap of ignoring the myriad constraints with which the latter must always contend. He is dissatisfied with Obama's tendency to consistently "be more conservative than regard for public opinion requires him to be." In fact, this is perhaps his main beef with the president, and his dissatisfaction can be infectious, whether the subject is Obama's hesitancy to "attack homophobia in law" and support same-sex equality; his near-immediate backpedaling from an initial critical response to the arrest of professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. (also of Harvard -- and editor-in-chief of The Root) at the hands of a white police officer and on the steps of Gates' own home; or his disingenuous decision with regard to the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor "to cloak a liberal selection with conservative rhetoric" despite the fact that he was "making an appointment in the first year of his term with a Senate controlled by a supermajority of fellow Democrats."
All of the above and more signal to Kennedy that the historic election of Barack Hussein Obama to the White House will not constitute the fundamental challenge to the status quo and wholesale transformation of race relations and national politics that critics and supporters alike anticipated it would. The president is not the second coming of the Messiah, as many of his most fervent cheerleaders -- Obamamaniacs, as Kennedy calls them -- fell into believing he was during the 2008 campaign. Nor is he the anti-Christ made flesh, as his most venomous critics on the far right have sought to make him out to be. He is simply a career politician who happens to be gifted, black and boxed in by powerful historical forces that rest largely outside of his control. | <urn:uuid:a4a91a7a-a8a8-4383-8269-90cdb69830c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theroot.com/views/obama-gifted-black-and-boxed?page=0,0&wpisrc=root_lightbox | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964012 | 673 | 1.84375 | 2 |
HEDGESVILLE, W.Va.—Elizabeth Morgan took seriously the challenge of raising enough money to make the best Christmas for a child she didn’t even know.
Morgan, 17, a Hedgesville High School junior, is a student in Frank DiNicola’s marketing class. Students in his three classes — Marketing One and Two and Entrepreneurship — are keeping up a 32-year tradition of raising money for an annual Christmas party for five students each from Hedgesville and Opequon elementary schools.
Principals at Hedgesville and Opequon select the students.
Morgan raised $845, the most among her classmates. Enzo Colandrea, 18, a senior, was second with $500. Both are planning careers in business.
DiNicola said up to 70 percent of his students go on to some level of higher education, most with an interest in the field of business.
“This year, the students raised $5,100, the most ever, enough to spend $400 on Christmas shopping trips for each of the 10 kids,” he said.
“In the 32 years I’ve done this, my marketing students have raised more than $100,000 for this Christmas program,” he said.
In addition to getting a feeling of accomplishment for helping someone less fortunate, the program also gives participating students experience from meeting with the business community and individuals while fundraising.
“They have to show a letter explaining the program to everyone they ask for a donation,” DiNicola said.
Most of his students wore navy blue DECA sweat shirts Saturday indicating that they belonged to their school’s Distributive Education Club of America. It’s an international association of marketing and entrepreneurship students, DiNicola said.
Morgan said this is the first year she raised money for the Christmas party.
“I wanted to collect as much as I could because I knew it was going to a great cause,” she said. “I learned that it was good to give back without receiving anything in return.”
Michael Dodson, 28, a 2002 Hedgesville High School graduate, took DiNicola’s marketing classes. He works as an assistant manager for a local grocery chain.
“I developed the proper work qualities in Mr. DiNicola’s classes,” he said.
Dodson volunteers at the Christmas party every year.
DiNicola started the Christmas program at James Rumsey Technical Institute when he taught there 40 years ago. Six years later, he moved to Hedgesville High School and brought it with him.
This is his last year. He said he’s retiring in the spring, and he and his wife are moving to South Carolina to be closer to their grandchildren.
DiNicola said a Hedgesville High School colleague will take over the Christmas party next year. | <urn:uuid:7198a0e3-5925-4279-a30a-759b4bed34ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.herald-mail.com/news/tristate/hm-deca-raises-5100-for-annual-childrens-christmas-party-20121215,0,4523503.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970758 | 610 | 1.570313 | 2 |
By Eric Savitz
It’s official: Google (GOOG) has targeted the mobile phone sector. The company is unveiling a Linux-based mobile phone platform called Android though the new Open Handset Alliance, a group which includes 34 partners.
Handset partners include HTC, Motorola (MOT), LG and Samsung.
The company calls Android “a fully integrated mobile software stack that consists of an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface and applications”
The first phones based on the standard are expected in the second half of 2008.
Andy Rubin, who is the lead developer on the project for Google, said on a conference call today that a software development kit for Android will be available will available within a week. (Nice profile of Rubin in Sunday’s New York Times by John Markoff, by the way.)
Android, by the way, was the name of a company Rubin founded which was acquired by Google in 2005.
One thing not announced: a Google-produced handset.
Google this morning is up $16.88, or 2.4%, at $728.08. | <urn:uuid:05a7606b-4832-4f32-9775-0712526d33c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2007/11/05/google-unveils-android-mobile-phone-platform/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935486 | 233 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Two interesting stories lately about homeowner associations. Of note, both stories involve wildlife. The first is about an alligator (small one) in a neighborhood pond. Alligators abound this time of year, there’s even a small one behind Sam’s on College Rd. Anyway, the property owners think the HOA should do something, but. . . .
(WWAY) - The HOA told WWAY it is only responsible for the maintenance of the pond, not the removal of wildlife. We were told that if an animal poses a threat, call 911 or the police department, and they will send someone out to inspect.
Essentially the HOA doesn’t really care what happens in the pond that they maintain. Individual owners would have to make the call on this even though the gator isn’t technically on anyone’s property yet.
The second story is a bit more alarming as an owner is alleging that the HOA is targeting her after she reported a wildlife problem. The original HOA response was disturbing. The raccoons in the story have been living in the attic spaces, defecating and urinating in the walls and ceilings.
(WWAY) - We tried to talk to someone with the property. When we went to the office, no one answered the door. When we called the property manager, he told us he did not have the HOA president’s number, that he would not talk to us and then hung up. . . The resident says the health department came out and was appalled by what they found. So far the health department has not returned our call.
After the initial news story ran, apparently someone made a few calls and there was finally a response from the health department, but the HOA is still unresponsive.
This is really a sad statement about why HOAs should act more responsibly. If they don’t, it will a sad day when local/state governments take over and then the argument for higher taxes for less efficiency will replace would should a simple association of property owners dealing with their problems sans government.
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You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:fa6a274c-105e-49ef-9e96-b571495a2914> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wilmington.johnlocke.org/blog/?p=6536 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972617 | 551 | 1.5 | 2 |
Tongass National Forest – Hiking
Hiking trails are scattered throughout the forest. There are about 600 miles of paths that range from easy walking paths to strenuous, steep trails. Excellent trail guides are available in many areas. Hikers will find many short trails to reach lakes and alpine areas from communities and from shoreline trailheads. Often these trails are constructed of wooden planks across extensive wetlands.
We’ve compiled information on dozens of hikes. Pick your place. . . | <urn:uuid:ca76bebd-3b3f-44a5-8ccd-aa1bc0222cd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theoutdoorwomen.com/2011/12/tongass-national-forest-hiking.html | 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 | 0.945329 | 101 | 1.820313 | 2 |
With Democrats running Congress starting in January of 2007, Purdue University agricultural economist Allan Gray says to expect a new approach to agricultural policy.
Gray outlines the "four E's" that he believes will be central to the Democratic approach to agricultural policy: extension, environment, equity and energy.
'Extension,' in this case, refers to extending the 2002 Farm Bill.
"Some Democrats who are taking over chairmanships in the ag committees have generally been pretty favorable to the commodity title, or the subsidy system, of the 2002 bill," Gray says. "I think it is highly likely that they are going to push for an extension of those programs, meaning that direct payments, counter-cyclical payments and marketing loan payments are likely to stay the same."
In keeping with their past record, Democrats will probably push for greater environmental protections in agriculture, Gray says, pointing out that the new chairman of the ag committee, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, authored the 2002 Conservation Security Program.
"Due to some changes in appropriations, that program never got funded as it was supposed to. I think Sen. Harkin will push to have that program become a bigger part of the next farm bill," Gray predicts.
Both Republicans and Democrats have talked recently about leveling the playing field between producers receiving different amounts of subsidies, making "equity" a potential issue as well. Gray says Congress may start "thinking about making those payments to a broader base of farmers."
The fourth E, "energy," has been a very hot topic, and both Republicans and Democrats support initiatives to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil by promoting biofuels, Gray says. Although the two sides generally agree on this approach, Gray expects the Democrats to "push that agenda a little bit harder." | <urn:uuid:3e49c884-9aa4-4d20-8e17-23c624f8d65b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://farmprogress.com/story-economist-says-to-expect-new-approach-to-ag-policy-0-9662 | 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 | 0.969007 | 363 | 1.742188 | 2 |
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End Labor Day, says Profit Council
The American Council on Profit today called upon federal and state governments to remove Labor Day from the nation’s list of official holidays.
Carnegie Gould, the Council’s Vice-President for Job Creation said, “As we all know, America’s need for increased productivity and job creation will require sacrifices from us all. To that end, we are today calling upon the President, Congress and the governors and legislatures of the fifty states to embark upon a process of reforming a tradition of excessive paid holidays that business leaders have identified as a roadblock to maintaining America’s preeminent position in an increasingly competitive global economy.
Calling the current list of ten paid federal holidays “an entitlement program that is simply out of step with current realities,” the Council unveiled a new report entitled “Job Killer: The Three Day Weekend,” the result of a year long study conducted by business and civic leaders “dedicated to the preservation of traditional American values.”
The group reached its conclusion as to which holiday should be the first to be eliminated only after the “most careful deliberation as to each holiday’s role in maintaining the nation’s job-creation ethos,” according to Gould. Calling the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays “essential reminders of the Judeo-Christian tradition and work ethic that has made America the economic engine that is the envy of the world,” he added that Washington’s Birthday or Presidents’ Day, Columbus Day and Thanksgiving Day are also “necessary reminders of the nation’s foundation and the generosity of the Native American population in providing the land that has made America a profit center unprecedented in world history.”
The committee also found Memorial Day and Veterans Day “appropriate reminders of the central role of America’s military in creating the jobs that have made the nation safe and profitable” and cited Independence Day’s importance in creating a “small business-friendly climate” by fostering the fireworks industry which it called “an example of individual American entrepreneurship at its finest.” And as for the most recently added holiday commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Gould called it an “appropriate reminder of the historical contribution of African-Americans in providing a labor force that did so much to enhance the capital formation capabilities of the Great American Job Machine.”
“This left us,” Gould said, “with Labor Day, a holiday whose Americanism has been questioned from the outset.” Attributing its origins to “radical organizations that questioned the self-evident benefits of American capitalism,” he also pointed out that “our member organizations have never demanded equal time with a Capital Day,” Gould argued that “so far as the business community is concerned, every day is Labor Day. The irony of the government naming one particular day Labor Day and then prohibiting actual labor on that day should be obvious to all.”
The report notes that the U.S. economy no longer finds its primary competitors in Europe, which it referred to as a “sclerotic, bureaucratic, entitlement-clogged continent of the past,” but rather in “the dynamic emerging economies of China, India and other countries not hamstrung by anti-growth regulation.” In that context, it reported that “we have identified unpaid holidays as an absolute job killer.”
Calling the abolition of Labor Day “the type of signal that has the potential to ignite an upward spiral of investor confidence,” Gould dismissed the anticipated objections of labor unions: “They pretty much just do picnics now these days, anyhow, don’t they?”
Well, no, there isn’t actually a Council on Profit calling for the abolition of Labor Day. Not yet, anyhow. But the measures that real-life groups like that do actually call for pretty much come from the same recipe book. Any government measure that might redistribute wealth from the top to the middle or bottom has to go, as does any regulation that might increase the cost of doing business, regardless of how beneficial to society it may be.
Traditionally, Labor Day has been a time to celebrate the labor movement’s past victories – the eight hour day, the weekend, the abolition of child labor, etc. This year, however, we might want to devote more time to reflection and planning for the future. A couple of thoughts for the mix:
1. Not to put it so crudely as my fictional Carnegie Gould, but the fact is that unions ain’t what they used to be. So, it seems as good a time as any to remember that Labor Day isn’t just for the 12 percent in unions, but for the nearly 85 percent of us who work for someone else (although obviously there will be those like Gould who’d just as soon not be taking the day off or celebrating with the rest of us.)
2. Businesses don’t exist to create jobs; they exist to make a profit. If demand for a company’s goods or services is on the rise, hiring someone new may be the way to increase profits; when demand is declining, the route to increased profit may be laying someone off. Business leaders never ignore this basic fact – except when speaking to the newsmedia about legislation.
3. If the demand for the goods and services that American business produces is to increase, the vast majority of the population – who work for those businesses – will need to have more money in our pockets at the end of the week, not less. Organizations like our fictional Council on Profit, however, exist to insure that the opposite happens. They are, in other words, constitutionally incapable of offering real solutions to our economic problems.
The slogan of the Industrial Workers of the World may have been a bit off in its prediction for the American working class: “We shall be all.” We are 84 percent, though. And it is within this group, which constitutes the lion’s share of America’s population, that we should look for the way forward – and not to the tiny minority of corporate CEOs who currently dominate the discussion. | <urn:uuid:86bb72cd-10c3-4635-878f-98c51c11b79c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/05-4?quicktabs_1=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 | 0.947816 | 1,320 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Mystery big cat spotted in west Cumbria
Last updated at 15:10, Wednesday, 28 July 2010
A mystery big cat has been spotted in west Cumbria.
The cat - described as the size of a Labrador dog - was spotted on Steel Brow, Arlecdon, near Whitehaven, at 7.30am last Monday.
The witness - who has asked that his name is withheld - has an interest in wildlife but said: "It was very unusual. I have not seen anything like it wild in the British Isles."
He said: "I was driving to work from Arlecdon to Whitehaven and got to the bottom of the hill, over the bridge and was about a quarter of the way up. The animal came out of the hedge and onto the road.
"At first I thought it was a small roe deer as I have seen these several times on the same journey.
"I became suspicious as it was too low to the ground to be a deer and had cat-like features."
He said it was light brown in colour, had a long and thick tail and, after making its way across the road, went through an open gate on the right hand side.
Ian Topham, of the Mysterious Britain and Ireland website, said he had received no other reports. The last big cat stories were in January this year when large prints were spotted in the snow at Borough Park, Workington.
Bit cat sightings have been reported all over the UK and there are many photos and film clips. But they remain elusive and unidentified. There are, however, wild cats in Scotland.
Have you seen the big cat? Have you got any photos or footage? Email Ian Brogden
First published at 13:27, Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Have your say
I once saw a cat.
I cant belive it! "socks" my big black cat escaped from us when we moved to london! i cant belive he is still roming the hills of steel brow. if any one see's him again shout his name and he will come to you...he's favourt food is squirrel and likes a drink of iron brew. please some body catch him for me he may be big but his not dangerous!
View all 31 comments on this article | <urn:uuid:fe7b57b5-fd71-41c3-9a7b-10971443ed17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/mystery-big-cat-spotted-in-west-cumbria-1.739302?referrerPath=1104501ForceRecrawl0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989242 | 490 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Important note concerning Mining & Dredging Seasons on this Property
Google Earth Coordinates: 41 52’43.0″N 122 33’18.0″W
To view the content from the link above you will need to have Google Earth installed on your home computer. Download Google Earth
This property adjoins UK-3 at the lower-end. The upper boundary adjoins private property. Watch for our boundary sign on a tree next to Klamathon Road, near the fence which marks the private property (look for the sign which says “Tres Amigos”).
PROSPECTS: The prospects for high-grade gold deposits to be present on UK-3A are excellent. This is because all or most of the gold which Club members have been recovering from the other UK properties during the past 2 years has washed downriver directly across UK-3A. As high-grade gold deposits exist throughout the several-mile stretch of river just downstream, it is a near certainty that they will also exist on this new property.
Recent large winter storms have made fresh cuts into original streambed along the edges of the river on this property. This indicates that the old-time miners overlooked the area, as they did along our other UK properties just downstream, where nearly the entire bottom of the river is virgin of earlier mining activity.
Aggressive sampling will be necessary to locate the rich gold deposits, because this stretch of river does not include any significant directional changes to help concentrate the main gold path along one side of the river or the other. There is a nice natural riffle (short section of faster water) at the top end of the property which should help create some pay-streaks.
Click on Thumbnail for larger image.
Upper Klamath :: Upper-mid Klamath :: Mid Klamath :: Lower Klamath
Elk Creek :: Indian Creek :: Scott River :: Thompson Creek
Salmon River Main Stem :: Salmon River North Fork
Master List of Mining Properties | <urn:uuid:1228fc31-77a2-443b-85ee-265c5479e18d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goldgold.com/uk-3a-klamathon-crossing-claim.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93006 | 417 | 1.5 | 2 |
By ERIC FELTEN
Many are the tricks that companies use to win our business. As Martin Lindstrom reminds us in "Brandwashed," marketers make sneaky appeals to our fears and desires, leverage our social connections to maximize peer pressure, dazzle us with tinfoil celebrity and lure us with sexual come-ons that would embarrass a bawd.
Mr. Lindstrom has made his living in the business he now proposes to expose. His specialty has been using the tools of brain science to help marketers press subconscious buttons. In 2009, Time magazine named him one of the world's most influential thinkers. But on the evidence of "Brandwashed," influential does not necessarily mean "careful" or "accurate."
Take Mr. Lindstrom's analysis of how memory clouds judgment. After noting that marketers make appeals to nostalgia, he tries to show its addling effects by citing an American woman he knows who grew up in Paris and who loves Mars bars—the ones from France. She believes that "the U.S. version cannot compare with the taste of the Mars bars she snacked on growing up." Mr. Lindstrom has some fun at her expense, mocking her for imagining there is a difference between the two. Her misperception, he claims, is merely a matter of nostalgia, But as the candy cognoscenti might point out, the U.S. version of the Mars bar has always been very different from the one sold in Europe. Shouldn't a branding consultant know that?
Elsewhere Mr. Lindstrom tells us of the addictive power of the Internet auction site Swoopo, which hooks customers by playing psychological tricks gleaned from videogames. "Win or lose, our brains just want to keep on playing." And yet, for all its addictive power, Swoopo shut down months ago.
That's hardly Mr. Lindstrom's most out-of-date claim. He writes that, by exploiting our fears of being exposed to toxic chemicals, green-cleaning-goods company Method "is now the seventh-fastest-growing private company in the United States." Really? Not even close. Facing competition from traditional soap companies rushing out their own green cleaners, Method hasn't exactly enjoyed spectacular growth of late. So what does Mr. Lindstrom mean? Ah, there's a footnote. The author is basing his claim on an "Inc. 500" listing—from 2006.
By Martin Lindstrom
(Crown Business, 291 pages, $25)
And then there is the insidious power of McDonald's and its clown. "What's the first word recognized by most kids all over the world?" Mr. Lindstrom asks. "No, it's not 'Mom' or 'Dad.' It's 'McDonald's' (or 'Ronald.')" For this truly preposterous claim Mr. Lindstrom cites a consumer researcher in England named Bryan Urbick. I popped Mr. Urbick a fact-checking email. He denied saying any such thing. "I would never say that a complex word would precede a simply constructed word such as 'ma-ma,' " he responded. "I suspect that the confusion lies in that I have said (and regularly say) that McDonald's logo is one of the first brand icons recognized by young children."
In another burst of guff, Mr. Lindstrom writes: "Today, thanks to technology, never before in the history of our species have contemporary parents had more in common with their teenage or even tween-age children." Adults and teens both like iPhones, for instance. But really—"never before in the history of our species"? (Never mind the millennia in which parents and children worked in the fields together.) Mr. Lindstrom doesn't even believe it himself: In the next chapter he says that the problem with the Levi's brand is that kids don't want anything to do with a brand their parents embrace. In fact, he tells his clients wanting to sell to teens to come up with products "so outrageous, so provocative" that parents will react against them.
Things don't get much better when Mr. Lindstrom puts on his cognitive-science hat. Using various imaging technologies, he looks for what parts of the brain light up when consumers hear product pitches, make buying decisions or interact with goods. But he wildly and repeatedly overstates what can be known from the evidence of localized brain activity. In one of his studies he found that, when a cellphone rings, there is activity in a part of the brain called the insula, "which is connected to feelings of love and compassion." This is proof, he says, that "our study subjects loved their iPhones." Rubbish. The insula is a complicated brain region involved in everything from registering disgust to engaging in social exchanges. Insula action is not some simple signal of that loving feeling.
Equally complicated is the "Brodmann area 10" region of the frontal cortex, which is believed to be involved in planning, initiative and creative thinking. According to Mr. Lindstrom, all you need to know about BA10 is that it is "the region of the brain that's activated when respondents are observing something they perceive as 'cool.' "
Or consider the amygdala. Mr. Lindstrom admits that, in addition to being associated with reactions of fear, the amygdala "serves as a memory storage unit." And yet he concludes of a test subject whose amygdala was active as she worked her way down the supermarket aisle: "Literally every product she touched during her shopping excursion sparked a fear response." This claim isn't just simplistic; it's a fundamental error of logic. As neuroscientist Christopher Chabris tells me: "If it is true that scary things activate the amygdala, it does not follow that anything that activates the amygdala must be scary."
The kind of high-tech phrenology found in "Brandwashed" makes serious cognitive scientists cringe. But there probably aren't many cognitive scientists in the marketing meetings where Mr. Lindstrom offers up his insights. Talk about tricks of the trade.
Mr. Felten writes the Journal's Postmodern Times column. | <urn:uuid:fab338c5-a6b2-48e1-8e58-136250a409e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904583204576546933945107322.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965015 | 1,259 | 1.523438 | 2 |
QUANTICO, UNITED STATES // Police deployment of sonic blasters at Occupy Wall Street and G20 protest rallies are fuelling both sales and criticism of the devices, which emit beams of sound with laser-like intensity.
More US police and emergency-response agencies are using the so-called Long-Range Acoustic Devices instead of megaphones or conventional loudspeakers for crowd control, according to news reports and leading manufacturer LRAD Corp of San Diego.
But the products, which the makers developed as non-lethal options for military use, are prompting outcries from people on the receiving end, who call them "sound cannons". The city of Pittsburgh is fighting an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit claiming the piercing tone from a police blaster during the 2009 G20 summit permanently damaged a woman's hearing.
At least one Occupy Wall Street protester says New York City police also used the punishing alert tone, although police say they have used the device only to broadcast messages.
LRAD says its products offer police something louder than a megaphone and more benign than rubber bullets and teargas for managing crowds, defusing hostage situations and serving warrants on dangerous suspects.
"All of these events have helped bring interest to LRAD as new way to take care of these type of situations where they haven't had them before," Robert Putnam, the company spokesman, said.
He said LRAD is not a weapon but a long-range communication system for clearly broadcasting information, instructions and warnings.
The publicly traded company had record sales of US$26 million (Dh95.4m) in the 2011 fiscal year ending September 30, up 57 per cent from a year earlier. Foreign and domestic military customers accounted for at least 58 per cent of sales.
The company said last week in its year-end report that it sees increased commercial applications for LRADs in areas including law enforcement.
The company developed the devices for the US navy after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole off the Yemen coast to give sailors a way of ordering small boats to stop approaching US warships. Until 2009, they were known mainly for seagoing applications, including deterring pirates from attacking cruise ships. LRAD said the Louisiana National Guard used its products to communicate with victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The products range from a 6.8kg, battery-operated, hand-held unit to a 145kg device with an advertised range of about three kilometres. Even the smallest unit, the LRAD 100X, emits as much as 137 decibels at one metre. That's louder than a jet take-off at 100m but lower than the pain threshold of 140 decibels, according to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Karen Piper, a University of Missouri English professor, visited Pittsburgh during the September 2009 G20 summit to research whether protesters have any effect on the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. She claims in a federal lawsuit she was about 30m from an LRAD mounted on a moving vehicle when it emitted a "piercing, continuous, high-pitched sound" for a number of minutes, causing permanent hearing loss.
Raymond DeMichiei, deputy director of the Pittsburgh Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, said his agency supplied the LRADs to Pittsburgh police for the G20 summit. He said he's never seen a better device for communicating with an unruly crowd.
"What would you rather have us do, the old 1964 routine with fire hoses and billy clubs? I think it's a lot more humane to make people uncomfortable because their ears hurt, and they leave," he said. | <urn:uuid:0157058c-67e8-4dd6-bd68-5e495f2bbace> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/americas/occupy-protests-have-boosted-sales-of-sonic-blasters | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955566 | 740 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Fantasy for Cello : Work information
- Work name
- Fantasy for Cello
- Work number
- Op. 130
- 1987-01-01 02:00:00
- Andrew Keener
- Mike Hatch
- Recording date
- 1987-05-10 00:00:00
Malcolm (Henry) Arnold
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer.
He began his career as a professional trumpeter, but by the time he was thirty he was composing full-time, being bracketed with Britten and Walton as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain. His natural melodic gift earned him a reputation as a composer of light music in works such as the sets of Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish and Cornish Dances, and the scores to the St Trinian's films and Hobson's Choice.
Malcolm Arnold was born in Northampton, the youngest of five children from a prosperous Northampton family of shoemakers. As a rebellious teenager, he was attracted to the creative freedom of jazz. After seeing Louis Armstrong play in Bournemouth, he took up the trumpet, and at the age of seventeen won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music (RCM).
After studying at the RCM he joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as a trumpeter, eventually becoming principal trumpet. By the end of the 1940s he was concentrating entirely on composition. He was made a CBE in 1970, and knighted in 1993. From 1972 to 1977 he lived in Dublin.
Arnold was a relatively conservative composer of tonal works, but a prolific and popular one. He acknowledged Hector Berlioz as an influence, and several commentators have drawn a comparison with Jean Sibelius. Arnold's most significant works are generally considered to be his nine symphonies. He also wrote a number of concertos, including one for guitar for Julian Bream, and one for harmonica for Larry Adler. His sets of dances, which consist of two sets of English Dances (Opp. 27 and 33), and one set each of Scottish Dances (Op. 59), Irish Dances (Op. 126), Welsh Dances (Op. 138) and Cornish Dances (Op. 91), are in a lighter vein and also popular. One of the English Dances is used as the theme music for the British television programme What the Papers Say. Another popular short work is his Divertimento for Flute, Oboe and Clarinet (Op. 37).
Arnold also wrote many film scores, winning an Academy Award for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and also providing music for The Belles of St Trinian's (1954), The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) and Whistle Down the Wind (1961). He conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the recording of Deep Purple's Concerto for Group and Orchestra, and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the Gemini Suite composed by the group's organist, Jon Lord.
His works are particularly popular with youth and amateur orchestras, partly because of their playability, and also because of the accessibility of his unique style, which combines the musical elements of classical, jazz, popular and folk. He was also the patron of the Rochdale Youth Orchestra until his death in September 2006.
The Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra made the first commercial recording of Divertimento for the Pye label in July 1967 and performed many of his works. Arnold also conducted the orchestra in a 1963 De Montfort Hall concert.
Malcolm Arnold wrote the Trevelyan Suite to mark the opening of Trevelyan College, University of Durham. His daughter was among the first intake of students.
From the early 1970s he was snubbed by large sections of the British music establishment, notably BBC Radio 3 and the Proms. They disliked his success with film music, and that his own work was melodic when atonal was the fashion.
After a decline in both finances and health, Arnold moved to Attleborough, Norfolk, in 1984. He subsequently suffered from front-lobe dementia. His full-time carer Anthony Day not only nursed him, but helped him to align his finances.
Arnold passed away at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich on 23 September, 2006, after suffering from a chest infection. His last work, The Three Musketeers, was premiered at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford on the same day in a Northern Ballet production. The score included no new music by Arnold, but excerpts from various of his compositions were arranged by John Longstaff. The original score was compiled by Anthony Meredith. | <urn:uuid:71059cb4-4144-45d0-b362-09499af39d06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.classical.com/listen/player4/index.php?token=7RCiGOZ99CVZh$0Wr0RdCHiO2V26W2CZZ~O&inline=1&type=mini | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977254 | 983 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Coatings & Ink Additives Report
According to the consulting firm Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney, worldwide consumption of five leading additives for coatings and inks was 1.4 million pounds worth $3.1 billion in 2008. Coatings took some 80% of the value and inks the remainder. In the recent past, growth registered a five to six percent annual rate of increase with the emerging economies in Asia leading the way. In 2009, minimal worldwide growth is expected; recovery is expected thereafter.
Asia is the largest outlet for coating and ink additives taking 40% of the dollars. Japan and China are the leading consumers and highlight the growth variances between mature and developing economies. Japan has seen only slight growth in the recent past, while in China consumption has been expanding at double-digit rates. Europe and North America each consume about one-quarter of the additives with usage in these regions projected to be down in 2009. Improved performance and environmental advantages are emphasized in North America and Europe. The rest of the world takes some ten percent of the additive value.
Rheology modifiers are the largest additives in coatings and inks with about one-third of the global dollar value and dispersants are second capturing some 22% of the value. Foam control additives represent 17% of the dollars; wetting agents 15%; and slip and rub materials 12%. | <urn:uuid:1e8e7cea-aced-4949-b022-d6727c11bbf1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coatingsworld.com/issues/2009-03/view_paint-amp-coatings-manufacturer-news/coatings-amp-ink-additives-report/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939569 | 282 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Nearly four years after the financial crisis began, fewer employers and employees are reporting severe negative economic effects. However, both groups exhibit declining optimism about how they will be doing financially a year from now.
That’s according to Prudential Insurance Company of America’s new study, “Sharpening the Focus on Benefits Strategy.”
Fourteen percent of both employers and employees cited severe negative economic effects, down significantly from 2010 results of 27% for employers and 22% for employees.
Conversely, employers who said their financial position will be better or improving in one year dropped from 70% in 2010 to 54% this year; employees reported a drop from 44% to 38%.
On the credit union front, 79% of employees said they see their employers as a trustworthy source to help them grow and protect their money, second only to credit unions (81%), according to the study.
Employers reported a 17% increase over 2010 results in making benefits strategies a main focus. With shifting ownership and cost of benefits to employees, employers’ top strategies are, in priority order expanding wellness, preventive and work/life balance initiatives, improving the effectiveness of benefits communications, cost-sharing with employees, giving more financial responsibility to employees and increasing employee benefits education and financial advice.
The perceived value of employee benefits has also been trending upward, from 43% in 2010 to 59% today. Fifty-one percent of employees believe they are being offered a wide array of benefits, up from 38% two years ago.
Employees also said they are reading their benefit enrollment material in large numbers – 82% this year, up seven points from last year. Most agree they prefer benefits communications they can read on their own time, the research showed.
Prudential said the research was conducted via the Internet during July 2012, and consisted of three distinct surveys of plan sponsors, plan participants, and broker/consultant audiences. | <urn:uuid:030491fc-502b-4b66-8370-0ed9844ea1f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cutimes.com/2013/01/18/prudential-study-shows-decline-in-employee-optimis?t=corporates | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966572 | 393 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Posted 5 months ago on Dec. 7, 2012, 7:11 p.m. EST by TrevorMnemonic
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
“When we finish with Assad, we will fight the U.S.!” Al Qaeda Linked Group Prominent in Syrian Rebellion
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today continued warning colleagues of the threat posed by increasing U.S. support for rebel groups in Syria.
In a letter to fellow Members of Congress Kucinich wrote: "A recent article further demonstrates the abundance of evidence that suspected Al-Qaeda affiliated groups are playing a key role in Syria, including Jabhat al Nusra. According to McClatchy, Jabhat al Nusra and ‘similar groups do the heaviest frontline fighting’ and have ‘proved to be critical to the rebels’ military advance.’ This is the same group that has been behind the suicide bombings and instability in Iraq, and they have now found space to operate in Syria.
"The role of Al-Qaeda linked groups such as Jabhat Al Nusra in the Syrian uprising demonstrates the dangers that could arise if the United States or other countries attempt to intervene militarily. The New York Times recently reported that U.S. supported arms shipment from Qatar to Libyan rebels that ended up in the hands of Islamist militants. We have spent billions of dollars fighting these same groups elsewhere around the world. Why are we empowering them in Syria?" asked Kucinich.
Earlier this yeas, Washington, Oct 10 -
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today elicited testimony in a Congressional hearing that Al Qaeda is stronger subsequent to the U.S. intervention in Libya. Responding to questions from Kucinich, Lt. Col. Andrew Wood testified that Al Qaeda’s “presence grows every day” and that “they are certainly more established than we are.” Lt. Col. Wood was Commander of the Site Security Team in Libya from February 12 to August 14, 2012.
In response to Rep. Kucinich’s questions about missing shoulder-to-air missiles that were left unsecured in the destruction of the Gaddafi regime, Department of State Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom testified that “between ten and twenty thousand” missiles are believed to be missing in Libya. Modern military aircraft possess anti-missile defenses which are able to counter the Libyan missiles, but civilian, passenger jets do not have those defenses, making the jets vulnerable to terrorists.
Congressman Kucinich elicited this testimony while addressing the Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on “The Security Failures of Benghazi.” In his remarks, Congressman Kucinich said, “[W]e owe it to the diplomatic corps which serves our nation, to start at the beginning. The security threats in Libya, including the unchecked extremist groups who are armed to the teeth, exist because our nation spurred on a civil war, destroying the security and stability of the nation.”
“Our military intervention led to greater instability in Libya. Many of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, made that argument to try to stop the war… You would think that after 10 years in Iraq and 11 years in Afghanistan, the United States would have learned the consequences and the limits of interventionism. You would think that after trillions have been wasted on failed attempts at ‘democracy building’ abroad while our infrastructure crumbles at home, Congress and the Administration would reexamine priorities,” said Kucinich.
See Congressman Kucinich’s full statement here. See video from the hearing here.
Congressman Kucinich led Congressional opposition to the war in Libya. | <urn:uuid:63b49d85-ef1b-4d40-8115-fcaacbdf078d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.occupywallst.org/forum/connect-the-dots/ | 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 | 0.947111 | 783 | 1.65625 | 2 |
According to Celtic spiritual tradition, the soul shines all around the body like a luminous cloud. When you are very open ~ appreciative and trusting ~ with another person, your two souls flow together. This deeply felt bond with another person means you have found your anam cara, or "Soul Friend." Your anam cara always beholds your light and beauty, and accepts you for who you truly are. In Celtic spirituality, the anam cara friendship awakens the fullness and mystery of your life. You are joined in an ancient and eternal union with humanity that cuts across all barriers of time, convention, philosophy, and definition. When you are blessed with an anam cara, the Irish believe, you have arrived at that most sacred place
skydove wrote:I agree that on a different level you can see someone and know you will be friends just as you can see someone else and not like them for any tangible reason, but whether that is instinct or something you pick up with your other senses I'm not sure, but the soul recognition thing was in a different league altogether very very powerful and unmistakable when it happens, -at least for me!
Serpentia wrote:Isn't it great to be alive - and consious?
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest | <urn:uuid:c25766b9-a683-4e37-9f6e-e120f01c2f54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.druidry.org/board/dhp/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=36314&p=398125 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957372 | 269 | 1.515625 | 2 |
God said, 'I have seen the miserable state of my people
in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free...I am
aware of their sufferings. I mean to deliver them out
of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them out of that
land to a land rich and broad, a land where milk and honey
flow...The cry of the sons of Israel has come unto me...
So come, I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel,
my people, out of Egypt.' But Moses said to God, 'Who
am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the sons of
Israel out of Egypt? And God answered, 'I will be with
You.'" - Exodus 3:7-12
When God revealed himself
to Moses in the burning bush and told Moses that he
was to lead the Israelites out of their bondage into
freedom, Moses' immediate, automatic response was,
am I to do this? I'm nobody!" And God reassured him,
simply, "I will be with you."
There are times in each
of our lives when we are called in some way to move
forward on our spiritual journey, called to say yes
to what is demanded by our healing and growth, called
to accept and fulfill God's Will in our lives as it
becomes clear to us. And we are called without necessarily
feeling that we are up to the challenge, without knowing
if or how we could possibly succeed.
Moses can be an interesting
and helpful example for us on our journey. He was such
a human figure—given to angry outbursts, filled
with self-doubts and fears, hindered even by a speech
Nonetheless he heard and
responded to God's call to him to help free his brothers
and sisters from their suffering. Despite his doubts
and fears, he said yes to the call. He moved forward
in faith that the strength and power of God would accomplish
through him whatever needed to be done.
The Course points out
that "revelation induces complete but temporary
suspension of doubt and fear," and Moses is certainly
an example of this. Even after his profound experience
of revelation, he doubted, each time he faltered, or
became afraid and discouraged, he brought his fears
and doubts and concerns to God.
he was answered, assured again of God's presence and
the certainty of outcome of God's Will. And he would
continue on—to falter again and again, yet also
growing in faith and status and authority—toward
fulfilling the function God had given him.
Each one of us has a function
to fulfill here, given us by God. Jewish mystical tradition
teaches that we are Shutov Elohim, God's partners, in
extending and completing the creation.
Stephen Mitchell, in his
beautiful work The Gospel According to Jesus, offers
a fascinating and unusual slant on this idea of what
it might mean to help God "complete creation."
He renders the famous passage at the beginning of Genesis
in this way:
completes the work of creation by entering the Sabbath
mind, the mind of absolute, joyous serenity; contemplates
the whole universe and says, 'Behold, it is very good.'"
The Course teaches that
we each have a "special function”—an
indispensable part to play in God's plan for the healing
and awakening of His sleeping sons and daughters. It
should be stated clearly that, within the framework
of the Course, this liberation occurs not through trying
to change the conditions of the outer world but through
the healing of our own minds.
Our task is to attain
this state of mind that Mitchell calls "the Sabbath
mind." This is the state of mind free of guilt
and condemnation, which can look on all through eyes
of love and see the reflection of God's presence and
love everywhere shining. The particular experiences
that make up our life story—our "special
function”—provide the unique and individual
framework through which we can accomplish the universal
Like Moses we are each
called, in our own way, to help release our brothers
and sisters, and ourselves with them, from the bondage
and oppression of fear, to the freedom and abundance
that are our inheritance, and true nature, as children
of a loving Father.
And like Moses our first
response to this call may well be. "Who am I to
be able to do this?" Yet, also like Moses, we need
not be perfect before we can simply open our hearts
to hear and say yes to what God asks of us. As the Course
teaches, "readiness ... is not mastery." We
are asked only to offer a little willingness. Our
faith and confidence can deepen as we discover, through
experience, the truth in God's promise: "I will
be with you."
Humility vs. False Humility
us not fight our function. We did not establish it. It
is not our idea. The means are given us by which it will
be perfectly accomplished. All that we are asked to do
is to accept our part in genuine humility, and not deny
with self-deceiving arrogance that we are worthy. What
is given us to do, we have the strength to do ...
false humility we lay aside today, that we may listen
to God's Voice reveal to us what He would have us do.
We do not doubt our adequacy for this function He will
offer us. We will be certain only that He knows our strengths,
our wisdom and our holiness. And if He deems us worthy,
so we are. It is but arrogance that judges otherwise."
The idea that we are called
by God—that not only do we have a part to play
in God's plan for healing, but also that our part is
essential to the plan's completion—the ego tells
us is the epitome of arrogance. The ego's picture of
us is that we are small, weak, unworthy, inadequate,
filled with darkness.
This is the self-image,
the self, it would have us accept as our own. Accepting
this image of ourselves is what the ego calls humility.
points out, however, that the ego's version of humility
is really self-debasement—and is, in fact, disguised
arrogance. It is the statement that we are not God-created
but self-made—that our true identity is not the
Self that God created but rather what we have made of
ourselves. It states that we know ourselves better than
God does and therefore know better than He what our
function should or should not be.
"Your value is in God’s
Mind…To accept yourself as God created you cannot
be arrogance…To accept your littleness is arrogant,
because it means that you believe your evaluation of yourself
is truer than God’s." -ACIM
The function we are called
to is, on the deepest level, a single function that
we all share. The Course describes this function in
many ways—as forgiveness, salvation, healing,
accepting the Atonement, offering miracles, reflecting
the peace of Heaven here, being the light of the world.
These are simply many
terms for the same function, allowing love to dispel
the fear in us, and light the darkness, allowing the
illusion of separation to be undone within our mind,
unveiling the truth of Who we are and have always been.
We come to know again our oneness in and with God.
am the light of the world. Who is the light of
the world except God's Son? This,
then, is merely a statement of the truth about yourself.
It is the opposite of a statement of pride, of arrogance,
or of self-deception. It does not describe the self concept
you have made...It refers to you as you were created by
God. It simply states the truth."
the ego, today's idea is the epitome of self-glorification.
But the ego does not understand humility, mistaking it
for self-debasement. Humility consists of accepting your
role in salvation and in taking no other.
is not humility to insist you cannot be the light of the
world if that is the function God assigned to you. It
is only arrogance that would assert this function cannot
be for you, and arrogance is always of the ego."
False humility, which
is really arrogance, attempts to substitute the ego's
concept of what we are for the Self that God created.
True humility acknowledges God as our Source and Creator
and accepts God's evaluation of us rather than our own.
It recognizes that the strength, power, wisdom, vision,
and whatever else we need to accomplish our function
here comes not from ourselves but is given us by God.
It accepts that we can do whatever God asks us to do—because
with God all things are possible—and God is with
us at all times and in all things. To doubt ourselves
in what God would have us do is to doubt God Himself.
as God's Voice directs. And if It asks a thing of you
which seems impossible, remember Who it is that asks,
and who would make denial. Then consider this; which is
more likely to be right? The
Voice that speaks for the creator of all things, who knows
all things exactly as they are, or a distorted image of
yourself, confused, bewildered, inconsistent and unsure
of everything? Let not its voice direct you. Hear instead
a certain Voice, Which tells you of a function given you
by your Creator Who remembers you, and urges now that
you remember Him." - ACIM
All Share One Function
In the deepest sense,
the part we have in God's plan—our function—is
the same for all of us. The Course teaches that our
function is "to accept the Atonement for ourselves,”—to
allow the belief in separation, with its resulting guilt
and fear, to be corrected, undone, in our own minds.
As we let our guilt be undone, we remember the Love
that we are, the Love that is our real nature, and we
reflect that Love to others that they, too, may remember.
The process by which this
is accomplished in us is forgiveness. Most simply, then,
our function is to learn how to forgive, so that we
may receive the peace of God that forgiveness brings.
We then become examples and teachers of this peace,
demonstrating that even in this world peace is possible.
We come to reflect the peace of Heaven here on earth.
Although our function
is shared, the Course also teaches that we each have
a special function in God's plan of healing. In order
to understand this teaching and view our own special
function in right perspective, we need to look first
at the whole idea of "specialness."
The world of the ego—this
world of form—is a world of differences. Although
the Course teaches that our reality is oneness, in this
world there are certainly differences among us. We have
different talents, abilities, strengths, backgrounds,
and life experiences.
The ego uses these differences
to separate out, to divide and make "specialness"
categories of superiority and inferiority, insiders
and outsiders, "haves" and "have-nots."
Specialness is grounded in comparisons. The ego, the
Course tells us, "literally lives by comparisons."
In this world we normally
accept without question that being special is a good
thing. We value and even cherish specialness. Yet this
sense of specialness, which, being so ego-identified,
we all seek, always serves to separate us, to set us
apart from others in some way. As the Course points
out, specialness inevitably reinforces our belief in
separation—and thus inevitably reinforces our
conscious and unconscious guilt and fear as well.
If we see ourselves as
better than another by virtue of a particular talent
or ability we have, in our minds we have attacked their
intrinsic wholeness and value. We will—consciously
or not—feel or see ourselves as guilty. If we
are envious of someone else's talents or life experiences
or feel that we are lacking because we don't have something
that they have, we attack our own wholeness. On some
level in our minds we will resent and blame them for
our feeling of inferiority and lack. Again, we will
According to the Course,
specialness—particularly the idea of "special
love”—is the ego's most cherished and boasted
"gift" to us. It is also the most insidious,
because we rarely look at it closely enough to question
its worth, value, and cost to us. The real cost is enormous,
because, the Course points out, the ego offers us specialness
in place of—as a substitute for—the Love
God's Love is not special.
God's Love for any of us cannot be special, because
God's Love is complete and whole. God loves all His
children equally, because He loves us all totally. His
total Love gives us everything. The idea of specialness
is the insane belief that we could want and have more
The Course teaches that
the Holy Spirit is God's Answer to the ego, to the belief
in separation. The Holy Spirit's function is to translate
all that the ego made for its purpose—of reinforcing
separation, guilt, and fear—into what can serve
the purpose of wholeness and healing—the undoing
of separation, guilt, and fear. Although the ego made
the idea of specialness for its unholy purpose, the
Holy Spirit translates it into the idea of our special
function—the unique part we each play in God's
plan for healing us all.
has a special part to play in the Atonement, but the message
given to each one is always the same: God's Son is guiltless.
Each one teaches the message differently, and learns it
differently. Yet until he teaches and learns it, he will
suffer the dim awareness that his true function remains
unfulfilled in him." -ACIM
Our shared true function
is to teach and learn the healing lesson of guiltlessness,
through the practice of forgiveness. What the Course
calls our special function essentially refers to the
specific, particular relationships, situations, and
ways in which we can teach and learn this single lesson.
We are all teachers and
learners all the time. The Holy Spirit's purpose for
every relationship and every encounter we have with
anyone is to have it be a "holy relationship”—to
help us transcend our differences, recognize and forgive
our projections of guilt, and remember the Love of God
that is within us both and joins us together as one.
Although, the Course points
out, there is no one from whom we cannot learn, and
thus no one we cannot teach, from a practical standpoint
we cannot meet everyone. The plan of the Atonement therefore
includes specific contacts to be made in each of our
lives. Some of these will be direct, personal, ongoing
relationships. Others will appear to be superficial,
casual, momentary encounters in which we never learn
each other's names.
There are even situations
in which we never "meet" at all. We may read
a newspaper story about someone, or listen to a musician
perform, or hear about a person going through an illness,
or notice someone's kindness to a stranger, or read
a book someone has written, and be touched or triggered
by that "encounter" in a way that furthers
our healing, growth, and learning.
The Course teaches that
none of this is accidental, that "there are no
accidents in salvation." There are those we are
meant to encounter, directly or indirectly, and these
will inevitably cross our life path, our awareness,
in some way. To use these specific relationships and
encounters as opportunities for forgiveness and healing,
as places we can learn and teach the love that we are,
is our special function.
Special Function and Abilities
This special function,
our unique part in God's plan, may be expressed through—but
is not defined by or limited to—our profession
or our particular talents and abilities. The work we
do in the world is one of the ways we may be brought
together with the people we are meant to meet, one of
the settings in which we can teach and learn. The specific
talents and abilities we have may help to determine
some of the forms through which we can best communicate
and receive the Holy Spirit's message of peace.
The Course teaches that
differences in talents and abilities among God's children
are temporary—part of the temporal world of the
ego, not of the reality of Heaven.
the Atonement has been completed, all talents will be
shared by all the Sons of God. God is not partial. All
His children have His total Love, and all His gifts are
freely given to everyone alike." -
While we still believe
in the reality of the ego and the world of form, however,
differences in abilities and talents are a fact of our
experience. What we need to decide is which master we
would have them serve—the ego or God.
The ego will use these
differences for self-serving purposes, for its own inflation,
to shatter the unity of God's creation by seemingly
establishing hierarchies of value or worth. Smarter,
stronger, funnier, more attractive, musical, athletic,
verbal, charming, artistic, spiritual, psychic, or whatever—all
become, in the ego's eyes, "better": more
worthy, more loveable, more loved. Some are included
in the "specialness club," while others are
Even among spiritual seekers,
a belief in "special abilities" that result
in or represent a "special connection" with
God or the higher realms is often found. Holding such
a belief, whether in regard to ourselves or others,
can serve only to delay our awakening.
to the Holy Spirit, our abilities and talents will be
utilized to serve the undoing of our experience of difference
and separation, from each other and from God. They will
be used to help us learn that whatever differences exist
among us at the level of form make no difference whatsoever
in God's eyes—in our inherent value and worth
as an integral part of God's creation. We are all "included."
When we offer ourselves—all
that we believe that we are—to the Holy Spirit
to be retranslated and used only for His purpose and
plan, our lives here become a living expression of love
and service. The longing for this full surrender to
and joining with love is the deepest yearning of our
"Decide that God
is right and you are wrong about yourself."
The Course teaches that
we will not be happy unless and until we fulfill the
function God has given us here, that our happiness and
our function are one. Happiness comes from being true
to ourselves, true to our deepest selves, our real Self,
the Self that God created.
To know this Self we must
be willing to drop arrogance and false humility, to
stop insisting that we are less than what God created
us to be. To accept our function, our part in God's
plan for salvation and healing, is to side with the
truth about ourselves and all of our brothers and sisters.
Our function, the Course
tells us, is to "reflect Heaven here," to
reflect the peace of Heaven in this world, that the
world may be brought to Heaven.
There are so many times—as
we simply go through the normal course of our days,
facing countless opportunities for upset and challenges
to our inner peace—that this seems to be an
impossible task. There are so many times that it appears
to us impossible to forgive.
To accept our function
means to recognize that on our own fulfilling our function
would be impossible—but also to recognize that
we are not on our own.
in God's Strength, Not Our Own
If you are
trusting in your own strength, you have every reason
to be apprehensive, anxious and fearful. What can you
predict or control?
What is there
in you that can be counted on?
give you the ability to be aware of all the facets of
any problem, and to resolve them in such a way that
only good can come of it?
What is there
in you that gives you the recognition of the right solution,
and the guarantee that it will be accomplished?
Of yourself you can do
none of these things. To believe you can is to put your
trust where trust is unwarranted...
It is not by trusting
yourself that you will gain confidence. But the strength
of God in you is successful in all things.
Jesus said in the Gospels,
"Of myself I do nothing.
It is the Father in me that does the works."
When we accept our function,
we acknowledge that God is within us, that there is
no separation, and that it is God's strength and wisdom
and love within us that accomplish whatever needs to
We can move forward, as
Moses did, in the faith that we will be able to do what
God asks of us because God will be with us. God's Will
cannot fail. When we unite our will with His, accepting
His as our own, we cannot fail.
...ask yourself if it
is possible that God would have a plan for your salvation
that does not work. Once you accept His plan as the
one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing
else the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you without
He will go before you
making straight your path, and leaving in your way no
stones to trip on, and no obstacles to bar your way.
Nothing you need will
be denied you. Not one seeming difficulty but will melt
away before you reach it.
You need take thought
for nothing, careless of everything except the only
purpose that you would fulfill. As that was given you,
so will its fulfillment be. God's guarantee will hold
against all obstacles, for it rests on certainty and
not contingency. It rests on you. And what can be more
certain than a Son of God?"
would You have me do? Where
would You have me go? What would you have me say, and
to whom? Let us
today be neither arrogant nor falsely humble...We cannot
judge ourselves, nor need we do so. These are but attempts
to hold decision off, and to delay commitment to our
function. It is not our part to judge our worth, nor
can we know what role is best for us; what we can do
within a larger plan we cannot see in its entirety.
Our part is cast in Heaven... Whatever your appointed
role may be, it was selected by the Voice for God ...
Seeing your strengths exactly as they are, and equally
aware of where they can be best applied, for what, to
whom and when, He chooses and accepts your part for
you. ...that one Voice appoints your function, and relays
it to you, giving you the strength to understand it,
do what it entails, and to succeed in everything you
do that is related to it.
To accept that we have
a part to play in God's plan is not arrogance, as the
ego would have us believe. Rather it is the beginning
of accepting our reality as children of God. It is the
willingness to let go of our ego evaluations of ourselves
as unworthy, inadequate, weak, and alone in life, and
to accept that God's Voice is within us—offering
us all the wisdom, strength, energy, courage, direction,
and love we need to fulfill what God would have us do.
It is true humility, accepting that God's Will is certain
and uniting our will with His.
The wholeness of Creation
is incomplete without any of us. We are all part of
it, and we are all equally indispensable.
You are altogether irreplaceable
in the Mind of God. No one else can fill your part in
it, and while you leave your part empty your eternal
place merely waits for your return. God, through His
Voice, reminds you of it.
Accepting our part in
God's plan is remembering that we have an eternal place
in the unity of creation and recognizing that we need
to help each other remember and awaken to that reality.
Our special function is
to help those who cross our life path, for they have
been, in a sense, entrusted to us by God. And we help
them by being willing to see the face of Christ in them—by
recognizing and forgiving the projections and illusions
we have looked upon instead. As we offer them release,
we are set free with them.
We need not know the whole
plan nor even how to fulfill our part in it. If we are
willing, we can trust that we will be shown and guided.
accept my part in God's plan for salvation...give Him
the words, and He will do the rest. He will enable you
to understand your special function. He will open up
the way to happiness, and peace and trust will be His
gifts; His answer to your words...And you will have
conviction then of Him Who knows the function you have
on earth as well as Heaven."
Just as Moses was assured
when he answered God's call to him to lead his brothers
and sisters to freedom, we too are assured of success
in our function—because God will be with us. And
doubts we have along the way are simply attempts by
the ego to keep us forgetful of who we really are, and
Who makes sure our way. Yet we will fulfill our function,
for God's Will for us is fulfillment.
"If you knew Who
walks beside you on the way that you have chosen, fear
would be impossible. Your feet are safely set upon the
road that leads the world to God...Forget not He has
placed His Hand in yours, and given you your brothers
in His Trust that you are worthy of His Trust in you...His
Trust has made your pathway certain and your goal secure.
You will not fail your brothers nor your Self."
Outcome is Certain and Guaranteed by God
"Who walks with me?
This question should be asked a thousand times a day,
till certainty has ended doubting and established peace.
Today let doubting cease ..."
We can rest in the assurance
that we can do what God would have us do. We will awaken
to the freedom and awareness of perfect oneness that
is Heaven, and all our brothers and sisters with us.
We will say yes to God's call in us, for it is our own
deepest longing as well. And that outcome is as certain
"Forget not once
this journey is begun the end is certain. Doubt along
the way will come and go and go to come again. Yet is
the ending sure. No one can fail to do what God appointed
him to do. When you forget, remember that you walk with
Him and with His Word upon your heart. Who could despair
when Hope like this is his? Illusions of despair may
seem to come, but learn how not to be deceived by them.
Behind each one there is reality and there is God ...
The end is sure and guaranteed by God."
Like Moses, we can accept
our part in God's plan. Like Moses, we need not be perfect.
We need but bring the doubts and fears that threaten
our peace, again and again, to the Holy Spirit, and
we will hear in some way the same answer Moses heard—this
single Answer God has given us all.
be with you—as I have been with you always—as
I am with you now."
Berke The core practices
of A Course in Miracles are forgiveness and
listening to the Holy Spirit, our inner teacher,
the voice for God within us. | <urn:uuid:cf42eb06-32d7-4ae3-913a-4efad4066a63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theworkbook.org/text13e.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943444 | 6,118 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Tom Nicholson and Raafat Ishak say their Shepparton Art Museum exhibition is based around a pretty simple idea but even so it does take some explaining.
Called "proposition for a banner march and a black cube hot air balloon" the exhibition is about a future event which could, if realised, take place in Shepparton.
"It's a very simple idea," says Tom.
"They're launched from the same spot, the Shepparton Showgrounds, the banner march tries to follow the hot air balloon (which is a piloted balloon, not a kid's one) and the hot air balloon tries to follow the banner march.
"And the event lasts as long as those two things can see each other.
"This is really the biggest exhibition we've ever made about this idea... and we're hoping it's beginning a conversation with the city with the idea that in a year and a half we can realise it here in Shepparton which we think would be an amazing spot to do this thing."
The Melbourne artists describe the exhibition itself as like "stepping into the space of an architectural drawing" where you get to see the evidence of nine years of planning.
"Proposition for a banner march and a black cube hot air balloon" is at the Shepparton Art Museum until September 9th... you can hear more from Raaf and Tom on the audio player above. | <urn:uuid:81abdc90-f51a-4098-ac90-cd73cb75b853> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/07/13/3545201.htm?site=shepparton | 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 | 0.965428 | 290 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Show DescriptionThis month’s show focuses mainly on the activation of DHS’s Secure Communities in New York State. We will also continue to look at detention conditions and efforts to not only bring awareness, but to ultimately shut these awful places down. The Secure Communities program was fully activated in New York State on May 15th 2012, almost a year after the New York State Working Group Against Deportation (NYSWGAD) campaigned heavily to stop activation in 2011 and actually did get Gov. Cuomo to reject it.
On the day before Father’s Day, Families for Freedom’s Youth Committee along with adult nembers and allies will hold our annual vigil to raise awareness about American kids whose families are ripped apart due to the federal government’s draconian deportation policies.
What is Secure Communities and how does it impact our communities. Starting May 15th it is being implemented in NYC and has the potential to severely increase deportations. Infographic courtesy of Deportation Nation www.deportationnation.org Click here for an enlarged version. | <urn:uuid:df280bcf-2b03-4c8d-90b7-631b7574aaca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://familiesforfreedom.org/frontpage?page=6 | 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 | 0.939922 | 216 | 1.757813 | 2 |
You may be quick to categorize someone unlike yourself. We’ve all been guilty of it a time or two. Their Levis are dirty and limp from daily living. Skin is weathered and face has a salt and pepper stubble ... I’m guessing a drug store disposable razor is reused more often than it should be. Hair is long and greasy, pony tail is thin. Hands are calloused and dry. His honest occupation involves axle grease and tools.
You see them walking about, paying cash at the grocery store or driving their rickety truck with their only known companion leaning happily out the passenger side window ... a happy canine with its wet tongue flapping in the wind.
What is your immediate thought? An old hippy? Someone who may have chosen an easier, less structured lifestyle? An individual who no longer lives by society's expectations? Or maybe you gaze upon them with envy, having the courage the “stick it to the man,” living on their wits and God’s good humor.
What if I told you this man had once played by the rules. Had once been a USMC officer, a helicopter pilot in Vietnam who flew rescue missions, rescuing injured and dead soldiers ... often flying into enemy territory risking his own life in order to save others. Maybe this man later resigned his commission, receiving his Ph.D. in physics and later becoming a scientist, developing rockets that were launched to the moon.
His story was real, only heard in fragments and whispers from his own mouth. Why he walked away from his life of professional success and stability, one can only speculate. He did say once that he’d done some horrible things. Most believe it was his experiences in Vietnam that caused his withdrawal from society. He eventually became a recluse, moving deep into the hills of Steinbeck Country in California.
Whatever his reasons, to the residents of the mountain, he became an important figure, yet a coveted secret to strangers inquiring about a man by the name of John Taylor. To make extra money, he repaired cars for those he knew. Seemed an appropriate and alternate vocation for someone with a mechanical background.
Yet, punctuality and sense of urgency was not one of John’s priorities. It would often take weeks, and when he became sick, months before ones car was ready. People didn’t complain. Knowing John and his mechanical ability (plus he was inexpensive) residents would give the car to John and wait until passing him on the road for a verbal confirmation of completion. If they wanted it done in a timely fashion, they’d go to town.
Since people were no longer John’s true source of companionship, animals filled the void nicely. It made sense. They never argued or talked to him, were always happy to see him and loved him unconditionally. They didn’t care about his past, present or future, how clean he was, what kind of car he drove or how much money he had (or lack there of). If residents left town, John was the caretaker of the flocks. Your car wouldn’t be repaired in a timely fashion, but you could rely on John to feed your horses, dogs, chickens, goats and even barn cats.
Many people took care of John. He lived in a small trailer on the property of a mountain resident, rent free. All his tools, scrap metal and any other necessities were kept in his weighed down, rusted, old Chevy truck. He was a small man with a thin frame, always sitting straight with his legs crossed. Occasionally residents would leave baskets of scones on fences, knowing he would stop on his way down the mountain. He never passed on a free meal, especially when the menu included bacon or steak. He never drank alcohol, preferring black coffee or Coca-Cola.
A few weeks ago, the reclusive John Taylor was found on his mountain, on the side of the dirt road inside his rusted old truck. He ran off the road and was injured, angrily refusing help from all his mountain friends. The next morning, he managed to crawl from the truck, laying beside it. He was picked up by a neighbor, adamantly refusing to go to the hospital, only wanting to return to his trailer. The same neighbor checked on him the following morning. His condition had deteriorated and without argument, he was immediately taken to the VA hospital in Palo Alto, CA.
With in a week, John Taylor died. He’d been secretly deteriorating for years, finally succumbing to bladder cancer. It was then that many learned his name was not John Taylor. It was an alias he used to escape, to run away from and start over. And in his own way, he did. By refusing help for so long, maybe the only thing he wanted was to die on that beautiful mountain where he had become accepted and loved for who he was and not for what he had done. | <urn:uuid:683c5f11-be61-4245-98e9-33dda1c2feef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cheshire.patch.com/groups/opinion/p/a-former-marine-who-lived-life-on-his-own-terms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9899 | 1,021 | 1.625 | 2 |
By Barbara Demick and David Pierson, Los Angeles Times
3:16 PM PST, January 9, 2013
GUANGZHOU, China — Like wedding guests separated across the aisle, the protesters assembled on either side of a gated driveway at the headquarters of the embattled Southern Weekly newspaper. To the right, several dozen supporters of the newspaper staff waved banners calling for an end to censorship of the Chinese press.
"Freedom!" they chanted.
To the left, beneath fluttering red Chinese flags and hoisted portraits of Mao Tse-tung, a battalion of mostly older men shouted into a microphone, trying to drown out their ideological rivals.
"Long live Chairman Mao!" they chanted.
"We love China!"
Across the divide, the dueling protesters have been engaging in a spirited debate over the Communist Party's grip on the media. The spat erupted over the weekend in the southern city of Guangzhou when journalists threatened to strike over a front-page New Year's editorial that was rewritten by propaganda officials. Although a strike was averted by a last-minute deal Wednesday, the raucous public protests continued outside the newspaper headquarters.
The protests were inspired by rising expectations after the 18th Communist Party congress in November, when the new leadership was installed. Xi Jinping, the new party secretary who will become president in March, has hinted at plans to uphold constitutionally guaranteed rights and fight corruption within the party. What role the media will play in that fight is at the heart of the debate.
One lesson of the Guangzhou protests is that the overarching conflict about the role of the press in a communist society is not likely to be resolved any time soon.
"You can't fight corruption without freedom of the press," said a 46-year-old activist, Xiao Qingshan, who demonstrated from a wheelchair (necessitated by a work injury) that was festooned with pro-democracy slogans. "We're tired of being lied to. We want the same kind of freedoms as in the West."
Protesters poked fingers in each other's chests. They pushed. They shoved. Police who had planted themselves in the middle of the driveway broke up a few incipient fights but otherwise did not intervene.
A 73-year-old retired engineer wearing a Mao pin on his leather jacket hectored a university student who had dared to walk across the divide to debate.
"You young people don't understand what's going on. Who does this newspaper belong to? It belongs to the Communist Party," lectured the older man, who would not give his name. "These journalists are civil servants who are supposed to obey orders, not behave like traitors following the United States."
Indeed, despite a shift toward commercialization, newspaper ownership in China remains deeply lodged with the state. In order to operate, all of China's more than 2,000 newspapers require a Communist Party or government organ to sponsor a publishing license. Inside each newsroom is a Communist Party secretary who makes sure the stories are politically correct.
The restrictive environment makes the journalism at the muckraking Southern Weekly and its sister paper, the Southern Metropolis Daily, all the more remarkable.
The publications belong to the Nanfang Media Group, which is owned by the government of Guangdong, China's richest and most liberal province.
For several years, the Southern Weekly and the Southern Metropolis Daily were able to deliver stories that challenged authority and exposed unchecked power.
That was possible because the newspapers' stewards had long belonged to liberal factions of the party, shielding it from interference, said Cheng Yizhong, who helped launch the Southern Metropolis Daily in 1997.
In May, the government installed a new party secretary at Nanfang, the first not to have originated from within the company. The appointment, along with the arrival of Guangdong's new propaganda chief, Tuo Zhen, coincided with a decline in sensitive reporting, analysts say.
Journalists say 1,034 stories at the paper were censored in 2012. The propaganda department deleted an entire eight-page feature, involving work by seven journalists, profiling victims of the deadly July floods in Beijing.
"The anger at the Southern Weekly has been accumulating because of the barbaric way propaganda officials have been dealing with them for a long time," said Cheng, who now works for a magazine in Hong Kong. "It reached a tipping point, and they lashed out."
However, he added, "Realistically, I'm not very optimistic. The overall situation in China is that there's still very strong opposition to reform and they're trying everything they can to stop progress."
Under the deal reached Wednesday, which reportedly was negotiated at high levels of the Communist Party, journalists will not be punished for their rebellion and censorship is to return to the milder levels to which they had been accustomed.
"They're fighting for the status quo, which is hard to comprehend from a Western context," said Jeremy Goldkorn, the Beijing-based editor of Danwei.com, which follows the media in China.
On the sidewalk outside the Southern Weekly, there was an atmosphere of a debating club.
"So what kind of freedom are you looking for?" a middle-aged man demanded of a young woman wearing a blue miniskirt and fake fur stole.
"Freedom to eat clean food. To have safe milk, safe pork, vegetables," shot back the woman, Liang Xiaoran, referring to tainted-food scandals, some of which were exposed by the Southern Weekly.
Many people appeared to be genuinely conflicted.
"China is such a vast country with so many people and provinces. We are not like Taiwan or Hong Kong. If we don't control things with a centralized system, it could fall apart," ventured Chen Bin, a party member in his 30s who shyly approached some journalists on the sidelines of the protest. "But still we need our basic freedoms. Everyone has the right to speak out." He applauded the Southern Weekly's coverage of the underprivileged, citing exposes about forced labor in brick factories.
Most of the banner-wielding demonstrators were students and activists, with many passersby saying that they were there to lend support but were afraid to openly demonstrate.
A 45-year-old financial executive in a cashmere coat said she had not participated in a protest since 1989, when pro-democracy demonstrations at Beijing's Tiananmen Square spread around the country.
"I had to be here to give my support. I love Southern Weekly," said the woman, who gave only her English name, Tina. "My whole family reads it. My father reads every single issue and marks it up with a highlighter."
Demick reported from Guangzhou and Pierson from Beijing. Nicole Liu of The Times' Beijing bureau contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times | <urn:uuid:8734fa97-ecb4-4120-b1f3-04b249a58c6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-media-protest-20130110,3181219,7096126,print.story | 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 | 0.971608 | 1,401 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Self-guided Field Trips
The Huntington welcomes teachers who wish to bring their students on self-guided learning visits during regularly scheduled public hours.
Following are guidelines that will help to make your visit a fun learning experience for your students. Remember, prepared teachers and chaperones insure that your visit will be a success.Guidelines
How to Schedule
- Regular admission fees apply. Please note that we do not accept purchase orders.
- Parking reservations are required for buses or vans carrying 10 or more people. Please call 626-405-2127 for parking reservations.
- One adult for every ten children is required for visits to
the gardens, library, and art galleries. For visits to the Children's
Garden and Conservatory, one adult for every
four children is required. Groups without adequate adult supervision will not be
permitted to enter the grounds.
- Students must stay with their chaperoned groups during the entire
visit. Students may not be on their own without adult supervision.
- Please keep groups to ten or fewer. Have your groups visit different areas rather than stay in one large group.
- Please note there is no lecturing allowed inside the buildings. Prepare students outside before entering.
- Please help us to protect the collections: no touching, running, food, beverages, or gum.
- The Huntington has a small picnic area on grass where students may eat
lunch. There are no tables or seating. Lunches must be left on the
bus or stored in lockers available for $0.50 at the Entrance Pavilion. Upon request, a local Pasadena park map will be provided on the day of
Schools wishing to self-tour The Huntington are welcome during regularly scheduled public hours, but there is an admission charge. Please check visitor information for hours and admission. We do not accept purchase orders. Schools arriving by bus need a parking reservation. Please call 626-405-2127 to make a reservation for parking. Be prepared to leave your name and telephone number, the name of your school, the date you would like to come, the time of your arrival, the number of students, and the number of chaperones.Bus Route
There is only one legal bus route
to and from The Huntington when arriving from the north. Police may ticket you if you do not follow this route.How to Make the Most of Your Self-guided Visit
Introduce the function of museums to your students. Questions to ask:
- What are museums for?
- What do they do?
- If you could build a museum, what would your museum look like?
- What would you put in your museum? Why?
- What kinds of things do you collect?
- How do you add to, sort, and care for your collection?
Plan your visit. The museum should be an enjoyable extension of the classroom.
- Remember quality is more important than quantity. It's better enjoy what you visit than to see everything.
- Imagine yourself as one of your students: Would you enjoy the trip you are planning?
- Select a theme for your field trip. Relate the trip to subjects you are discussing in the classroom.
- Go over the rules: no touching, running, food, beverages, or chewing gum.
- Bring enough chaperones and prepare them ahead of time.
- Make sure they understand their responsibilities.
- Have written information for them including the day's goals, maps, etc.
- Know what time to return to the bus.
Back at school, reinforce the museum experience with your students.
Self-guided Activity Sheets
- Have them sketch their favorite thing.
- Write a short story or poem about their visit.
- Ask them what they liked and what they did not, and why.
- Have the students make their own museum at school. Have them design the
building, choose objects for display, make exhibits, and interpret
- Relate what they saw to their daily lives, including how objects around them are similar to things they saw at the museum.
These self-guided activity sheets are designed for specific grade levels and topics. | <urn:uuid:57f64f72-faa8-4627-bc2d-24af69fbc7ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=830&ekfxmen_noscript=1&ekfxmensel=e2c776ede_8_204 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9453 | 859 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Health-law plaintiff filed for bankruptcy
Court records reveal that Mary Brown, lead plaintiff in a court challenge to the new health-care law, and her husband filed for bankruptcy last fall with $4,500 in unpaid medical bills.
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — Mary Brown, 56, a Florida woman who owned a small auto-repair shop but had no health insurance, became the lead plaintiff challenging President Obama's health-care law because she was passionate about the issue.
Brown "doesn't have insurance. She doesn't want to pay for it. And she doesn't want the government to tell her she has to have it," said Karen Harned, a lawyer for the National Federation of Independent Business. Brown is a plaintiff in the federation's case, which the Supreme Court plans to hear this month.
But court records reveal that Brown and her husband filed for bankruptcy last fall with $4,500 in unpaid medical bills. Those bills could change Brown from a symbol of proud independence into an example of the problem the health-care law was intended to address.
The central issue before the Supreme Court is whether the government can require people to buy health insurance. Under the law, those who fail to buy insurance after 2014 could face a fine of up to $700.
The business federation, along with other critics, calls the insurance mandate a "threat to individual liberty" that violates the Constitution.
Obama administration lawyers argue the requirement is justified because everyone, sooner or later, needs health care. Those who fail to have insurance are at risk of running up bills they cannot pay, sticking society with the cost, they argue. Brown's situation, they say, is a perfect example of that kind of "uncompensated care that will ultimately be paid by others."
"This is so ironic," Jane Perkins, a health-law expert in North Carolina, said of Brown's situation. "It just shows that all Americans inevitably have a need for health care. Somebody has paid for her health-care costs. And she is now among the 62 percent whose personal bankruptcy was attributable in part to medical bills."
Lawyers who represent Brown dispute the significance of her bankruptcy. They say her unpaid medical bills were only a small part of her debts. They say that she and her husband owe $55,000 to others, including credit-card companies. And they say her financial troubles were caused by the failure of her auto-repair shop.
Brown, reached by telephone, said the medical bills were her husband's. "I always paid my bills, as well as my medical bills," she said angrily. "I never said medical insurance is not a necessity. It should be anyone's right to what kind of health insurance they have.
"I believe that anyone has unforeseen things that happen to them that are beyond their control," Brown said. "Who says I don't have insurance right now?"
Brown's problems are not likely to affect the outcome in the high court. In January, the business group told the court it had found two new plaintiffs who could take Brown's place.
But Brown played a crucial role in the case reaching the Supreme Court.
The lawyers found a second plaintiff in Kaj Ahlburg, a retired New York investment banker living in Port Angeles, Wash.
But when U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson declared the mandate unconstitutional in January 2011, he pointed to Brown's complaint. "She is a small-business owner" who "does not believe the cost of health insurance is a wise or acceptable use of her resources," he said.
In August, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta agreed. Florida and 25 other states, including Washington, were suing, but they needed an individual to contest the mandate.
"Mary Brown has standing to challenge the individual mandate," the judges said, and "as long as at least one plaintiff has standing to raise" the claim, the court can rule.
The Obama administration appealed, and the Supreme Court said in November it would decide the constitutional challenge.
By then, Brown's small auto-repair shop near Panama City, Fla., had closed, and she and her husband had filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. Brown said in the petition that her only income was $275 a month in unemployment benefits.
Her bankruptcy came to light in December, when a Wall Street Journal reporter interviewed her.
In a video interview, Brown said freedom from government was the issue. "I'm not fighting just for me," she said. "It's my choice to have health care, not theirs."
Shortly afterward, lawyers for the National Federation of Independent Business informed the court of Brown's troubles, and sent along a copy of her bankruptcy filing.
The couple owed $2,140 to Bay Medical Center in Panama City, $610 to Bay Medical Physicians, $835 to an eye doctor in Alabama and $900 to a specialist in Mississippi.
"This is a very common problem. We cover $30 million in charity and uncompensated care every year," said Christa Hild, a spokeswoman for the hospital center. "If it's a bad debt, we have to absorb it." | <urn:uuid:fd21bb43-2675-44ea-919b-41dfa762c416> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seattletimes.com/html/health/2017719854_healthmandate11.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982047 | 1,058 | 1.5 | 2 |
Author Jeff Chang: Hip-hop Predicted the L.A. Riots
You write that hip-hop targeted president George H. W. Bush, who was serving at the time.
There was a huge recession beginning in 1991 that preceded the riots. And Death Certificate was dropped right into the middle of this. [Bush] had gone to war in the Persian Gulf in part to draw attention away from the huge decline in the economy and the rising unemployment rate. And of course, this was felt most intensely in the ghettos, in the barrios, and the poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles of predominately young people of color. Bush was a huge target on Death Certificate. He was a huge target on a lot of these records. There was a song out that a rapper named Paris had written called "Bush Killa."
Do you believe NWA's phrase "fuck the police" seeped into the culture?
Yeah, it was deep. The weekend after the riots, there was a huge rally in Koreatown. Like hundreds of thousands of Korean Americans rallied. And their essential message was not "Fuck the police," but was pretty much like that. | <urn:uuid:a0cf0b75-44a2-4f62-9249-ab3a2cdf6d91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2012/04/jeff_chang_la_riots_20th_anniversary.php?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986859 | 239 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Posted by ESC on June 26, 2003
In Reply to: Tipping the velvet posted by Margaret on June 26, 2003
: When did this euphemism start? and exctly who did it refer to?
VELVET - The tongue in expressions such as "tip the velvet." Cant., late 1600s, British English. (From "Slang and Euphemism: A Dictionary of Oaths, Curses, Insults, Ethnic Slurs, Sexual Slang and Metaphor, Drug Talk, College Lingo and Related Matters" by Richard A. Spears (New American Library, Penguin Putnam, New York, Third Edition, 2001) | <urn:uuid:f094abd2-75e1-48dd-9269-08f2a4aa91b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/21/messages/1071.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940708 | 135 | 1.8125 | 2 |
It’s time to settle this debate once and for all (because polls can do that). Yes, we are talking about headphone jack placement on smartphones. The DL crew wishes that all phone manufacturers going forward would do the right thing (biased much?) and put headphone jacks on the bottoms of phones, because it simply makes sense.
If the jack is on the bottom, you can plug in your headphones and the headphone cable stays out of your way as it drapes below the phone. Also, when you go to place the phone in your pocket in the natural way, which is top down, then the headphone jack points upwards and out of your pocket. If the headphone jack is up top, the cord then becomes a nagging issue and is either draping off to the side, behind, or often times in front of your phone. Then, as you go to place it in your pocket, you have to consciously make an effort to adjust (possibly break) your wrist to slide the phone in bottom side down so that the cord sticks out of your pocket. (That makes my entire forearm hurt just thinking about the maneuver.)
So tell us, which do you prefer and why. Also, to further our argument, we dove deep into the logistics, creating evidence in the most proper of ways – yes, GIFs.
On the bottom:
On the top: | <urn:uuid:6612bf35-71a3-49b2-9de7-87f1768927c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/02/wednesday-poll-headphone-jack-on-the-bottom-or-top/comment-page-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951033 | 282 | 1.507813 | 2 |
There are a lot of moving parts to the gold story so let's start with the biggest takeaway: Gold prices are facing only a temporary setback.
Longer-term, as the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks begin to wind down quantitative easing and, more importantly, begin to ease interest rates back up to more "normal" levels, inflation should begin to kick in and drive gold up to new highs, making the yellow metal a great long-term investment.
First, though, let's tease apart the various factors that currently are driving the price of gold lower.
QE and Gold Prices
The Federal Open Market Committee is beginning to consider the timing of the end of quantitative easing.
The most recent FOMC meeting explored the idea of ending quantitative easing but keeping the Fed funds rate between zero and 0.25% until unemployment falls below 6.5% and as long as inflation remains below 2.5%.
But the markets are expecting long-term rates to rise when the Fed stops buying Treasury bonds through its asset-purchasing (quantitative easing) program.
The market is assuming that the Fed's purchases are keeping long-term interest rates artificially low.
Once those purchases stop, it is reasoned that long-term rates will rise to where they would be if the Fed had done nothing. As a result, the yield curve has steepened with 10-year rates now over 2.0% and 30-year bonds yielding 3.19%.
Although the yield curve has steepened, it is not really discounting any inflationary expectations. That is especially true, given the looming budget sequester next week.
Yields on 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are still negative while 30-year TIPS offer a whopping 0.6% annual, inflation-adjusted yield.
Perhaps gold prices are telling us that since the market is not anticipating inflation for the next 30 years, there is no real point in owning gold as an inflation hedge.
Check Out this Ugly Gold Prices Chart
Although the gold chart is more of a symptom than a cause, gold has broken below just about all of its major supports on the daily chart.
You can also look at the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD). GLD's price has fallen below its 500-day simple moving average for the first time since Oct. 22, 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. GLD traded below the 500-day simple moving average until Dec. 9, 2008, and never touched that moving average again until Feb. 11, 2013.
Much has been made of the fact that, in the next day or two, GLD's 50-day simple moving average and the 200-day simple moving average will form a death cross (when the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average and both are moving lower) but this is simply a confirmation that GLD is in a down trend. That has been evident since the 50-day simple moving average peaked back on Nov. 23, 2012.
What's more important is that there's support for GLD around the 150 level, which held twice during 2012. If that fails, then the next support level would be at the 200-week simple moving average, currently 137.46 and rising.
The chart is ugly to be sure, but it isn't game-over for GLD.
Unusual Moves in the Gold Futures Market
Perhaps the most likely cause of the recent weakness in gold prices comes from the unusual relationship between the spot gold price and gold futures.
When traders buy gold futures, unless they want to take delivery of physical gold, they must sell expiring futures contracts and roll their positions out to a later month.
Typically, as a near contract approaches expiry, it will trade at a discount to the spot price as selling reaches a climax. This is happening right now to the February contract and there is nothing unusual about that.
What is unusual is that the April contract, where there is no pressure from expiration, went into backwardation Friday. This means that you can make a profit by selling spot gold today and buying a contract to receive delivery of gold in April.
But, according to Keith Weiner, writing for Monetary Metals LLC, what is really strange about this is that the open interest in the April gold contract is rising, which should be pushing the price of the April contract higher.
Weiner suggests that there is a large long silver/short gold arbitrage position out there. If that is true, the arb is getting killed as the gold/silver ratio has risen by 4.3% since the end of January.
In other words, as fast as the gold price has fallen, silver has fallen even faster.
When to Buy Gold
We remain positive on the long-term outlook for gold prices.
As mentioned above, higher long-term bond yields and the end of QE will not necessarily result in inflation.
Even though it sounds counterintuitive, inflation is being held in check by zero interest rates. Once the Fed starts to raise interest rates back toward "normal" levels, that's when we will begin to see the inflationary impact of all the QE that has been dumped into the market.
In the absence of inflation, we turn to the chart. There is strong support for GLD around $150. That seems to be a good entry point for a long-term rally in gold prices.
Gold prices were trading at $1,567.50 an ounce in New York Wednesday afternoon.
Check out our 2013 Guide to Investing in Gold.
Want to know more about gold prices and how to profit from them in 2013? Bill Patalon frequently updates his readers on how to play to gold in his Private Briefing investment service. Find out how to get in the loop here.
Related Articles and News:
Why Bill Gross Says You Should Be Investing in Gold
Why Gold is Falling
Gold Goes Into a Death Cross
The Curious Case of Falling Gold and Silver Prices
Soros Still Sharp in Currencies and Gold | <urn:uuid:2bc8ae27-7e2b-4f81-8b53-12ff05b174da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moneymorning.com/2013/02/20/gold-prices-the-yellow-metals-still-a-great-long-term-investment/ | 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 | 0.958141 | 1,257 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Earlier this month our family of four spent two weeks in France, in the extended suburbs of Paris, to visit my family. You’d think the first thing I’d want to blog about is our trip itself, and what it was like to travel with two little boys 6000 miles and a 9-hour time difference away from home. Of course, there’s plenty to tell but I’ll have to save it for future posts.
That’s because the most surprising part of our trip was the revelation and confirmation about a theory I’ve entertained previously on this very blog – the fact that we all see a cow every day. For more on this, read “Every day I see a cow” and “Did you know they have cows at SeaWorld?“ Well, it seems that the theory doesn’t just apply to the USA, but to other countries as well, or at least France in our case.
A Royal Cow
You probably think I’m making this up, right? Well, I’ll let you judge for yourself. I didn’t get to walk about with a camera in my hand every day, so I missed the chance to digitally capture quite a few cow sightings, but I managed to seize the most flagrant instance during our trip. Here’s the photo of a cool looking cow sculpture, amidst some green pastures.
So, what’s the big deal, you ask? Well, the green pastures actually are the well maintained French gardens of this chateau, named Vaux-le-Vicomte.
Who really expects to visit a French chateau and see a cow? Well, besides me, I’mwilling to bet that not too many people would!
The Typical Dairy Cow
The cow count didn’t stop there. Even though we frequented more of the countryside than the urban settings, we ended up seeing mostly representations of the bovine type rather than real cows. The most common places were at the grocery store, especially in the dairy aisle. The biggest offender there was “les 2 vaches” yogurt. Check out the really cute couple of cows portrayed on the top of this organic yogurt brand. If that doesn’t make you want to switch to organic dairy, I’m not sure what will!
The Fake Farm Cow
A more surprising cow sighting occurred the day we were leaving a Chinese restaurant. The business next door featured a small yard full of chickens and ducks, alongside statues of a mother cow and her calf (sorry, still no camera on that day). I guess the presence of fake bovines is supposed to make the hens feel like they really live in a farm, which will increase their egg production? I have no farming background or training, so that’s just a guess…
The Mall Cow
Finally, a shocking cow encounter occurred at the mall. Yes, the mall! A clothing store was displaying a cow statue at its entrance. Well, it did make me look, but I’m not sure I would buy anything in there. Are the clothes supposed to make me look like a cow? I’m pretty sure I missed the point there…
I swear that every day of our European trip, we did see a cow or a representation of a cow, so I believe this theory has proven to be tru,e even outside of the Americas continent. Are you keeping track of your daily cows? By the way, if you don’t believe in the theory, I just helped make a believer out of you with the few cows pictured in this post…
DECEMBER 31, 2010 UPDATE – The brand new “Every day I see a cow” blog is up and running, just in time to document daily cow sightings in 2011! Take a look and let me know what you think. “Every day I see a cow” is also on Facebook, so feel free to visit the page, like it, and share your own cow sightings with everyone. The more, the merrier!
If you enjoyed reading this post and would like to receive future postings, please enter your email address and click the Sign Up button at the top right of this page. Thank you for reading! | <urn:uuid:f1f4d3f6-ce8c-4d23-8574-321b516a7abd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://perfectingmotherhood.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/every-day-i-see-a-cow-in-france/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966384 | 890 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Web design Foundations for Everyone
I’m Chris Mills, and I work for web browser company and general geek haven, Opera Software! I have been taking part in little projects at Madlab for over a year now, and have always found them to be welcoming, innovative, creative and very much in agreement with my philosophy of open source information sharing to help everyone improve their skills and get ahead!
I therefore decided to help them out by running a course as part of their Omniversity programme. The course is about web design/development, but before you go running for your nerd shields, please just consider what I have to say.
I believe that the Web is the most important communication and expression mechanism the world has ever known. It allows anyone to communicate with others, regardless of locale, ability or any other personal considerations. That is, if it is populated by web sites that are built properly, according to best practices and guidelines. More on that later. | <urn:uuid:89b5c73f-b88d-45b1-81f6-5cfc3f804151> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://madlab.org.uk/content/tag/opera/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964718 | 195 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Cazadores have distinctive amber-orange wings, a blue-black carapace and blood-red eyes. They have a speedy and rather erratic flight pattern, making them difficult to hit. Their venomous attack can lead to a quick death if they succeed in poisoning their target. The spikes on their back inflate and deflate when idle and attacking.
While a sting from a young cazador isn't highly damaging, the sting of an adult deals much more damage. They are extremely fast and hard to escape unless their wings have been crippled. They attack in large swarms while also covering a large area. Crippling a wing via V.A.T.S. greatly slows them down and also temporarily disables their ability to fly. However, they will continue to sputter towards the player at a surprisingly fast rate.
Cazadores are large with distinctive orange wings, a blue-black carapace, blood-red eyes, a spiky upper abdomen, a fast flight speed and a rather erratic flight pattern. Cazadores are common in mountainous regions in the Mojave Desert, and move around in groups of 2-5.
Young cazadores are often found near other cazadores in mountainous regions (presumably members of the same colony, hive, or swarm). Young cazadores are identical in appearance to regular cazadores but are about 3/4 to 1/2 the size. Though their poison is weaker than that of adults, their small size makes them more agile and difficult to hit than mature cazadores.
They can also prove to be quite a hassle due to their tendency to swarm. Entire groups will swarm their target in an attempt to overwhelm it via numerical strength.
The only one of its kind, the legendary cazador has twice as many hit points and significantly more attack power than a normal adult cazador. The legendary cazador is one of the five legendary creatures found in the Mojave Wasteland. It is encountered at the end of the cazador-infested Silver Peak Mine. Sometimes it will show up after the player clears out all the other cazadores, or after reaching the second floor of the cave. It spawns from an overhead tunnel on the second floor, a nasty surprise for players who don't pay attention to what's above them.
Giant cazadores are encountered all over Zion Canyon as part of the Honest Heartsadd-on. They are one of the most vicious creatures in the add-on, and can be found in various locations outside of Eastern Virgin and the Sorrows camp. They are usually in groups of three, but it is not uncommon to see groups of other sizes. And as their name implies, they are much larger than a normal cazador.
This unique cazador is found in the Z-14 Pepsinae DNA splicing lab guarding a variety of loot, including the Auto-Doc Upgrade: Implant M-5 behind the double doors at the end of the corridor. Judging by its name, it was probably some sort of experiment. It is a stronger and more powerful version of a regular cazador and has even more health than the legendary cazador, but its main advantage is its incredible speed.
Cazadores usually stay in packs of three to five, which makes them difficult to kill for low level players due to their high agility and HP. It is wise to avoid melee combat with them due to their poisonous attacks.
Companions are vulnerable to their attacks as they cannot use antivenom at all and have to be administered stimpaks via the companion wheel. Companions will however use datura antivenom, if they have any in their inventory.
Idle cazadores will dart back and forth erratically, making them easy to identify on your compass once detected. This makes it difficult to hit them with ranged weapons, like sniper rifles.
Patch 18.104.22.1685 changed the cazadores poison effect on normal mode. The duration is now shorter, but the damage is higher.
In Old World Blues, Doctor Borous reveals that he created cazadores, but denies that they have escaped from Big MT, or have the ability to breed. While Borous states that he created them in 2003, he is not a reliable source, as Doctor Mobius altered his chronometer, amongst other things.
pcxbox360ps3 It seems to be possible for Cazadores to fall through the map and fly about under it. This will drive companions crazy, since they will target them but be unable to hit them. Affected Cazadores cannot sting non-player characters or the Courier, but will continue to fly back and forth attempting to attack. If the player is above an affected Cazador its name and health bar will be visible, but the Cazador itself will be invisible. This is a clear indicator that the Cazador is bugged in this manner. Attacking with the Ranger Takedown maneuver may fix this bug. [verified]
pcxbox360ps3 Poison does not appear to wear off companions in the 22.214.171.124x patch after combat. Dismissing the companion and re-hiring them at their home location or the Lucky 38 seems to bypass this. It will wear off after 30 seconds, administering stimpaks to companions will cause the whole damage-over-time to be applied at once which could bring them to negative hp. [verified]
pc On the PC version, this can be fixed by using console commands. Select a companion and type: dispel 0012a22e.
xbox360 Sometimes (or all the time, if your system is affected), if cazadores are in the area, even if you can't see them, you will hear the poison hissing sound loud and close as if you had been poisoned by them. Essentially, you will hear the sound when a cazador anywhere in your active cell poisons something - the attack might not be on the player character or a companion, since even a distant cazador battle will trigger the sound. [verified]
ps3 If you use the flamer against them, they sometimes freeze in the air while on fire. [verified]
ps3xbox360 Rare occurrences of cazadores being able to poison you when they are in no way close enough to do so, seems to only happen in V.A.T.S. [verified]
pcxbox360 Sometimes, the legendary cazador just wanders around the cave without attacking the player. [verified]
xbox360 In Silver Peak Mine, cazadores may not show up as red blips on your heads-up display even though they can be targeted using V.A.T.S. [verified] | <urn:uuid:02c3e6d6-218f-4200-a381-494935ed8adf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Cazador | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9513 | 1,414 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Monday, January 25, 2010
As the top chart shows, 30-year fixed rate jumbo mortgage rates are going for a post-crisis low, a rate not seen since 2005. With a few scattered exceptions, the rate you get today is about as low as it has ever been in history. Conforming rates are still very close to all-time lows.
As the second chart shows, the fundamentals driving these rates (i.e., 10-year Treasury yields and the spread between MBS and Treasury yields that investors demand in order to compensate them for the prepayment risk of mortgage-backed securities) suggest that we are unlikely to see rates go lower than they are now. Treasury yields are quite low from an historical perspective, and spreads are about as tight as they have ever been.
One other interesting fact that shows up in the first chart is that the difference between jumbo and conforming mortgage rates is still quite large. That means that even if conforming rates move higher, it will likely take awhile before jumbo rates move higher; the spread between them could compress by another 25-50 bps. However, I should also point out that the declining spread between jumbo and conforming loan rates is a very good sign that private capital is returning to the mortgage market. The Fed is only buying conforming mortgages, not jumbos, so jumbos have been outperforming conforming MBS, which in turn suggests that private capital has been actively seeking out the higher yields on jumbos. That is also an indication that when the Fed stops buying MBS at the end of March, there is no reason to expect mortgage rates to move significantly higher.
I continue to believe that prospective homebuyers would be well-served to choose a 30-year fixed rate mortgage instead of an adjustable rate. Fixed rates are very low from an historical perspective, while the short-term rates that drive ARMs are very likely to rise significantly in coming years. With the fixed rate you get the certainty of locking in an historically low rate, but with adjustable rates you are exposed to considerable uncertainty down the road, because no one knows today how high short-term rates will be in the future.
Posted by Scott Grannis at 10:09 AM | <urn:uuid:eb4a9f37-7568-4c61-b156-df5eba484d55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scottgrannis.blogspot.com/2010/01/mortgage-rate-update_25.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976847 | 460 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Illinois Governor To "Reflect" Before Death Penalty Decision
Professor and Director of the Mills Legal Clinic, Lawrence C. Marshall is quoted on limiting the application of the death penalty. Reuters filed the following story:
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said on Wednesday he would "reflect" on the death penalty ban passed by the state legislature before deciding whether to sign it.
"Anyone in Illinois who has an opinion, I'm happy to listen and reflect and I'll follow my conscience," Quinn told reporters. If he agrees to the ban, Illinois will be the first state since 2009 to abolish executions.
Lawrence Marshall, a Stanford Law School professor who had represented several freed Illinois Death Row inmates, said the problem with trying to limit the death penalty to "heinous" crimes is that the emotion surrounding those crimes can lead to errors."It's the very kind of passion that triggers the desire for the death penalty in a particular case that does have the potential to be blinding," said Marshall, who co-founded the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University. Among Marshall's clients was Rolando Cruz, who was on Death Row for years for the 1983 murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico, even though another man, Brian Dugan, admitted to the crime. After Cruz was freed, Dugan was convicted and is now on Death Row. | <urn:uuid:ea8b2875-c291-4683-a06a-e9c0d6ada932> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.stanford.edu/news/illinois-governor-to-reflect-before-death-penalty-decision | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967796 | 278 | 1.75 | 2 |
If you’ve ever had to install a kiosk in a public place, you probably know how frustrating it can be. The interface has to be locked down as securely as possible, but the kiosk must still run the intended application and be as stable as possible. Beginning with the installation of the kiosks in our Egypt Reborn exhibition, I had become frustrated with the lack of options on the market — I just couldn’t find a kiosk software package that could do what we needed and work with a browser that we liked.
In 2004, we contracted Pete Collins over at Mozdev Group, Inc. to develop a kiosk package that would meet our needs. At the time, Firefox was still in beta, so we decided to use Mozilla as the base browser. I had come up with a list of requirements to solve issues we had already faced and included other features we knew we wanted. The idea was to develop it with a whole host of features and keep it flexible, so we could add more features as we needed them. Since community is a part of the Museum’s mission, it was important to us that we develop the product under the MPL, so it could be distributed for free and modified by anyone who wanted to use it.
With the latest round of kiosks going into the new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center of Feminist Art, we started to realize that Mozilla was showing its age. Firefox, now at version 2, was mature enough, so we started the process of porting the existing version so it could run on the latest browser. Pete and his team at Mozdev Group were contracted to do the port and now we have a bright and shiny new kiosk product that anyone can use.
Both the Mozilla version and the newer Firefox version can be downloaded at the Brooklyn Museum client page on Mozdev Group’s site.
Note: The port was a bit more difficult than we thought due to some structural changes in the Firefox security model. See the admin installation instructions to get the kiosk to install as admin, then run as a restricted user. | <urn:uuid:0a4e0174-5ea3-415b-94f2-85c6ee99264d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/2007/06/29/open-kiosk-firefox-2-version-now-available/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977012 | 425 | 1.71875 | 2 |
If you’ve been on YouTube, and had one of those dreaded emails warning you to take your video down, or face the music. Despite the panic reaction, it did grate a little that every little piece of music, even if it played from a TV from all the way across your living room, could be the little pin that punctured your 10 minutes of internet notoriety.
THE INS AND OUTS OF YouTube’s ContentID SYSTEM
For starters ContentID is the reason why YouTube can detect and remove any video which doesn’t meet its standards, promptly after you upload it. It’s also the reason why so many entrepreneurs are coming up with so many channels. The more popular the video, the more you are sampled in other user videos. When they get popular, you can decide to share, the ad revenue generated by their video or take it down.
The software works by breaking down the video into its audio-visual components, and creating a fingerprint of its video and audio spectrum, finding the nearest, not the closest matches (which is why you won’t get away by simply transcoding your video into a new format).
The software however isn’t 100% original. The video fingerprinting technique is Google’s own, but after a spate of threatening lawsuits from the big guns of the evil, money hungry and righteous music companies, YouTube officials were hastily forced to license Audible Magic’s technology for audio fingerprinting.
Turns out, thanks to Scott Smitelli the programming, behind the whole corporate greed and copyright infringement scenario, can actually be duped. The tech behind audio fingerprinting is surprisingly tenacious in parts, and simply retarded in others. For instance it can detect almost any variation in the volume, and isn’t fooled by plain white noise anywhere in the track (unless it covers an overwhelming 50% of the track), at the same time, it detects only the first 30 seconds of a track, for its sampling needs. Huh?
The best part however, lies in the genius of pitch variation. Scott was pretty thorough in his tests, and found a lucky gem which shows once the track’s pitch is increased to 5% and beyond, the software fails to detect it. Now a 5% increase in pitch may sound excessive, but surprisingly, it’s undetectable (unless you know the song back to front, subliminal messages included). Here’s proof (UPDATE: video no longer available).
Scott has had more than 35 ContentID warnings for his tests (the entire range of 82+ test videos can be found on his channel “retnirpregnif”, that’s reverse for fingerprinter), but his account still seems to be up, and running. Go figure. (UPDATE: no longer working)
Technology exists to be bested. It’s the only way it can evolve. But some of the stuff WMG and other media moguls tend to do with their blanket bans, do deserve rotten tomatoes. Even now, YouTube doesn’t give an option when it detects even a snip of a WMG copyrighted audio clip in your vid, simply choosing to mute it and run that awful red banner underneath, but hopefully that will change.
Copyright infringement is a serious issue, considering the harm it brings to the artist, still most of them are more than happy, to share the revenue generated by a video specifically honoring and highlighting their creations. The methods outlined by Scott are just inconsistencies in programming software, not tips and tricks to upload copyrighted data on YouTube. It’s up to you what you decide what you put up on YouTube.
That still means no lolicon AMV’s. | <urn:uuid:6fb63a2e-9b0f-40b0-91d1-6deb32337519> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2010/01/youtube-contentid-system/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9475 | 771 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Why the IRS gets half of health reform’s implementation dollars
Among its many provisions, the Affordable Care Act included a $1 billion fund to cover various implementation costs. The law didn’t commit that fund to any particular activity, but rather allowed the administration to use it wherever needed to lay the health care overhaul’s foundation.
Monday morning, The Hill’s Sam Baker reported that the White House has found a home for half that fund — $500 million — at the Internal Revenue Service.
“HHS plans to drain the entire fund by September, before the presidential election and more than a year before most of the health law takes effect,” Baker reports. “HHS has transferred almost $200 million to the IRS over the past two years and plans to transfer more than $300 million this year.”
Sending a big chunk of money to one of America’s least liked federal agencies is unlikely to score many political points. That might be especially true with the health reform law, where the IRS is responsible for administering half the much-maligned mandated purchase of insurance.
But, policy wise, it probably makes a lot of sense. Even though it's a health insurance expansion, Treasury is probably on equal footing with Health and Human Services in making the Affordable Care Act work. It will be the agency that administers one of the most important parts of the health care overhaul: The requirement to purchase health insurance.
It will not, as some have suggested, hire an army of gun-toting IRS agents, who will show up at your door and demand proof of insurance. The agency’s role will be much less dramatic. The agency has already started administering tax credits for small businesses, as an incentive to provide health insurance to their workers.
It’s role will expand significantly when the coverage expansion starts in 2014. It will, for example, add new lines to annual tax filing forms where individuals will write down their source of health insurance coverage. Those who do not include coverage will face a tax penalty, as part of the individual mandate.
The IRS will also administer subsidies to low and middle-income Americans, to assist with the purchase of health insurance. Since those subsidies are tethered to income — the lowest-income Americans get the most assistance purchasing coverage — the IRS will play a crucial role figuring out who gets what.
Treasury isn’t usually the most public agency when it comes to the health reform law. Much of the rollout has happened at Health and Human Services, which has helped states lay the groundwork for setting up health insurance exchanges and regulating their insurance markets. But as the health reform law’s bigger provision kicks in, the department will play a key role in achieving one of the law’s biggest goals: Expanding access to affordable health coverage. | <urn:uuid:006e4b6a-b1f3-4843-9178-a869dd66fdf9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/why-the-irs-gets-half-of-health-reforms-implementation-dollars/2012/04/09/gIQArM2r5S_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956993 | 581 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The powerful District 1199C — an umbrella union that represents healthcare workers and employees who are affiliated with AFSCME and the AFL-CIO — will offer a set of unique, free to low-cost programs geared towards helping eligible Philadelphians test for an obtain a General Equivalent Diploma or sharpen their workforce readiness.
Programming will be provided via District 1199C’s Training and Upgrading Fund.
District 1199C will hold “GED to College Info Sessions” at 10 a.m. every Tuesday through Friday at the Breslin Learning Center, 100 S. Broad Street, 10th floor.
“This is our fourth year of working with young people aged 17 to 21 who want to get their GED and more importantly, understand the need to achieve some sort of post-secondary education, be it trade school or apprenticeships,” said District 1199C Youth Service Coordinator and Case Manager Nia Eubanks-Dixon. “What makes the program beautiful is we take a holistic view of the student. We do the math, English and social studies courses, but there are other skills we look at and work on, such as the students’ communication styles, their relationships and developing their own identity.
“So when they leave District 1199C, they are empowered, educated and ready to engage society,” she added.
The GED-to-college program is free of charge, and will run through the end of September. District 1199C will provide transportation to and from the GED-to-college program.
Philadelphia residents who meet Work Investment Act eligibility requirements can take part in the wide array of other offerings provided by the Training and Upgrade Fund, including technology classes and work readiness programs; it also provides a series of low-cost options for those seeking to take the GED test only.
For those wishing to participate in the GED class, they can pre-apply online at www.GED123.org, and must either call or register online before admission to the program (test-takers must also produce two pieces of identification).
Those taking the GED can register to take the whole battery of tests or schedule the tests to be spread out. There are five disciplines involved in the GED program: writing, mathematics, reading, social studies and science. The cost is $15 per test for the individual disciplines, and $75 to take the entire test.
Another package District 1199C is pushing is its Career and College Readiness program, which operates part-time day, evening and weekend programs designed to provide adult students with the opportunity to learn the basic academic skills necessary to obtain a high school credential and to be prepared for the workforce, according to District 1199C’s policy. This program also allows adults to take high school refresher courses, or prepare for admission to nursing, allied health and college-level programs.
“We also have college readiness programs, where students learn why college is so important and helping them become knowledgeable of the colleges or universities they select. They will also learn how to research a career before they go to a post-secondary education institution,” Eubanks-Dixon said. “And in our career exposure class, young people begin to look at the differences between a job and a career, and how to apply their passions to a specific industry.
“I want to capture students that get into the program and then go out and inform the community [of their success],” Eubanks-Dixon continued. “That’s really what we’ve focused on, that students not only get from the program, but after they get, they go back to the community and give.” | <urn:uuid:058ae786-f93c-472a-bb48-e2440aef553f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phillytrib.com/newsarticles/item/5794-union-program-helps-youth-obtain-geds.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952217 | 776 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island which also has offices of the administrative staff to support official duties of the Lieutenant Governor. Built in 1833-34 by Isaac Smith, Henry Smith and Nathan Wright has basically stayed the same for the most part. It's first occupant was Lieutenant Governor of the day, Sir Aretas W. Young. Since it is a private residence, there are only tours in July and August and at other occasional times of the year. It is a nice building to look at but unless it is the summer, that is about all you can do.
Beaconsfield is a house dating back from the Victorian Era. It was built in 1877 for a rich shipbuilder/merchant/businessman named James Peake Jr., and since he loved to show off his wealth, the house was very fancy (and still is). It was one of the fanciest houses in town and was used to entertain famous guests, including royalty. Later, the Peakes went bankrupt, and the house went to someone else, and then became a residence for young women who worked in Charlottetown or were attending Prince of Wales College.
In the early 1970s, the Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation bought the property and opened it in 1973 as Beaconsfield. Now it is
a tourist site open in the summer. There are tour guides in the house who will take you around to the different rooms and tell you about the history of the house.
This church, known for its fine Italian carvings and twin Gothic spires, is one of the largest Churches in Canada.
Rodd Charlottetown Charlottetown
4 Reviews and 107 Opinions I used to work here as a bellhop. I enjoyed working here as the building is like no other pei hotel....
The Great George Charlottetown
1 Review and 175 Opinions We stayed at The Great George for two nights in June of 2012. Overall a very good experience with...
Delta Prince Edward Hotel Charlottetown
2 Reviews and 155 Opinions This place is posh and fancy. I've never stayed here (because DUH, I live in this town), but I've... | <urn:uuid:c321eaf8-0b27-4773-ad55-0d59f453c97d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/Canada/Prince_Edward_Island/Charlottetown-910363/Things_To_Do-Charlottetown-Historic_housesbuildings-BR-1.html | 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 | 0.98087 | 454 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Angels in the Spiritual Meadow
Originally posted Sun, 27 Nov 1994, to the Vatican2 maillist
by Dirk Van Damme/Uni Fribourg
The following is one of the most beautiful angel stories I know. It has been written by Ioannes
Moschos (John the Calf) in a work called "Leimon" (The meadow). What is more appropriate for a "calf"
to be happy in than a "meadow" ? The latin translation calls it "Pratum spirituale" (the spiritual meadow).
Johannes wrote this series of monk stories, in the tradition of the Paterika, Palladios, and others at the
beginning of the 7th century, probably in Rome. The author was a good friend of Sophronios, patriarch of
Jerusalem, and,like him. a sworn enemy of the so called "monophysites". The following is chapter 199 of
the Leimon. The text is in Patrologia Graeca 87,3, column 3088. The (attempt of) translation is mine.
Hopefully you enjoy this story as much as I did when I read it the first time. It is a wonderful piece of
"popular theology", which is "wise" in a narrative way.
"Someone among the fathers told that one of the elderly ones (geronton: possibly "monks"), who was pure
and saint, when he "did the proskomide" (i.e. celebrated Mass) saw angels staying at his right and at his
left. He had taken over the "proskomide" from the heretics, and since he was ignorant about divine
doctrines, he said the words of the offering in simplicity and innocence (akakia), not knowing that he was
By providence, some brother, an expert in divine doctrines visited him. It came to pass that the old man
made the offering in his presence.
The brother said to him (he was a deacon): The words you said for the proscomide, Father, are not of the
orthodox faith, but of the bad doctrine (kakodoxou).
The old one, since he saw angels during the offering, did not pay attention to what was said, but disdained
it. The deacon insisted saying "You are in error, good old one, the Church does not accept this".
The old man, seeing that he was accused and blamed in that way by the deacon, saw the angels as usual
and asked them: "Since that deacon talks to me in such a way, what is it that he says ?"
The angels said: "Listen to him: he says the truth".
The old one said to them: "And why did not you tell me that ?"
They said to him: "Because God disposed thus, that humans should be corrected by humans".
And since then he corrected himself and thanked God and the brother."
This text is part of the Internet Medieval
Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to
medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is
granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you
do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use.
Paul Halsall Mar 1996 | <urn:uuid:12fd8deb-61fa-4da4-8537-dbb64571d04f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/moschos1.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958867 | 729 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Rates cut 'definitely on the cards'
With the cost price index (and inflation in general) likely to continue to stay below the 6% upper limit (it is already at 5.7%) and with South Africa's economy now feeling the effects of significant reductions in exports to Europe, the South African Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee will 'almost inevitably' find itself able to reduce its interest rates so as to stimulate economic growth, says Bill Rawson of the Rawson Property Group.
"A cautious move by the MPC would be to cut the rate by 0, 25% in the very near future", says Rawson, "but as I read the signs now Gill Marcus is likely to be a lot bolder. Certainly in the housing development and marketing sectors we are hoping for an initial 0, 5% cut followed by a further 0, 5% cut before the end of year.
"In residential property such a move is now sorely needed," says Rawson, "especially as one now sometimes gets the impression that the government is not aware of how severely the National Credit Act has hit homebuyers, particularly those at the lower end of the scale struggling to get bonds. The state's repeated statements about creating a home-owning nation are beginning to ring a little hollow."
Just how serious the situation is, says Rawson, has been shown by the latest Korbitec figures on bonds: the number awarded in May 2006 was just over 60,000. In recent months that figure dropped to an average of around 17,000, with an all-time low of 9,000 in May. There are, he adds, as yet no signs of a pick-up on the horizon.
"The truth is that if even one bank was able to operate without such strict observance of the National Credit Act regulations it could double its bond awards overnight and in my view this could be done without seriously affecting its risk profile."
Instead of going for long term loans, said Rawson, the banks are currently focusing on short term, unsecured loans - which he and others regard as a dangerous tactic. "This policy was at one stage adopted in the UK but was proved to be too risky."
Rawson also comments that among South Africa's businessmen, most of whom, he says, are highly socially aware, there is now genuine concern as to the lack of accountability that state and provincial authorities have in spending hard earned tax money.
"This is typical of many emerging countries where the newly elected politicians, having never been involved in work creation, are only too adept at wealth distribution - to no good effect. This, I believe, is particularly true at the moment in the educational field in South Africa.
"After 18 years of democratic rule and a massive increase in the education budget we might justifiably have expected to see real improvement in the ability of matriculants to get jobs or qualify for entrance to the techikons and universities. However, this has not happened.
"This, in turn, means that South Africa is not creating the educated middle class about which there has been so much publicity at anything like the rate it should be and that, the huge influx of new clients into the middle class housing sector is not nearly as fast or dramatic as we had hoped for."
Rawson Property Group Press Release | <urn:uuid:a55cf6e2-a2b7-4e65-a072-3c4081a799eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iolproperty.co.za/roller/news/entry/property_south_africa | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975887 | 680 | 1.507813 | 2 |
My mama always told me that you can't get blood from a turnip. True enough. Even so, when student loan borrowers graduate, we're told we have to start paying back our loans. That can be tough, especially for graduates still looking for work in this sluggish economy. There are lots of different repayment plans for borrowers to choose from, but if you're struggling to manage your student loan payments, consider the benefits of the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) option.
[Learn more about paying off your student loan with help from Uncle Sam.]
IBR caps student loan payments at a reasonable percentage of income. Payments are based on income and family size, with most people paying 10 percent of their income or less. Repayment of student loans under IBR is limited to a maximum 25-year period, after which the remaining balance is forgiven. All federal student loans can be repaid through IBR, even if the loans were borrowed a long time ago or the federal loan was borrowed from a bank or private lender through the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program.
[Read about colleges with higher than expected loan repayment rates.]
Unfortunately, IBR is not available for private loans (another reason to step away from private loans). IBR is a good option for out of work or underpaid student loan borrowers.
Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges. | <urn:uuid:9af3af4c-6f75-4aba-9036-c33f314287f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/student-loan-ranger/2010/12/15/manage-student-loans-via-income-based-repayment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9736 | 289 | 1.757813 | 2 |
S Jones: Why Indeed did three WTC Buildings Collapse
Critique of "Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Completely Collapse" by Steven Jones
The paper is linked here
Reasons #1 and #10 of the 13 reasons to question the govt account given by Steven Jones in his paper contain demonstrably false and misleading information.
Reason #1 spans pages 5 to 13,
and reason #10 is from page 29 to 31.
CLAIMS OF ANGLE-CUT COLUMNS
Within his paper, on pg 29, Dr Jones presents a photo of a very large core box column which he claims supports his assertion of "angle thermite cuts".
The photo is included in numerous documentaries and forum discussions.
The image is followed by 2 more photos, one of which is claimed to be another such cut.
Fig _, In his paper "Why Indeed Did....", Steven Jones uses only these 3 images in the 10th point made, called "Controlled Demolition Implosions” Require Skill".
He is clearly implying that this angle cut was made by a linear shaped charge, and the cuts seen in the lower photo weren't made during the clean-up, but from the demolition. Most people familiar with his work will know that he claims that this cut was made using thermite or thermate.
But it appears that this column was in fact cut during the clean-up operations using an oxygen lance. In the group of photos shown below, one can see the angle-cut next to known oxygen lance cuts.
Please notice the extreme similarities between the 4 pictures shown above. The once liquified, now solidified metallic by-products look identical.
Looking a bit further into thermic lance cutting, one can find that it is used to cut heavy thick sections which are not possible to be cut by oxy acetylene flame cutting. Whereas an oxy acetylene torch can cut steel thickness up to 60 cm, the oxygen lance cutting can cut steel up to 240 cm.
CHARACTERISTIC BORING HOLE:
In the group of photos shown above, the 2 images on the right show the use of an thermic lance to bore a hole through concrete. But if this is concrete, where did the metallic by-product come from?
The lance works by using a highly exothermic chemical reaction. The resulting metal is from the rod used in the lance cutter. The exothermic reaction continues after the cutter has been removed.
Please note that in the photo of the angle cut, the metallic drippings are in the inside of the box beam near the top of the cut, but are on the outside of the beam along the bottom edge, suggesting a cutting technique used by the clean-up crews.
First a hole is bored near the top of the cut to start the cut. The sides are cut from without. The lance is inserted into the hole and the bottom edge is cut by the long lance from within.
In the group of photos shown above, the one on the left was taken during the WTC clean-up. The 2 on the right are examples of a person using a thermic lance.
The similarities are unmistakable.
THE IMAGES COMPARED TO THE PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE DEBRIS
Dr Jones bases his argument on the supposition that "cutter charges" utilizing thermite or thermate severed key core columns within WTC 1 and 2.
This photo collection is so large that it can effectively serve as a comprehensive mapping of the resultant debris of WTC 1 and 2, capturing intricate details of the actual damage to individual columns. Information on the condition of column remnants can be cross-checked using mappings of the rubble layout originally compiled for this very purpose.
The debris for each building was found within and near the footprints and was pushed, or fanned, outwards from the 4 exterior walls.
If WTC7 is ignored and only debris from WTC1 and 2 is considered, all debris exists in 8 natural regions as shown below.
Southward from WTC1 and westward from WTC2 share a region (called the "southwest complex") and eastward from WTC1 and northward from WTC2 share a region (the plaza area). Hence 8 natural regions total.
It is hoped that by rearranging all known useful debris photos by region, the readers can see for themselves how debris was distributed throughout the complex and in what condition without being overwhelmed with information.
The largest publicly available collection of debris photos are linked below:
Debris: WTC1 Around Footprint at here
Debris: WTC2 Around Footprint at here
Debris: From WTC1 Westward at here
Debris: From WTC1 Northward at here
Debris: From WTC2 Eastward at here
Debris: From WTC2 Southward at here
Debris: Plaza Area, Northeast Complex at here
Debris: Hilton Hotel, Southwest Complex at here
Anyone who wishes can use this information to verify in what condition the vast majority of core columns and perimeter column sections were found after the collapses of WTC 1 and 2.
The rubble mappings were originally compiled in 2007-2008 and shown to Steven Jones by the author.
CLAIMS OF FLOWING METAL
Near the beginning of the paper Steven Jones presents a series of photos which he claim are evidence of molten metal found at ground zero. The very first photo in the paper is an image of an excavator bucket picking up what seems to be an object dripping with molten metal. It is a digitally manipulated photograph.
The 2 photos at the top of page 2 are most probably forgeries, the first photo is provably falsified.
The same false representation, that of "Molten Metal: Flowing and in Pools", is continued on page 5, where he gives the first of his 13 reasons to question the Govt account of 9-11-01.
The geometrical (topological) layout of the resultant rubble did not exist as shown in the first photo. The 2 dominant core box columns shown in the photo could not possibly have existed in the locations shown relative to each other. It is shown that the geometrical relation between the two dominant beams within the photograph is contradictory to the large body of all other known ground zero photos of the same location in an argument linked here
Another problem is that the person who digitally manipulated the photo, while removing the background (note that in the forged photo the New York City skyline completely disappears), accidentally left a piece of WTC 5 hovering in space that clearly does not exist in any other known photo of that region.
As for the second photo in his paper, it was supposedly taken by the same photographer as the first.
This information was available since early 2008. At that time, after these arguments were originally made at the STJ911 forum to Dr Jones personally, the author received an e-mail from Richard Gage admitting that the angle-cut column idea is something that should be abandoned.
The only other photographs that are used to support the claim that molten metal was flowing and in pools within the WTC debris are these:
Large portions of the 9-11 truth movement have been led to believe that giant thermite cutting devices spewing thermite and pools and streams
of molten metal at ground zero are real. This mode of thought dominates 9-11 Blogger, the Journal of 9-11 Studies, 9-11 Research, ect.
The cited paper by Steven Jones mixes a few key points of bad information within good and useful information, hence discrediting the entire package.
CLAIMS OF MICROSPHERES
Counter-arguments to the presentation of micro-spheres were posted through the JREF forum by Frank Greening and a person with the user name "Crazy Chainsaw".
These counter-arguments cast serious doubt on the claim that the existence of micro-spheres is some kind of a "smoking gun" for the 9-11 truth movement.
Dr Greening recorded some very revealing e-mail exchanges between himself and Dr Jones. The author has extracted the essence of the most interesting JREF posts and placed them at this link
Created on 02/19/2009 02:41 AM by admin
Updated on 09/26/2012 02:17 PM by admin | <urn:uuid:ea6ed990-327d-4734-8253-56058c4d9e6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sharpprintinginc.com/911/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=84&MMN_position=213:213 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949576 | 1,716 | 1.828125 | 2 |
For the last twenty years or so the highlight of my week has been a game of cards and a few pints of Boddington's bitter in the Queen's Arms on a Saturday night (yes, I am that sad). Legend has it that it the name of the pub stems from the time Queen Victoria dropped in for a pee when changing trains at Patricroft Station during a royal visit to the North. Anyone travelling through Britain will find plenty of twee hotels boasting that some King or Queen once slept there, however, I think that this claim to fame is unique. What may or may not have been the porcelain bowl that supported the illustrious buttocks is now outside, filled with plants. There isn't a blue plaque in sight.
I have some doubts as to the provenance of the tale about the royal wee, but let's not let facts spoil a good story. It is a lovely pub too, a real family local run by a smashing couple. Last night was the same as ever except for a cloud on the horizon. The pub is to be sold and its licensees can't afford to buy it at the current asking price. Though there is a long way to go before its future is decided, it may be under threat.
The decline of the British pub is one of the sad stories of our times and it has even attracted ministerial concern. Small, traditional pubs are the ones most at risk and the blame is usually laid at the door of cheap supermarket booze and the smoking ban. They haven't helped, but you shouldn't ignore the role of the pub companies and the squeeze they put on their tenants and managers.
It all goes back to the Office of Fair Trading referring the tied house system, where breweries owned the pubs and only allowed them to sell their own beer, to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in 1986 to investigate "the matter of the existence or the possible existence of a monopoly situation in relation to the supply of beer within the United Kingdom for retail sale on licensed premises". The fantasy was that reform would transform publicans into independent and genial hosts dispensing delicious pints of foaming ale to a grateful public. Not in contemporary corporate capitalism. The subsequent Commission report and its implementation in 1989 meant that breweries transferred ownership of their pubs, not to independent licensees, but to monopolistic pub companies.
The new chains were not using them to shift their products so they began to wring as much profit as they could out of the places and perfectly decent pubs suddenly became 'fun' pubs or identikit outlets for crummy food, with precise portion control, called something like Brewer's Fayre. The death warrant for the old fashioned boozer was signed.
Any study of social history reveals the public house as one of the great institutions of British society. Pubs were once the hub of working class radical movements and the social centre of adult communities. They held out against the demands of the moral puritans and maintained their role as meeting places in subsequent years. Many of my best friends have been people that I met through going to pubs as a regular customer. In their own way, they are fine places and an integral part of British life. Nowadays as you pass through a town you will still see plenty of open pubs, with their smokers huddled in a doorway to escape the chill, but they will be interspersed with ones that are closed and boarded up, a tangible sign of decline. It is a sad state of affairs, so it is no wonder we are all becoming so miserable. | <urn:uuid:c698a2a9-fd3f-4ef7-adae-4bac24317566> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fatmanonakeyboard.blogspot.com/2009/01/victoriana.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974105 | 720 | 1.648438 | 2 |
I have been hard at work on my NEW online class and I can not even begin to tell you how excited I am about it!
You are in for a treat with this class!! If you sign up we'll be spending 4 weeks together, from June 2nd - June 29th -- you'll come away refreshed and loaded with new inspiration and ideas! Think of it as an arty summer camp for your creative soul!
This online class isn't just a blog with a password. It's Audio, Video, Slide Shows, Handouts, Chats, Message Boards. I will be there with you to guide you along and it will be a truly interactive experience. I can tell you that gals at Big Picture Classes REALLY know how to put a high tech online class together and you will not be disappointed!
Full details are below and to register NOW click here!!
COMPOSITION FOR COLLAGE - CLASS DESCRIPTION
Do you ever create a project or artwork and think – this just isn’t working, but I don’t know how to fix it!? This is where composition comes in! In Composition for Collage, you will learn tricks of the trade to help you create successful compositions without creating visual overload – specifically in regards to mixed media.
Claudine Hellmuth, has taught this popular workshop live internationally, and is now bringing it to you in an online format with Big Picture Classes. Claudine has boiled down the various methods, gleaned from her art college days, and developed surefire tools for creating strong compositions in your work. Easy to learn and quick to implement, you will be making professional looking collages by the end of the first week.
Each week, Claudine will teach a new method, guiding you through each step and will offer advice and tips on your projects. It won’t be long before you discover how easy composition is and that by using just a few new techniques, great compositions practically create themselves! At the end of the class you will have a least four finished projects (probably a lot more!) and the knowledge to take your work even further!
Whether you are a scrapbooker making the transition to mixed media work, or you have been creating altered artwork for some time, you will find that the investment in this class will give back to you for the rest of your creative life! Gone will be the frustration of working on composition; you will know how to apply the tools of good composition and it will make all the difference in everything you create!
THIS CLASS INCLUDES:
- Welcome notes from Claudine in the classroom
- Colorful instructional handouts with step-by-step instructions for each lesson/project
- 20 sheets of high resolution printable collage pages created from Claudine's favorite images -- all to use in our composition exercises (a $100 value!!)
- Instructional videos
- Powerpoint slideshows with Claudine's lively audio instruction
- Reminder emails when the classroom is updated with new materials
- Weekly emails offering inspiration, images from other artists and discussion about what we are working on that week
- Private posting gallery to share your work and view the work of your classmates and Claudine
- Email access to Claudine and lots of "Claudine" time
- Message board to share your thoughts with your classmates
- Two live chats with Claudine
- and more!!
ALL FOR JUST $30!!
- Is this class open to International students? - YES! That's what is so great about online classes no matter where you are you can take it!
- Do I have to buy all Claudine Hellmuth Studio products to take the class? No you don't. Actually there is NO SUPPLY LIST. I repeat. NO SUPPLY LIST. Work with what you have and use the downloads I provide. yay!
- Do I have to be "present" each day to take the class? no you don't! you can follow along as the class progresses, or check in periodically and download the directions, watch the videos at your leisure! it is *best* if you can follow along with the class as I'll be able to comment on your work and help you, but if you are out of town, don't worry, you won't miss out on any details!
- When does the class start? June 2nd
- How much is the class? $30 for 4 weeks of instruction! That's only $1 a day!
- Where is the supply list? Actually there is NO SUPPLY LIST. Work with what you have and use the collage downloads I provide. Easy!!
- How long does the class stay active for those who registered? Students will have "forever access" to the class materials, which means that class will end June 29th (so there will no longer be teacher interaction), but students can go back at any point in time (as long as BPC exists) and access the class materials, gallery and message board! WOW!
- I am just starting making art/collage: that's great! You'll get a jump just by learning these composition techniques and it will save you a lot of headaches.
- Will it be fun? Composition sounds like math? Of COURSE it will be FUN!! I like to have fun. I promise we'll be learning and laughing!!
- Will it work on my ipad? Yes! you can lie on the couch and watch all the videos right on your ipad!
If you have any other questions that I didn't cover just post them in the comments and I will answer!
FTC Disclosure: links in this post are affiliate links. If you click and purchase my class, I will earn a small referral fee. I appreciate your clicks and support!
This is super exciting and I´m hoping to learn loads of new artsy stuff! <3
Will this class be relevant for those of us who work only digital? Or is it focussed more on mixed-media techniques?
it will apply for digital or traditional ways of working. there aren't any "techniques" like with paints or mediums the entire class is focused on composition so it will apply no matter how you work!
I've been doing a few online classes and it's all being done in Canada, yahoo for internet, don't know if I would've ever found all this fun stuff if it weren't for the WWW.Thanks Claudine, it's gonna be fun! I Love your work!
For posting and interacting there is a message board that is open 24/7 and then we will have 2 chats also at set times. I am usually on the message boards on and off all day every day so I will be right there to answer questions :)
For posting artwork there is a gallery that is easy to
Use that you will be able to post your work and comment on others work too!!
Thanks for the prompt response. I'm doing some 'hunting and gathering' for the class and have just ordered your follow up book to the collage discovery so I'll be prepared to make the most of the month. I also see that you will be having a three day intensive in an art college in Washington State so that may also be possible as well now that I've retired as an elementary teacher after 30+ years. Have a spectacular week! Joanna in Penticton, B.C., Canada
Deadline to register is June 8th but class starts June 2nd :)
You can also go to bigpictureclasses.com and log in to your account go to my classes and you should see the class there.
If you do not or are having trouble contact big picture classes at email@example.com
See you in the classroom!
Going to BPC right now to start....just wanted to say "THANKS"....
Looking forward to all your materials and "meeting" you...
the technical issues I am not able to help much with because I am a contracted teacher on the Big Picture Classes web site and it's not my web site.
So I would recommend contacting BPC at firstname.lastname@example.org they will help you!
While you are waiting to hear back from them try this:
first go to www.bigpictureclasses.com
then log in then follow these instructions:
1) go to My Account (in the upper left corner)
2) go to My classes (on the right sidebar in green)
3)you will see the class listed under your classes. click the "enter classroom" orange button
hope that helps! but def email email@example.com and they will guide you!
click the orange PURCHASE button at the bottom of the page, then click check out then you will enter in all your info
email firstname.lastname@example.org if you have trouble! | <urn:uuid:e8808ad7-825e-4668-8792-4c356c214d9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://claudinehellmuth.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-online-class-composition-for.html?showComment=1307637365486 | 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 | 0.93982 | 1,839 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Senator Zeldin Delivers on Military Dignity Act Promise
Governor Cuomo Signs Bills To Limit Protests at Military Funerals
Ronkonkoma, NY- State Senator Lee M. Zeldin (R-C-I Shirley) announced today that Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law Senator Zeldin’s bill to limit protests at military funerals.
In keeping with his 2010 campaign promises, Senator Zeldin sponsored and delivered passage of a series of bills, one of them named after Specialist Thomas J. Wilwerth, an Iraq War Veteran who lost his life in combat in 2006.
The bills, sponsored by Senators Lee Zeldin (R-C-I, Shirley) and Joseph Griffo (R-C, Rome), balance the constitutional right of free speech with the need to protect families mourning the loss of their fallen servicemember.
S.3901A, sponsored by Senator Zeldin, requires the development and implementation of a permit process for demonstrations at veteran and veteran family member funerals, and authorizes the imposition of fines for failure to comply with the permit provisions.
The Senate also passed S.5605, which triples the buffer zone distance for protests around a religious service, funeral, burial or memorial service from 100 feet to 300 feet.
“I am proud of the bi-partisan work of my colleagues in making this initiative a reality,” said Senator Zeldin. “Governor Cuomo's signature on this legislation protects our future Gold Star families by ensuring dignity, respect and honor for our fallen military veterans. We are balancing the free speech rights of those who protest military funerals with the need to protect our gold star families and allow them to peacefully mourn the loss of their military hero and loved one.”
“Exercising free speech is an American right, but it is a tremendous misuse of that freedom to use the funerals of our veterans as a vehicle for protests that do nothing but add to the grief and sorrow of military families,” said Senator Griffo. “Grieving military families shouldn’t be the target of a political demonstration.”
Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D- Staten Island) and Assemblyman Dean Murray (R, C- East Patchogue) led the efforts to mobilize the majority and minority conferences in the Assembly.
“This law protects the families of the men and women in our armed forces who have given their lives, while preserving the first amendment rights that they laid down their lives protecting. Our soldiers put their lives on the line for our nation. Those who make the ultimate sacrifice should be guaranteed the right to be buried with honor and dignity,” said Assemblyman Murray. “I want to thank Governor Cuomo, Senator Zeldin and all the legislators who worked together in a bipartisan fashion to pass this law. It's a shame that we have to legislate common decency."
"Military funerals should not be used to advance hateful ideology. These new laws establish safeguards and aim to strike the appropriate balance between the liberties guaranteed in the first amendment, and the dignity of the men and women who fight to protect it everyday." said Assemblyman Cusick.
The permit bill goes into law in November and the buffer zone legislation takes effect next March. | <urn:uuid:272691a6-8b5f-4d9c-b2c3-ef6c20172691> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/senator-zeldin-delivers-military-dignity-act-promise | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941279 | 678 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Posts Tagged ‘environmental’
The London College of Fashion's Centre for Sustainable Fashion hosted the 3rd annual Fashioning the Future Awards at a futuristic ceremony at the East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf, on Thursday 10th November 2011. Hosted by Caryn Franklin, this was a visual treat - minus some very special celebrity guests…
Written by Matt Bramford
Caryn Franklin hosting the ceremony, by Antonia Parker
The third annual Fashioning the Future Awards took place last Thursday, where guests from the world of fashion, business and sustainable living came together to celebrate international sustainable fashion talent. Supported by the United Nations, the awards promote students who produce fashion with conscience.
The setting for this glamorous occasion - the East Wintergarden, part of the Canary Wharf complex - seemed a little unusual in the wake of the current financial crisis, and it's not the first destination I'd think of if I wanted to host a conscious do. But, I was to learn, that Canary Wharf are committed to environmental… read more | <urn:uuid:b46e3e68-b572-4c45-b1ae-9092b8a21560> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/tag/environmental/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940879 | 214 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Thunder Bay declares state of emergency after heavy rains cause flooding
Explore This Story
THUNDER BAY, ONT.—Heavy rains and subsequent flooding have caused the northern Ontario city of Thunder Bay to declare a state of emergency.
The city’s general manager of infrastructure says some homes and city structures have been flooded and sewer systems are at capacity.
Acting Mayor Ken Boshcoff calls it a “serious and unprecedented event.”
He’s asking residents to be patient and cautious as flooding recedes and the city deals with pump failures at a sewage treatment plant.
Residents are being asked to avoid flushing toilets or sending water down the drain until the situation is addressed. Those who are unable to stay in their homes are seeking shelter at the Neebing Arena.
The city’s fire department is warning people not to go into flooded basements as waterlogged electrical outlets could pose a major hazard.
Meanwhile, the Lakehead Regional Conservation Authority has declared a flood warning for the city and surrounding areas after between 25 and 108 millimetres of rain fell over the past two days.
People are being asked to stay away from flowing water and the OPP is urging residents to stay clear from the areas of the Kaministiquia River between Dog Lake and Kakabeka Falls in particular.
Some roads and trails have also been damaged by the heavy rain. The Ministry of Transportation says Highway 11/17 from Harbour Expressway to Highway 102 junction is closed due to a washout.
Environment Canada is predicting a thunderstorm late Monday night and more showers on Tuesday.
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- Updated DiManno: Rob Ford-fuelled explosions at city hall need to end | <urn:uuid:5bb3f1dd-51c8-419e-a1bb-fc433d0acfba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2012/05/29/thunder_bay_declares_state_of_emergency_after_heavy_rains_cause_flooding.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942996 | 460 | 1.5625 | 2 |
There are several ways to increase crust flavors naturally (that is, without using special chemical additives), but they usually entail using natural starters/preferments or long fermentation times, either at room temperature or in the refrigerator (usually several days). For doughs that are to be made and used in the same day, a preferment such as you used, or maybe in another form such as a sponge or biga, is one of the few ways to achieve better crust flavors naturally. A simple change, such as going to a higher-protein flour, such as a high-gluten flour, will itself give you more crust flavor because of the increased protein content. Using honey, non-diastatic barley malt syrup, a bit of whole wheat or rye flour, and/or flavorful oils/butter will also contribute to crust flavors, but in different ways. Some people put herbs and onion and garlic powders in their doughs to get still a different set of flavors. Simply baking a pizza at a lower temperature for a longer period of time will contribute to crust flavors because of the effects of the longer bake on protein, sugars, oils, etc.
In your case, if you would like to stick with a same-day dough, you could reduce the amount of yeast in the preferment and allow for a longer prefermentation. How much yeast to use would depend on how long a prefermentation you would like to use, the temperature of the water used in the preferment, and the room temperature where the preferment will be made and allowed to preferment. If you have an idea as to how long a prefermentation period you would like to use, and you can tell me what your room temperature is, I may be able to suggest a protocol to use. I can't say that it will work with great precision because there are so many variables involved. Fortunately, with fairly liquid preferments, there are visual signs when the preferment is ready, or nearly ready, to be used (the profusion of bubbles and the break point). I have made preferments with a minuscule amount of yeast--really just a few grains--and the preferments ultimately became very bubbly. However, it took many hours.
You can also use a preferment in combination with cold fermentation. For example, you could use a preferment and, after the final mix, place the dough in the refrigerator for a couple of days or so. Whether that will satisfy your taste buds is something that you can only tell by actually making a test dough and making a pizza out of it.
Another possibility is to just make a straight dough without using a preferment and let the dough sit in the refrigerator for several days. With this option, you would use far less yeast and cold water. I have made doughs that stayed in the refrigerator for 10 days or more, with extremely good crust flavors. However, most people don't want to wait that long to get to eat pizza. Most people seem to be happy with doughs that are 3-6 days or so old.
As you can see, there are many options. However, the dough formulation you used would have to be modified based on the option selected. The longer the period from the making of the dough to using it, the more problematic the entire process becomes because of all of the biochemical activity that can occur over that time. Usually some aspect gets better, but some others can get worse, forcing you to make other changes to fix the problem parts. That part can take a lot of time and experimentation. | <urn:uuid:711850c5-6150-4cd6-9fec-fc3cbcbc5103> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=6670.msg59853 | 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 | 0.9617 | 723 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Schrader’s Favorite Shades
I eat lots of fresh, raw greens! Greens detoxify and rejuvenate our liver. Greens remove toxic metals such as lead and mercury. Greens remove pharmacy drugs and street drugs. Greens help conquer addictions to coffee, cigarettes, booze and other drugs.
Greens fight bad germs. Greens fortify the good germs we need in our intestines to absorb nutrients from our food. Greens stimulate our intestines for good shitting.
Greens make our body more flexible. Greens help arthritis. Greens build strong muscles and strong bodies. Gorillas, rhinoceroses, hippopotami and elephants eat mostly greens. Greens are high in protein, calcium, magnesium, oxygen, potassium and vitamin C.
Greens relieve nervousness. Greens calm, open and center our minds. The more noise, pollution, heat and tension around us the more greens we need to calm, cool and cleanse us. Greens help us sleep better.
Greens prevent and treat diabetes. Greens help sores and wounds heal faster. Greens help sore throat, ulcers and skin problems. Greens relieve pain. Greens strengthen our heart. Greens build blood and help anemia. Greens lower high blood pressure. Greens improve varicose veins.
Greens help prevent cancer and protect us against radiation.
Greens help us see better. Greens stop bad breath and bad body odor.
Many native peoples and all mammals, except modern humans, live mainly on greens when they get sick.
Chlorophyll is the green plant blood. Chlorophyll is liquid sunshine for health. The darker green the leaves, the more chlorophyll.
I grow collard greens, alfalfa and quelites in my garden to eat fresh in warm weather. Quelites is lambsquarter or wild spinach in English. Quelites is a highly nutritious wild green. Collard greens can take New Mexico’s heat and cold better than most greens. When I do not have enough collard greens to eat in cold weather, I buy cabbage at the grocery store. Cabbage that is not organic is quite cheap. Cabbage that is not organic is relatively clean of pesticides compared with most fruit and vegetables that are not organic.
I also eat dried alfalfa and dried quelites in my blended smoothies when the alfalfa and quelites are not growing fresh in my garden. In warm weather, I cut fresh quelites and alfalfa and air dry them on racks near the ceiling of my room.
I love greens! I strongly recommend the books Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko and The Sunfood Diet Success System by David Wolfe.
Help Isn’t on the Way
Normally, a call to the United States for assistance would elicit an immediate response to a catastrophic natural event. Massive air transport of rescue equipment and field facilities for shelter and medical care; significant financial aid for supplies and recovery; and thousands of well-trained persons would be mobilized.
But that no longer applies. Our disaster-response resources have been seriously depleted by continuing military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Aircraft, ground transport, heavy equipment, mobile medical and housing units, and disposable supplies have been used up, replaced and used up many times over.
Billions of dollars that would have provided aid for coping with and rebuilding from natural catastrophes have been dissipated in the pursuit of unattainable military goals.
Hundreds of thousands of our finest military personnel have been exhausted, physically and mentally depleted by repeated deployments to war zones. Tens of thousands more have been permanently disabled by catastrophic injuries. And more than 5,000 are lost forever.
Beep ... beep ... BEEEEEP! We’re sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service.
Age of Enlightenment, Anyone?
When I was in the third grade, my Sunday school teacher once asked if we would be willing to die for our beliefs. Pretty heady question of a little 9-year-old kid! The question has haunted me to this day. I was painfully reminded of it a week ago when an angry man in his convertible almost ran me off the road, then flipped me off with a look that sent a cold chill through me. It wasn’t until I got home that the full impact of what had happened finally hit. I may have narrowly avoided being another “hate crime” statistic. Apparently, he had taken issue with one (or more) of my bumper stickers. The thought occurred to me: Maybe I should rip all of my left-leaning stickers off the car and play it safe. Another thought occurred to me: Maybe I should stand my ground and defend my constitutional right to freedom of speech.
You know, I have been subjected to all sorts of political mumbo jumbo, hate speech over talk radio and FOX television, bumper stickers that make me want to lose my breakfast, but I do not flip people off, I do not attempt to run them off the road, I do not steal their cars or threaten to slash their tires. A staunch defender of freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, I would never slap a gag order on anyone, nor prohibit them from saying what they wish to say, however loathsome that message might be to my delicate ears. So many people have died for the right to speak their minds, to say the difficult things that need to be said, to reveal aspects of humanity that most of us would rather ignore. Shedding light on the injustices of the world, for one, as I see it, free speech is the frontline for anything approximating democracy. Without it, we become nothing more than a glorified police state. I sometimes wonder if the people in Egypt and Libya aren’t enjoying greater freedom of speech than we are. If the man who almost sideswiped me is any indication of things to come, I can’t say that I feel terribly secure about our future as a nation “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We have a long road ahead if we hope to live up to the vision of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. Exactly how tolerant can we be of our brothers and sisters with thoughts, ideas and opinions completely contrary to our own?
Voltaire once said, “I may despise what you have to say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it.” I can’t stop thinking about the hatred on that man’s face. Would I be willing to die to defend my first amendment guaranteed right to free speech? I’m not sure how I would answer that question. Martyrdom is not really my strong suit. Under the right circumstances, I just might say yes.
[Re: News, “Peace Officer,” March 10-16] A person calls his mother and tells her to shut the fuck up while waving a gun in the air in a public place, and you think this has much chance of ending happily. Morons. You never know what a nut like that is going to do. A police officer's priorities are protect himself and the public. Not the nut job. A police officer's job is extremely difficult and you can never predict human behavior. The police officer has to make quick decisions based on a dynamic situation. The situation may have already changed by the time a decision was made.
You conveniently left out any mention of John Hyde, August 18, 2005, and Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputy James McGrane Jr., March 22, 2006.
You ask if I was driving by the Alibi office and saw a man or men wearing ammo belts, rifles in hands and carrying duffle bags enter the front door of the Alibi, would I call police? Of course not.
[Re: News, “Peace Officer,” March 10-16] What happened to Kenneth Ellis III is a tragedy. The real culprit is the closing of long-term-care mental institutions during the Reagan era. This man needed help as well as the veterans walking our city streets with inadequate clothing, shoes, food and shelter. This is a shameful state of affairs for any human being; but especially our veterans to whom we owe our very lives and freedom.
I know from years of experience working in psychiatric units that sometimes violent episodes cannot be averted no matter how great the effort and desire to do so. Sometimes the disturbed person is too paranoid to reason with; has certain types of brain injuries; PTSD; numerous other medical/emotional conditions; and sometimes they are just mean, nasty sociopaths who enjoy causing fear and chaos. Mr. Lohmann has the time and lack of perspective to kick back and analyze officer-involved shootings for as long as he pleases. But I'm saying that most episodes that end in death happen in seconds, and no amount of training can give officers the psychic abilities to glean exactly what the person's problems or intentions are before they either shoot or get shot.
Also, I am angry that you published the officers' names in your article. Yeah, yeah, I'm aware this info could be found on the Internet, but many disturbed people who may not have the skills or concentration ability to look this up on the net just might get a stalking mentality for one of these officers. If they are paranoid to the extreme, you may have just caused some of these officers to find themselves in some serious trouble—did you even think of that possibility? If not, then it’s painfully evident that you have zilch experience in dealing with some types of mental illnesses. I seriously advise you to at least do a few drive-alongs with experienced officers before you go putting anyone in possible harm's way.
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number via e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.org. They can also be faxed to (505) 256-9651. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium; we regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. Word count limit for letters is 300 words. | <urn:uuid:5ac2e808-064b-4679-b1fd-65f63ebae732> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alibi.com/news/36084/Schraders-Favorite-Shades.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954014 | 2,102 | 1.671875 | 2 |
“Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.” John Harrigan
Writing Challenge: Happy As A Clam At High Tide… Happy man
Have you ever seen a happy clam at high tide? Seriously, have you looked at any clams lately? If not, I can assure you they don’t look ecstatic. As I was putting this post together, I realized I had no idea about the origin of the popular, oft abbreviated saying; “Happy as a Clam.” A little digging produced an explanation: Clams are harder to catch at high-tide. To live is to be happy.
My uncle Jaja was always upbeat and full of life; even at 65 he stayed active and interested in life. He was a farmer and palm wine tapper who made friends easily. Whenever he left the village to visit his two grown sons in the big city, it seemed like a set of megawatt bulbs had burned out. Invariably, he would return and regale us with stories of the people he met in the city. He liked to call them “Characters.” Two stories came to mind for this exercise, and I’ll let the late Uncle Jaja speak for himself.
Uncle Jaja: Thank you my child! So, Last Easter when I went to the city, my sons and their wives fed me well. The food was so good, I had to take a stroll to the bar beach to work it off. As I walked on the beach, I noticed a very old man, with a basket of clams, hawking his wares while laughing and chatting with people walking by. He had a few teeth, wrinkly weathered skin, and grey hair, but with an ancient warrior’s gait. His eye caught mine and he called me over. I’m always happy to make a new friend so I went. After saying a traditional greeting, I called him Uncle.
“No, no man, call me Tabu! You hear me!? Anyway what brings you here?” he shouted as he shook my hand. ” The children.” I said. “Good. Buy them some clams!” He replied. Then he started laughing and cracking dirty jokes. I can’t even tell you. He was full of life and knew a lot about seafood. We had a great chat and after some time, he persuaded me to busy a few. I did and saying goodbye, headed back to my son, Oge’s, house.
Writing Challenge: Happy As A Clam At High Tide… Happy clams?
Next day, I went to bar beach again and there he was, old man Tabu, carrying his basket of clams and dancing and laughing. This time I was curious to find out more. I went over, greeted him warmly and asked, “Uncle Tabu, you look so happy today. What’s your secret? “ He burst out laughing, even bending over to catch his breath. “Me?, he said, “I’m a happy man. I smoke five packs of cigarettes daily, drink 3 cases of whiskey and palm wine every week, eat meat 3 times a day and I don’t waste time with exercise. Instead, I hang out at the beach and make new friends like you! “
I was shocked! I’m 65 and can’t eat like that… How could this old man consume all that and still be standing? Unbelievable! I had to ask Uncle how he does it and advice him… I followed him to the edge of the water where he stood rinsing out a metal teacup. Tabu looked at me and said nothing. He seemed subdued, even a little reflective.
I pulled myself together and in a bold voice, said, “Uncle, why the mission to self-destruction? I’m 65 and hope to see more grand children. I’m sure you already have a few.” Uncle smiled and said nothing. So, I continued, “By the way, how old are you? I want to remember to be this happy when I’m older.” He looked at me and laughed. “No, I’m serious Uncle, please.” I said. Uncle Tabu looked me in the eye and said, ” Man, I’m twenty-six!” I was flabbergasted, but you know what? We can’t speculate without having all the facts … and he was living his version of happy. -UJ. Was he? More below | <urn:uuid:3179380e-5622-4cd1-b097-3acd1297b584> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mirthandmotivation.com/tag/dpchallenge/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981959 | 984 | 1.671875 | 2 |
According to the IRS, the cheapest ObamaCare health care plan for a family of four in 2016 will be $20,000.00 per year. Penalties for not having health insurance could cost you over two grand.
Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare–after Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Under the law, the penalty for not buying health insurance is supposed to be capped at either the annual average Bronze premium, 2.5 percent of taxable income, or $2,085.00 per family in 2016.
Using the conditions laid out in the regulations, the IRS calculates that a family earning $120,000 per year that did not buy insurance would need to pay a “penalty” (a word the IRS still uses despite the Supreme Court ruling that it is in fact a “tax”) of $2,400 in 2016. Continue reading
The Nazis began their death march across Europe by killing mentally handicapped Germans in an euthanasia campaign that caused the Lion of Munster, Bishop Von Galen, to preach a sermon which may be read here, and in which he made this statement:
For the past several months it has been reported that, on instructions from Berlin, patients who have been suffering for a long time from apparently incurable diseases have been forcibly removed from homes and clinics. Their relatives are later informed that the patient has died, that the body has been cremated and that the ashes may be claimed. There is little doubt that these numerous cases of unexpected death in the case of the insane are not natural, but often deliberately caused, and result from the belief that it is lawful to take away life which is unworthy of being lived.
This ghastly doctrine tries to justify the murder of blameless men and would seek to give legal sanction to the forcible killing of invalids, cripples, the incurable and the incapacitated. I have discovered that the practice here in Westphalia is to compile lists of such patients who are to be removed elsewhere as ‘unproductive citizens,’ and after a period of time put to death. This very week, the first group of these patients has been sent from the clinic of Marienthal, near Münster.
Hitler and his gang of murderers were stopped at an enormous cost, but Christopher Johnson, a non-Catholic who has taken up the cudgels so often in defense of the Church that I have designated him Defender of the Faith, tells us at Midwest Conservative Journal that the ideas of Der Fuehrer are all the rage in Europe today:
Belgium is considering a significant change to its decade-old euthanasia law that would allow minors and Alzheimer’s sufferers to seek permission to die.
The proposed changes to the law were submitted to parliament Tuesday by the Socialist party and are likely to be approved by other parties, although no date has yet been put forward for a parliamentary debate.
“The idea is to update the law to take better account of dramatic situations and extremely harrowing cases we must find a response to,” party leader Thierry Giet said.
The draft legislation calls for “the law to be extended to minors if they are capable of discernment or affected by an incurable illness or suffering that we cannot alleviate.”
Belgium was the second country in the world after the Netherlands to legalise euthanasia in 2002 but it applies only to people over the age of 18.
Socialist Senator Philippe Mahoux, who helped draft the proposed changes, said there had been cases of adolescents who “had the capacity to decide” their future.
He said parliamentarians would also consider extended mercy-killing to people suffering from Alzheiner’s-type illnesses.
The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.
Sarah Palin after the Supreme Court ruling upholding ObamaCare
As the above video indicates, back in 2009 when Sarah Palin predicted that ObamaCare would end up in death panels for the elderly and for “defective” children like her son Trig, she was widely derided by
the unpaid Obama press agents the Mainstream Media. News from Great Britain tells us just how prescient Palin was.
The Catholic News Agency published some remarks made by President Obama in Denver yesterday (Aug. 9) regarding the HHS contraception mandate that are so deluded and irrational that it becomes difficult to imagine how this country can possibly continue forward. We are dealing now with a level of dishonesty that is so open and aggressive that reasonable discourse, upon which social peace ultimately rests, is fast becoming impossible.
This is what Obama said about Mitt Romney’s opposition to the mandate:
“It would be up to the employer to decide. Your boss, telling you what’s best for your health, your safety,” the president said.
“I don’t think your boss should get to control the health care that you get. I don’t think that insurance companies should control the care that you get. I don’t think politicians should control the care that you get.”
This is Barack Obama speaking. The man whose healthcare vision is about to be foisted on the American people, in which they will be forced to buy health insurance (by politicians, from insurance companies) or face official penalties, just said that he doesn’t think politicians and insurance companies should control the care that we get.
Some statements are so at odds with reality – in this case, a reality established by Obama himself – that they can only be described as psychotic. The psychosis continues with the idea that without the HHS mandate, employers would, and indeed, have been, deciding what is best for their employee’s health. It never entered Obama’s psychotic mind that a desire not to cover what HHS mandates could, and almost always does, revolve around the employer’s desire to avoid something he finds morally objectionable, in which case it has absolutely nothing to do with dictating employee’s health. No, when a man in a position of relative power, the employer, decides what he will and will not pay for his employees to have, it is necessarily an aggressive and unjust exercise of power by the master over the subordinate in the psychotic mind of the president.
It doesn’t matter that on every corner of every major street of every town and city in the United States is a CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid or local drug store that is brimming with contraceptives that are legal for anyone to purchase. It doesn’t matter that there are clinics that provide abortions and sterilizations for those who want them. It doesn’t matter that there isn’t a single employer in the nation that can legally force people to work for them and thus deny them the opportunity to work for someone who is willing to offer a plan that covers such things. All of these conditions, which collectively taken together, any sane man would recognize as a condition of freedom (at least relatively) as far as health and reproductive choices are concerned, mean nothing to Obama. They mean nothing to the hordes of bleating drones who have dutifully towed the party line on this issue either.
The layers of insanity go even deeper. Obama himself has created the conditions under which businesses with 50 or more employees must eventually provide health insurance (by 2014). He has forced this responsibility onto the employers of America. He then proceeds not only to insult them with his “you didn’t build that” remarks (some potential business owners won’t be building anything thanks to Obamacare), but to prohibit them from exercising their preferences, moral or otherwise, in how they go about doing it. And yet to hear Obama speak, one might think that employers themselves demanded Obamacare just so they could have power over their employees that they didn’t have before, and that the HHS mandate had to exist for this reason. This isn’t just a false picture of reality, but a deranged one.
Finally, Obama speaks as if employers making decisions about what they will cover or not cover in their health plans is something new, as opposed to the way it has been since health plans came into existence. All this time, apparently, bosses have been dictating to workers what is best for their health by not paying for their condoms and vasectomies. Obama has now freed us from the tyranny of having to pay for certain things we want with our own money. People who view reality this way can’t be reasoned with by people who don’t.
Looking at Obama’s recent rhetoric, a phrase keeps emerging. He keeps referring to America as “one American family”, especially when there is a tragedy in the news. Some commentators are even beginning to see him as a father figure (try not to wretch if you watch the clip). There is no doubt in my mind that he seems himself as the father of the nation, laying down rules for some of his more stubborn children, insisting that they share their toys with one another. That is how he sees the businessmen of America. And as for the religious conservatives, they are the cranky old uncle who is grudgingly tolerated but also increasingly despised by the more content members of Barack’s family. In neither case is there respect for what they do or what they represent. There is no respect for them as autonomous, rational beings with their own convictions. They’re just stubborn children or senile geriatrics, they aren’t mature and rational like Obama and his friends. He isn’t even a politician, not in his own psychotic mind. He is self-excluded from that list of people who want to “control what healthcare we get.” He isn’t controlling us; knowing us better than we know ourselves, he is guiding us, in spite of ourselves. He is our father.
Below is an analysis of ObamaCare and abortion that I have written for the summer newsletter of the crisis pregnancy center of which I am Chairman of the Board. Regular readers will detect a more restrained and “just the facts” presentation than I normally use in my blog posts. I thought that the change of pace style might be of interest to our faithful readers so I did not modify the analysis for this post. (Fear not, I will not inflict on the readers of this blog any of my professional scribblings in the law mines, which would be of utility only for readers suffering the pangs of insomnia!)
Now that the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote, courtesy of Chief Justice Roberts switching his vote, has upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, universally better known as ObamaCare, pro-lifers should understand what ObamaCare means in regard to abortion.
1. Abortion surcharge-The Act provides that if an individual is enrolled in an insurance policy that covers elective abortions, each participant in that insurance plan must pay a separate surcharge for the elective abortion coverage. There is no opt out provision for individuals. So if a pro-lifer works for a business that provides such an insurance policy, the pro-life employee would have no choice but to pay the abortion surcharge. The Act forbids insurance companies from advertising that an abortion surcharge is required under the Plan.
2. Federal Subsidies to Insurance Plans That Provide Abortion- The Act provides for federal subsidies to health insurance plans, including plans that provide coverage for elective abortions, set up health insurance exchanges created by the states. The policies provided under the health insurance exchanges may include elective abortion coverage unless a state bans such coverage. Thus far the following states have banned such coverage: Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
3. ObamaCare and Abortifacients The HHS mandate requiring “free” coverage for all contraceptive devices, see number 5 below, in virtually all health insurance plans, includes those devices and drugs thought to act as abortifacients. Continue reading
For those conservatives tenaciously clinging to the idea that Chief Justice John Roberts is playing some masterful game of chess that will end only with the liberals on the Court, in Congress, and in the White House brought to their knees in humiliating defeat, well, I’m not even sure the Chief is up for a rousing game of checkers. According to Jan Crawford’s piece, Roberts’ change of heart was motivated in large part to concerns over media pressure. So, the Chief Justice of the United States, according to this report, was cowed into upholding Obamacare because he was afraid of how the Court – and especially he – would look.
It has been rightly pointed out that Crawford relied on two anonymous sources, and therefore this story should be taken with some fine grains of salt. It’s certainly a plausible story, but an unconfirmable one.
Fine. It is possible that the Chief Justice wasn’t cowed by media or executive pressure. But even if the Chief Justice was not particularly pressured to decide in favor of Obamacare, it’s not beyond reason to suggest that he was still concerned about the institutional prestige of the Court, as well as a respect for the other two branches of government. Thus he concocted a rather far-fetched legal argument in order to justify declaring as constitutional a statute he knew at heart was not constitutional. So the more charitable interpretation of Roberts’ behavior is not that he’s a coward, but rather an activist who decided to rewrite a statute from the bench in order to avoid embroiling the Court in a partisan political battle.
There is a third option: John Roberts legitimately believed in the argument he made about the statute’s constitutionality.
Which is the option in which the Chief Justice looks like a chess playing genius again?
The title of the post, by the way, comes from my wife’s suggestion that President Bush nominated a Ravenclaw when he should have nominated a Gryffindor. It’s certainly more logical than anything I heard the Chief Justice say last week.
Update: It occurs to me that there is a fourth avenue of “defense,” and that is Roberts made a brilliant political calculation by forcing Obama to defend the health care law as a tax. Put aside the question of whether or not that would be an astute political maneuver. If that were indeed Roberts’ intention, than that hardly speaks well as to his character as Chief Justice. If he decided to uphold the law only to enable its use as a partisan club against the president, then the Chief Justice would have engaged in behavior that would justify his removal from the bench. So his defenders might want to think twice about that line of attack, at least insofar as they posit that he willfully engaged in such politicking.
By the way, if you’re still unsure of what to think of John Roberts’ thought process, look who was helping him along and now has his back.
Kmiec, a rare conservative supporter of Obama in 2008 who served as his ambassador to Malta, said he thinks Roberts sought out Justice Anthony Kennedy’s vote but didn’t spend much time trying to sway Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Alito. Roberts, he said, probably didn’t worry about being punished by the conservatives.
“Roberts is a bigger man than that,” Kmiec said. “He might smile and recognize that was what they were doing, but he’d also just appreciate that was their way of making a statement. But he’d not chase the tail of the dog to try to turn it around.”
Kmiec, who served a resource to Roberts as he lined up his current two-week teaching trip to Malta, said he thinks Roberts would prefer that the story of the court’s internal deliberations get out “rather than keeping it so secret that it’d have caused some hard feelings among the chambers.”
“I think he knows in his heart that he’s reached a good decision for the well-being of the court and I don’t think he’s earned any long-term enmity of the conservatives,” Kmiec said. “If anything, this will give him more bargaining ability for years to come on both sides.”
Well if he’s got Doug Kmiec on his side, what more can a man ask for than that?
If you had told me before the day started that John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy would have penned differing opinions on the Obamacare case, and that I’d be siding with the latter’s opinion, I would have said that you were nuts. Alas, it appears that John Roberts is the new Anthony Kennedy.
Ed Whelan has speculated that Chief Justice Roberts changed his vote at the last minute, and therefore the dissenting opinion was originally the majority opinion. He has a follow-up post that posits another theory supporting that notion, which also explains how that could be logistically possible. Having now fully digested the dissenting opinion, I am just about 99 percent certain that John Roberts did indeed change his vote, and that the dissenting opinion was the majority opinion until the Chief Justice changed his mind.
Frankly, the dissent just doesn’t read like a dissent at all. As Whelan points out, the dissenting opinion repeatedly alludes to Justice Ginsburg’s opinion as the dissent. In fact, the dissenters barely alludes to the Chief Justice’s opinion at all until the very end. The final couple of pages are a scathing attack on the majority’s opinion, heretofore unmentioned. It certainly seems like the dissenting Justices felt jilted by the Chief Justice, thus the unusually harsh rhetoric of the final few paragraphs of the dissent. Another sign that the dissenters were in the majority comes on the second page: Continue reading
Conservatives looking for some kind of victory in today’s decision in National Federation of Independent Business et al. v. Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al. (the Obamacare case) are pointing to two aspects of Chief Justice John Roberts’s rulings. First, a majority of the Court ruled that the individual mandate was unconstitutional under the commerce clause. Second, the Court ruled that the Federal Government could not force the states to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Therefore, the Court narrowed the scope of Congressional power in two different arenas.
Indeed, 44 pages of Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion are absolutely constitutionally sound. During the course of the opinion the Chief Justice made the same argument that many individual mandate opponents have been making for months: you cannot create an economic activity in order to regulate it under the commerce clause. “The power to regulate commerce presupposes the existence of commercial activity to be regulated. If the power to ‘regulate’ something included the power to create it, many of the provisions in the Constitution would be superfluous.” The Chief Justice latter adds that the individual mandate “does not regulate an existing commercial activity. It instead compels individuals to become active in commerce by purchasing a product, on the ground that their failure to do so affects interstate commerce.” Construing the Commerce Clause to permit Congress to regulate individuals precisely because they are doing nothing would open a new and potentially vast domain to congressional authority.” Furthermore, “[a]llowing Congress to justify federal regulation by pointing to the effect of inaction on commerce would bring countless decisions an individual could potentially make within the scope of federal regulation, and – under the Government’s theory – empower Congress to make those decisions for him.”
Roberts further tears into the logic of those defending the mandate on commerce clause grounds by pointing out that other activity – such as people not eating a healthy diet – does far more to raise health care costs than does failure to have health insurance. Therefore, under the government’s logic, “Congress could address the diet problem by ordering everyone to buy vegetables.” Therefore, the government’s arguments with regards to the commerce clause are ultimately unsupportable.
The problem with those taking the rosy view; however, is that the Chief Justice’s opinion is 59 pages. The Chief takes a detour roughly halfway through the opinion that is so unfathomable, it almost reads as if an entirely different person wrote the opinion.
Chief Justice Roberts holds that despite the statutory language, the penalty for failure to buy health insurance can more accurately described as a tax. This, despite what the language of the bill actually says, and what President Obama himself even said. And that’s also in contradiction of what had just been argued when discussing the anti-Injunction act. As Carrie Severino puts it:
The main holding of the case is that the mandate is upheld as a proper exercise of the taxing power. This is a decidedly awkward result, as the first section of the result explains that the mandate is not a tax for the purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act. During the oral argument the courtroom erupted in laughter when the solicitor general was asked how he could argue that the mandate was not a tax on Monday but was on Tuesday. In the end, the court chose that implausible — even laughable — result in a fairly explicit attempt to hold the mandate constitutional.
Jeff Goldstein also mocks this bit of legal jujitsu. Intentionalism is a concept that he blogs about frequently, and he rightfully calls out the Chief Justice for his violation of the concept.
According to the CJ, a penalty is indeed a tax when it can be viewed as a tax for purposes of a ruling. Meaning, a penalty is a tax when a Justice decides to rewrite the law to turn a penalty into a tax. Which he justifies because the way the penalty looks to him suggests that “reasonable” people (or philosopher kings) can, if they squint — and if they ignore the intent that turned the law into law in the first place, and turned a set of marks into a set of signs, into language — see a tax. How that is “reasonable” is anyone’s guess: we know in no uncertain terms that Obama and the Dems who passed the law didn’t devise the mandate as a tax (despite what they later argued); for one to conclude that it is reasonably possible to “read” a penalty as a tax, therefore, what c0mes to count as “reasonable” must be redefined as “ignoring what we know to be true”. And that seems antithetical to “reason.”
Roberts has chosen to see a tax where a penalty was intended — thereby rewriting the law and turning it into a new text, one which he intends, though he incoherently and disingenuously suggests that he is finding meaning in the text that can “reasonably” be ascribed to it.
Roberts justifies this change in terminology by noting that the amount of the penalty that would be levied would not be punitive – in fact the cost of paying the penalty would often be less than the cost of buying health insurance. And since the so-called penalty would not be burdensome, it’s not really penalizing behavior.
But the most egregious aspect of this decision, and one which an astounding number of commentators seem to be missing, is that the Chief Justice has massively expanded the use of the taxing power. Roberts asserts that “taxes that seek to influence conduct are nothing new.” He then rattles off a list of things that are taxed heavily in order to change behavior, including cigarettes. The problem with this is that people have to buy cigarettes in order to be taxed. This “tax” is applied to people who don’t make a purchase. In other words, the federal government is taxing non-activity. It is the same exact logic that the government used to justify the mandate under the commerce clause. All Roberts has done is shift the authority under the Constitution which justifies government intervention.
Then Roberts makes the astounding claim, also amazingly echoed approvingly in certain quarters, that “While the individual mandate clearly aims to induce the purchase of health insurance, it need not be read to declare that failing to do so is unlawful. Neither the Act nor any other law attaches negative legal consequences to not buying health insurance, beyond requiring a payment to the IRS.” (emphasis mine)
I’m actually embarrassed for the Chief Justice here. Surely he is not as incapable of making a logical progression as this statement suggests he is. But let’s make this crystal clear. If you do not purchase health insurance, you will be penalized, err, “taxed.” If you fail to pay that tax at the end of the year, what do you suppose happens to you? Does the IRS send you a series of letters pleading with you to “please, pretty please, with a cherry on top, please pay your tax?” Do they put little frowny faces at the bottom of these letters? Does the Commissioner of the IRS stand outside your window with a boom box blaring “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel, the rain pelting him as he cries out “Please, just pay this tax which, by the way, should in no way be construed as a penalty?”
Oh, that’s right, you go to jail. So you totally have the right to not buy health insurance, and there’s absolutely no punishment for failure to pay the tax. This assumes, of course, you always wanted to share a very small space with a drug dealer named Zeke. Just think of this as a government-funded vacation where you may, or may not, have discomfort walking towards the end of the vacation. You see – what a bargain!
The Chief Justice makes several more spurious claims. He notes that “tax incentives already promote, for example, purchasing homes and professional education.” But tax incentives are reductions in the level of taxation for making certain purchases. Your taxes are not increased when you decide to rent a house instead of purchase one.
Roberts observes that the “Constitution does not guarantee that individuals may avoid taxation through inactivity. A capitation, after all, is a tax that everyone must pay simply for existing, and capitations are expressly contemplated in the Constitution.” Really? The income tax was made allowable only through the 16th Amendment, but it’s not a tax merely for existing. It’s a tax that only applies if you earn money – in other words, it’s a tax that applies only when you engage in the activity of earning your daily bread. It’s not a “mere existence” tax, and it’s certainly not a taxation of non-activity.
According to Article I of the Constitution, Congress has the ability to issue direct taxes apportioned among the several States, but the Chief Justice himself declares that this is not a direct tax.
Section 8 of Article I states:
Clause 1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
Again, I fail to see how that justifies taxation of non-activity. The idea that this kind of tax would have been countenanced by the same people (by and large) who fought the War of Independence is laughable on its face.
Attempts to sugarcoat this opinion are wrongheaded. In many ways, Roberts’ basing his decision on the tax power is worse than if he had relied on the Commerce Clause, for he has actually expanded the reach of the federal government in a way heretofore unseen. It’s true that Roberts and the four dissenters limit the reach of the commerce clause, but in reality they haven’t done much more than what the Rehnquist Court did in the mid-90s in the Lopez and Morrison cases in limiting the scope of the Commerce Clause. No new ground has been broken, and no old precedents were over-ridden. Much the same can be said with respect to the Medicaid ruling. On the other hand, the Chief Justice has broadened the taxing power so that it can now be applied to non-activity. Long story short, the federal government has more power today than it did yesterday. That is the most chilling aspect of this decision.
I believe that the commenter cthemfly25 has it right in the comments on my previous post:
Congress can always use taxing authority to undermine the constitution. And if a tax can be used to undermine the constitution and modulate and control social behavior, then the all powerful central government can use its unmitigated taxing power to regulate religion (there is no way applying Roberts’ logic that the religious mandate could be struck down), regulate home schooling or private schooling (“taxed” for not teaching homosexual curriculum), regulate the size of families (taxed for having more than two kids), regulate food or beverage consumption (taxed based on calorie intake), regulate fuel consumption (“taxed” for excessive fuel consumption), regulate choice of consumer goods such as vehicles (“taxed” for not purchasing a “green” car),—–regulate from a central authority any human or civic activity under the rubric of “taxation”.
Perhaps the Anti-Federalist Brutus was right, after all, about the taxing power under the Constitution.
This power, exercised without limitation, will introduce itself into every comer of the city, and country — It will wait upon the ladies at their toilett, and will not leave them in any of their domestic concerns; it will accompany them to the ball, the play, and the assembly; it will go with them when they visit, and will, on all occasions, sit beside them in their carriages, nor will it desert them even at church; it will enter the house of every gentleman, watch over his cellar, wait upon his cook in the kitchen, follow the servants into the parlour, preside over the table, and note down all he eats or drinks; it will attend him to his bed-chamber, and watch him while he sleeps; it will take cognizance of the professional man in his office, or his study; it will watch the merchant in the counting-house, or in his store; it will follow the mechanic to his shop, and in his work, and will haunt him in his family, and in his bed; it will be a constant companion of the industrious farmer in all his labour, it will be with him in the house, and in the field, observe the toil of his hands, and the sweat of his brow; it will penetrate into the most obscure cottage; and finally, it will light upon the head of every person in the United States. To all these different classes of people, and in all these circumstances, in which it will attend them, the language in which it will address them, will be GIVE! GIVE!
When the decision of the Supreme Court is released tomorrow at 9:00 AM Central Time I will do my best to link to the decision and have some commentary, work permitting in the law mines. Now of course we can only guess what will happen. Few things are more futile than attempting to guess what a court will do, but it is fun! I share in the conventional wisdom that the Court will likely strike down the mandate but uphold the rest. From a political standpoint, although it would be a travesty under the Constitution, I would prefer that the Court uphold the whole thing, since I think it would ignite a firestorm among conservatives and lead to a devastating defeat for Obama in the fall. Well, we will see what happens tomorrow. | <urn:uuid:2f3c8e62-6b15-4948-9f82-ba86b0aaa2b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://the-american-catholic.com/tag/obamacare/ | 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 | 0.972083 | 6,703 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse
New Program Announcements/RFAs
A new prevention research announcement, "Drug Abuse Prevention Through Family Intervention," was issued by NIDA on January 26, 1996. The purpose of the announcement is to test under controlled conditions, the efficacy and effectiveness of theory-based drug abuse prevention intervention for families at risk for abusing drugs.
The Clinical Medicine Branch, Division of Clinical and Services Research has issued a program announcement, Medical and Health Consequences of Drug Abuse (PA 96-010), that appeared in the NIH Guide, Vol 24, No.24, December 8, 1995. The purpose of this PA is to stimulate a wide range of studies on the medical and health consequences of drug abuse, including mental disorders. The announcement encourages research on factors, processes and mechanisms associated with the onset, duration, clinical manifestations and treatment of medical and health consequences of drug abuse. This includes general population-based and clinical epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory studies which address issues of morbidity and mortality of drug abuse.
In December 1995, MDD published RFA 96-03 "Novel Pharmacotherapies for Cocaine and Other Psychostimulant Dependence". Interest to date appears quite high. The application deadline is February 21, 1996 and of January 24, 25 letters of intent had been received. This RFA specifically excludes mechanisms associated with the Biogenic Amine Transporter.
On January 26, 1996, NIDA, together with the National Institute of Justice, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, The National Institute on Aging, The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute of Mental Health, the NIH National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an RFA (OD-96-002) entitled "Research on Violence Against Women and Violence Within the Family".
Medications Development Research Units (MDRUs)
The Medications Development Division, in cooperation with the Department of Veterans Affairs, completed the site review and competitive selection process for clinical Medication Development Research Units (MDRUs) to be located within the VA system. Specifically, the MDRUs will evaluate compounds that treat the symptoms and disease of drug abuse, including medications to: achieve abstinence; block the effects of abused drugs; reduce the craving for abused drugs; block or reverse the toxic effects of abused drugs; and prevent relapse in persons who have been detoxified from drugs of abuse.
In response to a request for proposals released last December, 26 proposals were received, 19 proposals were peer reviewed, seven medical centers were site visited and five were selected for funding. The network of MDRUs will be established at the following VA Medical Centers: Boston (Domenic A. Ciraulo, M.D.): Cincinnati( Eugene Somoza, M.D., Ph.D.); New York/Northport (John Rotrosen, M.D.) Philadelphia (Charles O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D.) and West Los Angeles (Walter Ling, M.D.). Each unit provides a unique combination of staff with expertise in addiction medicine and the medications development process and well established affiliations with private and public sector institutions.
In April 1995, a presentation was made to the FDA Drug Abuse Advisory Council (DAAC) leading to DAAC recommendation of approvability of buprenorphine mono substance for drug abuse treatment. Specific pharmacokinetic studies are still required by the FDA prior to filing of the buprenorphine and buprenorphine/naloxone combination NDAs. It is the sponsor's intention to launch the mono with the combo in 97; final NDA for mono is targeted for submission on 6/96. Buprenorphine mono substance has been successfully registered for treatment of opiate dependence in France with product launch in October 1995, based in considerable part on U.S. experience and data.
Health Services Research Centers
Two new health services research center grants were funded in September: the Center for Research on Substance Abuse Managed Care, at Brandeis University (Dennis McCarty, Ph.D., Center Director) and the Center for Health Services Research on Chronic Drug Users, at the University of Miami (Clyde McCoy, Ph.D., Center Director).
Health Services Research Resource Center
Under NIDA's Health Services Research Resource Center contract several tasks are under way including:
- completion of a compendium of research-based talking points on treatment effectiveness;
- an extensive annotated bibliography on treatment effectiveness;
- the development of a literature review on prevention and treatment assessment methodologies; and
- an upcoming developmental meeting on information systems management for the Center.
Women's Health Supplements
The NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, through their annual supplement program, awarded 4 administrative supplements to current NIDA grants. This supplement program stimulates current NIH grantees to address women and gender issues. For the first year, NIDA has funded some of the applications ORWH was unable to fund. Of the 20 applications NIDA submitted to ORWH for possible funding, NIDA funded 11. The 20 applications represented approximately one fourth of those submitted by NIDA grantees. All applications submitted to ORWH by NIH institutes were reviewed by a DRG-conducted committee of NIH program staff. Drs. Jag Khalsa (Clinical Medicine Branch, DCSR) and Cora Lee Wetherington (Behavioral Pharmacology Branch, DBR & Women's Health Coordinator) served on the review committee.
Minority Health Supplements
The NIH Office for Research on Minority Health provided supplemental funds to grantees to support several minority program efforts proposed by NIDA. These include a Native American initiative which focuses on efforts to design effective drug and HIV/AIDS prevention programs with Native American populations and meetings to promote research collaborations between majority and minority institutions, stimulate the involvement of community-based organizations in drug abuse research in African American and Hispanic communities, and better understand drug abuse research career development patterns and needs in African American populations.
NIDA Abuse Liability Review Committee
In response to a request from the NIDA Advisory Council (February 1995), a NIDA-wide Abuse Liability Review Committee has been formed. Dr. Lynda Erinoff (BSRB/DBR) is committee coordinator, and the committee is reporting to NIDA's Deputy Director,
Mr. Richard Millstein. The committee held its first meeting in November and decided to frame its efforts by addressing several broad questions: What is the current extramural and intramural portfolio in abuse liability research and testing? What is the current scientific basis for abuse liability testing? What gaps/opportunities exist? How can communication of abuse liability issues within NIDA and dissemination of results to the outside world be improved? Dr. Art Jacobsen will address the Committee at its next meeting.
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LONDON - Renewed uncertainty over Europe's ability to deal with its spawning debt crisis following elections in Greece and France hammered stock markets Monday, with the main exchange in Athens down a massive 8 per cent.
Investors have been particularly spooked by the Sunday election in Greece, which has resulted in a split Parliament where no party looks like it will be able to form a government. The two parties that governed as a coalition for the past six months were pummeled to the benefit of more extreme parties of the right and left. The socialist Pasok party suffered the biggest retreat. Its share of the vote collapsed from around 43 per cent in the last election in 2009 to a little over 13 per cent.
A period of uncertainty looms for the bailed-out country, which is in its fifth year of recession and has over half its youth out of work following big spending cuts and tax increases in return for crucial international bailout funds. If no government can be formed that can command a majority in Parliament, another general election within the next two months seems possible.
"As for the Greek elections, they resulted in complete uncertainty with the possibility of another election taking place in the near future in order to try and put in place a government that can actually have some modicum of control," said Gary Jenkins, managing director of Swordfish Research.
With more than 99 per cent of the vote counted, conservative New Democracy led with 18.9 per cent and 108 of Parliament's 300 seats. Party leader Antonis Samaras, who backs Greece's bailout commitments for austerity, will launch coalition-forming talks later in the day.
Further weighing on sentiment is Sunday's defeat of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to his socialist rival Francois Hollande, who has campaigned on the need for more growth-generating economic policies and less reliance on austerity. Final results from France's presidential election show Hollande narrowly defeated incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy with 51.62 per cent of the vote.
Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a setback Sunday in a regional election in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. Merkel and her government have borne the brunt of the criticism over Europe's austerity drive.
"Election defeats for President Sarkozy, and for the main coalition parties in Greece and for Angela Merkel's party in Schleswig Holstein highlight voter backlash against austerity, economic contraction in unemployment," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.
In Europe, Germany's DAX was down 1.4 per cent at 5,468, while the CAC-40 in France fell 1.2 per cent to 3,125. The FTSE 100 of leading British shares was closed for a public holiday.
Greek shares suffered worse, trading 8.2 per cent lower.
In the currency markets, the euro recovered some of its poise after falling to a three-month low against the dollar during Asian trading hours. It was up 0.4 per cent at $1.3018, having earlier fallen to a low of $1.2972.
Wall Street was also poised to open lower with Dow futures and the S&P 500 futures both 0.7 per cent lower.
Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index plunged 2.8 per cent to close at 9,119.14 — its lowest finish in three months — with the market's export sector also sapped by a rising yen. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 2.6 per cent to 20,536.59. In other Asia markets, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 2.2 per cent to 4,301.30 and South Korea's Kospi shed 1.6 per cent to 1,956.44.
Oil prices fell alongside equities, with the benchmark New York rate down 91 cents at $97.58 a barrel.
Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:59857c3c-2b07-485e-a8a1-724d67f946ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/07/greece-france-election-stock-markets-debt-crisis_n_1493271.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956332 | 795 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Budget 2013: full coverage
A new mortgage guarantee scheme will see the Government underwrite the cost of people’s loans if they want to move house.
An estimated 1.1million homeowners are stuck with what are known as zombie mortgages, which means they will lose their deposit if they sell up.
Official figures suggested that 190,000 people a year will be benefit from the scheme, although several campaigners and lobby groups warned that it could help to create another unsustainable housing bubble.
Under the new mortgage guarantee scheme, buyers would be able to provide a deposit of as little as 5 per cent, and the Government will underwrite 15 per cent of its value. This would mean the Government is effectively guaranteeing 80 per cent of the value of the property.
The scheme – which is enough to support £130billion-worth of loans - is open to anyone who is looking to buy a new home worth up to £600,000.
It runs for three years from January 2014, and is valid for up to seven years after the mortgage was taken out.
Officials said this was because a borrower on a repayment mortgage would normally have paid down sufficient capital so his or her equity stake would be greater than 20 per cent, meaning that the guarantee no longer offered any protection.
Chancellor George Osborne said: “The deposits demanded for a mortgage these days put home ownership beyond the great majority, who can't turn to their parents for a contribution.
“And that’s not just a blow to the most human of aspirations, it’s a setback to social mobility and it's been hard on the construction industry too. This Budget proposes to put that right, and put it right in a dramatic way.”
Council of Mortgage Lenders figures show in 2006, the year before the financial crisis, 1.1million mortgages were taken out by people wanting to move house. Last year in 2012 this figure had nearly halved to 543,000 mortgages.
Builders welcomed the plans. Steve Roche, Persimmon Homes’ group communications director, said the plans could “help create much needed movement within all levels of the housing market”.
Mark Clare, chief executive of Barratt Developments, described the measures were a “major boost for homebuyers and house-builders”. He said: “Every additional home we build creates two new jobs. We are now gearing up to meet the increase in inquiries that we expect to see.”
But others expressed concerns worried that it would fuel another unsustainable housing bubble.
Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said the help-to-buy measures were “much-needed”. But he added: “The Governments need to be careful this doesn’t create another housing bubble - pushing prices up at the expense of buyers.”
Experts at the IPPR, the think tank, said that the move will “inflate the house price bubble”, rather than dealing with a lack of housing in the UK.
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said that the schemes were “very small scale”.
He said: “If we don’t tackle the fact we're still not building enough homes, we’ll just create another housing bubble that will continue to push house prices up and out of reach of the majority.”
Case study: The house hunter
Matt Harper and Zoe Sheppard
Matthew Harper has been struggling to save a big enough deposit to buy a house, so he gave a “thumbs up” to the state mortgage guarantee scheme announced by the Chancellor.
He and his girlfriend, Zoe Sheppard, 24, are currently living with their respective parents in Portsmouth so they can put aside money to buy their first home together.
However, Mr Harper, 23, has found that being self-employed has made it much more difficult for them to get a good mortgage rate.
“A lot of the mortgage companies won’t lend to me because I am self-employed. They say that we have to have at least a 15 per cent deposit. If they drop it down to 10 per cent, the lending rate is very poor. It doesn’t seem fair,” he said.
He described the Government’s new “help to buy” scheme as “great news”, and said he hoped it would lower some of the barriers that have been preventing him and his girlfriend from buying a property.
Mr Harper, who runs and co-owns a bathroom installation company with his father, is looking to buy a house that he can renovate himself.
He is therefore pleased that the new mortgage guarantee scheme will not just apply to new-build homes.
The young small business owner welcomed the Budget’s provision to cut company National Insurance contributions, saying the move would put money in the pockets of firms, who would then put it back into the economy.
It could also benefit his own firm, which is on the brink of employing a second apprentice.
Mr Harper said he wanted the Government to introduce more policies for people like him and his girlfriend in “squeezed middle-Britain”.
“We’re certainly not down and out, but we’re not multi-millionaires either, so it would be nice if something was aimed at us, not just the top and bottom,” he said.
By Mikkel Stern-Peltz | <urn:uuid:01a54810-8011-43ec-8d1e-3a39dea658fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/9944172/Budget-2013-Hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-to-be-rescured-from-zombie-mortgages.html | 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 | 0.977081 | 1,146 | 1.75 | 2 |
In recognition of the intense stress often accompanying the holidays, two Mississippi State University groups -- the President's Commission on the Status of Women and the President's Commission on the Status of Minorities -- sponsored a stress management seminar before the holiday season kicks off in earnest at Thanksgiving.
The recent "Food For Thought" luncheon featured Beth Frick, director of education for North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, who defined stress and talked about practical approaches to dealing with it.
"Self-fulfilling prophecy -- If you believe you're going to have a great holiday season, you're halfway there. If you believe that what you hear today can really help you out in stress management or life balance, you're halfway there. Believing does help make it so," she said.
Stress is the body's non-specific response to change, Frick said. Even the best holidays include some kind of change, so stress is the natural result. People resist change, so recognizing that stress results from change can be a good first step to coping.
"First, you've got to decide, does a threat really exist? Then, you've got to give it some priority: Is this a gold, a silver or a bronze kind of situation in your life?" she said.
The more serious the stressor, the more support a person will need to cope, Frick said.
"Stress-free holiday? In life balance and stress management, you've got to be realistic about your expectations -- I've got this many days to do this much stuff; what is the realistic expectation here? You'll need to look at past years to gauge that," Frick said.
Everyone in the family needs a break at some point, she said. People need down time to be able to re-energize and respond to stress appropriately. Creating a list and having a time-management plan in place also can help people deal with stress associated with the holidays.
"One of the most important gentlemen of the whole holiday doesn't just sit up there at the North Pole and -- willy-nilly -- think that the toys are going to make themselves. He makes a list and checks it twice, and we need to as well," Frick said.
Overall, one of the best ways to deal with the pressures and stress of the holiday season is to take care of oneself, both physically and financially, she said.
"Maintain your health. It's fine to have special treats, but just don't throw everything out of the window. I don't mean you have to be an exercise nut, but incorporate at least short elements of exercise. One thing that suffers most is sleep. Give yourself at least the minimum requirement of sleep that you need," Frick said.
Sticking to a budget is also important to lessening stress, she said: Spending more money doesn't make a happier holiday; instead, people who are focused on the holiday experience, including spending time with family and friends, have happier holidays.
"I hope to leave you with the optimism to look for what's right, what you can celebrate, what you can really enjoy more of that helps balance out some of those bumps in this thing we call life," Frick said. "Stay focused on the necessary changes. Take small steps. Stay flexible. Partner with someone for success.
"If you do these things, you're not only going to have a great holiday season, you'll have a great 2013 and beyond." | <urn:uuid:e26cfe5a-2847-4407-a32c-b3fbbedb9f01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=5789 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971211 | 713 | 1.796875 | 2 |
People of Northwest Public Radio
Around the Nation
Sun March 18, 2012
Tenn. Town Fights Fire With Money
Originally published on Sun March 18, 2012 6:57 am
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Two years ago in South Fulton, Tennessee, firefighters in this town watched a home burn to the ground. The owners hadn't paid the required $75 fee for fire service. Now, after a barrage of national media attention, city leaders have finally made a change. Chad Lampe from member station WKMS in Murray, Kentucky has more.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)
CHAD LAMPE, BYLINE: The lot where Paulette and Gene Cranick's mobile home once stood is now full of tree limbs and small charred pieces of knick-knacks. An RV trailer sits where the home's garage once was. The Cranicks, who live just outside the city limits, forgot to pay their 2010 county subscription fee. In September of that year, a fire engulfed their home. City firefighters responded to protect the home of a neighbor who had paid the fee, but they left the Cranick's home to burn. Inside nearby Pappy's Diner there are still mixed emotions about that fire. Leon Mann was eating a prime rib sandwich.
LEON MANN: And I think anyone that wants fire service ought to pay for it. There's no reason for the people in town to pay for them when they, you know - makes sense to me.
LAMPE: Two tables away, Linda Bates was munching on some onion rings. She says the fire department made a mistake by not extinguishing the blaze at the Cranick's home.
LINDA BATES: A neighbor or somebody even offered to pay the fire and they still wouldn't put it out, and I think that's a travesty.
LAMPE: People in this town are getting tired of talking about what happened, and they may not need to much longer.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Come to order for our regular monthly meeting. If you would please rise to the Pledge of Allegiance.
LAMPE: This past week, commissioners in South Fulton, Tennessee passed a new ordinance that will allow the fire department to respond to all calls within a five-mile radius of the city. But Commissioner Jeff Vowell says if a homeowner doesn't pay that $75 annual fire response fee, they'll be charged $3,500 per call.
JEFF VOWELL: And that's the thing I think folks might be overlooking. There's a possibility that if you live far enough out in the county that you might lose all your possessions by the time the fire department could get there anyway. If you haven't paid now and you ask the fire department to come out you not only have that tragic part of it, but you're going to have to pay $3,500 for it. Whereas before, just didn't have it.
LAMPE: Tight budget times have forced governments across the country to scale back or eliminate services. Still, resident Scott Ellegood says this change is a good one.
SCOTT ELLEGOOD: And I believe that people have to pay for the rural protection. Because I live in the city, I pay. But at the same time we put all fires out because I think that's an ethical implication that just because something's legal doesn't make it that ethical.
LAMPE: The new fire protection ordinance in this part of northwest Tennessee took effect immediately. For NPR News, I'm Chad Lampe.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | <urn:uuid:bdfc7a79-f871-4d08-9145-0e8624c8349d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nwpr.org/post/tenn-town-fights-fire-money | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966511 | 772 | 1.546875 | 2 |
pass through and cars to pass over," said Dad. "But the most important part of all was to make the bridge safe.
"Civil engineers and technicians are responsible for many of the things you see and use everyday that affect your life,"said Dad. The people of North Carolina have learned to depend upon the services we provide at the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Imagine how life would be without the services civil engineers and the Department of Transportation employees provide... | <urn:uuid:851b1557-4b4c-4d04-90ca-6fa19c17eb48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncdot.gov/about/kids/dot_story/page7.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97684 | 93 | 1.734375 | 2 |
By Fredrik Dahl
VIENNA (Reuters) - Any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities may lead to it withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear arms, a senior Iranian official said on Friday.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, also suggested Iran in such a case could kick out IAEA inspectors and install its uranium enrichment centrifuges in "more secure" places.
His comments may strengthen concerns among many Western nuclear experts that military action against Iran aimed at preventing it from developing nuclear weapons may backfire and only drive its entire nuclear program underground.
There has been persistent speculation that Israel might bomb Iran, which it accuses of seeking a nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies the charge and says Israel's assumed atomic arsenal is a threat to regional security.
If attacked, "there is a possibility that the (Iranian) parliament forces the government to stop the (U.N. nuclear) agency inspections or even in the worse scenario withdraw from the NPT," Soltanieh said in a statement in English submitted to a meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors.
Asked about Soltanieh's comments, Israel's ambassador to the IAEA, Ehud Azoulay, said: "I believe that they are going to do it anyhow, in the near future, so I'm not surprised.
"When they make their first nuclear explosion they will have to withdraw, I believe," he told reporters, adding he thought Iran was "following the steps" of North Korea.
North Korea was the first country to withdraw from the NPT, in 2003, and has denied IAEA access to its atomic sites. It carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and in 2009.
Iran, one of the world's largest oil producers, says its nuclear program is a peaceful bid to generate electricity.
Like nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, Israel has never signed the NPT. It neither confirms nor denies having nuclear arms, although non-proliferation and security analysts believe it has several hundred nuclear weapons.
"MASTER OF ENRICHMENT"
The Jewish state has said it would sign the treaty and renounce atomic weaponry only as part of a broader peace deal with Arab states and Iran that guaranteed its security.
Under the 189-nation NPT, which came into force in 1970, non-nuclear weapons states commit to not develop such arms.
Israel and the United States see Iran as the world's main nuclear proliferation danger. Iran and Arab states say Israel's nuclear capabilities threaten regional peace and security.
In a defiant 11-page statement which prompted one Western diplomat to say he was "very pessimistic" about a new round of talks between Iran and the IAEA in mid-December, Soltanieh said the Iranian nuclear file "has to be closed immediately" and U.N. inspections work regarding the country returned to "routine".
"This is the only way that encourages Iran to show more flexibility in taking voluntary steps," Soltanieh said.
The IAEA is seeking to resume a long-stalled investigation into suspicions that Iran has conducted atom bomb research, and Western officials accuse Tehran of stonewalling the inquiry.
Soltanieh said nuclear weapons have no use and only creates vulnerability, and that any military action against Iran would not stop it from enriching uranium.
Refined uranium can have both civilian and military purposes, and a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions since 2006 have demanded that Iran suspend the activity, something the Islamic state has repeatedly ruled out.
"Iran is master of enrichment technology ... it can easily replace damaged facilities," Soltanieh said. But, he added, Iran is "well prepared to find a negotiated face-saving solution and a breakthrough from the existing stalemate".
Diplomacy between Iran and six world powers - the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany, and Britain - aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the decade-old dispute has been deadlocked since a June meeting that ended without success.
Both sides now say they want to resume talks soon, after the re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama, and diplomats expect a new meeting in Istanbul in December or January.
Iran has faced a tightening of Western trade sanctions which the United States and its allies hope will force it to curb its nuclear program. Soltanieh said: "Western sanctions have had no effect whatsoever on the enrichment activities."
(Editing by Mark Heinrich) | <urn:uuid:ae54570e-dced-4f4c-ad97-73661bf77685> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wtvbam.com/news/articles/2012/nov/30/any-attack-on-iran-may-lead-to-withdrawal-from-npt-envoy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962292 | 950 | 1.804688 | 2 |
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