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Customizable Chocolates Come in More Flavors Than Willy Wonka’s Lickable Wallpaper
These customizable confections are the brainchild of ECAL grad Student, Elsa Lambinet, in coordination with Swiss chocolatier Blondel. The sweets combine arrays of chocolate shells, inserts like nugat or caramel, and toppings like cherries, hazel nuts, or whatever else you fancy.Why is it so impossible to make a tasty chocolate confection? I swear, every other one I eat is either coconut creme, lemon asshole, or some other flavor that has no business in my mouth. These new modular chocolates however will taste exactly how I want them to—delicious.
“Participants get to mix and match ingredients for hours and hours as they gorge themselves on custom confectionery goodness,” Lambinet said in her thesis. There’s no word on whether these ingenious luxury chocolates will make it to market unfortunately.
A 3D Printer That Works With Chocolate? Now You’ve Got My Attention [3D Printers]:
Instead of the toxic smell of melted plastics, while the Imagine 3D printer is doing its thing, your workspace will be filled with the aroma of delicious confections. Because its printing head uses syringes that can be filled with chocolate.
I understand that 3D printing is probably the future of manufacturing, but until now I’ve found it kind of difficult to really get excited about the technology. However, being able to print off a chocolate bunny whenever the craving hits?—even if it’s not Easter?—now you’re speaking to my needs.
Essential Dynamics, the unfriendly sounding corporation behind the Imagine 3D, is a little vague on their printer’s capabilities. But in addition to chocolate, the syringes can also be filled with cheese, epoxy, silicone, and even concrete for creations that will last a bit longer than dessert. All for just $3,000, delivered to your door fully assembled.
iPhone icon cupcakes look touchable, tasty
We haven’t posted a really good iPhone cake in quite a while now, so here we go: Reader Tim sends in this set of cupcakes that his girlfriend made him for his 21st birthday, and boy do they look good. There are a few things that, as Apple obsessive, we would call out in there, including the fact that this cake uses the old iPod logo instead of the new Music app logo, and the fact that the phone happens to be tilted the wrong way in these pictures.
But hey, that’s just us nitpicking — these look great, very nice job, and I especially like the custom day and date, as well as the special message on the Notes icon. Happy belated birthday, Tim, and you’ve got one very talented and sweet lady there.
How To Peel A Whole Head of Garlic In Less Than Ten Seconds
If you are cooking this holidays (or ever) you will love this MAGIC tip: how to peel a whole head of garlic in less than ten seconds. It just requires two bowls and some shaking. Aaaah-mazing. [Thanks Joe!] More »
Fingerprint Recognizing Espresso Machine
Are you a coffee lover? Well, if you have answered in the affirmative, then here is something which you might just want to check out, especially if you happen to share the same house with others who have an equal (or more) love of caffeine as with you. After all, those living under the same roof as you might want to use your expensive Italian coffee machine, so it makes perfect sense for you to enhance your passion with the $3,200 Fingerprint Recognizing Espresso Machine, as you will learn in the paragraph below.
This is one unique espresso machine which is capable of scanning your fingertip so that it will know just how to churn out the kind of drink that you like. Made in Italy as well, it will make the correct kind of drink associated with the fingerprint scanned. This is a fully automatic machine that is capable of generating 15 bar of pressure and pre-infuses the coffee grinds with water so that it can extract rich, complex coffee with a thick crema. There is also an integrated ceramic burr grinder which sports eight coarseness settings, where it grinds coffee only for the drink being made so that freshness remains at an optimal level. It can stash up to half a dozen fingerprints and drink profiles in its database. | <urn:uuid:c45845af-3624-404a-80ee-e0fac6c35be1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jisaacs.tumblr.com/tagged/Food-%26-Drink | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942046 | 946 | 1.5 | 2 |
DeGroot is a third-generation California dairy producer whose San Joaquin Valley operation milks 2,400 cows.
**Extended comments highlighted in blue.
Our farm is and always has been a family-owned and -operated business. My grandfather was hands-on, my dad is hands-on, and my brother and I are hands-on. We make all the major decisions on a day-to-day basis, but we can’t do it alone. We rely on a team of good employees to help us accomplish our goals. We work side by side with our employees to make our operation run.
For us, finding employees is not an issue. We have at least one or two people a day stop and ask for work. Fortunately, we have very little turnover, so most of the time we just take their information and send them down the road.
In the event that we do need to hire, we most often interview someone recommended to us by a current employee. It doesn’t always work out, but we’ve found that most often a current employee isn’t going to recommend someone who could make them look bad. My herdsman and I will meet and talk with the potential new hire, and, if we agree, we will place that person in the position with a current employee to train.
The job training at our farm is hands-on. We need to see if they can do the work but also how well they work around animals. My herdsman explains the job description and procedures associated with the job. Then he places them in that position (with a current employee).
We observe and tell them that if there is something they don’t like about that position after one day of training, they are free to go. We will leave new hires in training alongside another employee for several days or until we feel they are capable of performing the tasks on their own. If, at any time, we feel they are not capable, we will ask them to leave.
We also use a dairy specialist for safety, milking, herd health and calving training meetings. These meetings are designed to help employees better understand cows and why we ask them to do things a certain way. The more knowledge employees have about animals and how their jobs affect the animals, the better they can perform their tasks. Because we have very little turnover, these meetings serve as a refresher course for most employees. A meal is provided, and we usually plan a meeting like this at the end of a shift.
For specialized job training such as breeding, we work closely with a reproduction specialist from All West/Select Sires to train employees and monitor reproduction activity. Our repro specialist visits our dairy quarterly to walk with our breeders and evaluate heat detection, semen handling and breeding technique. He then meets with me, the herdsman and the breeder to go over his evaluation of records and our on-farm practices. We have made huge improvements to our repro program because of his expertise. It has helped keep our in-house breeder motivated to do a good job no matter what.
It’s important for us to have long-term employees who are committed to helping our business succeed. Every employee gets a fair compensation package, health insurance (employee and family), dental plan, a pension/retirement plan and vacation pay (based on length of employment). It is our goal to succeed as a business, and we know that it doesn’t happen without good employees. We do our best to provide a working environment and benefits that help keep our employees motivated to do their best.
|DeGroot's Most Recent Prices
|Milk (3.4% bf, 3.19% prt, 78 lb.)
||$15.05/cwt. (over base), $16.75/cwt. (quota)
|Alfalfa hay (delivered/premium) | <urn:uuid:327cc319-3cc0-4bd1-ba4d-652f69fd323a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweb.com/legacyproject/article/we_are_a_team/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959281 | 810 | 1.695313 | 2 |
"In states with Republican governors, the average unemployment rate is a full point lower than in states with Democratic governors," said Virginia... View Enlarged Image
A parade of successful GOP chief executives showed how both federalism and capitalism can lead us out of the economic wilderness and that the only climate we should be saving is the business one.
On a convention opening night with the theme "We Built It," one Republican governor after another reminded voters how it can and has been done in their states. They also stressed that conditions could be even better if they could work with a president who knew from personal experience how to create jobs rather than one who, as New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte observed, "has never even run a lemonade stand."
Ayotte related the tale of a Concord restaurant owner who told her he decided against opening a second location because it would trigger penalties under ObamaCare, what she called a "success tax" that prevents job creation in businesses large and small.
But it was the governors who stole the show with their belief that rights are endowed by our Creator and jobs are created by entrepreneurs who thrive in an environment where government, as Texas' Rick Perry once put it, is as inconsequential in our daily lives as possible.
Leading the pack Tuesday was keynote speaker Chris Christie of New Jersey. He raised the battle cry of a "second American century" characterized by sound governance and leadership willing to make tough choices. In heavily Democratic New Jersey, the budget was balanced, a surplus was built and jobs were created. "If we can do this in a blue state with a conservative Republican governor," he said, "Washington is out of excuses."
Virginia's Bob McDonnell pointed out that states with Republican governors had an average unemployment rate a full percentage point lower than states with Democratic governors. GOP governors lead seven of the 10 states with the lowest jobless rates and 12 of the 15 ranked best for business. Virginia has reduced its unemployment rate to 5.9%, a drop of more than 20% and far below a national average that has stayed over 8% for 42 months.
Many of the governors, such as South Carolina's Nikki Haley, pointed out their own small-business backgrounds and how government stifles those who create the most jobs.
She noted in particular how a hypocritical administration that complains about jobs going overseas fought Boeing when it wanted to create jobs in her right-to-work state.
The GOP governors have shown that the best stimulus is to cut regulations and taxes, incentivize job-creators and risk-takers and deal head-on with the economic anchor posed by public-sector unions that feed incestuously at the public trough. Standing in their way is an administration that believes only in growing government and stifling private-sector expansion through things like, as McDonnell said, "the EPA: The Employment Prevention Agency."
An Examiner.com analysis of unemployment statistics by state found that as of July every one of the 17 that elected a new Republican governor saw a drop in jobless rates averaging 1.5% since January 2011. They did it by letting the market, not the government, pick the winners and losers.
Union excesses can be reined in, and we don't have to spend ourselves into oblivion. Spending can be cut, budgets balanced, surpluses built and jobs created.
From Chris Christie to Scott Walker to John Kasich to Bob McDonnell to Nikki Haley, they have, as Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts, shown how. | <urn:uuid:83bd3c83-a2c2-464d-8597-9bb00ea8b0e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/082912-623952-gop-governors-lead-in-job-creation.htm?p=full | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974494 | 707 | 1.710938 | 2 |
DURING STEVE SLAGG’S freshman year at Wheaton College in Illinois, a gay-rights advocacy group called Soulforce announced that it was embarking on a nationwide bus tour of conservative Christian colleges that had campus policies against homosexuality to facilitate some of the first open conversations about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Wheaton College was one of their stops.
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“We were talking a lot on campus about Soulforce and what we were going to do about them,” remembers Slagg about the spring 2006 tour. “It felt like nobody was really aware of the fact that there were people in this community who were gay.”
So Slagg decided to come out. He started with friends and classmates, but he also spoke with campus groups, and he held a meeting on his dormitory floor. He was interviewed in the campus paper, The Record, under the headline “Gay at Wheaton,” and numerous classmates approached him for private coffeehouse conversations around campus.
The pressure and attention grew to be too much, and Slagg quickly receded into normal campus life.
But during Slagg’s senior year, after feeling as though the conversations around homosexuality on campus had not changed, he wrote an essay for a new campus literary journal, The Pub, about being gay at Wheaton. “We exist,” he declared. “The most harmful and pervasive lie I’ve encountered at Wheaton has been that homosexual students either don’t exist at Wheaton or aren’t worth considering. Outrageously enough, I believed this lie for most of my freshman year.”
We exist. Today, that is the message gay and lesbian Christian students at conservative evangelical universities are sending to their peers, faculty, and administration—a message that encapsulates in two small words a radical assertion of identity and a challenge to institutions that have long remained silent about the presence of LGBT students on campus. While some schools have quashed opportunities for conversation, others have welcomed them, allowing students to develop their own beliefs about homosexuality, apart from their parents and pastors—but not apart from their faith.
And more and more, these beliefs represent a striking generation gap between students and their elders. For example, while white evangelicals in general constitute the religious group that is the least supportive of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry (with only 19 percent in favor), younger evangelicals are much more supportive. In a recent small-sample survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), for instance, 44 percent of white evangelical millennials (ages 18-29) expressed support for marriage equality, compared to only 12 percent of evangelical seniors (age 65 and older).
Public support for allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry has increased significantly over the last five years, according to PRRI. “Many polling organizations have recorded double-digit increases in support for same-sex marriage since 2006,” the group reported, and the increase in support among younger people “persists even among conservative political and religious groups.” And nearly seven in 10 millennials, according to the report, agree that religious groups are alienating young people by being too judgmental about gay and lesbian issues.
This new wave of openness among evangelical students and alumni has placed them at the vanguard of the church debate on homosexuality. Young evangelicals no longer automatically agree with established church leaders on what to believe on these issues; instead, through deepened relationships and dialogue (rather than debate), Christian millennials are confronting hard questions about sexuality that the church has long ignored or avoided, and finding the answers for themselves.
THIS WASN’T ALWAYS the case. Just like at Slagg’s Wheaton College, conversations about homosexuality on Christian campuses five to 10 years ago were uncommon and often only presented one perspective: that being gay is a choice and a sin, and that gay people require reparative therapy.
Dani Kelley, 26, a recent graduate of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, remembers a chapel message in which she was taught that anyone who was “sexually immoral” would forever be under reproach, and that the tarnish of such a sin would never be removed. “It terrified me,” Kelley says. And despite being a straight Christian student, Kelley says she empathized with the discrimination gay and lesbian Christian students must have felt from the school. “I didn’t agree with the level of hatred that was shown from the pulpit about homosexuality,” she says.
Kristin Winn, 27, a lesbian alumna of Wheaton College, remembers thriving academically and socially during her years at the school, but says that she was privately suffering under the weight of keeping her sexuality a secret. “I had great friends and loved my classes, and at the same time I felt terrified and very alone,” Winn says. “I didn’t know anyone else who was like me, and the options that were presented to me at Wheaton were either remain celibate or change [my orientation].”
The result of these conservative colleges’ silence on LGBT issues is that when gay and lesbian students are consistently shamed, ignored, or condemned, the mounting pressures often prove to be too much for them. According to Winn, many LGBT alumni leave their college experiences behind them. “We migrate to big cities and don’t want to reengage with that part of ourselves,” she says.
But in September 2010, after a string of tragic suicides by LGBT teenagers inspired the nationwide viral YouTube campaign “It Gets Better”—which sought to encourage gay teens with a promise that life will get better—a group of LGBT Wheaton College alumni began communicating in private Facebook groups about their experiences at Wheaton. “I think these suicides moved many of us from the Wheaton community to reflect on where we were at that point in our lives,” Winn says.
In April 2011, these alumni learned that during a weeklong chapel series on sexuality at Wheaton, some invited speakers had condemned homosexuality. The alumni decided to take action. They distributed a letter on campus signed by 100 people assuring current LGBT students that “your sexual identity is not a tragic sign of the sinful nature of the world. You are not tragic. Your desire for companionship, intimacy, and love is not shameful. It is to be affirmed and celebrated just as you are to be affirmed and celebrated.”
Today, the signatories are known as OneWheaton, and they have gathered more than 700 signatures to that first letter. Subsequently, similar alumni groups have cropped up at more than 30 conservative evangelical colleges, according to Catherine Latimer, who serves as a liaison for OneWheaton. “It’s just incredibly exciting, because these groups are getting conversations going on these campuses,” Latimer says. “Being gay on these campuses was such a secret, but now these groups are forming and becoming more public, and they’re being encouraged by one another.”
WITHIN THESE NEW communities, a few voices are emerging as leaders for a new generation of gay Christians who are committed to reconciling the church and the LGBT community. Some of the most compelling and authoritative writing on homosexuality and the church isn’t being written by established “thought leaders” in the evangelical community, but rather by young unknowns who have an actual stake in the matter. One example is Todd Clayton, 23, who came out in 2011 during his senior year at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. As he was the student chaplain at Point Loma, and the son of two Nazarene pastors, Clayton’s coming out caused a furor in the Nazarene community. After several months of bearing the brunt of denominational gossip, Clayton decided to tell his story in his own words by writing on his personal blog and for online publications (including Sojourners’ God’s Politics blog).
In his blog posts, Clayton shared with remarkable candor about growing up in a loving Christian home, realizing his sexuality, and taking tenuous steps toward life as an openly gay man. He wrote about first dates, awkward conversations with his parents about sex, his struggle with depression, and the ups and downs of his faith journey. His writing is beautiful and moving, primarily because he writes about homosexuality not as an issue, but as a part of his personal narrative—one that many gay Christians say they read and relate to.
When asked why he writes, Clayton uses language that’s familiar to evangelical Christians. “I don’t know where this comes from, but it’s like a deep, passionate, fierce desire in my person,” Clayton says. “I want to save the gays and the evangelical church. I want gay people to know they’re not crazy, but that there’s health and a future possible for them. They don’t have to be people marked by fear or pain, and that’s why I’m writing.”
And for the many readers who email Clayton, it’s working. “I’ve literally had thousands of emails from around the world,” Clayton says. “The craziest one was from a person who was 80 years old. He said, ‘I’ve never experienced full love. Thank you for making this a possibility for other people who are your age.’”
Matthew Vines, a 22-year-old living in Wichita, Kansas, is also making waves in the blogosphere in his attempt to address the dearth of theological and biblical study on homosexuality in evangelical circles. After coming out his freshman year at Harvard, Vines decided to take two years off school to devote his life to studying what the Bible says about homosexuality. Raised in a conservative Christian home, Vines grew up with a vibrant relationship with Christ that continues to this day. “I love Jesus,” he says. “Christianity is clearly the anchor of truth in the world and so there’s no way I can give up on it. It’s what my entire worldview is centered around, and I can’t change it even if I wanted to.”
After coming out, Vines struggled with his church’s teachings condemning homosexuality, but felt he didn’t know enough to understand the scriptures and the teachings of the church. “I was surprised to learn how many people on both sides of the debate within the church haven’t done serious study about the issue,” says Vines. “Their arguments tend to be pretty surface level, and people tend to be recycling all the things they are saying.”
Vines studied more than 50 books on homosexuality, read numerous journal articles, and even learned Greek in order to study the original biblical texts. Today, he continues to write about what he has learned, and he has delivered lectures at churches to share his discoveries. Motivating his scholarship is a desire to engage Christians in an open and informed conversation. “I wanted to be able to engage and dialogue with Christians in a meaningful discussion about Christianity. I wanted to be able to feel that my position was correct, and I wanted to be able to argue for it persuasively,” Vines says.
PERHAPS MOST EMBLEMATIC of the sea change happening among young evangelicals is the involvement of straight allies, the majority of whom have been raised in conservative homes.
Clinton Verley, a 2010 graduate of Bob Jones University, was raised in a conservative church and always believed that homosexuality was a sin—until he befriended a gay alumnus named Jonathan through a private Facebook community of gay and straight Bob Jones alumni.
“I had never actually met an openly gay person,” Verley says. Jonathan and Verley’s online exchange proved to be life-changing for Verley. “At school, being gay was seen as so disgusting, so immoral, and so unnatural that you couldn’t imagine a real person being that way,” Verley says. “But meeting Jonathan was like putting a human face to a dehumanized [label]. You meet someone and you realize they’re just like you.”
Verley’s growing friendship with Jonathan challenged his previous beliefs on what the Bible says about homosexuality, he says. Like most evangelicals, Verley believes there must be a biblical answer, but through his relationship with Jonathan, Verley came to believe that God does not condemn the LGBT community the way much of the church has. “I believe God creates people either straight or gay. I believe God makes people that way. I think that’s indisputable,” Verley says. He says he still doesn’t completely understand Bible passages that seem to condemn homosexuality, but he is committed to studying the biblical teaching on the subject. “It’s a work in progress,” he says. “I’m still reading a lot of things about how homosexuality relates to the Bible, but I accept gay people, and their rights are very important to me.”
Dani Kelley’s friendships with gay and lesbian people made her feel conflicted. “I grew up Plymouth Brethren, and the Bible is drilled into you from the time you are a small child,” she says. Raised in an extremely conservative home, Kelley grew up memorizing scripture, avoiding secular music, and being restricted from watching certain movies. She went to church three times a week, and her father worked in ministry. And while she doesn’t adhere to the same strict guidelines, she remains committed to the Bible and has difficulty reconciling some of the Bible’s statements on homosexuality. The question for her, as for many Bible-centered Christians, is whether the texts in question have anything to do with modern same-sex relationships.
“I have a hard time with the ‘clobber passages,’” Kelley says. “But I’m willing to step back and say, I don’t know what God is saying here, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t hate people. I’m pretty sure that he loves them, particularly because love is the greatest and second-greatest commandment—loving the Lord and loving everyone else.” With these convictions, both Verley and Kelley are involved with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Alumni of Bob Jones University, acting as straight advocates for their fellow alumni. “I want to help create a safe place for dialogue,” says Kelley. “And I think part of loving my neighbor is identifying with them.”
Still, it seems that for the majority of millennial evangelical Christians, loving one’s gay neighbor doesn’t necessarily mean an immediate endorsement of marriage equality or explicit support for LGBT rights. Matthew Lee Anderson, 30, is a Christian writer in St. Louis, Missouri, who identifies as a millennial evangelical with a more broadly conservative view on public marriage. Anderson believes that evangelicals in support of same-sex civil marriage are naive about the negative ramifications of trying to separate the religious view of marriage from the governmental view of marriage, although many evangelicals and others are convinced that this is the best way forward on the issue.
“I’ve faced opposition from younger evangelicals who really want to view this distinction between the religious conception and the governmental conception of marriage as a solution to the culture wars, but I’m skeptical,” Anderson says. “I think if you look at what’s going on with the Catholic Charities shutting down [their adoption services in several cities] because of anti-discrimination laws, that strikes me as a very tangible point of genuine conflict between the religious and governmental conception of marriage.”
Anderson does believe, however, that the conversation between conservative evangelicals and the LGBT community is shifting toward a more civil dialogue of mutual friendship and open communication. While he is careful to emphasize that a “let’s get along” approach could lead young evangelicals toward what he considers a too-loose policy position on same-sex marriage, Anderson appreciates the new generation’s emphasis on friendship as a civic virtue. “We’re willing to talk to each other, and we can create space for a less hysterical understanding of homosexuality in the public square,” Anderson says. “That’s not a policy solution, but I would say most younger evangelicals want to root their public engagement on this question with that relational approach.”
Regardless of where one falls on the question of marriage equality, loving God and loving neighbor proves to be the clarion call for many evangelical Christians conflicted about how to love their LGBT friends and family members. Mike McGeehon, an alumnus of George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, found great comfort in knowing that his call as a Christian was to love, not condemn, his gay peers. As an active member of One George Fox, McGeehon remains grounded in his faith in Christ. “I actually sat down and read the gospels to see the example of Christ,” McGeehon says. “Jesus Christ is hanging out with the ‘wrong’ people in his time. He is giving grace to tax collectors; he is hanging out with the prostitutes; he is healing the centurion’s servant. I think that’s our example.”
When asked if he felt called to be an advocate for gay Christians in the church, McGeehon paused, but only briefly.
“Yes,” he replies. “Christ said that what you do to the least of these, you do to me, and I take that very seriously. We’re supposed to show love and grace ... and in mainstream Christianity, I think that includes our gay neighbors.”
Jeannie Choi is a freelance writer and editor in Washington, D.C., and former web editor at Sojourners. | <urn:uuid:7ad072ad-a54c-4ee3-8f5a-fb0d56191836> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sojo.net/magazine/2012/07/changes-attitude?quicktabs_top_magazine_articles=1&quicktabs_web_extras=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974272 | 3,769 | 1.539063 | 2 |
CHICAGO, July 25 (UPI) -- Cussing at work may feel good in the moment but could be a career-sinking habit over the long haul, a survey by a U.S. online employment search firm indicates.
CareerBuilder.com in Chicago said in a release Wednesday that 64 percent of employers said they'd think less of an employee who habitually swears, and 57 percent said they'd be less likely to promote someone who curses in the office.
How common is swearing in the office? The survey said 51 percent of workers report they've done it -- more likely in front of co-workers than the boss, however.
Men (54 percent) are a bit more likely to cuss at work than women (47 percent), the survey found.
Employers aren't immune to workplace swearing, with 25 percent admitting they've cussed out employees.
Workplace swearing is most common in Washington (62 percent) and Denver (60 percent), followed by Chicago (58 percent), Los Angeles and Boston (56 percent), Atlanta (54 percent), Minneapolis (50 percent), Phoenix (47 percent) and Philadelphia (44 percent).
The nationwide survey of more than 2,000 hiring managers and 3,800 workers was conducted May 4-June 4. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.5 to 2 percent.
|Additional Odd News Stories|
JAKARTA, May 25 (UPI) --South Korean pop star Psy will perform in Indonesia at a concert celebrating diplomatic ties between the two countries, his management agency said Saturday.
SAN ANTONIO, May 25 (UPI) --Flash floods fueled by 10 inches of rain left one woman dead and one presumed drowned in San Antonio Saturday, and authorities urged evacuations in some areas.
WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) --In the U.S. non-federal sector, older workers are more likely than younger counterparts to report being able to put their best skills to use, a survey says. | <urn:uuid:9442abbc-bedf-4bd5-b627-2f22e7bfb3a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2012/07/25/On-the-job-cussing-may-hurt-career/UPI-84761343263881/?spt=hs%E2%8A%A6=on | 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 | 0.964543 | 414 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Some financial bloggers argue that the fiscal cliff won't have much effect on the economy at all. But the actual impact of the fiscal cliff doesn't matter. What matters is the perception.
Let's not make this more complicated than it already is - this is a Fiscal Cliff at the current moment. It is not a Fiscal Slope or anything gradual.I actually wish they'd call it a Fiscal Brick Wall because that's what it will actually act as upon investable assets.
If there is no compromise the US economy absolutely will slam into a wall. The smart money, however, would not be placed on that scenario. It is unlikely that anyone on either side wants a repeat of last year and the more obstinate wing of the GOP that started the whole episode has just been neutered.
But let's get back to the Cliff's impact, should we go over it...
Now there is a new meme going around that some of the more prominent bloggers have repeated, wherein we hear about how "the changes don't all take effect at once" and "this whole thing is just like Y2K" and "actually, it will probably have very little effect on the economy at all."
The bloggers who are repeating this are technically correct. But they tend to be either journalists or economists, and not market people necessarily.
And so I think that here's what they miss:
1. What the fiscal cliff's actual impact on the economy will ultimately be is not the point, it is the perception.
2. In the short-term, stocks trade on psychology and sentiment. This happens en masse and things change quickly. Fear over increased taxes, lower government spending and a further contraction of economic growth will not lead to a gradual adjustment of risk asset prices. Rather, it will mean a fear-driven race to the exits all at once. I don't care what your surveys say, deep down everyone who is in the stock market right now is operating under the assumption that a compromise will occur, on time, and one that kicks the can on all of the big issues. Any hint that we're deviating from this script will show up in the tape.
3. Economists and journalists who do fact-based empirical work sometimes forget that most people, including investors, do not behave rationality or react to the data in proportion with its actual meaning. Many people in this world, even some successful ones, can turn from reasonable human beings into hysterical monkeys when their fight-or-flight instinct is triggered. And nothing triggers it like a whiff of panic in the air and the threat of the unknown, in this case the question of how the economy will weather the effects of the Cliff.
So while Fiscal Slope may turn out to be the reality, intelligent people who have figured this out ought not to assume that that's how "the market" will react to it in the short-term. Especially if the calendar turns and we've gone "over it." Expect hysterical monkeys to rule the markets in that scenario rather than human beings at that point, even if their fear turns out to be unfounded. | <urn:uuid:829c0a4e-c301-473d-ac74-0c1bf9107fe7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Reformed-Broker/2012/1109/The-fiscal-cliff-isn-t-gradual-and-it-will-matter | 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 | 0.958354 | 630 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Co-curricular activities are a critical part of college experience and Hunter offers a diverse range of programs and services to support student success. Our student services and related programs complement the learning that takes place in the classroom and enhance the overall educational experience of students.
Student Services is comprised of the following offices:
Office of AccessABILITY
We embrace the spirit of the American Disability Act by providing services to all students with permanent or temporary disabilities to ensure that all Hunter College programs and activities are accessible. Our office collaborates with all departments and divisions of the college to facilitate and advocate for students and assist students to maximize their potential, while helping them develop and maintain independence. Our philosophy is one that promotes self-awareness, self-determination, and self-advocacy in a comprehensively accessible environment.
Office of Advising Services
Our Academic Advisors provide Hunter's undergraduates with information and advisement related to course and program requirements; curricular offerings; college procedures, regulations, policies, and personal concerns.
We also offer specialized Advising programs for different student communities, including:
Athletics, Recreation and Intramurals
We attract, retain, and graduate the finest student-athletes, whose athletic excellence is supported within the context of Hunter's academic mission. Home to eighteen NCAA Division III varsity programs, the Athletics Program is committed to ensuring that each student-athlete benefits from a supportive academic environment, highly qualified coaches and updated facilities for competition and practice. We provide numerous recreational opportunities to the Hunter community, including: the fitness center, racquetball courts, and group fitness programs in yoga, pilates, kickboxing, core-robics and zumba.
Career Development Services
Our staff is dedicated to providing comprehensive career services to students and alumni. Counselors are available to help you choose a major/career path, create a strong resume and cover letter, and prepare for job and internship interviews. Each semester we offer a wide variety of events such as careers expos, workshops, career panels, and on-campus employer interviews and information sessions. Jobs and internships are available through our online data base ORION. We encourage you to visit us often, beginning in your freshman year and continuing through senior year and graduation. See how we can help!
Counseling & Wellness Services (including Health Services)
We provide mental health, health, and wellness services aimed at enhancing students’ quality of life and maximizing personal and academic growth and development. Counseling Services provides short-term individual counseling, crisis intervention, psycho-education, outreach, and referral to the Hunter College student body, as well as consultation services to faculty, staff, students and others. Wellness Services strives to reduce health-related barriers to students’ personal and academic success through a range of activities, clinical services, and resources in general health education and disease prevention.
International Students Office
Hunter College has more than 800 students from 95 countries around the world. Our office assists these students in making a cultural transition and reaching their educational goals, by informing them about their rights and responsibilities relative to their immigration status, creating a supportive environment, and ensuring legal compliance.
Our three residence facilities offer a variety of room configurations and amenities, all within easy commuting distance of campus. Our student residents are involved in social, educational, and cultural programs designed to enrich their learning experience and promote positive relationships within the Residence Halls and the community at large.
Scholarships & Grants
We provide information and advice about a wide variety of funding opportunities available through public and private organizations, as well as Hunter College scholarships for eligible students. Please see our comprehensive Grants Guide [pdf].
Our programs encourage and support a wide variety of student activities, including athletics, recreation, student clubs and organizations, performing arts, and student government. We also provide opportunities for students to achieve a better understanding of and appreciation for the cultures of others. | <urn:uuid:55d249d9-c138-4f80-90c5-a0fc226f10d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentaffairs/student-affairs-offices?None&month:int=2&year:int=2013&orig_query=None | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946122 | 797 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Mary, the mother of Jesus, lived in humble obedience to the will of her heavenly Father. From the angel Gabriel's announcement of God's plan for her, through the adversities presented by Christ's work on earth, Mary exhibited both courage and humility. In this study, women will walk beside Mary the teenager...the wife...the mother...the widow...the church member. Women of all ages will discover how to: sustain a humble spirit with overflowing prayer; hold God's assurances deep within; and walk humbly through good times and bad with a heart fixed on God.
Average Customer Rating:
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1 out of 1100%customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Nurturing a Heart of Humility: A Woman After God's Own Heart Series, Mary
Review 1 for Nurturing a Heart of Humility: A Woman After God's Own Heart Series, Mary
would like to be able write answers in spaces provided. Being handicapped (only one arm) reading and answering the questions in the hard or soft covered books is difficult. The e-book is great for reading. However, books for study, if possible, would be appreciated if our answers or comments could be added without having to continually go to a different screen. | <urn:uuid:c15b79f2-0c7f-4376-abe0-3726c186b010> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reviews.christianbook.com/2016/903003/harvest-house-publishers-nurturing-a-heart-of-humility-a-woman-after-gods-own-heart-series-mary-reviews/reviews.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934272 | 271 | 1.617188 | 2 |
In San Francisco and other cities across the US, possession of condoms, condom wrappers and conversations about safe sex are used as evidence against sex workers to justify arrest for prostitution and prostitution related charges.
The routine use of condoms as a tool to violate our basic human right to protect ourselves from HIV and sexually transmitted infections, as well as prevent unwanted pregnancies, is unjust and counter to sound public health. The Human Rights Watch released a report chronicling this absurd practice in four cities: New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
(The condom featured in this post was just created, by our volunteer graphic artist, Rachel Schreiber, to raise awareness about the issue and in protest of the criminalization of condoms and safe sex against sex workers. We will be distributing them at the upcoming International AIDS Conference, held in Washington DC during the month of July 2012.)
The Bay Area Reporter recently published an article discussing this issue in San Francisco and highlighting how difficult it is for sex worker rights activists to advocate for change when various officials are completely ignorant about the practices occurring in their own departments.
Below is statement developed by the St. James Infirmary nearly 2 years ago that we have presented to various Supervisors, District Attorneys, SF Police Officers, and representatives at the AIDS Office as well as the Human Rights Commission. After all this time, we are glad to hear that the recent BAR article has ignited the powers-that-be to finally issue a department-wide bulletin denouncing the confiscation of unused condoms as evidence. However, the bulletin does not go far enough as police will still be allowed to photograph condoms as evidence, which will have the same result for sex workers: fear of carrying condoms.
In early June, 2012, St. James Infirmary was visited by the Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe. During this visit we presented Michel Sidibe and members of UNAIDS with our statement and asked Michel Sidibe to write a letter to the Mayor of San Francisco and the US Obama Administration urging them to end the harmful and unnecessary practice of using condoms, photographs of condoms, or discussions of condoms or safe sex for prostitution or prostitution related arrests.
No condoms, condom wrappers, photographs of condoms or discussions of safe sex shall be used to ascertain an arrest for prostitution or prostitution related charges, as evidence of prostitution in court proceedings, or in administrative inspections for permitting or licensing of establishments.
In 1994, San Francisco District Attorney Arlo Smith signed an agreement that the DAs Office would not use condoms as evidence for 647(b) cases (soliciting for prostitution, State CA Penal Code) as an “act of furtherance”. This agreement was a trial basis and was intended to include an active review with the Health Department and Police Department on the results of the demonstration agreement.
To date, condoms as an act of furtherance are not being used in trial court cases in San Francisco because most cases are plead out and do not go to trial. However, these are the ways that condoms, condom wrappers, and discussions of safe sex are being used in administrative searches, to ascertain an arrest and as evidence to pressure sex workers to accept plea bargains and for accepting diversion for their cases of 647(b):
In 647(b) cases against sex workers, discussions of safe sex or any euphemism of safe sex are being used by SFPD to ascertain an arrest of sex workers and to force a plea into diversion programs. Condoms are also being used by SFPD to establish other prostitution related offenses (Loitering for the Intent to Commit Prostitution). This has been confirmed by the SF Public Defenders Office and members of the SFPD. The increasing use of condoms, the photographing of condoms to be used as evidence by the police, and discussions of safer sex, or protected sex, against street and internet based workers has these workers reluctant to take condoms from our outreach workers and increases harms to workers in that they can not negotiate condoms and safe sex for their protections without fear of arrests.
Condoms and condom wrappers are being used in administrative searches and raids of massage parlors by the Anti-Trafficking Task Force (Environmental Health Section of the DPH, SF VICE and ICE). Trashcans are searched for wrappers and condoms. To adapt to the raids, and continue offering protection, massage parlor workers and managers are unwrapping condoms, disposing of the wrappers off site and hiding the unwrapped condoms in empty cleaning containers, for example a bottle of bleach. Evidence of this, in the form of a power point slide slow with pictures of the bleach containers and unwrapped condoms, was presented to the St. James Infirmary by a SF Vice Office from the Task Force.
The Alcohol and Beverage Control (ABC) inspects local strip clubs and other night clubs and condoms are used against strip clubs and trans-specific establishments in maintaining their liquor permits. No other nightclubs (for example, gay/lesbian nightclubs or straight night clubs) have reported this treatment. Managers at strip clubs have been very adamant that our outreach workers cannot distribute condoms to the dancers. This limits dancers freedoms and rights to possess condoms for any reason, personal or otherwise to prevent disease and pregnancy. Moreover, the targeting of trans-specific night clubs for having condoms is discriminatory and poses series HIV and STI risks for trans-identified females, whom have been determined by the SF Office of AIDS and HIV Prevention Planning Council as a priority group for HIV prevention interventions and funding.
In numerous clinical studies, condoms have been demonstrated to reduce HIV and STI transmission and unwanted pregnancies. The prevention of HIV/STIs is more cost affective than the care and treatment of HIV and STIs. Moreover, the right to family planning choices and access to reproductive health tools is a fundamental right of all people. Furthermore, in San Francisco, HIV Prevention funding has been eliminated for females who do not inject drugs, thus putting this specific population in the position of decreased access to City funded HIV Prevention programs and interventions.
We are asking that the SF AIDS Office agree to urge the SF Mayor and Board of Supervisors for a resolution that prioritizes universal access to condoms in San Francisco, and the freedom to posses or provide condoms without limitations, in all settings and establishments and by all individuals regardless of gender identity or believed sex work status.
We also urge the City to ask for a Department Bulletin from the SFPD that condoms, photographs of condoms or discussions of safe sex/protected sex, or any euphemism of condoms and safe sex will not be used in any form for any type of arrest for prostitution or prostitution related charges or to stop and harass people for suspicion of prostitution. The bulletin should also state that there is no legal limit to the number of condoms any one person can carry at any one time.
We also want a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and new commitment from the SF District Attorneys Office to not use condoms, or discussions of safe sex or protected sex, or any euphemism of condoms or safe sex as evidence, or mention, in any trial for Intent to Commit Prostitution 647(b) or prostitution related charges.
We would like to voice to the SFPD and SF District Attorney’s Office that we take issue with the comparison of condoms used as evidence in rape charges with condoms being used as evidence of prostitution. The first has nothing to do with the latter. They are NOT the same thing. Our issue is these departments use of condoms as evidence against the sex worker and transgender communities, to routinely harass us and threaten us with arrest for walking in our neighborhoods and trying to protect ourselves from disease and unwanted pregnancy. We are NOT rapists. STOP confusing our issue and deflecting your responsibility in violating our rights by comparing our condoms with rape evidence. | <urn:uuid:4e049b29-95db-4a6a-b003-f60f34d68660> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stjamesinfirmary.org/wordpress/?page_id=2083 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945203 | 1,597 | 1.664063 | 2 |
You're familiar with, "Miracle On 34th Street," but have you heard of the "Miracle On Capitol Way" in Olympia?
It's a secular "holiday" miracle.
It is unclear who actually performed the miracle, but there is evidence that it has happened. There are reports that Secretary of State Sam Reed performed the actual miracle--or Attorney General Rob McKenna. Some think it was Governor Gregoire. Others say it was our Founding Fathers who said in the Constitution that the word God or Christmas could not be uttered or implied on state owned property.
But the evidence stands. It actually happened.
A 22-foot Noble Fir tree stands in the Capitol Rotunda---a tree that has been transformed in a magical way. And it happened sometime between conception and death. Perhaps in route to its final stand.
The Secretary's website reports, "The tree was donated by Tom and Dian Rolfs of Olympia, who live near Marvin Road. The fir was originally planted on their deck in 1995 as a living Christmas tree."
So the tree was, at conception, a "Christmas tree" according to the Secretary's website.
Secretary Reed's website continues; "It was then transitioned to their yard, and they continued to decorate it until it grew too tall."
Is there a height at which a Christmas tree is no longer a Christmas tree?
When did the tree cease to be a Christmas tree? Was it en route along Marvin Road? Perhaps as it entered Capitol Way? Or as it was moved into the Capitol last week?
The Secretary's website reports that the tree is now a "Holiday Tree." A miracle! A tree that had found its identity as a "Christmas Tree" for 15 years, is suddenly transformed into a "Holiday Tree." The tree's caretakers had known it as a "Christmas" tree. Neighbors had known it as a Christmas tree---but now it is no longer a Christmas tree.
It was celebrated this past Friday as the official Capitol Rotunda "Holiday Tree."
A reverse, secular miracle.
In a possibly related note; as I drove down Capitol Way yesterday afternoon, just blocks from the site of the miracle "Holiday" tree, a woman in an older Buick pulled out onto the "Way" with a clear and distinct message written on her car---in big bold letters.
Large self adhesive letters on the side of her car said, "Freedom From Faith." The letters were not unlike the font on our own Faith and Freedom logo. As she sped past, the message across the back of her car said something very close to this: "God doesn't need your faith or your lies about his existence."
Could she have been visiting the "holiday tree?"
I will likely never know, nor will we ever know who actually performed the "Miracle On Capitol Way."
What we do know, however, is that the world changed forever the day God became flesh and dwelt among us. We know Him as Jesus. And we know His birthday as "Christmas."
Polls consistently show at least 70% of Americans prefer the word "Christmas" as it relates to trees, wreaths, etc., and of those, 7 of 10 prefer the term "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays."
To the neglected majority, "Merry Christmas." And enjoy your Christmas tree.
Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful. Be Active. Be A Blessing. Be Blessed.
Faith and Freedom
Click here to add these blogs to your email inbox. | <urn:uuid:7232b12c-cd70-4899-96f1-44bf0c2abd99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.faithandfreedom.us/2010/12/miracle-on-capitol-way.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971855 | 729 | 1.71875 | 2 |
I have to share this email from a very dear friend of mine who I can only hope sent it to me as a joke; the name is being withheld to protect the (hopefully) innocent. According to Snopes, variations of this particular gag have been bouncing from mailbox to mailbox since 1997. This is the “Bill Gates wants to go broke” incarnation. We’ll go through it bit-by-bit to look at all the tell-tale signs of an email hoax.
THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY - IT IS FOR REAL
Lots of capitalized text is a good indicator of nonsense, since apparently ANYTHING IS MORE BELIEVABLE IF YOU TYPE IT IN ALL CAPS.
To all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages,
Of course, that line was presumably written by the instigator of the chain, so they’re technically not forwarding the message. They just expect millions of other gullible people to do it for them.
But this is from my friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is an attorney. If she says that this will work - It will work. After all,What have you got to lose?
The old “what have you got to lose?” line is a favorite in chain letters. After all, what’s the risk of losing the good will of all the friends in your email address book compared to the negligible possibility that Bill Gates is giving away billions of dollars for no good reason.
SORRY EVERYBODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!! I'm an attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.
I don’t remember any such lawsuit; do you? It must have happened, though. Even though I should remember a multi-million dollar lawsuit fought between two of the world’s largest corporations, surely a LAWYER wouldn’t be making this up! I mean, her friend used her name in the letter and everything!
Dear Friends: Please do not take this for a junk letter
Perish the thought! I’m really starting to believe this, people. The author of this letter is INCREDIBLY PERSUASIVE.
Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later.
Important messages like this always make major grammar errors, like leaving the verbs out of sentences. These messages are so important, you just HAVE to send them right away, without running a spelling/grammar check or anything.
I also like the quasi-Biblical threat (since no one uses "repent" in normal communications).
Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.
Obviously, the best way to insure the continued success of a WEB BROWSER is to run a massive EMAIL beta test that throws away money.
When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks time period. For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check.
Absolutely TRUE! And Microsoft also uses this technology to track down terrorists and turn them in to the government. That’s how we caught Osama Bin Laden and utterly destroyed Al-Qaeda! Oh, wait…
Regards. Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations
1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX 292-1085
This is unquestionably a real person with a real title, and I have no doubt those numbers are legit.
Thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I received a check for $24, 800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can affoard this, Bill gates is the man. It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10, 000.00
Let me try doing a little math, here. The version of this that I got was apparently forwarded four times. The number of “To” addresses in the forwards varied from twelve to thirty-five. If we’re conservative and guess that the average victim forwards this to ten acquaintances, that’s over 2.6 million dollars in advertising expenses in just four chain links. If this conservative chain continued one link per day for the two weeks this promotion is supposedly running, Bill and company would need to pay out over 2.3 QUINTILLION dollars (2.3 million billion or $2,320,000,000,000,000)! That’s over 46 thousand times what Microsoft earns in a year (before expenses). It’s also about 900 times the 2006 budget of the United States.
Are we seeing the nonsense, yet?
We're not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game, she showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped "Paid In Full".
And just for some added internal inconsistency, we have this conundrum (which actually reiterates a problem I skipped over earlier in the letter). What good is it for us to forward this email – which is part of a TWO WEEK beta test – if some guy's girlfriend got into it and got paid MONTHS ago? Supposedly you get paid a couple of weeks after you forward the letter, meaning THE PROMOTION IS OVER BEFORE ANYONE GETS PAID. If people have already gotten paid, there is absolutely NO CHANCE that you will get any renumeration for forwarding this email, even if it weren't a hoax from the start.
Can we stop forwarding nonsense like this now? | <urn:uuid:24a54d3a-7e19-4bdf-95b9-de0fec96c829> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://runolfr.blogspot.jp/2007/01/how-bill-gates-went-broke.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949256 | 1,382 | 1.679688 | 2 |
UPDATE, 12:30 p.m.: NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center indicates a severe thunderstorm watch is likely to be issued for the D.C. area. Already, a large supercell (rotating) thunderstorm has developed in western Maryland in eastern West Virginia for which a tornado warning was issued.
Original post, from 11:10 a.m.: When a cold front collides with a hot, juicy airmass over the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, strong to severe thunderstorms are possible today. There is the chance of a large, organized area of storms with damaging winds, though it *probably* targets areas south of Washington D.C. from central Virginia into the Carolinas.
Nevertheless, scattered - potentially severe - storms are a risk in the immediate D.C. metro region this afternoon into early this evening.
One area of weakening showers and thunderstorms from southern Pennsylvania may move through the region before that in the 11 am to 1 p.m. time frame around Washington, D.C., but is not our focus at this time
In some ways, the overall configuration of weather systems resembles that of June 29, when the derecho struck the mid-Atlantic and regions to the northwest back towards Chicago.
The jet stream, the region of strong upper level winds, runs from northwest to southeast over top a large heat dome centered east of the Plains. A strong disturbance is tracking along the jet stream. Already today, this disturbance triggered severe thunderstorms around Chicago and more than 180,000 power outages. A wind gust of 58 was recorded just after 6 a.m. local time at O’Hare International airport and some gusts to 60-70 mph were logged in the region.
Late this morning, regional radar showed a large area of strong to severe thunderstorms from northwest Indiana (where the Storm Prediction Center has already logged over 20 wind damage reports) curling into western Ohio and north central Kentucky. These storms will ride along the jet stream towards the mid-Atlantic and Southeast this afternoon.
(Note: despite pronouncements from AccuWeather and The Weather Channel that this convective system is a derecho, it not yet clear it has met derecho criteria. I don’t see a clear 240 mile, uni-directional swath of damage)
The Storm Prediction Center has the D.C. area on the northern edge of a large region to the south highlighted for the possibility of severe thunderstorms with damaging winds. Compared to the June 29 event, steering currents are more sharply pointed towards the southeast, so the region from central Virginia into the Carolinas is probably most threatened by this developing storm complex, which *could* evolve into a derecho-type system.
The storms could lose some punch crossing the mountains, but like June 29, the complex of storms will run into very warm, moist and unstable air on the downwind side. Levels of Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), a measure of instability, are forecast to be very high, in the 3,000-4,000 range - though somewhat less than June 29 (over 5,000).
Even if the D.C. area is north of an organized complex of severe weather (appears the most likely scenario), scattered areas of strong to severe thunderstorms are still possible.
Storms that develop could contain damaging winds and/or hail. The most likely timing for storms is between 3 and 8 p.m.
To conclude, while the risk of widespread severe storms is highest south and southwest of the metro region and lowest to the northeast - the entire region should be on guard for the potential for strong to severe storms this afternoon and evening. | <urn:uuid:ee70c29b-f6c9-415f-8d45-1130c798150c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/threat-of-severe-thunderstorms-today-highest-risk-south-of-dc/2012/07/24/gJQAjZnh6W_blog.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 | 0.944798 | 753 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Boston Dynamics does indeed deserve their excellent rep. But the answers to why are more mundane: a) They had military funding way before most other robot companies, and b) they had the foresight to start working on biomimicry in robotics before anyone else. They've also been really good at operating in stealth mode under the radar.
Thanks for the video Cabe. I just spent the last 30 minutes perusing the Boston Dynamics website. Unbelieveable! It's here, now. NOW watching the movie "iRobot" doesn't seem so much like fantasy as it does a peek into the future.
By experimenting with the photovoltaic reaction in solar cells, researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough in energy efficiency that significantly pushes the boundaries of current commercial cells on the market.
In a world that's going green, industrial operations have a problem: Their processes involve materials that are potentially toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. If improperly managed, this can precipitate dangerous health and environmental consequences.
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is | <urn:uuid:721c8601-3658-4ead-8cde-7c56f32ec418> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.designnews.com/messages.asp?piddl_msgthreadid=262280&piddl_msgid=947578 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951846 | 344 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Population control mission doc performs over 3-lac surgeries
Bhopal: With over 3,05,000 sterilisation operations to his credit, Dr Lalit Mohan Pant from Madhya Pradesh, has been hugely successful in his mission to prevent a population explosion in the country.
The Indore-based doctor, who is a surgeon in a government hospital with specialisation in laproscopic sterilisation, has contributed a lot in his little way to tackle the problem of growing population.
"It is estimated that one sterilisation operation prevents 2.7 births, which means I have been successful in preventing addition of 8,23,500 births in the country which has over 1.21 billion as per the 2011 census," Dr Pant, who has documented each operation in official records said.
His consistent efforts also found him a place in the Limca Book of World Records with the largest number of operations in day (816) besides 27,578 surgeries and 627 camps in one year.
For the past 32 years, Pant has been working in the remotest tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh. Now with his headquarters at Indore, he is the only laparoscopic surgeon authorised by the Government of Madhya Pradesh to work throughout the state.
Three decades ago, when he started working on his project, the male participation was almost zero. Now, up to 60 per cent of his patients are males undergoing sterilisation, he said.
He has also started a movement of 'Hum Paanch". The idea behind this is to make a chain of people to market good ideas, thoughts or experience sharing, without involving money, for the sake of checking population rise in the country. | <urn:uuid:d25aed70-8846-4af7-a715-963a8e382b40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zeenews.india.com/print.aspx?nid=830041 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971818 | 343 | 1.679688 | 2 |
“Here, have some bombs!”
Generally speaking, bombs as depicted in the Mario series are not entirely unique, and are based on a widely-used cartoon gag that stylizes bombs as sometimes being less dangerous than a real-world one and often depicts them simply as dark, round orbs with fuses atop them. Bob-ombs are living enemies based on this stylization as well. Despite appearing in recent games such Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, Bombs seem to be slowly fading out of the Mario series, being replaced by the aforementioned Bob-ombs (which function very similarly to the bomb items).
Game and Watch series
Mario's Bombs Away
Mario has to deliver a bomb to his comrades at a military outpost in a Vietnam War-era setting.
Super Mario series
Super Mario Bros. 2
In Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad can pluck bombs from the ground and throw them. In Super Mario Bros. 2, the four heroes have to use the bombs to clear obstacles in places like caved in areas. They can also be used to defeat enemies (though they can hurt the heroes as well). Bob-ombs also make their first appearance in the Mario series in this game, and can be found in later levels of the game. Enemies like Mouser attack by throwing bombs at Mario and his friends during their battles. Bombs later appear in remakes of Super Mario Bros. 2, such as Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance. These remakes changed them from red to purple.
In later installments of the Super Mario series, bombs are seemingly replaced by the Bob-omb enemies.
New Super Mario Bros. U
Bombs make a reappearance in the Super Mario series in New Super Mario Bros. U, in which bombs are Lemmy Koopa's main weapon of choice. Similar to Mouser in Super Mario Bros. 2, Lemmy throws the magically spawned bombs in an arch-like pattern. However, unlike the previous battles, these bombs bounce upon coming into contact with the ground, and if Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, or Yellow Toad touch a bomb, it explodes immediately.
The bombs in this game appear to be purple in color (much like the redesigned bombs in Super Mario Advance), though they are decorated with yellow stars around them.
Wario series
Wario's Woods
In Wario's Woods, the use of bombs are Toad's main form of attack when fighting the various monsters that were sent by Wario. Toad receives these multicolored bombs from his fairy helper, Wanda. In order to defeat Wario's minions (as well as the bosses in the game), Toad has to stack the bombs according to their colors; if the color matches a monster's color, it gets destroyed. In the SNES version of the game, Toad can be seen throwing a bomb at Wario's castle in the ending of the game, causing his castle to get destroyed and allowing peace to return to Wario's Woods, as well as the entire Mushroom Kingdom.
Wario World
Bombs known as Smiley Bombs later appear in Wario World. They are purple in color and are shot out by Ankirons. While they strongly resemble regular bombs, they have faces painted on them. They also make an appearance in Mario Hoops 3-on-3. The defending team can sometimes receive one out of the ? Panels on the court. When thrown, they explode, knocking everyone within the blast radius down and spilling some of their collected Coins.
Wario Land: Shake It!
Bombs appear in Wario Land: Shake It! in Boogie Mansion, and are thrown by Peek-a-booms. There is also a bomb block that can be a platform before it explodes. Both can be triggered when touched or when Wario does an Earthshake Punch.
WarioWare series
Super Smash Bros. series
Certain characters that appear in the Super Smash Bros. series, including Link, Young Link, and Toon Link, can throw bombs to attack. Bombs are also referenced in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. When Peach tries to pull a vegetable from the ground, she may occasionally grab a Bob-omb. The way she plucks a Bob-omb makes reference to the way that she and the other heroes pulled bombs from the ground in Super Mario Bros. 2.
Donkey Kong series
DK: Jungle Climber
Bombs also appear in DK: Jungle Climber, where they can be used and thrown in order to destroy obstacles such as Steel Kegs. In later levels, bombs serve as a semi-common weapon used by Kritters to attack.
Paper Mario series
Super Paper Mario
In Super Paper Mario, there is a bomb-shaped Pixl named Boomer that Mario can use to blow up switches, blow up cracks in walls, and defeat enemies. Bombs also appear occasionally when a player stomps on a Ninjoe, a Ninjohn, or a Ninjerry. These bombs look exactly like Boomer, though unlike Boomer, they can hurt the player. A bomb later appears in Chapter 6-2, when Mimi disguises herself as King Sammer and tells the player to open a chest in front of them. There's a bomb inside the chest, but it turns out to be a dud.
Paper Mario: Sticker Star
In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, bombs appear as stickers that are sometimes dropped by Bob-ombs. They can be used to attack enemies, however, the attack animation shows that Mario calls forth a Bob-omb to throw at them even though the stickers themselves are called bomb stickers.
Luigi's Mansion
In Luigi's Mansion, bombs appear as large, normal-looking bombs with a skull emblem on them. Purple Bombers will drop a bomb once they are discovered, and bombs are also one of the things Boos will place in rooms (the other being a Boo Ball), which the Boo Radar will pick up as a Boo reading. Luigi can easily get rid of bombs by spraying the Water element at them, or he can simply avoid them.
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Mario & Sonic series
The bombs seen in the Sonic series appear in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. They are items in Dream Events that can be used by anyone. In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, the player places them on the ground in Dream Race. Anyone who touches them is slowed down. In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, bombs go near the other players when used, and if they don't have a star, the bombs blow up and slow down the player. There is also a type of bomb called a bomb puck that is used only in Ice Hockey.
Club Nintendo Comic series | <urn:uuid:d0626c1c-f4d7-4f1e-a2b0-2d2dc4c6c7fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mariowiki.com/Bomb_(item) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954954 | 1,410 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Lawyers for former leaders of the Richardson, Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the nation’s largest Muslim charity, are asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to overturn their clients’ convictions and prison sentences. A three-judge panel didn’t immediately rule after hearing two hours of arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Defense lawyers claim the judge who presided over their 2008 retrial erred in allowing testimony about Hamas’ terrorist activities, protecting the identities of two Israeli witnesses and denying defendants’ access to many of their own secretly recorded statements.
“It was not a fair trial,” said defense attorney John Cline, who represents Ghassan Elashi. “The entire trial process was so riddled with errors that the process was not fair.”
Federal prosecutors argue U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis in Dallas didn’t abuse his discretion in deciding what evidence jurors could hear.
Justice Department attorney Joseph Palmer defended Solis’ decision to allow a government witness from the Israeli Security Agency to testify as an expert anonymously, using the pseudonym “Avi,” about Hamas’ control of West Bank social committees that were funded by Holy Land.
Jurors also heard anonymous testimony from an officer in the Israeli Defense Forces.
“There was a real threat to the safety of those witnesses should their identities have been disclosed,” Palmer said.
Cline, however, said the anonymous testimony deprived the defendants of their due process rights and prevented defense attorneys from fully challenging their credibility.
“They were phantoms to us,” he said. “Avi was a critical witness in this case, and his credibility was essential.”
Appeals Judge Carolyn Dineen King agreed Avi was a “powerful witness” but noted that other trial testimony covered some of the same ground.
Background on HLF at IPT, US v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, et al.
Filed under: Alerts, Creeping Sharia, Legal, Media, News, Politics, Religion, Sharia, Stealth Jihad Tagged: | cair, finance, hamas, islam, law, Legal, Life, litigation jihad, Media, Muslim, News, Politics, Random, Religion, Sharia, terrorism | <urn:uuid:fc368cd0-5e71-43df-8003-a6b5861b7d2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/will-u-s-appeals-court-free-hamas-funding-holy-land-foundation-leaders/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968282 | 489 | 1.570313 | 2 |
A forum for kinesthetic lessons, tips, problems, and encouragement. Also successes, and research facts to back up the idea that moving and learning do not have to be separate concepts. Come on! Jump in!
We know it's there, but how do we use it, teach it, assess it, enjoy it? Let's have an open forum to talk about expereiences, lessons, activities, research; more importantly, how do you make the connection in your life?
Here is a place to share ideas that transform students into lifelong writers and help them succeed on any writing test, including STAAR. Download lessons from Barry Lane, Gretchen Bernabei and Alana Morris to add to your tool box. See More | <urn:uuid:70823da7-7c75-41cc-aaf8-8c9d08ab6495> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://discoverwriting.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?month=11&year=2011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938762 | 150 | 1.570313 | 2 |
El Almendro (The Almond Tree)
El Almendro is a unique mythical brand of confectionery marketed since 1883. A century old tradition maintaining unparalled quality product blended with supreme craftsmanship. It is produced in Jijona province of Spain, a privileged land for growing almonds. This product is exported to over 60 countries around the world. The links with the land and the abundance of almond trees, which is traditional to the area, were crucial for adoption of “EL ALMENDRO” as a brand name for its products. A rigid quality control, the selection of the best raw-materials, the careful production processes and the high degree of professionalism of the company give to each and every product quality. Every year they are introducing new products. | <urn:uuid:617b5cf9-2a4a-44e5-9755-4efcf738e35e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://choithram.com/brands/details.aspx?id=24 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955146 | 160 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Barack Obama, the US president, has confirmed that Christopher Hill, a veteran US diplomat, is to become the new US ambassador to Iraq.
Hill is a career foreign service diplomat who served as the lead US negotiator in six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear programme during the administration of George Bush, Obama's predecessor.
"From his time in the Peace Corps, to his work in Kosovo and Korea, ambassador Hill has been tested, and he has shown the pragmatism and skill that we need right now," Obama said on Friday.
Obama confirmed the move as he announced that the US would withdraw combat troops from Iraq by August 2010.
Hill is considered an ally of Richard Holbrooke, now the US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, who is best known for brokering the Dayton Peace Accords.
Officials had said earlier this month that Hill was the leading candidate to replace Ryan Crocker as the most senior US diplomat in Baghdad.
He had earlier served as a negotiator in the crises in Bosnia and Kosovo, but is best known for his role in the North Korea talks.
Under a landmark agreement signed in 2007, North Korea agreed with its five partners - the US, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia - to scrap its nuclear programmes in exchange for energy aid.
But further negotiations deadlocked late last year over a dispute with North Korea over how to verify nuclear disarmament.
Last month, Hill admitted the North Korea talks had been "a pretty tough assignment" and that there had been "too many interruptions" in the negotiations. | <urn:uuid:79ecdfea-4b3e-4ae1-a8d1-f309ac9006a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2009/02/2009227215553136404.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981062 | 319 | 1.664063 | 2 |
With all of the outsourcing being done today the project management consultant is in demand. The requirements for someone to fill this position will vary from organization to organization, but the basics will remain constant for each business sector. Because of the variety of project this consultant will encounter to be employed is great, their training and knowledge base should be greater than the average project manager that is tied to a specific company.
The experience a project management consultant has acquired over their career is generally sufficient to qualify them for this type of position. What most of them do lack are the business skills to operate consultant service company. This is where training in project management consulting will be very advantageous to have.
Being a project management consultant is more than just knowing how to do the tasks you are asked to perform, you must also run a business in every sense of the word. To do this you must know how to market your skills to your target audience so they are aware of just what you can do for them. The most important point to get across to your target audience is the value you can bring to an organization that uses your consulting services.
You can view this business venture of running a project management consultant service as a project for your own company. This will require you to have a project plan that will attract the clients in need of your services. You will also need to prepare a formal proposal exhibiting your skills and abilities in the best possible light. This will allow the values you bring to an organization to show thru and impress any organization.
Along with your skills as a project management consultant you must also have the project management tools at your disposal so you can perform the tasks asked of you by an organization. By having your own set of tools, you will be familiar with the programs and systems so you can make an effeicent use of your time while working for others.
Being a project management consultant is more about being able to run a business than just guiding a business venture to a successful conclusion. You need to be successful with both. | <urn:uuid:d067cc20-f8c1-4eed-a847-bd8bc67dd884> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.mpmm.com/project-management-consultant-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964946 | 405 | 1.546875 | 2 |
"You have to ... you just have to," a friend of mine explained how I had to vote for a Democrat I didn't like because the Republican was worse. Funny, I was always told that the only two things I had to do were die and pay taxes.
So this is the American way of electing: having to choose between the two political parties and often casting a vote for the lesser of two evils. This way of thinking has been so deeply ingrained into our culture that deviating from it is often considered peculiar or even unrealistic. To me what seems totally unbelievable is that intelligent people actually abide by this atrocious, limited-choice system.
Recent polls show that public support for government is at an all-time low. Congress has a 9 percent approval rating. This is not good because Congress is supposed to be our representative body in the federal government. Usually the blame goes to the daily partisan bickering in Washington causing stalemate after stalemate. "You know if it just weren't for those pesky Democrats or those stonewalling Republicans," and on and on it goes. This seems to be the thinking of most folks that I talk to, but I am going to suggest a different reality.
Money in politics: There are 30,000 lobbyists in Washington. They all have special interests and they have the money to back up their interests. Their weapon of choice is the campaign contribution. It now costs $1.2 million to make a congressional run; $6.4 million to make a Senate run, and Obama spent $780 million in 2008 to win the presidency.
This year's election is expected to increase those numbers by 25 percent. Our politicians are addicted to cash and cash campaigns. They will tell you that they have to have it to remain competitive. But both parties have wholeheartedly bought into this corporate-funded, cash system, and any attempts to rein it in have been predictably quashed. This is why it seems that Congress is not doing anything; actually, they're doing plenty, just not for us.
Campaign finance reform: Eight out of 10 Americans agree that the money in politics should be brought under control. But how?
The McCain-Feingold Act of 2002, which attempted to limit campaign spending, has been whittled down over the years to become mostly useless. Presidential federal matching funds, intended to introduce public funds that are not tied to special interests, are ignored by both Obama and Romney. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision has opened the floodgates for corporate dollars into advertising campaigns. And the Disclose Act, which would at least try to track where those funds are coming from, was twice defeated in Congress. Not the president, the Congress, nor the Supreme Court is willing to put a stop to the fait accompli takeover of our democracy by powerful elites.
What must we do? We must rethink something that has been deeply propagandized into our mindset. We must do something that seemed unthinkable to our parents and grandparents. We must set aside our fears and muster our courage. We must stop voting for Republicans and Democrats.
What will this do? Somewhere along the line of our partisan thinking we forgot that social reform never comes from accommodating the power structure. This is the lesson we can take from the 2008 Obama election and why his administration was such a huge disappointment.
As much as we wanted it to, it was never really intended to bring about change. Real change comes by demanding it from outside of the power structure. From the abolition of slavery, to women's suffrage, the labor and civil rights movements all had their bases in "third" parties. When we withdraw our support from the corporate-funded parties we will see the change we are looking for. We will start to see a slow restoration of our American democracy.
Where to go?
For those readers who are of the conservative ilk, I invite you to take a look at the Constitution and Libertarian parties.
For people with moderate spectrum views, why not register independent?
For the liberals and progressives, for goodness sake, please join the Green Party of the United States.
The Green Party has become one of the most influential new parties on earth. They are winning elections and bringing sane solutions to our beleaguered planet. The German Greens have moved that country away from dangerous nuclear power and toward a green, renewable energy future. This can also happen here with the election of Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate who will not, by the way, accept corporate contributions for her campaign.
So the next time someone starts telling you that "you have to," tell him or her sorry, you're going to vote your values -- not your fears.
Stephen E. Baker of Springettsbury Township is chairman of the York County Green Party. | <urn:uuid:313fa9ab-7298-467e-9cd3-1afb2a83dfc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ydr.com/letters/ci_21707298/live.ydr.com | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975716 | 972 | 1.835938 | 2 |
ross-legged on the rug-covered floor of a colourful shop, eating traditional Afghan fare with friends while listening to the stories of the life of a rug maker from Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan isn’t a typical Monday night, but Najaf Mazari has stories worth telling and a room full of people who want to hear them.
“Afghanistan has always been involved with the war and we always had conflict,” Mazari says. “It was difficult because during the wartime unfortunately you are losing family members and innocent people.”
At the hands of the Soviets and then the Taliban, Mazari lost his brother, brother-in-law and then his uncle and cousin. Mazari himself endured harsh persecution in the form of torture and severe injuries. Afghanistan, it was clear, was no longer a safe place.
Leaving his wife and baby daughter behind, Mazari made the uncertain, shaky journey to Australia in 2001 by bus, plane and boat before landing in Woomera Detention Centre, where he spent four long months. Released on a Temporary Protection Visa with $260 in his pocket, Mazari was quick to bring his skill set to his new home, where a few chance meetings, some helpful new friends and a lot of hard work saw him open Afghan Traditional Rugs on High Street in 2002.
“That was what my brother tried to give me in hope of learning a skill and I didn’t realise at the time because I was a child – I wanted to play in the street,” Mazari says. “And now I understand the power of the skill.”
Where he once worked 6am to 11pm daily, sleeping out the back where his desk now sits and showering at the local pool, Mazari’s shop now flourishes, with rugs draped from wall to wall in an enchanting mix of colours and patterns. With a display of nostalgic and authentic Afghan rugs in all shapes and sizes, Mazari’s collection has a tribal aesthetic, incorporating designs from other cultures too.
Now a permanent resident, living with Hakima (his wife) and Maria (his 12-year-old daughter) off Chapel Street after five and a half years apart, Mazari is busy with family, friends, charity work, his shop, interviews and talks.
“When I first got here, I wanted someone to just talk to me for five minutes, because I felt so bored and lonely. Now, fortunately, I am so busy with the talking,” enthuses Mazari, who speaks at schools, has appeared on television and radio and will soon be meeting with The New York Times about his life and books.
As for the rugs, it is a time-consuming art. From the highest quality to the more affordable range, Mazari tells me that it takes about a month to make a rug.
“When I say I make rugs, because of my accent lots of people think I am making drugs,” he laughs. “For me it is a beautiful art, I always love it.”
His two published books, The Rug Maker of Mazar-E-Sharif (which is on the VCE English book list) and more recently The Honey Thief, are captivating and comical collections of stories from his life in Afghanistan and Australia and have been a great success. With the profits garnered from sales, Mazari and friends have purchased an ambulance and helped fund the opening of a school in the village he grew up in, where both healthcare and education is scarce.
While tucking into spiced chicken, an abundance of veggies, traditional palow rice with sultanas and kofte balls that put many restaurants to shame, Mazari tell us of plans to open a traditional Afghan restaurant.
For now, Mazari, Hakima and Maria host these dinners and book clubs at the shop for anyone who has read the book or just wants a traditional Afghan experience among the colourful, rug-clad walls. Through the Masawat Development Fund, the family and their friends also host an annual Afghan evening of traditional food, music and dancing to contribute to ongoing charity expenses.
The shepherd turned rug maker turned successful business owner now spends one month on the road every year, sometimes travelling back home, sometimes around Europe and Asia.
“When I was in Afghanistan I believe I was like a blind person,” says Mazari. “I didn’t know the rest of the world. I never thought I would be talking to the media and writing books, having television and radio interviews, but it happened and I am so lucky.
“Life is in your hands,” he says, as we scrape our plates clean. “You can build your life, you can start your life, you can become educated, or you can become an alcoholic.”
Afgan Traditional Rug
461 High Street, Prahran
(03) 9529 2068
Book dinner or book club at Afghan Traditional Rugs. | <urn:uuid:7a6ed02d-3fba-4885-9f41-3082b043d15e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/arts-and-entertainment/article/magic-carpet-ride | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974172 | 1,044 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Lawmakers look at shoring up lottery scholarship program
Posted at: 02/15/2013 5:18 PM
By: Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4
State lawmakers are looking at a handful of measures aimed at keeping the state's lottery scholarship program from going broke.
One bill scheduled for a committee hearing this weekend would funnel more money into the college scholarships, mostly from the state's tobacco settlement fund. There are other proposals to limit the pool of eligible students by establishing family income restrictions, or by academic merit requirements. One plan would reduce the scholarship amounts for students at four year colleges.
Lottery sales are down, however, and tuition costs keep going up, with more and more students seeking higher education. Analysts say the scholarship fund will be $5million in the red by July.
Right now the University of New Mexico has almost 9,000 students on the lottery scholarships and if the money runs out they'll be left high and dry. One of them is Maya Anthony of Taos, who is majoring in Environmental Planning - thanks to her lottery scholarship.
" I would probably have started out at a much smaller school, probably closer to home - and maybe I would have worked my way here but it would have all been up in the air."
Masood Mirca is a high school senior from Albuquerque who has been accepted to attend UNM next year. He's counting on his lottery scholarship.
" It waived the tuition and that's a big fee," Mirca said. " That makes UNM a really good option for students in New mexico and it's one of the reasons I decided to go here next year."
The scholarships are for tuition at New Mexico's public universities and colleges. New Mexico high school graduates are eligible, if they are fulltime students keeping a grade point average of at least 2.5. The scholarships are good for 8 consecutive semesters of school - four years' worth. More than 75,000 New Mexico kids have attended college on the lottery scholarships. | <urn:uuid:bc5f268a-1ee9-4388-9287-4aaa0dc552f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2933904.shtml?cat=515 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981487 | 416 | 1.570313 | 2 |
After seeing the Kirov’s Le Corsaire on Saturday afternoon, I thought it was about time I read the Byron original to see just how much of Byron remains in the ballet.
Well, the names are the same: Conrad, Medora and Gulnare and the location is the same too i.e. somewhere in the Greek islands and there is also a Pasha, but that’s it. Byron’s Conrad is a brooding complex figure who seems to bear more than a little resemblance to Lord B. himself
“Sunburnt his cheek, his forehead high and pale
The sable curls in wild profusion veil”
And personality wise:
“There was a laughing devil in his sneer
That raised emotions both of rage and fear”
The story: Conrad the corsair, plans a raid on the palace of his old enemy the Pasha and distracts the Pasha from the imminent attack by posing as a pilgrim lately escaped from Conrad’s pirate lair. (That bit at least sounds familiar) On being rumbled Conrad fights his way free to signal his men to attack (can’t you just picture Errol Flynn at this point?). The pirates land and destroy everything they see, but as they proceed to burn the palace they hear the screams of the Pasha’s women, trapped in the Harem. Conrad leads the rescue and carries the beautiful Gulnare, the Pasha’s favourite, to safety through the flames. The Pasha’s troops counter-attack though and Conrad is taken prisoner. While locked in a prison tower and awaiting death by torture, Conrad is visited by Gulnare who has fallen in love with him, but Conrad is faithful to his wife, Medora. Gulnare then bribes the guards and herself stabs the Pasha to death. Although he is appalled by what she has done, Gulnare has saved Conrad from certain death and they escape together to his island lair. En route Conrad rewards Gulnare with a kiss. When he reaches home however he discovers Medora has died, presumably of sorrow on hearing of his capture. Conrad is distraught with grief and simply disappears never to be seen again.
“He left a corsair’s name to other times,
Link’d with one virtue and a thousand crimes.”
Out of that they made a ballet, but where all those slave girls and the shipwreck came from I don’t know, certainly not from Byron. The fact that Le Corsaire is credited with no fewer than five composers matters not a jot to me as in my opinion there is little to beat those 19th century hacks when it came to a good tune. I genuinely love them all. So I go to watch the ballet in a sit back and enjoy mode and the measure of my enjoyment rests solely on how well the ballet is danced.
The performance on Saturday afternoon featured a new face in the role of Medora. Tatiana Tkachenko is a mere twenty years or so and seemed to relish the opportunity of portraying the ballet’s heroine. An unusually attractive girl, Tkachenko is ideal for this role and brings a glamour to it, which is just what this ballet needs. She has an admirably strong technique too and it wasn’t difficult for her to dominate the performance as none of the other featured dancers seemed to be projecting much personality on this occasion, perhaps on the last day of what must have been a fevered schedule for them they were starting to display the strain. | <urn:uuid:fcaa234a-a368-4742-b7ed-db9bf827a968> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ballet-dance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=149101 | 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 | 0.970671 | 745 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Musselburgh golf course
Teeing off at Musselburgh
Musselburgh is a first-class championship course designed by James Braid in the 1930s. Built round a bend in the River Esk, the course is known for its generous tree-lined fairways. The Craigie Burn crosses some of those fairways, presenting golfers with the option of laying up short or aiming for the green.
The town of Musselburgh has a long and proud association with the game of golf. The Open Championship was staged on six occasions here during the late 19th century and the town can boast of having produced five Open Champions of its own, who between them won 11 championships, more than any other town.
When the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers moved from Musselburgh to Muirfield in 1891, they took with them the venue for the Open. It wasn’t until the 1930s that Braid, the legendary course architect, was commissioned to design a new course in Musselburgh. It was opened with a four-ball involving Braid and Henry Cotton in 1938, and has been the home of the Musselburgh Golf Club ever since.
Documentary evidence shows that golf was played on the links at Musselburgh as far back as 1672 and it has also been suggested that Mary, Queen of Scots played golf there in 1567.
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Edinburgh and the Lothians sits on the eastern side of Scotland's central belt, in the heart of the country. | <urn:uuid:5aefd4a5-b985-48ff-b4ed-1955eb2f4893> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edinburgh.org/see-do/activities/golf/musselburgh | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967451 | 392 | 1.789063 | 2 |
We work as an ensemble - using theatre games to build rapport and skills, with special emphasis on movement, mime, confidence building and most important of all creativity! The older, experienced children in the group are actively encouraged to work with and support the younger new members and the emphasis is very much on making new friends and learning to work with each other. Each term we work on an original story, which the children develop through improvisation and play, looking at the characters, stories and themes. Often we distill everything into an informal performance of our story at the end of a term. Above all, we have fun! | <urn:uuid:2d90b1ed-879b-4181-9b76-847b52c34c66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event/26238687-junior-theatre-workshop-at-the-conservatoire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955063 | 125 | 1.742188 | 2 |
This is how the new law will affect you. Congress and the Department of Energy have decided they do not want any 80 percent furnaces installed after May 1, 2013. If you have a 80% now and you do nothing besides routine yearly maintenance, then you should be fine. If you are paying for service calls more than once a year, you may want to replaced. You can still replace it with a 80 until May 2013. The ones that are hoping to get one more year out of it will be the main ones affected.
The differences in the systems is dramatic, the 90 percent-plus systems will save you money on your electric and gas bills, so they definitely are a benefit to you, however the installation will cost more, due to retrofitting, depending on the water heater. If you have a finished basement this could be costly to get the pipes to the outside.
How do you tell if you have a 80% furnace?
Do you have pvc pipes coming through a wall to the outside, then this is a 90%.
You have a metal pipe coming through your roof, then this a 80%.
If you would like us to evaluate your furnace and give you a idea of the savings please give us a call 815-756-9779.
Have you heard of the term LowE? This is a film that is installed on the surface of one of the panes of glass. It gives that appearance of a very slight tint, compared to clear glass. This film helps keep the warm air inside in the winter, and will also let some heat transmitted from the sun. In the summer time with the higher angle of the sun, it’s heat is not generated through as much.
Typical windows, no matter if wood or vinyl will have two panes of glass. In between the panes, usually ½” to as much as 1” will be filled with an argon gas. Window frames also have improved with technology. There are spacers that create a thermal break. Frames can account for a large portion of energy loss. Wood, vinyl and fiberglass are all options for frames. In vinyl windows, hollow chambers are created to help the transfer through the jamb.
Did you know that you can refinish fixtures in your bathroom (tub, toilet, sink, or countertop)? Maybe you accidently chipped your toilet, or if there is nothing wrong with your fixtures besides the cosmetic look, it can be a very efficient way to save, time and money, let alone the inconvience of replacing or with being without one of them for a couple of days.
You can finish them in about any color you please. If are replaceing some of your fixtures, but not all of them, the colors can be matched to your new fixtures. Just about any material can be refinished, cast iron, fiberglass, or acrylic.
Air sealing is one of the most significant energy efficiency improvements you can make to your home. Air sealing will not just reduce energy costs; it will also improve your home's comfort and durability. Any air sealing efforts will complement your insulation efforts, and vice versa. Proper moisture control and ventilation strategies will improve the effectiveness of air sealing and insulation, and vice versa.
Air leakage, or infiltration, occurs when outside air enters a house uncontrollably through cracks and openings. It can also let the warm air out of your house. I am geeky when it comes to this. I am always scanning roofs when there is a heavy frost.
Properly air sealing such cracks and openings in your home can significantly reduce heating and cooling costs, improve building durability, and create a healthier indoor environment.
It is unwise to rely on air leakage for ventilation because it can't be controlled. During cold or windy weather, too much air may enter the house. When it's warmer and less windy, not enough air may enter. Air infiltration also can contribute to problems with moisture control. Moldy and dusty air can enter a leaky house through such areas as attics or foundations. This air in the house could cause health problems
Where do you get your ideas for freshening up your home? Magazines are a great source, but lets face it, with all the pictures on the internet, it is hard not to get caught up in imagining what you could do to your home.
Two great sites for looking for home decorating or design ideas are Pinterest and Houzz.
Pinterest, I believe this is the 3rd largest social network, this site has just about anything that you need from recipies to art projects for kids, to how to plan....,to home design. For this we will stay with the home design and decoration. You can simply enter your keywords into the search box and flip through the pictures. You can "pin" pictures your own pictures or from other sites, or you can "repin" other "pinners" pictures or videos. You can sort your "pins" into different catagories that you create, such as bathroom design, kitchen decorations, creative deck ideas....
Houzz is a site that design professionals share and show off their work. Start by entering your search terms. Start very specific to become overwhelmed with all the ideas, and go out from there. Each professional will use "idea books". Also, depending on your market you can search for architects, designers, and remodelers, and see their portfolio ahead of
time. In our rural area, I believe we are the only remodeling company in DeKalb, IL listed. You will definatly find a very broad array of pictures.
Do you use either one of these? If so what do you like best?
It is that time of year when the leaves start falling and we get the fall rains. Depending on the trees in surrounding your home,in some cases the trees could even be your neighbors, this could cause your gutters to become full of debris. This causes gutters to overflow, leak at the seams, and could cause damage if left through the winter and freeze.
Gutter protection comes in all shapes and sizes it seems. Which is best? I am not sure there is a best, however some have benefits over others.
"Get the ladder out and clean". this is the kind where you spend part of a Saturday cleaning out the gutter, getting all the debris out.
"Plastic Drop in" from the big box store.These can be installed by homeowners, however these will usually have the shortest life span. Stay away from the plastic types as these will crack and crumble. Also they do not have a great seal against the gutter, they will usually slide under the shingles. These can be removed if needed to get access to the gutters are are shingling.
"Insert" Some are a material made to set on the inside of the gutter to fill the space so debris cannot get in, but letting the water through. These can be a foam or brush like material. We do not have any experience with this, so we cannot comment on the performance of this.
"Metal Drop in" These come in different types and if you are installing them on your existing gutters will have a flap to seal the back. If you are installing them while installing new gutters they can be fastened to the back of the gutter. These also can be removed for easy access. In my opinion these are the best value for the dollar.
"Gutter Cap" These are rolled on sight with the gutter. You've seen these advertised where the water rolls of the front. These will do a great job of keeping debris out, however there is not access to the gutter if needed to remove or if it is damaged by a limb. These are typically the most expensive.
Whichever type you choose, make sure to check the warranty and always be careful if you are installing them yourself!
There are alternative ways to get hot water or to heat your home. Although the initial investment may give you a little sticker shock, there are incentives that are available through your state and the federal goverment.
How does solar hot water heat work?
- Panels, usually on a roof trap the heat.
- There are tubes with water that are then warmed and taken to a holding tank.
- The water will sit in the tank until it is needed, and passes through your existing hot water heater for a warm up if it is needed.
- This will help extend the life of your existing hot water heater since you are not using it as often.
- Can cost around $7,500 to install.
How can you heat your house with solar water?
- Two ways, either by radiant floor heat or passing through a furnace fan.
- The radiant floor heat basically the same way as the hot water heater, except it runs through hoses in the floor. With this system, it will be instant heat, or when it gets too hot, it takes a while to cool.
- With the fan system, it can be used to warm the rooms quickly.
Are you thinking of under cabinet lights in your kitchen? There are basicly 4 types of under cabinet lights. Each are at different price levels, and also have different functions. Most are able to be dimmed. LED are the new kid on the block, and are adding new styles.
Fluorescent under cabinet Lighting
- The least expensive
- The have a even light
- They are supposed to have a long life span
- Most cannot be dimmed
- Have similar light to halogen, however they are not as warm
- The bulbs are able to be dimmed
- They usually will have a remote transformer
- Very bright light
- They can be wired to a dimmer.
- They are warm, they can melt some items such as chocolate in the cabinet
- The bulbs have a short life span compared to others
LED under cabinet lighting
- These are the most energy efficient
- The are very long lasting bulbs
- You can have options for warm or cool light
- These are the most expensive, although consider no need for bulb changing and energy use.
Typically September, homeowners start thinking about getting their house ready for the holiday entertaining. Sometimes this can be too late, or cause a rush. Most remodelers will have a back log and will need time to work with you on the details of your project.
Planning with a remodeling contractor can take between 2-4 weeks depending on the project. If it is a basic bathroom fixture update, or kitchen update it would be the shorter time frame. The time frame for this could be as quick as a week to get completed.
A major remodel such as a total kitchen remodel with new cabinets, flooring, and counters can take 4 or more weeks for planning alone. Time frame for the project can take 6 weeks. Granite, quartz, or solid surface counters will have to be templated after the cabinets are in, so this takes a week or so.
Also, in the Northern climates the cooler fall air reminds us that maybe the windows should be replaced. Remember that it could take up to 3 weeks to get windows from when they are ordered, plus the time to have your contractor install them.
Some contractors will also have a special or discount in January, since this is typically a slower month, and also you will not have to worry about all the stress of planning your holidays and your project!
Who would have thought there would be choices to make when choosing what screen to use in your porch or room?
Standard Fiberglass Window Screen is a flexible, economical and easy to install screening. Fiberglass screen does not crease, dent, or unravel. The most commonly used window and door screening for new construction and replacement window screens. Charcoal color is the most popular as it has the best outward visibility.
Aluminum Wire Window Screen is a strong and durable insect screening that resists rust and will not sag. A protective finish prevents corrosion and strengthens the weave. Charcoal and Black aluminum screen finish reduce glare for greater outward visibility.
Copper Bronze Window Screen is Comprised of 90% copper and 10” zinc. Premier window screening offering superior strength and durability in a bright gold finish that will oxidize to a patina that protects the copper screening from corrosion.
Pet Screen is perfect for rescreening that door or window that the dog or cat keeps tearing up. Ultra strong screening resists tears and damage by dogs and cats yet still offers superb outward visibility.
One other thing to keep in mind or to ask your contractor is the spline size. You will need to know this if you are rescreening framed windows or doors, not if it is attached directly to the framing and covered with a trim board. There are 3 standard sizes .115, 120, and .125. | <urn:uuid:a99cf808-4d83-41d5-828b-5ee595a1a3ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kenspearsconstruction.com/blog-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948135 | 2,649 | 1.75 | 2 |
Are adopted Chinese children citizens of the US?
Worf was adopted by a human family as a small child, I can't imagine by the time he's in his 40's he hasn't been granted Earth citizenship.
I don't think Worf was ever adopted. He was raised by Mr. and Mrs. Rozhenko, but I am sure he referred to them at different times as "Foster Parents" and "Parents"
AFAIK there was no formal adoption, which is why he refers to himself as "Son of Mogh" and not "Son of Sergey"
Nevertheless, to respond to the OP's question, I think Worf is a UFP citizen simply because he chose to be and he agreed to join Starfleet and adhere to their principles and rules of life.
He also retained his Klingon Empire citizen status when he wasn't blackballed.
He refers to them as "mother", "father" and "parents" in Family | <urn:uuid:50eaf9a3-f133-4479-b53d-4db5b1c40fb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=7701694&postcount=21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.994384 | 196 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The Cupertino firm took the measures after admitting that several of its employees' machines were targeted by hackers using malicious code.
Apple moved to protect its user base 24 hours after the incident, leading one security expert to criticise the firm over its response time.
Sophos executive Graham Cluley pointed out that Java developer Oracle pushed out a patch at the beginning of the month when the malware was first discovered.
"Whether they were the same exploits as the ones that hit Apple is a little bit unclear," he told BBC News. "But it does look like they could have been quicker on this. There has been a history of Apple being a little laid back on patches."
Apple is believed to have been targeted by the same hackers who recently attacked Facebook. Both companies are working with the authorities to track down those responsible. | <urn:uuid:15e784b8-53db-4bb3-abd0-352c55ab7330> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a460359/apple-rolls-out-mac-security-update-to-correct-java-flaw.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988079 | 169 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Apple has updated Java for Mac OS X 10.4, also known as Tiger, to patch 18 different vulnerabilities, including some fixed as long ago as May by Java's maker, Sun Microsystems.
Apple's newest operating system, dubbed Leopard, does not need to be patched because it includes the updated Java components.
According to the accompanying advisory, Tiger's Java, Java 1.4 and Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 contain flaws that in some cases could lead to what Apple called "arbitrary code execution," which means that attackers may be able to insert their own malware during an exploit and/or gain complete control of the machine.
Unlike rivals such as Microsoft, Apple does not rank or rate its security updates to give users an idea of the severity of the bugs.
Among the 18 vulnerabilities is one discovered by 3com's TippingPoint unit in June 2006 and another reported to Sun in October 2006 by a member of Google's security team.
TippingPoint's flaw was fixed in January 2007, and the Google-reported bug was patched by Sun in May 2007. In both instances, updates were made available at the time for the Java components used by Windows, Linux and Solaris. But because Apple crafts the Java runtime for Mac OS X, its users were left unprotected an additional 11 and seven months respectively.
However, no exploits using either bug were reported during that time.
The 80Mb update, dubbed "Java for Mac OS X 10.4, Release 6," was not marked as a security update on Apple's download site, nor were the vulnerabilities or their patches mentioned in the description that appeared when users received notice by Mac OS X's Software Update tool. The phrasing Apple used said only that Release 6 improves "reliability and compatibility" for Java. | <urn:uuid:c198bf26-516f-4a58-9734-f6a0ffe7ffab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/security/6711/apple-fixes-18-flaws-in-tigers-java/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978829 | 365 | 1.765625 | 2 |
’Representing Islam: Comparative Perspectives’ is an international conference organised jointly by the Universities of Manchester and Surrey and supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Britain. It has attracted over 100 eminent national and international speakers.
Representations of ’Islam’ have a profound influence on political cultures and national identities, as well as on attitudes to immigration, security and multiculturalism. The complexity of the notion of ’Islam’ and the heterogeneous responses that it elicits are such that there is no uniform approach to its representation and social construction. The conference addresses this complexity by treating the comparative dimension of recent representations of Islam, encompassing different nations, political institutions, media institutions, and cultures. The conference will be primarily concerned with the press, television, radio, film and the internet. However, it will also include other channels of communication, such as translations, speeches or pamphlets, political discourse, and the visual arts.
Anyone interested in more information should contact the Conference Administrator, Shishir Shahnawaz (email@example.com). | <urn:uuid:3a30d309-5e33-4c98-aca0-72cda0a470ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.euro-islam.info/2007/09/05/representing-islam-comparative-perspectives/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932621 | 230 | 1.546875 | 2 |
This is the Raspberry Pi Case by Barch Designs. It is created from aerospace grade 6061 aluminum and is CNC-milled (carved from a block), which protects a Raspberry Pi computer system from all sorts of damage (accidental and intended). The aluminum case is designed also to act as a heatsink for the Raspbery Pi thereby removing the need for an external heatsink. The casing looks stylish, as well as rugged.
In case you don’t know about Raspberry Pi, it’s a very small computer design (credit-card sized) that can be used as a core system, and extended for many purposes. It’s incredibly cheap ($25 – $35 with more connectors) and is powered by a Broadcom BCM2835 system on chip (SoC) which features hardware graphics etc.The complete package comes with a neoprene liner to be placed at the bottom of the casing, a small tube of thermal paste, which needs to be applied at three places where the casing touches IC’s on the board and transfers heat from the inside to the external surface. Also included are screws and an Allen wrench to tighten the screws.
All external ports are easily accessible as holes have been milled around the case. The GPIO port can be used by plugging in the cable before closing the casing. The slot for the power cable has been expanded a bit to allow for all designs of power cables. The case has LED’s connected via fiber optic cables with labels engraved in the casing. The case can be wall mounted or desk mounted.
The case comes with a 5 year warranty. Consumers also have the choice of engraving their designs on the outside of the case. Prices vary in the range of $69.95 – $ 74.95, which is more than 2X the cost of the computer itself… All in all, the Raspberry Pi case by Branch designs seems like a good option to keep Raspberry Pi safe. The question however is if you’re willing to buy the case at almost double the price of the Raspberry Pi?
IBM Watson Smartphone Apps Coming Soon
Chrome App Launcher Beta For Mac OS X Released
Alleged Wireless Card For New Macs Hints Next-Gen Wi-Fi Support
Lenovo ThinkPad S3, S5 Leaks Show Aluminum-Cased Ultrabooks | <urn:uuid:f14b3791-4247-4f4a-b431-c50e9d98db48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/02/raspberry-pi-aluminum-case-by-barch-designs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946002 | 487 | 1.828125 | 2 |
By Todd Allen
Charles Brownstein is starting out with a history of comics censorship.
Step 1: the Senate inquery sets up the Comics Code.
Step 2: The underground comics emerge to talk about class, sexuality, politics and drugs. (i.e., youth culture in the late 60s/early 70s)
Zap #4 included “Joe Blow,” an incestuous satire of Leave It to Beaver type families. Zap #4 was the first comic book to be found obscene.
That and the 1973 Miller v. California ruling (that obscenity is defined by local standards) effectively shut down the underground movement.
Step three: As underground distribution fell apart, fandom started to organize and lay the groundwork for the Direct Market. In the 1980s, the DM saw comics addressing adult materials again. In 1986, Friendly Frank’s, a comic shop in Lansing, IL, was arrested in a sting operation. In 1988, Dennis Kitchen started the predecessor of the CBLDF when he organized artists to fund an appeal (which was won).
Brownstein concluded the panel with an update on the Daniel X. case, a particularly disturbing case where a young man crossing the Canadian border was detained by Canadian customs officials and accused of possessing child pornography in the form of manga on his laptop. Canada has a history of seizing comics at the border and the CBLDF has issued an advisory on crossing the border with comics in your possession, in either print or electronic format. | <urn:uuid:058be441-5314-43e5-9e1e-877a99ad0f35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://comicsbeat.com/liveblogging-the-cbldf-panel-image-expo/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955219 | 305 | 1.726563 | 2 |
President Bush made a symbolic visit to one of 5 sanctioned Protestant churches in Beijing during his recent trip to China. This article from the Washington Post, with a superb commentary by Rick Moore of HolyCoast, points to an important event. Religious freedom is a cornerstone of our democracy, and expanding such freedoms in China will lead, over the long term, to greater personal and democratic freedoms.
The President, while a Protestant evangelical himself, did not specify his actions and comments directly at promoting the Christian faith in China. The San Diego Union Tribune reports:
"Prodded by U.S. evangelical Christians and a bipartisan group in Congress, he has long championed the cause of Chinese persecuted for their religious beliefs. Bush met with Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, long denounced by China, in Washington before the trip.
The president made his case directly to Hu yesterday when the two leaders met in the Great Hall of the People just off Tiananmen Square. 'It is important that social, political and religious freedoms grow in China,' he said in his formal statement read standing next to the Chinese leader. 'And we encourage China to continue making the historic transition to greater freedom.'"
From the same article here are some of President Bush's comments while in China regarding religion:
- "As he entered Gangwashi Church with first lady Laura Bush, he was greeted by pastor Du Fengying, who gave him two Chinese bibles. He then wrote in her guest book, 'May God bless the Christians of China.'"
- "'My hope is that the government of China will not fear Christians who gather to worship openly,' he said during the church service, after applauding the small choir's rendition of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. 'A healthy society is a society that welcomes all faiths and gives people a chance to express themselves through worship with the Almighty.'"
- "After the services, Bush remarked that 'the spirit of the Lord is very strong inside your church.'"
- "'I will continue to remind President Hu about . . . my personal faith and the belief that people should be allowed to worship freely,' he said in a pre-departure interview. He added, "And a vibrant, whole society is one that recognizes that certain freedoms are inherent and need to be part of a complete society.'"
It is important for the President to speak out about religious freedoms. They often go hand in hand with how a country approaches human rights. As the move to abolish slavery, to restore civil rights to black Americans and efforts to affect poverty in the United States have been largely driven by religious organizations from a Judeo-Christian perspective, so too will a greater level of religious freedom in China lead to a better Chinese society with dignity for all peoples. | <urn:uuid:bbab3516-f667-4e84-8074-2eb49a06db2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dawnsearlylight.blogs.com/del/bush_presidency_43/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95505 | 559 | 1.710938 | 2 |
XTC is a band whose output I am woefully unfamiliar with. They’re like the Rush of power pop, with a modest yet fiercely devoted (and mostly male) fan base. Of the songs of theirs I do know, however, this is my favorite. It takes the already antiquated idea of a sock hop and reflects it through the oddball, angular lens of late ’70s punk and new wave.
The guitar riff that plays through the entire song is my favorite part. It’s a twisted and upside down version of so many classic Motown bass riffs, as if someone tried to describe what a FourTops record sounded like to the unfamiliar guitar player and he gave it his best shot.
250 recordings of interviews and songs made by oral history pioneer George Ewart Evans between 1956 and 1977, many in Suffolk, with a smaller number in Wales, Ireland and Scotland. The recordings document rural life and agricultural work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, folk beliefs about animals, medicine and witchcraft, folk and popular songs. | <urn:uuid:93fe44fb-545d-404e-a996-c449db12842f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maclaine.tumblr.com/tagged/uk | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952936 | 216 | 1.515625 | 2 |
January 05, 2011
Houston may be a standout in the market, but it seems that energy efficiency programs and DOE standards are lifting all homes to better efficiency.
Metropolitan Houston, Texas, has become one of the largest markets in the country for new-housing construction, with more than 350,000 new-home starts since 2000. Houston was an early adopter of the Energy Star label and currently has one of the highest market shares in the nation, with approximately 50% of new homes in 2008 certified as Energy Star. As the market share of Energy Star homes grew in Houston, some builders began to look for new ways of differentiating their homes. The guaranteed-performance labels from various organizations provided them with the opportunity to take a step beyond Energy Star in terms of energy performance, but without having to sacrifice many of the benefits they received from their participation in the Energy Star program.
To read complete online articles, you need to sign up for an Online Subscription.
Once an order has been placed there is an automatic $10 processing fee that will be deducted with any cancellation.
The Home Energy Online articles are for personal use only and may not be printed for distribution. For permission to reprint, please send an e-mail to email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:c3e9a1fa-5745-4dab-8026-80dab4a46fa3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/magazine/61/page/3/id/775 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955534 | 257 | 1.710938 | 2 |
You can use an exif reader (like exiftool) to find out this information. For instance, I am checking a picture of mine and I can see
Exposure Time: 1/250
F Number: 8.0
Exposure Program: Program AE
Program AE is Aperture priority. A quick google search (for "exposure program exif") offers the following values (taken from this link):
- 0 = Not defined
- 1 = Manual
- 2 = Normal program
- 3 = Aperture priority
- 4 = Shutter priority
- 5 = Creative program (biased toward depth of field)
- 6 = Action program (biased toward fast shutter speed)
- 7 = Portrait mode (for closeup photos with the background out of focus)
- 8 = Landscape mode (for landscape photos with the background in focus)
But note that to know what worked and what didn't work you don't strictly need the name of the mode. What is really important is the combination (the so called exposure triangle, or better tricycle, as @mattdm clearly explains) of ISO, shutter speed and aperture (and exposure compensation...).
The various camera mode only help you in setting these values: but in the end is up to you to say "look, I really would have liked to expose more for this part of the photo, and under expose this other part...".
What you will observe is that some mode are more helpful in some situations and other in others (e.g. if you are trying to freeze action, shutter priority is much more useful than aperture priority). But it is the final combination of values which really matters to you. | <urn:uuid:1570c181-f078-4340-ab5b-5c3a29727123> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/27439/how-can-i-find-out-which-camera-mode-i-used-for-a-photo?answertab=votes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933463 | 349 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Resistance Training For Spiritual Strength and Endurance
In water, resistance increases with the cube of speed. At a leisurely swim, it isn't bad at all, but if you enter the water from a great height, it is nearly like solid rock. Likewise, soil has its own resistance, which at our speed is very high, but roots at their deliberate speed easily find their way through the ground.
When the seeker awakens and begins moving with purpose, there is also a resistance from the "world," and it too increases proportionately with the speed. I'm not sure whether this is a design flaw or the work of a conscious enemy; perhaps it is a security device to keep the crazies from thrashing about too wildly. But it must be very frustrating for one who sees his goal clearly and tries to get there in the limited time given him.
If I were a lesser man, I would have immediately deleted this outstanding comment by Magnus and then claimed credit for it myself. At any rate, it is a fine example of a couple of symbolic "chords" which the Raccoon may use as the basis for a little pneumatic improvisation.
Naturally, in discussing the transnatural, we must rely upon analogies and symbols from the ponderable world, such as "soil," "light," "speed," "height," "water," "resistance," and "asshole." This is not because spirit is a mere projection of these things, but rather, the converse; the "world" is the temporal manifestation of timeless principles that can be understood by the law of analogy ("as above, so below"). Thus, water flows like grace, the sun shines like Truth, and the lower gastrointestinal tract flatulently "speaks" in the manner of the Cosmic Troll, or "anti-Bob."
The reason why the world is so full of analogy, metaphor, and symbol, is that these aren't just literary devices but literal dei-voices, i.e., the ethereal Word made fleshy, or earthereal. No matter how lo One gos, the Logos goes two. And then three, as we shall see. (For if it were only two, that would constitute a dualistic stalemate.)
Thus, we shouldn't be surprised at the fractal and holographic nature of reality, meaning that we see the same patterns and principles repeat themselves at all levels. This is why the pneumanetwork of synchronicities in your life can become so thick that you could cut them with the knife you "coincidentally" hold in your head.
In my own way, I suppose I've always appreciated this analogical cosmic structure, but it took awhile to recognize what I was cognizing and to re-recognize it at a "meta" level. For example, as I've mentioned before, the topic of my doctoral dissertation was the parallels between psychoanalytic metapsychology, quantum physics, and non-linear, dissipative structures in biology.
In short, I saw clear analogies between the way the physicist looks at the subatomic world, the way the biologist looks at life systems, and the way the psychoanalyst conceptualizes the deep structure of mental functioning. "Seeing" is one thing, but seeing what you're seeing is another. And to see this is yet another. In fact, you could almost say that this is the trinitarian structure of transcendence: knowing (which an animal can do), knowing that you know (which humans can do), and then knowing that you know you know (what the gnostic knows).
So, as Magnus suggests, Spirit clearly meets with "resistance" in the herebelow. As for whether this is providential or demonic, let's consider the alternatives -- or whether there could actually be any on this side of manifestation. For example, if you want to create muscular beings with robust skeletons, you need to have gravity. If we had evolved on the moon, we couldn't have evolved, since there isn't enough gravity there to keep us down to earth.
Clearly, physical strength is a function of resistance. Could Spiritual strength function any differently? Isn't our character revealed and honed on the rocks of adversity, the playing fields of Eton, and other clichés? Could there actually be any excellence in the world in the absence of resistance? To put it another way, could any useful thought be produced if we all lived in the friction-free land of the tenured?
I am reminded of the beauty of the competitive free market. One of the reasons the North evolved past the South is that in the case of the latter, physical toil was felt to be beneath the dignity of a proper man. Thus, physical labor was outsourced to slaves and other "undesirables." But it is only by struggling with recalcitrant matter that one begins to unlock its principles. Thus, the North leapt ahead of the South in discovery, invention, and creativity.
For certain non-Western cultures, a similar problem arose, in that the world was regarded as fundamentally illusory and changing, so that the evolved man sought out the timeless principles "behind" or "above" the world. Thus, these cultures produced bupkis.
Only in the logoistic Christian West was it recognized -- or at least practically realized -- that matter is a declension of spirit, so that the world necessarily veils and discloses the "mind of the Creator," so to speak, and is worthy in its own right. This is why "beauty is the splendor of the true," why truth is buried everywhere we look, both surrounding and penetrating us, why the human mind is a mirrorcle of the Abbasolute, yada yada, etc., etc.
[T]here is no metaphysical or spiritual difference between a truth manifested by temporal facts and a truth expressed by other symbols, under a mythological form.... With God, truth lies above all in the symbol's effective power of enlightenment and not in its literalness....
Historical reality is less "real" than the profound truth it expresses, and which myths likewise express; a mythological symbolism is infinitely more "true" than a fact deprived of symbolism....
The uncreated Word shatters speech while at the same time directing it toward concrete and saving truth. --Schuon
In coonclusion, God is not so much a rigid mathematician as a playful mythsemantician. | <urn:uuid:f3805738-58ce-4a03-be0f-962ed13c947b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://onecosmos.blogspot.com/2010/03/resistance-training-for-spiritual.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965215 | 1,332 | 1.6875 | 2 |
By Reshma Kapadia
As peace negotiators are meeting in hopes of ending a five-decade war in Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebels agreed to the first truce in more than a decade and said they would call a two-month unilateral ceasefire, Reuters’ Jeff Franks reports.
Resolution of the conflict that began in 1964 as a move against social inequality would offer another positive in the story of Colombia –one of Latin America’s stealth market success stories. The economy has done well and the MSCI Colombia Index is up almost 21% this year. Investors say the country is on the cusp of a potentially gigantic change with the FARC talks. Plus, it is energy, metals and mining-rich and has a handful of strong, well-run companies that can play to growing domestic demand.
Even with the gains, managers still like companies such as Bancolombia (CIB) and some think it is a better play at current valuations than Mexico. | <urn:uuid:76d330c1-ff70-4a2f-a783-d589eba87ed3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.barrons.com/emergingmarketsdaily/2012/11/19/colombia-farc-rebels-agree-to-first-truce-in-decade-managers-like-colombia/?mod=BOLBlog?mod=BOL_article_full_blog_em | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964509 | 209 | 1.53125 | 2 |
first part of this interview with former professional ballet dancer, Jane Haugh, we discussed what can make a person willing to tolerate pain. Here, in Part II, we continue to explore pain as a voluntary experience, and as an involuntary experience. Jane now lives with her husband and three children in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. Pain (as opposed to suffering, which is mental or emotional) is in the body, and thus is the risk associated with physical courage.
Haugh: In the end, Jen, what I did in order to be a professional dancer in terms of dancing on stress fractures and soft corns with such unbelievable pain – I don’t know how healthy that was. I do question my decision to do that. I think that it wasn’t emotionally and psychologically really healthy to get to the point where you could disengage your nerve centers from your feet so you didn’t feel your feet anymore. That’s not me. That’s not part of my body. That doesn’t hurt. To the point where I would sometimes bang my feet against something because that hurt so much that my brain shut that down and I could pretend it wasn’t there. So a little pain can be more difficult than a lot of pain. And I don’t think that’s so good! I think that’s kind of sick!
Armstrong: So you’re in this culture of never mind the pain, keep going. Were there techniques or mental processes or gimmicks that were part of that culture, were there stories, did you remind yourself of such and such dancer where she did this and –
Haugh: Sure! Stories about Melissa Hayden dancing on a broken foot, stories about Darcy Kistler when she broke her elbow and finished "Swan Lake." We had these stories of famous people who performed through amazing things. Darcy I think seriously injured her elbow for life, and never did Swan Lake again – or only did Dying Swan – I don’t remember what the whole thing was – but it wasn’t good! But if you’re at the New York State Theater and you’re in Act I and you’ve got two more acts to do, what are you going to do? So you do it and then you go to the emergency room later I guess!
Armstrong: Okay, so I want to go in a different direction now. When your parents died and your sister was very badly injured [in a car wreck], you were 17, and so you were already a very dedicated dancer. So your sister was very badly injured for a long time, am I right?
Haugh: Yes, she was operated on a couple of times. You know, we did this weird thing. She had a plate in her arm, and she also had a brain injury, and deep into the fall they x-rayed her arm, and no healing had begun. The accident was in July and this was in September. And this bone was really brittle and they were very upset about it because the plate was not an ideal way to hold the bones together and it was kind of shocking that there had been no healing. And so they wanted us to rent this machine that was really really expensive and we didn’t have any health insurance, and my aunt [their guardian] was really upset about this, and I remember having a conversation with my sister where I said to her: “You have to concentrate on healing this bone. You have to think about it. You have to concentrate on it.” I don’t think if I wasn’t a dancer I would have thought of it that way. But I already understood that my body responded, to some extent, through the control of my mind. And I really did think that it was possible that if she concentrated on healing her arm that it would start to heal. And then we wouldn’t have to get this expensive machine and do all this stuff – and it did! They said they’d set up a four-week assessment and if no healing had begun she’d have to go up to Columbia regularly for electro-stim or something, and four weeks later there was quite a bit of new healing when they took an x-ray, or whatever they did. I don’t know whether that helped, but I definitely remember having this conversation with her. I remember – like taking a bath, and something really hurting, and just lying there and trying to relax my mind into that pain and trying to get the blood flowing there and I would start to feel – I mean I am not a big believer in that stuff. But…
Armstrong: Most Americans, probably, live pretty cut off from their bodies, right? Would you agree? So you had a much more intimate relationship with your body. So you understood a lot more about what the body can do, and what its limitations are. What I wonder is, did you ever evaluate or compare the pain that you endured willingly with the pain she had to endure unwillingly?
Haugh: No. I think one of the things that I learned from dancing is that everybody’s pain threshold is really different. And I started to understand that I actually experienced quite a bit of pain, especially for somebody who was a professional dancer, and that a lot of people around me were not experiencing quite that level of pain. So we would do the same thing, have the same number of blisters, and I felt like I could really barely walk, and I spent all night icing my feet, and the other person was out dancing. And I thought, well they are obviously not in as much pain! Or they’re managing it so differently. I mean, I see in my kids – there’s a huge difference in Z.’s and M’s pain thresholds, and then another huge leap to T.’s. Z. will hurt herself and she’ll get a bump somewhere, a black and blue mark, and a week later – not complaining, but she’ll say this thing still hurts, should I take some more arnica, or should I ice it ? And M. will have the same kind of injury and two days later she’ll have forgotten about it. I think her body experiences less pain. Her body recovers from pain more quickly. She recovers from emotional upset more quickly. She recovers from loud noises more quickly. Her physiological self recovers faster from things. But I think T. [her son] – I don’t know how much pain he experiences but he rebounds very quickly partly because he doesn’t want to stop in order to feel that pain. So he can have a huge knot on his head and I think it’s got to hurt, but if I go to touch it he’ll shy away and it does hurt him, but he doesn’t want to stop. So that’s a different way to overcome pain, is to be so focused on what you want to do that the pain is secondary. So with my sister, I learned early on not to project any kind of pain I was feeling onto anyone else’s situation because it so often just doesn’t work. I’d be all sympathetic [to a fellow dancer] and they’d be like “What?” I’d say, “Your feet are a mess!” but it wasn’t bothering them.
Armstrong: Okay, so here’s something about pain, and that’s that pain has a lot to do with what we think about. What is the story we’re telling ourselves about the pain – am I doing myself an injury, what’s going to happen? The story we’re telling ourselves about what’s happening to our body… I mean, pain only happens when you notice it right?
Haugh: Right, so when you go on stage you don’t feel the pain in your feet because you have all this adrenaline, so you’re not noticing it.
Armstrong: It’s like taking the kids to the doctor to get a shot. There’s all this suffering, this storytelling. So, and this is my projection, I would think that if I’m a dancer, my world, everything I do, involves my body, right? So if I break my ankle then I won’t be able to work. So I’m curious about the role of storytelling in this. Stories that you tell yourself to keep going, or stories that limit you.
Haugh: Part of the story of dancing is being tough, of saying this hurts but I’m strong enough and I can overcome this, or this hurts and I might hurt myself but the director is there and I really want this part so I’m going to do this anyway, because I see myself as that person who will overcome this pain. And then he’ll see me as that person and then I’ll get the part. Or I’ll get to go on tour. So there’s some part of talking yourself into doing things because of the way you see yourself: as a strong person who can overcome things that normal people would stop at. You say, well, maybe someone else would stop, but that’s not me. I’m not that person and I’m going to keep going.
But I also think there’s storytelling with our kids, when our kids hurt themselves. There are two different things. There’s where people say, “you’re okay you’re okay you’re okay,” but the kid isn’t okay, and the kid is upset and doesn’t feel okay. And then there are people who say, “Oh no, you’re hurt! You’re bleeding, you’re not okay!” But there’s something in the middle where you can say, “Let me see what happened. I need to see what happened.” I think all three of my kids think of me as a very competent person to deal with whatever hurts them. They bring me their hurts. I say we need to calm down so we can see what happened so that we can deal with whatever that is. I think it’s really important for them to realize that you can get sick or you can get hurt and then your body does this amazing thing, it heals you, it heals your cut, you get a scab and then there’s nothing there anymore. What an amazing thing! So this is an opportunity to say, “You’ve hurt yourself, but you’re going to get better, because your body is this amazing thing that knows how to heal itself. How awesome is that! And then there’s this feeling of resiliency, this feeling of ow – I really hurt myself ! – but I know I’m going to be okay.
Please feel free to share your thoughts about physical courage and the risk of pain, either from your own experience or from watching your children. | <urn:uuid:e454c843-6459-49ee-a9e2-5838cf42f716> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lionswhiskers.com/2012/05/dancing-through-pain-part-ii.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981153 | 2,342 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Over the New Year holiday, WordPress.com issued a challenge to its blogger-users: Write and publish one post a day (or a week) throughout 2011.
For non-professional and personal bloggers, writing and posting every day can be a tall order, so the good folks at WordPress have launched The Daily Post, a guide with daily tidbits of "inspiration, encouragement and advice about blogging."
Any user who wants to participate in the challenge simply needs to state his intentions then tag posts with "postaday2011" or "postaweek2011" throughout the year.
Blogging more is a fairly common resolution among the digerati; in fact, it recently came up in a poll we conducted about tech-related goals for 2011. Quite a few users said they plan to consume less social media and create more content of their own in the coming year.
WordPress' Daily Post seems like a good enough place to start. Its suggestions for evocative post topics are great springboards for thoughtful writing.
WordPress users also have the "Press This" bookmarklet for quick, Tumblr-like posting and a slew of mobile apps for on-the-go blogging, especially great for posting images.
Have you set a blogging goal for 2011? Will you be participating in the WordPress daily or weekly challenges? | <urn:uuid:30844f59-2893-4395-acda-df9862cff225> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mashable.com/2011/01/04/daily-post-wordpress/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93695 | 270 | 1.601563 | 2 |
"This will turn out to be fair for everyone in Jacksonville," says Roy Thomas, owner of Jacobs Jewelers in downtown Jacksonville. [Photo: Will Dickey]
Should cities with struggling downtowns use tax dollars to lure business from the suburbs to the urban core? That question was under intense debate in Jacksonville this summer as the city considered giving financial powerhouse EverBank a $2.75-million incentive to relocate 1,000 jobs from Southside office parks into the downtown business district.
The incentives package is unprecedented for targeting a business to relocate from another part of the city, acknowledges Ginny Walthour of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. But it is meant to "level the playing field" for downtown firms that have watched capital, businesses and residents flow to the suburbs, Walthour says.
From his 50-year vantage point at the corner of Laura and Adams streets, Roy Thomas sees it differently. Thomas owns the oldest jewelry store in Florida, Jacobs Jewelers, founded in 1890. "For years, the city took tax dollars and encouraged development in the suburbs, where there was cheap land and parking," Thomas says. He watched his taxes fund suburban roads and police and fire protection and other services as downtown declined. Now, he says, it's time for a little balance.
"This will turn out to be fair for everyone in Jacksonville," says Thomas. "You can't have a great city without a great downtown."
EverBank executives were coy about the incentives throughout the debate and had not publicly identified a new location. They would say only that the bank "continues to evaluate a number of viable locations for our long-term space planning needs, including a potential relocation to the downtown area." | <urn:uuid:91dcc6ec-ef09-4060-8a91-59055a399103> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.floridatrend.com/article/1587/reversing-urban-sprawl-in-jacksonville | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972377 | 346 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Joined: Aug 26, 2004 Posts: 3 Location: Powys, Wales
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 12:20 am Post subject: HELP! Config Plan example
members... is there anyone who can share with me a completed Configuration Management plan please...
I am looking for an example to show to management and while there is good advice on creating one, the managers in question want to see an example of some else using one.... they want ot see one today and I cannot possibly get one written for their programme by 16:00 hours... any documents welcomed..
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 77 Location: Bloomington, IL
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:13 am Post subject:
I posted this earlier:
Begin by identifying critical systems (your continuity plans, annual report, business departments should be able to tell you what they are). You will then need to pull together two views or perspectives on the infrastructure. The first will be the "accountability" view. This will be a logical picture of who owns or is responsible for the various pieces of the infrastructure. Who owns the servers? Who owns the mainframe? By "owning" I mean whose head will roll if something goes wrong with that component. Identify who provides services to whom. Once you know the owners, start creating a logical diagram that shows who is accountable to whom. This will result in something that looks like a value chain. This will become the basis for your service chains.
customer----user interface-----business applications-----operating systems/mid-tier------back end hardware/network
Now you can create the second view. You may already have this in terms of topologies, physical infrastructure diagrams, etc. The second view shows the physical and functional relationships between pieces of the infrastructure. This will become the basis for your CMDB and and CI structure.
Now comes the hard part. You must overlay or map the first view on top of the second view. This will show you gaps in your ability to deliver services and to monitor your infrastructure. Anything that does not directly support your service chain should not initially be in your CMDB. In other words, your services provide the requirements for what goes into your CMDB and how your Config process works. Once you have an initial CMDB, just keep repeating the process, building on what you already have.
As time goes on, you will be ready for other processes.
Not sure this is what you are looking for but thought it might help
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum | <urn:uuid:1e706067-3806-4386-884e-a15fd32fa020> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itilcommunity.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=647 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936139 | 552 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Managing Varicose Veins
The itching and swelling of varicose veins can be problematic for many individuals. They are unpleasant on the eyes as well as making it uncomfortable. If you suffer from this medical abnormality, you may be wondering what the cause is, how to prevent the formation, and which treatment is best.
There are many factors that can contribute to the development. First, it may be hereditary. Often, if someone in the family them, odds are you may be at risk in the future. This is especially true for those who are overweight, specifically with excessive amounts of body fat. Age is another contributing factor. The aging process entails veins losing elasticity. The valves then become weak and blood has a tendency to pool in the legs, where gravity pulls it down. Many women also discover that pregnancy leads to this. The circulatory changes that occur during pregnancy along with increased blood volume can prevent it from flowing normally. The good news is that self correction typically occurs within a few months after giving birth.
It is impossible to avoid it for each person, however action can be taken to help this issue from forming. Thirty minutes of exercise daily will improve leg strength and the efficiency of your cardiovascular system, which will improve circulation. Another simple thing to do is avoid standing for long periods without moving. If you have an occupation that requires you to stand in one place for extended time periods, your risk will increase. Try to walk, bounce on your toes several times per hour, or even shift your weight back and forth from one leg to another. Don’t get offended if others give a weird look, it is worth the health benefits.
Talking to a physician about options is a smart move if they exist. Individuals who have a diagnosis of severe varicose veins may consider laser treatment. This procedure does not require surgery, however it might take a longer period of time to repair. If laser is not a feasible, there are simple things you can do that may help. First, elevating each leg above the heart is good. This will help encourage proper body function. If there is a lot of pain involved a warm compress may help to alleviate any discomfort. | <urn:uuid:848eaa6d-59ce-41d1-9a4f-e5ddf7363c3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthybeyond50.com/managing-varicose-veins/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95261 | 443 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Campus Gunsby Kim Miller
Arizona has always been gun friendly and now new weapons freedoms may be extended to universities in the Grand Canyon State.
According to a Wednesday New York Times article, an Arizona legislator has proposed a bill that would allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns to class.
Also, the state’s three public universities announced recently that campus police will soon carry assault rifles, which are more effective at hitting targets long distance than their regularly issued handguns.
Arizona Senator Karen S. Johnson, a Republican from Mesa, said the February 14 shooting at Northern Illinois University where five students were killed could have been prevented if someone in the classroom was armed.
She has support.
The group, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus now has 20,000 members, many of whom joined following the NIU tragedy.
“Campus gun free zones may make some people feel safer, but as recent events demonstrate, feeling safe is not the same as being safe,” the Website says.
In 2002, a student at the University of Arizona in Tucson shot and killed three professors before killing himself.
The Times says university police chiefs have condemned the proposed legislation.
In related news, The Arizona Republic, reported the issuance of high-powered rifles to university police.
In Florida, the University of South Florida and University of Florida currently arm their officers with rifles, a choice given to individual schools.
Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton does not equip police with such weapons, which are available through the City of Boca Raton Police Department if needed. FAU police do have shotguns and carry other small arms. | <urn:uuid:ea5b6d20-90dc-49e1-a305-1cacd73621f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/extracredit/2008/03/06/campus-guns/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969688 | 335 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Independent Living Tools
ILCNSCA's Guide to Finding Housing was developed to provide guidance and direction to consumers with disabilities who are searching for housing, both subsidized and non-subsidized. This guide contains referral resources for various types of housing on the North Shore and Cape Ann as well as housing subsidy application opportunities.
How well you prepare and how much you practice before a disaster occurs will determine how successfully you deal with and recover from disasters. Your personal disaster preparation is a continuing process. It helps you and your network identify, get, develop, manage, and maintain the information and resources you will need to deal with a disaster when it happens.
SPECIALIZED HOME DESIGN, INC. is pleased to announce the free availability of CHERÆ (Comprehensive Home Evaluation Report) for customers of ILCNSCA. Whether you are one of the many current CHERÆ users or the latest account holder to sign up, we want everyone to have access to the many concepts and principals of universal and accessible home design that are presented in the CHERÆ. The CHERÆ is an excellent resource of information on universal and accessible home design. Many ideas are portrayed not only through the hundreds of recommendations but also through the extensive Image Gallery and Resource Directory. Please take this new opportunity to explore and use the CHERÆ for your own benefit or for the benefit of your consumers and/or loved ones.
SPECIALIZED HOME DESIGN, INC. may be reached at 616-887-8130 or email@example.com if you have any questions. | <urn:uuid:59d22c66-5848-4a1e-91d1-d797eac44285> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ilcnsca.org/tools.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941946 | 327 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Hill: Jackie opened door to front office as well
Ex-Minor Leaguer first African-American GM in Marlins history
MIAMI -- Early on, Mike Hill recognized that the playing field wasn't the only avenue available to making a living in the big leagues.
Harvard-educated, Hill played collegiate baseball and football, and he spent time in the Minor Leagues in the Reds' and Rangers' systems.
Playing the game was a passion, but it wasn't his strength. The fact he advanced to the lower levels of professional baseball was a proud accomplishment. The realist in him told him his future wasn't on the field.
Looking at the bigger picture in his life, Hill refocused and followed another path -- turning to player development, which has now landed him as the general manager of the Marlins.
Hill is the first African-American GM in franchise history.
Robinsons are great ambassadors
Justice: Jackie's courage immeasurable
Rickey's foresight shaped game
RBI, UYA, CRG embody Jackie's spirit
More on Jackie Robinson Day
Jackie Robinson Foundation
A look back at barrier breakers
Jackie Robinson Day
Jackie Robinson's debut in 1947
MLB Network examines Jackie's life
MLB.com's looks at No. 42
Shop the Jackie Robinson collection
"I felt that it was a good avenue to pursue, given there is a shortage," Hill said. 'We've seen, over the years, a shrinking number of African-Americans on the field, and in the front offices. I felt like it was something I wanted to pursue and hopefully make a career out of."
Being promoted to the front office didn't come by accident. It was always an aspiration.
Of course, there was a love of playing the game. But only a small percentage of players are able to reach the highest level.
"When you are realistic with your abilities and your shortcomings, which I was, it made it easier," Hill said. "I saw [the front office] as a great opportunity, given my skill sets, my strengths as a player with a Harvard degree."
Major League Baseball and the rest of America are celebrating Jackie Robinson Day on Sunday, and the legacy of the man who broke the game's color barrier. It's a day to reflect and honor a pioneer for all minorities.
"You look at all he did, breaking the color barrier, and essentially opening the door for minorities everywhere, to play in Major League Baseball, and to work in Major League Baseball," Hill said. "In that regard, you're just hugely indebted to Jackie Robinson and what he did, and what he sacrificed for essentially all minorities, domestically and internationally.
"Growing up, I obviously learned a lot about Jackie Robinson, and knew what he did in breaking the color barrier. It wasn't until I got older that I realized that he essentially was one of the founders of the civil rights movement, the great cause for all minorities. He essentially started it back in 1947. It's something every young American hopefully is aware of, what he went through."
While Hill has educated himself on Robinson's impact, he hopes others in the game truly understand the meaning of celebrating Jackie Robinson Day.
"I hope they do," Miami's GM said. "Given so many people get absorbed in their lives and what they do day to day. But I consider myself a historian of the game. I respect the history of the game. I understand what sacrifices and what issues that he dealt with, as he broke the color barrier and he opened the door for many others, on the field, in dugouts and in front offices."
Hill's official title is vice president and general manager, and he's held the post for five seasons and has been with the Marlins for 10 years.
The Rangers selected Hill in the 31st round of the First-Year Player Draft in 1993, and he spent two seasons in their system. In '95, he was with the Reds' organization, a homecoming for the Ohio native.
Hill's lone year in Cincinnati's system ended up being his last as a player.
Now he has 17 years of front-office experience working with the Rockies, Rays and the Marlins.
"GM was always part of my goal," Hill said.
Still, he's reaching for more.
If the cards fall right, he dreams to one day calling the shots -- in an ownership capacity.
Hill points to the recent sale of the Dodgers, who have former NBA great Magic Johnson as part of their ownership group.
"We're always working to make ourselves better, and make the team better," Hill said. "And we're always trying to challenge ourselves. You look in Major League Baseball, and you see what's happening with the Dodgers, and Magic Johnson, part of the new ownership going into Los Angeles. It's definitely something that if things work out the right way, it would be something I'd love to do one day." | <urn:uuid:5e8632d4-d6f9-484b-a71c-5fa767b906e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120413&content_id=28537152&vkey=news_mia&c_id=mia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980198 | 1,025 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Re: Going in and out of an autonoumous program.
Having it toggle will be a bit trickier. Using the code behind the 'untilBump' Natural Language command, I was able to throw together this little doozy;
The first thing I did was declare an integer variable called 'delayTimeMS'. This variable is used to compensate for a property of switches called 'bouncing', which is when a switch (physically nearing the other 'prong' internally) rapidly bounces between an open and closed state. You can't see it normally (it happens very quickly) but when you push a switch its output is actually similar to this:
Where 0's are the switch being open or 'not pressed' and 1's are the switch being closed or 'pressed'. We'll get back to how this used in the code soon.
The first while loop puts the robot in tele-op mode while the 8D button is not pressed. Once the Cortex sees the button first being pressed (or the first '1' value if using the example above), it kicks out of the while loop and enters a 50 ms 'debounce' state, which allows it to ignore the rapid 010101 switching. When the debounce period is over it waits for the button to be released, which kicks it out of the second while loop.
At this point you have physically pressed and released the switch. The robot now enters the third while loop (which contains the line tracking code) and stays inside of it until the button is pressed again. It follows the same 'debounce period -wait for release -debounce period' when the button is pressed, and then the whole program loops back up to the start of the infinite loop, starting the process over again.
If we didn't have the debounce wait command, the Cortex would rapidly switch between the tele-op and line-tracking segments of code because the amount of open and closed states (0's and 1's) is completely random when the switch is bouncing. The debounce period is switch dependant as well, so you may have to tweak that value to match your physical robots. Ideally, you would want it as low a value as possible without having any bouncing issues, but it's much better to be safe than sorry.
I highly suggest taking the time to go through our Cortex Video Trainer
as it covers a great many of these topics. The knowledge you can gain from them is invaluable as a ROBOTC coder.
Wikipedia also has a great segment on switch bouncing
you might want to check out.
Check out our Blog
! And our Facebook page
Need help? Take a look at our Wiki
and our Forums.I just met you,
And this is crazy,
But here's my code now,
So fix it, maybe?
~ Carly Rae Jepsen parody | <urn:uuid:b5083638-2946-4e44-85ce-5400ee6ddde1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://robotc.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20815 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937438 | 589 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Back when the P4 first came out, there was quite a bit of negativity toward the new design in the hardware enthusiast community. Initial benchmarks showed that its performance was clearly clock-for-clock worse than that of the P-III, which was to be expected given its much longer pipeline.
Poor benchmark performance aside, there were also quite a few technical criticisms of its radical new design, leveled with varying degrees of validity by everyone from programmers to technology pundits.
Perhaps the most common gripe about the Pentium 4's microarchitecture, called Netburst by Intel, was that its staggeringly-long pipeline was a gimmick ? a poor design choice made for reasons of marketing and not performance and scalability. Intel knew that the public naively equated higher MHz numbers with higher performance, or so the argument went, so they designed the P4 to run at stratospheric clock speeds and in the process made design tradeoffs that would prove detrimental to real-world performance.
I was one of the original dissenters from this school of thought, and in my P4 vs. the G4e series I tried to make a plausible technical case for why the P4's designers had made some of the design decisions that they did. I ultimately managed to convince myself and not a few others that the P4's deeply pipelined design was, in fact, performance-driven and not marketing-driven.
That was then, and this is now. As it turns out, the P4 bashers were right. Revelations from former members of the P4's design team, as well as my own off-the-record conversations with Intel folks, all indicate that the P4's design was the result of a marketing-driven focus on clock speeds at the expense of actual performance and scalability.
It's my understanding that this fact is pretty widely known within Intel, even though it's not publicly acknowledged. Furthermore, the P4's focus on megahertz has made it especially vulnerable to the industry-wide problems that have accompanied the 90nm transition, with the result that the new P4 probably won't scale very well at all in terms of both clock speed and performance. But I'm not going to say any more about the 90nm P4 problems, because I've addressed those elsewhere.
We now know that that during the course of the P4's design, the design team was getting pressure from the marketing folks to turn out a chip that would give Intel a massive MHz lead over its rivals. The reasoning apparently went that MHz is a single number that the general public understands, and they know that, just like with everything in the world except for golf scores, higher numbers are somehow better.
In the present article, which is the conclusion of my architectural history of the Pentium line, we'll take a look at the P4's Netburst architecture and at the sacrifices that Intel made at the altar of MHz. We'll then look at the relatively new Pentium M, before finishing off with a look at Prescott. If you didn't catch the previous article, be sure to read it first.
The Pentium 4
I'm not going to give a breakdown of the P4's massive 20-stage basic pipeline, because I've done that elsewhere, but I will make a few general remarks about the ways in which it differs from that of the P6 core. I'll also cover one of P4's most radical innovations: the trace cache.
The P4's basic approach
The Pentium 4's designers took the P6's 12-stage pipeline and sliced it up into finer increments. Each stage does much less work, but this allows the processor to run faster. In this way, the P4 translates clock speed directly into performance, which is one way to take advantage of Moore's Curves.
Actually, let me unpack the previous statement a bit to show you what I mean. The following scenario is a bit oversimplified, but it gets the basic point across.
Let's say that each stage of a 20-stage processor does half the amount of work per clock cycle as each stage of a 10-stage processor. So the 20-stage processor takes two clock cycles to do what the 10-stage processor does in one. This means that the 20-stage processor has to run twice as fast as the 10-stage processor if it wants to do the same amount of work in the same amount of time. Why would you do things this way? Well, if people want to buy processors with higher clock speeds, then why not? Besides, as transistors shrink you can switch them faster, which means that you can continue to scale the clock speed of the processor as your manufacturing process improves. So to adapt the familiar dot-com business plan parody, we might say that Intel's reasoning went something like:
- process improvements
- clock speed increases
This plan works pretty well until the clock speed increases start to run out of gas... but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
If you read my article on Moore's Law (the principle that I now call "Moore's Curves") then you understand that there's more than one way to take advantage of shrinking transistor sizes and other types of process improvements. Increasing clock speeds a la the P4 is one of them, but adding functionality is another. Instead of translating process improvements into clock speed increases, the P4's competitors (e.g., AMD's Athlon) decided to turn them into performance-enhancing hardware. Adding functionality in the form of execution hardware, branch prediction hardware, cache, etc. is another way to turn process improvements into performance.
Actually, both the P4 and the Athlon do a little bit of both: they add hardware and they increase their clock speed. The difference between the two designs is a matter of emphasis, with Intel emphasizing clock speed increases and AMD emphasizing hardware increases.
Unfortunately for AMD there's no single magic number that sums up "performance as derived from various and sundry hardware improvements." This didn't stop AMD from trying to invent such a number, though. AMD debuted its performance rating system to mixed reviews from the tech community, but the company has stuck with the system and while its positive effects may be debatable it doesn't seem to have done them any real harm. In fact, Intel is now adopting an analogous system for similar reasons, but more on that later. | <urn:uuid:6760057a-e620-4f9c-9510-b00895328157> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/features/2004/07/pentium-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97102 | 1,309 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Vancouver’s Seawall is a favourite recreation destination for residents and visitors alike. The multipurpose path is used for walking, jogging, biking and inline skating. It has set the president for many other recreational paths around the world and helped to establish Vancouver’s status as one of the best places in the world to live.
The seawall was originally conceived as a retaining wall around Stanley Park that would prevent erosion and double as a walking path. Now it extends 22 km from Coal Harbour to Kitsilano Beach and showcases some off the best views and attractions that Vancouver has to offer. Popular cultural stops such as Granville Island, The Vancouver Aquarium, Science World, and The Museum of Vancouver can all be found only steps from the seawall.
The seawall is divided into three sections all of which are easily accessed from our residences.
- Stanley Park (8.8km)
- Coal Harbour (2.2km)
- English Bay to Kitsilano Beach (11km)
One of the the best ways to enjoy the entire lenght of the seawall and see all the sights is by bicycle. Only a few blocks from Vancover Extended Stay, on Denman St. and Robson St, there is a large cluster of bicycle rental and service shops. In many of these places you can buy or rent bicycles, get guided bicycle tours of the ciy, or get a map and go adventuring on your own.
The entire city of Vancouver is woven through with bicycle lanes. If you are staying with us for an extended period of time and plan on purchasing a bicycle for your stay, please come to the rental office and speak to us about secure bicycle storage.
Photo: The Seawall at Coal Harbour | <urn:uuid:3ee93325-03b0-4755-aaef-7144ccaddd67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.vancouverextendedstay.com/vancouvers-seawall/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949755 | 361 | 1.53125 | 2 |
What is iPulse?
Checking the help file is no help:
iPulse is an application that graphically displays the inner workings of Mac OS X.
The same could be said of a colonoscopy and a human being, but that's not what iPulse is. iPulse is a metaphor, a means by which the complex is made accessible. To understand the metaphor that is iPulse is to understand something of software development, and again there is a metaphor. Beyond the Linear Sequential Model and aphorisms decrying copyright, there are the Wonder Twins. Zan and Jayna fought crime alongside the Super Friends by day and spent nights with adults in tights, mostly men, except for an Ayn Rand look-alike Wonder Woman. You can spin it like NAMBLA, but that's what was going on, that and a blue monkey with . . . needs.
Jayna had the superpower to transform herself into various animals, but not any animal, and whether one's options were limited by fate or an astoundingly poor choice in CPU fabricators, the ability to constantly reinvent oneself also describes Apple Computer. Zan turned into water, a seemingly useless superpower, and yet water, given enough time or obscene sums of money, will erode the tallest mountain or drown the largest browser competitor. Water is everywhere. Water is Microsoft. (As an aside, the inarticulate and socially inept, yet technologically astute, blue monkey, Gleek, represents Linux -- actually that's a picture of Evil Gleek, so I guess it would represent SCO.)
So what is iPulse? For starters, you could say it's a system monitor. Don't :rolleyes: and say, "does the world really need another third party developer trying to sell an application already included with the OS?" This is not your Windows Task Manager, nor your OS X Process Viewer, nor Gleek's "top" command, but a reinvention of the system monitor idea. This is the answer to the question that was never asked by the Apple Human Interface Guys, but Craig Hockenberry, creator of iPulse, answered it anyway:
I originally started designing iPulse because I wasn't happy having a bunch of different monitors in my Dock--all of them had pretty standard x vs. y rendering of the data -- none of them were very pretty, either.
What you see is a circle, with a diameter from 32 to 128 pixels, and a bunch of well-coordinated colors. The colors are gauges. You may also see a numeric display over each gauge, but you don't need that. If you want more information than the average AOLperson requires, mouse-over that section of iPulse and a semi-transparent window appears, overflowing with minutiae. If you want the space on the Desktop, you can run iPulse solely from the Dock, which is what I do. A glance at my Dock tells me everything I want to know. | <urn:uuid:85d3328d-8394-418d-b9a1-9c2de1448d2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/features/2003/10/ipulse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955932 | 613 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Reported hate crimes fall, but more directed at gays
Crime & Safety Headlines
Find statistics and facts from all cases
Search inmates by name, race or county
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WASHINGTON — More than 6,000 hate crimes were reported to U.S. law-enforcement agencies in 2011, down 6 percent from 2010, the FBI said yesterday. Crimes based on victims’ sexual orientation increased slightly.
Nearly half of the 6,222 hate crimes reported in 2011 were racially motivated, the FBI said, with nearly three-quarters of those directed at African-Americans. More than 16 percent were motivated by anti-white bias.
About 59 percent of the known offenders in all reported hate crimes were white, and 21 percent were black, the agency said. | <urn:uuid:79861318-7648-4666-b049-d3f6c417fb82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2012/12/11/reported-hate-crimes-fall-but-more-directed-at-gays.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983954 | 163 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Commenced in 2001, the Department of Computer Application envisions imparting high eminence skills in software Development to excel in Software Industry and to train the students to develop the soft skills with global standards and enhance their knowledge in Information Technology. The department aims to develop academically competent and professionally motivated personals, equipped with objective and critical thinking that compassionately foster the scientific temper with a sense of social responsibility.
The Department aims at providing high quality training to students through the latest in computer technology. In order to maintain the standard of education, the department constantly upgrades the academic syllabi so as to keep the students well trained to deal with changing trends in the field of Computer Science and Technology. The syllabi and courseware are planned to be flexible and wide-ranging, incorporating the cutting edge as well as ensuring a firm grasp of core fundamentals.
The department has a good record, as many students have been placed well in good IT Companies through campus placement. The curriculum and the lab training help the students in acquiring excellence in their career.
Programmes offered: BCA | <urn:uuid:85b6116b-aec7-416e-8425-3355b290ff3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcc.edu.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=126&Itemid=116 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954023 | 215 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Did we pass?
- Resources, Values and Development by Amartya Sen
Blackwell, 584 pp, £25.00, October 1984, ISBN 0 631 13342 9
According to legend, when Paul Samuel-son left the room after his PhD oral, one of the reputed economists examining him turned to the others and asked: ‘Did we pass?’ A reviewer confronted with this collection of papers by Amartya Sen is likely to feel much the same. The author has a mind like a search-light, illuminating his material with an intense lucidity; he has a gift for looking at assumptions his colleagues have long taken for granted, and finding them defective. Economics as it is commonly taught would be somewhat different if the insights propounded here were taken to heart. | <urn:uuid:44e832f4-58ad-49ce-b93d-bddd40f739d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lrb.co.uk/v07/n09/robert-cassen/did-we-pass | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97821 | 163 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Ceremony honors Alzheimer's disease patients
November is national Alzheimer's Awareness Month, and it was marked with a special service in Allentown on Wednesday.
A ceremony was held at the Phoebe Allentown Health Care Center on West Turner Street.
Organizers said the event is meant to honor victims and raise awareness about the disease.
The Alzheimer's Association said more than five million Americans are living with Alzheimer's today.
Copyright 2012 WFMZ. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:08f32536-e8f4-47b8-8b31-a0b1bd8fabb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-lehighvalley/Ceremony-honors-Alzheimer-s-disease-patients/-/132502/17584330/-/view/print/-/jsobr9/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937471 | 113 | 1.65625 | 2 |
(The following contains language that may well be considered offensive. This post is an attempt to make clear what was written in past Ron Paul newsletters. More information can be found here)
The RON PAUL
1993 Ron Paul & Associates, Inc., Houston, Texas
How to Protect Yourself Against Urban Violence
by James B. Powell
Many successful Americans are well aware of the dangers that our exploding government poses to their financial health. Ever-increasing taxes, a continuing loss of economic stability and rights, as well as multiple assaults on our finances and investments, have dominated our attention for years.
Unfortunately, most Americans – particularly those who live in our nation’s cities and suburban areas – now face an additional challenge which carries potentially higher stakes. Those citizens must begin taking steps to preserve their very lives as well as their possessions from the wave of violence that threatens the foundation of U.S. society. For such individuals we firmly believe it is imperative that physical protection must now be given equal emphasis with financial security. To do less is to invite disaster.
Why There’s No Time To Waste
We are convinced that the 1992 riots in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities are just the preshocks of the holocaust which is coming to America’s urban areas. During the 1990s, the 80% of our population that lives in our cities – including nearby towns and suburbs – may expect to experience a terrifying succession of relatively short-term, but extremely violent periods triggered by social and economic unrest.
That unrest is being fueled by powerful forces that are likely to grow stronger as the decade matures. Here’s why our outlook is grim and our message is urgent:
The poor economy has eliminated millions of jobs. The effects are particularly noticeable in our cities and their surrounding areas. Structural changes in our economy make it unlikely that the job situation will improve, even when the cycle turns up again and many other jobs will be taken by our uncontrolled flood of immigrants. This ongoing loss of opportunity can only compound the frustration of our underclass.
Our irresponsible media is also contributing to urban strife by continuously fanning the flames of social outrage. Television in particular dwells upon our problems day after day, week after week, until the inevitable explosion occurs.
Also ominous for the future is the tolerant attitude towards looting and rioting that is held by many civic leaders. Even the more responsible among them feel that the lawbreaking is “regrettable but understandable,” a position that invites more outbreaks of violence. There are other more militant leaders, such as California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who went on national TV after the 1992 Los Angeles riots with her now-famous cry, “No justice, no peace!” No one should be surprised when that call is answered.
Growing drug use is another ingredient in our urban pressure cooker. As the economy continues to slide, drug sales will go up and so will the criminal activities that support the habits. America’s drug problems, which stem from prohibition and bad welfare laws, are clearly out of control and bode ill for the future of all our communities from coast to coast.
Also ominous for America is the increasing organization and sophistication of our gangs, which are now statewide and even nationwide powers. These violent groups – which are the product of every race, nationality, and culture – operate with military discipline and efficiency. Even worse, recent FBI investigations reveal that our more dangerous gangs are preparing to help promote and then exploit the coming outbreaks of urban unrest.
Unfortunately the next explosion of violence is likely to occur sooner rather than later when a series of highly sensitive trials are scheduled in Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles, and a dozen smaller cities. As with the Rodney King trial in 1992, we can expect our nation’s urban areas to become tinderboxes.
Longer term is equally grim. Simple momentum is against a timely turnaround in our urban problems. If every social and economic inequality in America could be stopped tomorrow, a very large percentage of the underclass would still continue to live as it does today. Of course, we are nowhere near solving the problems. Instead, they are getting worse.
You’re On Your Own
Unfortunately, the level of government protection that is available during the widespread breakdowns is very limited. The 1992 Los Angeles riots are a case in point. Within an hour after they started, the police were completely overwhelmed. In the most critical areas, the police withdrew, leaving citizens at the mercy of the looters and arsonists. That scenario was repeated all across America as the riots leaped from city to city. Similar breakdowns occurred in the wake of the San Francisco earthquake, Hurricane Andrew, and other major disasters.
The lesson from Los Angeles and other area is clear: in a major crisis you are both your first and your last line of defense. You must also be your own store, your own bank, your own doctor, and your own everything else.
Measures That Increase Safety
Unfortunately, as the threat of an urban explosion increases in your city, there are several effective precautions that you can make to increase your family’s security. The measures have been thoroughly tested throughout the world’s more volatile areas from America to Afghanistan. When the preparations are implemented properly, they greatly reduce the chance that a disaster will seriously harm you or your family.
I. First, Secure Your Neighborhood:
You must begin your preparations with your neighborhood, your first and best line of defense. If your neighborhood is made safe from attack, you are likely to find that few additional protective measures will be needed.
Lessons from Los Angeles underscore the value of neighborhood security. On the second day of the 1992 riots, groups of armed men from the inner city began to move outwards towards the affluent suburbs. These violent opportunists were typical of their kind throughout the world. They were ruthless and ready to kill, and they were looking for quick, easy scores. Where they found them, they engaged in an orgy of pillage and destruction, leaving death and ashes in their wakes [sic]. But where they met with determined resistance, they left in search of easier pickings.
One place the looters did not find an easy score was a small neighborhood in Hollywood, an affluent community not far from the inner city. Within an hour the neighbors rolled Dumpsters from nearby apartments and businesses into the street to block access to the area. Then automobiles were moved up and arranged so that their headlights would illuminate the intersections in front of the portable barricades. Behind the Dumpsters, groups of armed residents assembled and waited.
Hour after hour, vehicles filled with thugs armed with guns and Molotov cocktails approached the barricades and looked them over carefully. Each time the outcome was the same. Arms were brandished and warnings were issued from the obviously well-fortified defenders, at which point the vehicles sped away. Only once did the neighborhood protectors need to punctuate a point with a warning shot.
When the crisis was over five days later, the street was intact. Unlike the devastation that occurred in so many other parts of the city, not a store had been looted, not a home had been burned, and no one had been hurt. Such are the rewards of careful neighborhood preparations.
II. Make Your Home A Fortress:
You must also physically secure your home against any likely urban disaster. If so much as a mouse comes up your walk, you must know everything about him but his hat size.
As with neighborhood defense, your goal must be to stop looters and arsonists at your property line. That’s relatively easy to accomplish if your make the proper use of walls, fences, decorative barricades, and floodlights. If any attackers attempt to get past your defenses. you will be dealing with them at a distance with all the advantages in your favor.
You must also harden the access points to your home with modern high-security Medeco locks, MAG Engineering deadbolts, Lexan windows, and metal-clad doors. Although you may not be able to keep intruders outside forever, the added measures will give you enough time to deal with them effectively. Suitable home safes from AMSEC and fireproof containers from Aladdin should also be included in your defense system.
You can greatly increase your family’s safety if you implement your home’s physical barriers with a good electronic security system, such as the excellent Keepsafer Plus. Such a wireless system can warn you of a problem before it becomes life-threatening. It can also let your intruders know that their presence has been detected. A good system can even initiate the first level of defense measures that you may have established. All in all, properly selected, computer-controlled security equipment is well worth its modest cost.
III. Prepare Your Household to Be Self-Reliant:
You must carefully stockpile essential equipment and supplies to sustain your family during the period of isolation that always follows large-scale disasters. Besides the certain loss of municipal assistance, you can also expect to be cut off from every product and service that you normally use to support life. Of course your preparedness program must be started well ahead of time. Plan for at least two weeks of total self-sufficiency.
Firearms for Home and Neighborhood Security
No defense system is effective if ir doesn’t include the ability to repel attackers with appropriate force. What is becoming particularly true today when aggressors are usually armed with the latest weapons. To engage such threats without the same degree of strength is to invite the worst sort of outcome.
It will be essential for each member of your defense group to know the circumstances during which the use of guns is and is not permitted in your area. In most states, deadly force can only be used to stop a clear and immediate threat to a human life when no effective alternative is available. If you are in doubt about your local laws, write to your city attorney for clarification. Photocopy and distribute and the reply to everyone in your group.
Because widespread firefighting reduces water pressure to near zero, you must put an emergency water supply at the top of your list. Buy industrial-grade water storage racks and containers, such as those made by Rubbermaid. Fill half of them now and the remainder at the first sign of trouble.
(floorplan for security system)
MREs: The Modern Survival Food
Modern military field rations are a significant improvement over the “C” rations of WW II and the freeze-dried LRPS rations of Vietnam. Although MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat) are similar to canned foods in that they are fully hydrated and fully cooked, they are pakced in tough, lightweight pouches.
MREs provide quick, nutritional meals that are tasty, hearty, and excellent for emergencies. The typical pouch offers 1,500 to 1,800 calories and consists of a meat entrée, a dessert, crackers, a fruit spread, cocoa powder, a spoon, and an accessory packed. Entrees include Chicken Stew, Beef Stew Spaghetti, Ham Omelette, Scalloped Potatoes with Ham, and several other popular dishes. Desert Storm troops loved them, especially after heating the pouches in boiling water or on a hot engine.
The shelf life for MRE’s runs from 5 to 8 years, depending upon the temperature where they are stored. Each pouch weights about one pound. The cost per meal is to $3 to $5. We recommend serving one MRE meal to your family per week or two during normal times, replacing emergency stores as you go.
Thanks to an oversupply resulting from the shorter-than-expected length of Operation Desert Storm, surplus MRE’s are now becoming available to the public. They can be ordered from many sources, including some Army/Navy stores in major cites.
Complement your water supplies with an emergency pantry that’s stocked with canned goods, dried foods, MRE military rations, and other non-perishables. Don’t forget sanitary items and all the medications that your family uses. Buy a military-grade medical kit, such as the Trauma Kit from your local paramedic supplier. Be certain that it is set up for major emergencies including severe burns and wounds. Use and replace the supplies on an ongoing basis to keep everything fresh.
Uncontrolled fires make it necessary to back up your other utilites as well. For your essential electrical appliances, you must buy a good home generator. Buy one that’s large enough to power your kitchen appliances, your TV, and a few lights. Get the type that charges batteries. The Honda EM2500XK1 is ideal for most homes.
Also purchase a good portable cellular phone, such as the new Motorola MC-310 that works independently of the normal system that’s likely to fail. Have a battery-powered raido and a good Uniden police scanner to stay on top of fast-changing events that could become threats. Also buy 2-way radios if you will be coordinating your defenses with neighbors: Motorola’s new Radius models are definitely the best. Batteries for everything should be the rechargeable type.
Lastly, buy top-rated family camping equipment from a reputable maker such as Coleman. You should have a gasoline stove, gasoline lanterns, portable coolers, sleeping bags, and other gear that can turn a disaster into a tolerable inconvenience. Include a tent in case you must run. Store everything in portable containers.
IV. Acquire The Means To Travel Safely:
Prudence requires that you have the means to escape the city if runaway fires or organized attacks overwhelm your defenses. In addition to having a well-chosen and suitably equipped vehicle, you must have a planned destination and carefully selected escape routes painstakingly worked out ahead of time.
Vehicle selection is particularly important. To survive the rigors of an emergency evacuation, the vehicle must have a steel frame, 4-wheel drive, at least 4,000 pounds of mass, a powerful engine, run-flat tires, electric locks and windows, an extra gas tank, and plenty of carrying capacity. A handful of vehicles, including the 3/4 ton Chevy Suburban, will serve magnificently if it is set up properly.
Planning safe escape routes is also crucial. Major roads will be gridlocked within the first hour in a disaster. Ditto for bridges, passes, and other choke points. Avoid routes that go by shopping areas and other prime targets of looters and arsonists. Think unconventionally. Look at your task as if you are planning an evasion and escape game – except it won’t be a game.
V. Disaster-Proof Your Finances:
Your finances must be made safe from any calamity. Your accounts must be changed to safeguard them from regional disruptions and they must be accessible from anywhere. You will also need an emergency cash reserve to see you through at least two weeks of post-disaster troubles.
Your emergency cash reserve should be first on your list: half should be in travelers checks, half in currency. Both should be in smaller denominations. Acquire your reserve slowly from a different bank than you normally use. Keep your reserve in a home safe until it is needed. If a disaster strikes, transfer the cash to European-type money belts that your purchased ahead of time for all the members of your family.
Since banks and brokerage offices are usually shut down or knocked out during a disaster, switch all your accounts to large multi-state chains that can transact your business from any branch in the system. You should be able to withdraw cash, transfer money, settle accounts, get emergency checks, and trade your securities, no matter where you are, by telephone if necessary.
Complement your disaster-proof accounts by arranging automatic deposits for your regular incoming checks. Get your institutions’ “routing codes” and “direct depost addresses” and send them to your employer, Social Security Department, Treasury Department, brokes, and so on as appropriate. Direct all your automatic deposits to demand accounts so that your money will be immediately available to you in an emergency.
VI. Relocate to a Safer Area:
Some situations aren’t worth trying to save. If urban blight is steadily creeping towards your door and crime rates in your area are exploding, your best reaction may be to leave. Even the Marines know when to retreat.
Relocating is particularly appropriate if you feel that you may be unsuited to the harsh demands of an urban crisis. If you are not physically and psychologically capable of reacting adequately in a major emergency, you could be risking your life to remain where you are.
Although uprooting your life and moving to a new area is complex, it isn’t difficult if you use the systematic approach that we advise. Examine your personal and financial situation, item by item. Write everything down. Compare what you would lose vs. what you would gain by relocating. Be certain to consider the savings that will occur from replacing a high-cost city life with living in a more affordable area.
Finding a new place to live that fits your lifestyle and your budget is also a task that yuelds to an organized approach. The way to start is with a good relocation guide, such as the Places Rated Almanac by Richard Boyer and David Savageau. Use the book to evaluate communities for critical factors such as size, climate, crime, education, medical services, housing, recreation, taxes, and others that contribute to, or detract from, the quality of life. Set your priorities, then find the places which fit the criteria. Investigate them in person.
VI. Relocate to a Safer Area:
If you’ve decided to remain in an unstable area, you must carefully implement the individual elements in your urban security plan. The best way to do so is to bring each element on line according to the level of danger that exists at the time. That will insure that you will have what is needed for the specific threats which are common to each level. It will also bring related elements of the plan on-line together.
THREAT LEVEL III is the lowest level of danger that exists in the modern American metropolitan area. It is the relatively quiet period that exists between civil emergencies. The main threats are “ordinary” but dangerous crimes against persons and property. Emergency services are intact, but their ability to prevent trouble is minimal.
This is the time to purchase and install your more substantial emergency equipment, such as your household security system, your generator, and your escape vehicle. Everything that takes time to integrate into your household should be acquired during this period. This is also the time to train yourself to use your equipment effectively.
THREAT LEVEL II is marked by a noticeable increase in social and economic tension within an urban area. Gang activity picks up. Crimes become more violent. There is a sharp reduction in personal safety. Emergency services function, but they are now almost exclusively a reaction force rather than a deterrent.
When this level of threat begins, you must increase your emphasis on personal and home protection. Remember that this level can change to the next highest level in a heartbeat. You must finish your preparedness program as quickly as possible. In particular, you should top off your emergency stores. Make certain that key products are fresh.
During this period you must also pay attention to signs that the situation may be about to explode into a full-scale riot. Monitor the news. Be ready both physically and psychologically for a total breakdown with possibly very little warning.
THREAT LEVEL I is the final and most dangerous level that you will face. A full-scale riot erupts with looting, arson, and wanton attacks on persons and property. Emergency services are no longer in control. You must be able to supply all your own needs for a period lasting from a week to 30 days.
It’s probably too late to get whatever you may lack, but you may get lucky if you are a few miles away from the riot and you act quickly enough. This is the time to get your family together and to activate all your disaster strategies.
As you make your final preparations, spend a few moments reflecting on how this magnificent country, “the land overshadowed with wings,” ever fell into this sorry condition. Resolve that when the crisis is over you will do everything in your power to make certain that such an event will never happen again.
We wish you well.
About the Author:
James B. Powell is widely known as one of America’s most creative financial and personal security consultants. For more than 20 years, he has systematically researched and tested a wide range of security and survival equipment and has consulted on family security matters for a select clientele. He entered the field when it became obvious to him that physical protection would one day, become just as great a day-to-day concern to upper middle-class Americans as financial matters, an observation that has certainly proven to be correct. His financial writings include several books and frequent guest articles in major investment newsletters.
Mr. Powell is the author of the new Urban Security Guide: Insuring Your Personal Safety in the Turbulent ’90s published by Globacor (Communications) Ltd. He also offers telephone consultations on the many topics covered in this article. For information on ordering the Guide or arranging a personal consultation with Mr. Powell, please refer to the Special Subscriber Offer which follows.
The original pdf of this newsletter can be found at The New Republic. | <urn:uuid:0c9d3fc5-45a8-4520-8efd-a57deff2f26e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://italkyoubored.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/660/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961145 | 4,454 | 1.75 | 2 |
Hogan misleading Dáil on climate change bill: Stanley
February 5, 2013
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Environment, Community and Local Government, Brian Stanley TD has today demanded that Minister Hogan misleading the Dáil on climate change.
Deputy Stanley said: “Minister Hogan continues to mislead the Dáil on his commitment to introducing a Climate Change Bill, which both Labour and Fine Gael committed to in the Programme for Government.
“Then, the Minster said in November 2011 that a climate change bill was not a priority. Following questioning from me this afternoon the Minister denied ever promising a Climate Change Bill for 2012.
“This is untrue, in a Dáil debate in November 30th 2011 the Minister said, ‘As indicated in the government legislative programme it will be 2012 at the earliest’ when legislation will be introduced.
“He then went on to confirm that the Heads of Bill would be published in December 2012 and set out a road map to achieve this. To date the government has done nothing but break promises on climate change. His road map has led the government into a cul de sac.
“Sinn Féin introduced a comprehensive climate change bill last week. This bill can easily be adopted by the Dáil. It contains all the key components of an effective bill. The bill will see the introduction of five year carbon reduction targets. These will assist in the management of Ireland's reduction of carbon emissions in a planned and phased way.
“It will see the establishment of the Climate Change Commission. This will be independent of government and will prepare an assessment of the potential impact on the state of climate change and it will review on an annual basis the progress made.
“It will advise An Taoiseach on steps to be taken to meet agreed targets. Current government Ministers Phil Hogan, Dinny McGinly and Simon Coveney supported a similar bill in 2010. It is hypocrisy of the highest order that this government will now no longer support our bill simply because they are now in government.
Climate Change is too serious an issue to turn into a political football. I would urge Minister Hogan to reconsider his position and support our bill.” | <urn:uuid:6f095318-f2ca-40e6-845d-4366ead52367> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/25610 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947581 | 454 | 1.53125 | 2 |
SHAUN STANLEY/Durango Herald
Because one of her employees kept getting parking tickets on 12th Street even though she was feeding the meter as usual, Rosie McGowan said she “stopped the meter maid and asked ‘What’s going on here?’”
McGowan then learned the city had doubled the parking rate on 12th Street to make it uniform with the rest of the city.
The parking meter rate went from 15 cents to 30 cents an hour within the last three weeks, but the new price increase was never publicized, which one city official acknowledged was an embarrassing mistake.
In an expensive city where many people live on a tight budget, people should have been informed, said McGowan and others interviewed Friday on 12th Street.
“The pay scale most people are making in this town is not commensurate with the cost of living,” said McGowan, a manager for AREM Property Management. “We have to pay $65 a month to park. For my employees, that’s hard.”
Because Max Scholfield owns a cash key, which can be bought in increments of $10 to $50, Scholfield is used to turning the key in a parking meter without looking to see how much time he was buying.
When told of the price increase on Friday, Scholfield said, “That is a lot. Give them hell.”
A financial adviser, Scholfield arrives early to find a spot.
“I’m the first one here every morning. I’m here nine to 10 hours a day. You can’t park anywhere else,” he said.
Because the street has 19 10-hour meters, meaning drivers can park there for up to 10 hours without refeeding the meter or moving their vehicles, many commuters are used to parking there all day.
At 15 cents an hour, 12th Street had the cheapest rate in town – for a few years at least. The 10-hour meters on Narrow Gauge Avenue have been 30 cents an hour for years, said Amber Blake, the city’s multimodal administrator who recently was put in charge of parking.
The error was discovered during an audit this spring, she said.
It was not immediately known how much revenue the city lost over the years because the meters were undercharging motorists, Blake said.
Because the city was correcting an error, an internal decision was made to update the meters on 12th Street to the current rate, Blake said.
“There really was not a rate increase,” said Blake, explaining that a rate increase would have been subject to public hearings and public notice.
Blake apologized for not publicizing the price increase.
“The intent was not to pull one over on the public,” Blake said. “It was an administrative oversight. We’re embarrassed we did not communicate to the public.” | <urn:uuid:98fccc09-115b-4514-8c40-9c5de9433bd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://durangoherald.com/article/20120616/NEWS01/706169957/0/Lifestyle06/Drivers-find-surprise-at-local-parking-meters | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976956 | 619 | 1.53125 | 2 |
When Google (GOOG) announced its intention to spend $12.5 billion on the mobile phone maker—one of its own Android hardware partners—the purchase was considered to be a play for Motorola’s mobile patents.
US and European regulators approved the deal in February, leaving only the Chinese regulators as potential spoilers.
The Chinese government approved the deal on Saturday, May 19, 2012, Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said.
Thus, MMI’s patents would be important for protecting Android and improving mobile economics, as we estimate Google pays Apple roughly 75 percent revenue share to be the default in the Safari search bar, which we estimate accounts for roughly one third of all mobile queries.
And defend itself and Android phone manufacturers in patent litigation.
A main condition of the deal is that the Android system remain free and open for five years, said a source who is familiar with the Chinese approval but not authorized to discuss it.
“We are pleased that the deal has received approval in all jurisdictions and we expect to close early next week,” Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch Erickson said.
Phaedon George is a business journalist based in Hobart, Australia. Phaedon has a passion for financial markets and breaking news stories and loves writing about business news, stock market, and economic opinions that matters most to its audience. Phaedon spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest financial markets and industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on BigBoardNews.com. | <urn:uuid:cc823889-85df-4404-989f-0327b06b4ab1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bigboardnews.com/2012/05/20/google-won-chinas-approval-motorola-deal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945384 | 319 | 1.53125 | 2 |
There is a measure of unease in studying in law school. Nearly fifteen weeks of class, reading, and outlining. And it all comes down to a few hours, a number of essays, and possibly a few multiple choice questions. And then the past few months are summed up by a solitary number, a single letter--garnished, perhaps by a symbol. And from there you fit into a rank of your class. Upper half, bottom third, top five percentile...a new identity--even if short-lived--is yours.
And sure, there are practice law school exams and answers, but how can you really know
how a law professor will grade. We mean really know. Because in the end, who your professor is and what they
are looking for, matters more than just a little in the parallel law school universe.
We've been working around the clock at FindLaw to shed some light on the subject. And we think you'll like what we found...
Or, at least, that even law professors have a sense of humor.
Enjoy. And don't forget to read the comments, just like footnotes in cases, they are invaluable here.
- Top 7 Law School Study Aids (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- The Power of Free: FindLaw's Cases & Codes for Law Students & Associates (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- Law School Outlines in 2.0 : What Wiki Can Do For You (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- 21 Serious, Creative, & Crazy Study Spots for Law Students (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- 10 Funny Tees for Law Students in 2010 (FindLaw's Greedy | <urn:uuid:d9850513-e28f-40a4-9ad1-d2fc4ec2405b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.findlaw.com/greedy_associates/2010/02/law-professor-tell-all-how-exams-are-graded.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939839 | 348 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I will be at the University of Utah presenting a paper at the Intermountain Philosophy Conference tomorrow entitled “Neurobiological Correlates of Philosophical Belief & Judgment: What This Means for Philosophy.” An abstract is below. The conference website is here.
It is becoming increasingly common to find journals publishing articles that demonstrate psychological correlates (e.g. Adelstein, Deyong, Arvan) and biological correlates (e.g. Harris, Hsu, Stern) of various self-reported beliefs and judgments. It is perhaps most common to find articles reporting the correlates of political beliefs and judgments (e.g. Amodio, Arvan, Hatemi, Kanai, Tost). This paper sets out to show that other types of belief are also worthy of study—for example, self-reported philosophical beliefs. The hypothesis is this: variations in peoples’ biology—perhaps their neurobiology in particular—could correlate with variations in one’s proclivity towards or aversion to particular philosophical beliefs and judgments. In the first section of the paper, I hypothesize about what we should expect to learn about our philosophical beliefs from our biology. Before reaching the concluding remarks I mention some philosophical and methodological concerns with the suggested research, some objections to the program, and finally I argue that studying philosophical beliefs is worthwhile. I am careful to note along the way that many of the conclusions reached by this program will be illuminating to philosophers, and none of it should be devastating to philosophy, but it could inspire methodological reform. At the very least, for example, the suggested research will likely report findings which should motivate philosophers to reappraise their appeals to the intuitiveness of propositions. After all, these judgments are usually contingent upon biological properties or priming more than any known truth-tracking properties. | <urn:uuid:e143dcd8-d931-42c1-8d34-570bd64c167f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.byrdnick.com/archives/4507 | 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 | 0.93855 | 369 | 1.539063 | 2 |
AT&T Introduces Shared Data Plans
AT&T has followed the lead of Verizon Wireless by introducing Shared data plans. Many of the features of the plans are similar to Verizon Wireless’ plans, however AT&T does offer some additional options with their plans.
The idea behind shared data plans is to allow families the flexibility of grouping data across multiple smartphones, laptops, tablets, and gaming devices in lieu of having to pay for individual data plans for each device.
All of AT&T’s shared data plans include unlimited talk and unlimited text. You can have up to 10 devices per shared data plan. You can also have multiple shared data plans one one account, which is a nice perk.
There are some caveats with the shared data plans. There must be one smartphone on the plan. The cost of the data plans can seem a bit high. Prices start at $40 for 1GB of shared data, plus $45 for each smartphone. The options for the amount of shared data is as follows: 1GB, 4GB, 6GB, 10GB, 15GB and 20GB. The cost for each is $40, $70, $90, $120, $160, and $200.
The data plans also require a monthly fee for each smartphone, basic or messaging phone, laptop, and tablet or gaming device. The cost for a Basic of messaging phone is $30. The cost for a laptop (or netbook) is $20 per month, and Tablets and gaming devices are $10. This is per device, per month. If you go over, each additional GB is $15.
There is one big change with AT&T’s plans versus Verizon’s plans. You are not REQUIRED to go with shared data. If it makes more sense, you can stick with individual data plans for each device.
The minimum monthly cost for a shared-data plan is $85 for one smartphone, but this does include unlimited talk and texting. The minimum cost for an individual account with Unlimited talk and text, with 3GB of data is $119.99 per month. If you were to upgrade to the 4GB plan, It would be $110, which is still cheaper than $119 per month.
For a certain segment of the population, this makes complete sense. It would depend on whether or not you pay for tethering and hotspot right now. It if you, this could save you a bunch of money on your monthly bill. Plans should be available starting in Late August.
Overall, I do not think there will be any real savings for some users. However, if you have a lot of Tablets or gaming devices that each have their own data plan, this may be your best bet overall.
You can read all about the shared data plan options by reading AT&T’s press release (below).[showhide type="pressrelease"]AT&T* customers will soon have more options in choosing the plan that’s right for them and their mobile devices. With new AT&T Mobile Share plans, available in late August, new and existing customers can share a single bucket of data across smartphones, tablets, and other compatible devices, plus get unlimited talk and text. AT&T Mobile Share plans make it easy for customers to manage their data, voice minutes and texting, without needing to keep track of multiple plans.
Customers can select one of the new shared data plans or choose one of AT&T’s existing individual or family plans. Current customers are not required to switch to the new plans, but can choose to do so without a contract extension. There are no changes to AT&T’s device upgrade policy, which means customers eligible to upgrade to AT&T’s best device price are not required to switch plans. The new plans will also be available for business customers.
With AT&T Mobile Share plans, customers start by choosing how much data they want each month, then choose up to 10 devices to attach to their shared plan, one of which must be a smartphone. Each plan includes tethering and unlimited domestic calls and texts for smartphones and basic or quick messaging phones. The larger the data bucket you choose, the less you pay per gigabyte and the less you pay for each smartphone added to the shared plan.
AT&T Mobile Share allows customers to essentially build a plan to fit their devices and usage. Customers who are more data-centric can choose a larger data bucket. Customers who typically use more voice than data can add multiple smartphones and basic phones and opt for a smaller data bucket.
“We offer customers a broad choice and the best lineup of plans, now enhanced by Mobile Share,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility. “With these new plans, the more you share, the more you save. They’ll be a good fit for a variety of new and existing customers. But if customers want to stay on their current plan or choose from our existing plans, they can do that, too. It’s their choice.
“Today we think of people’s smartphones and tablets sharing a bucket of data. But in the future we’ll see health care monitors, connected cars, security systems and other devices in the home all connected to the mobile Internet,” said Christopher. “Our Mobile Share plans are simple, easy and a great value for individuals or families with multiple mobile Internet devices.”
Mobile Share plans give customers more control over how, where and on what device they use data — which has become more important as people use more data devices. You can choose to use more of your data bucket on your tablet, for example, or tap into your data bucket only when needed for devices you use occasionally. And by consolidating data plans, you can take advantage of any data you currently have unused each month by efficiently sharing it across devices.
“The ‘more you share, the more you save’ concept is one that will resonate well with customers because of the value provided through the Mobile Share data plans themselves and in smartphone connection fees,” said Roger Entner, Founder and Lead Analyst of Recon Analytics. “AT&T also is providing its customers with flexibility and choice by keeping its existing data plans and not requiring customers to move to Mobile Share unless they want to. It’s a win-win for both AT&T and its customers.”
To help customers track their data usage, AT&T keeps users informed with courtesy alerts as they near their data allowance for the month. Also, customers can check their usage at anytime online, through the myAT&T mobile app, or by calling *DATA# from their mobile phone.
Each data plan also includes access to more than 30,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots — the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network** among wireless carriers — at no additional charge. Wi-Fi usage at public hotspots, home or office does not count toward the monthly wireless data plan usage.
Customers can learn more about the new plans and determine which plan is best for them at www.att.com/mobileshare.[/showhide] | <urn:uuid:1a145e55-20f8-4388-aa13-8f3123e40418> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://infotainmentnews.net/2012/07/18/att-shared-data-rates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937859 | 1,488 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Satsang: The Power of Spiritual Presence
By STEVE TAYLOR
Enlightened people are like spiritual dynamos: they have a very strong presence which touches the people they come into contact with, transmitting something of their enlightenment to them. Even people who aren’t at all “spiritual” usually feel a sense of well-being in their presence, and so feel attracted to them without knowing why. And for people who have made some spiritual progress already, the effect can be extremely powerful.
Contact with an enlightened person may enable them to make the final “jump” to permanent enlightenment themselves. This is one of the reasons why many spiritual traditions place so much emphasis on the role of a guru. The guru is so important not just because of the advice and guidance he can give you, but because he can transmit his spiritual power to you, giving you a taste of enlightenment and speeding up your spiritual development. (In Sanskrit, this is called satsang, literally “good company.”)
Continue to read: | <urn:uuid:b050c524-eff2-488b-87db-802c9da078bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clubconspiracy.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15168&goto=nextoldest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950662 | 218 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Its latest move, however, goes far beyond the pale of common sense. It has passed a resolution outlawing "defamation" of religion. That means that wherever U.N. writ runs, neither a person nor an organization nor a representative of the press may say anything negative about a religion, part of a religion, an offshoot of a religion or a representative or member of a religion.
This resolution was "proposed by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic states, with a vote of 23 states in favor and 11 against, with 13 abstentions."
If you believe, as the United Nations allegedly does, that free speech is not a political right but a human right, you will be horrified by this.
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
If you're all for limits on speech that you dislike, you would do well to remember that this type of resolution is a textbook case of "slippery slope." If you can do it to someone you hate, it takes only a slight tip of the scale for them to do it to you.
Pakistan has shut off the web out of fear it will see a picture of Mohammed. Either out of fear of Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, or using that event as an excuse, the Pakistani government has blocked the following at least: Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Apparently Twitter is still partially functional, but blocked in certain parts of the country. I imagine it will be banned everywhere in short order. Everybody Draw Mohammed day started as a joke in a cartoon, which the cartoonist backed down from, but others went forward with. It is supposedly a celebration of free speech. It has purportedly drawn a lot of outright racist crap, but I suppose that's what makes it free speech as opposed to sanctioned speech. Many Pakistanis are outraged more at the censorship than at any possible blasphemy. I guess they figure that they, and their faith, are proof against the deadly power of amateur cartooning. Maybe the government should take a page from their book instead of tear pages out of the Koran to cover themselves with.
Tunisian citizens protest online crackdown. Thousands of Tunisians joined an online anti-censorship campaign, posting on Facebook, Twitter and blogs and posting photos and videos on the topic. "Even some radio and TV shows slipped a word about it, which is a first: The silent crowd is not so silent anymore." Tomorrow, organizers are taking the protest offline in cities around the world, including Tunis.
Tunisia blocks Skype. (This from an email from ReadWriteWeb France editor, Fabrice Epelboin.) Possibly in relationship to the anti-censorship activities above, Tunisia has blocked the VOIP site, though not others.
Facebook refuses to remove Holocaust denial groups. Facebook has refused to ban holocaust denier groups from using its service. That seems odd and a breaking of its terms of service, but is a private company and has the right to decide what it does. It can also be boycotted by users if they do not respond to what those users want. If people can force Facebook's hand, good I suppose. Talk of suing Facebook seems off-base though.
Thailand attacks protesters. Thailand sent in the army to break up the camp of the Red Shirt protesters, many of whom use electronic media to present their case against the current government. Several of the leaders surrendered to avoid more bloodshed.
Internet unblocked in Uighur area but webmasters and bloggers remain in jail. After being shut down or blocked for almost a year, China has apparently unblocked Internet access in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The webmasters, bloggers and journalists arrested in the crackdown of July 2009, however, remain jailed. These include "Memet Turghun Abdulla, a photographer who published an article online about an attack on Uyghur factory workers believed to have sparked the July 2009 unrest; Gheyret Niyaz, a journalist who was detained after talking to foreign media about the unrest; Dilshat Parhat, who co-founded the Uyghur-run website Diyarim; Obulkasim, an employee of Diyarim; Nureli, who founded the Uyghur website Selkin; and website supervisor Muhemmet."
Vietnam upholds sentences against blogger, other dissidents. Nguyen Tien Trung, a blogger and computer technician, did not appeal his sentence. He's jailed for speaking out against the regime. The court upheld attorney and businessman Le Cong Dinh's five-year sentence and businessman Tran Huynh Duy Thuc's 16-year sentence. The five-year term of Le Thang Long was reduce to three-and-a-half after he "admitted" his guilt.
Top photo by Arthit Suriyawongkul. | <urn:uuid:c918ff46-8ada-4e09-9ef1-a2b6f67bb2aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://readwrite.com/2010/05/21/un_passes_religious_defamation_resolution_this_wee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960992 | 1,031 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Neither the U.S.A nor imaginary heroes topple this despised Islamic regime in Iran. People with their raised fists, roars, and red blood need to be first organised to be able to crush this regime. Only thanks to an organised movement freedom will come.
The lack of such an organised movement has left the arena for the regime for further bloodshed. Millions of chests can be ready to confront the regime, even if the bullets of mercenaries are loud and temporary suffocate their voice of freedom. Only when the people are organised, they can win the battle.
Unfortunately, and even in the worst-ever conditions of our people; I do not see enough stimulated and responsible sources among all activists on how to form such a national movement to free the country from the plague of the Islamic regime.
Sadly, yet the people of Iran must wait until all conditions are “rife”! What actually rather suits the regime! If such a movement no longer remains as a dream, it should simply be formed without wasting time and wasting away revolutionary demands. It should learn from all experiences of all peoples around the world in the recent century how to free the country. It should realistically use any tactical method and independently use any international assistance to hasten the fall of the Islamic regime which is the main enemy of our nation and each day of its life costs us irremediable lives and damage.
What is the problem of unity?
One reason, among others, such a movement cannot be formed is because cannot convince our people of its secular and democratic unity. A movement which does not follow the least of people’s wishes since the 1979 revolution, namely the wishes for Republic, Democracy, and finally Secularism sinks today like a heavy stone in the depth of people’s apathy. If Monarchists and the MKO want to join such a movement, then they have to duck to water, by abandoning their personal or religious ambitions for the throne or another Islamic form of regime.
In a free Iran, far from any eventual ambitions oa shah / mullah’s similar dictatorship, all political authorities will be directly elected by people. Such authorities consequently must be secular and democrat -- their political background must be clean with no ties or sympathy for the last two dictatorial regimes. They should oath to unconditionally respect Human Rights, secularism and democracy; they should be independent--our people's interests should never be bargained by whims of key powers.
Why I say "no to Islam, King, and Ideology!"
Through the two dictatorial forms of regimes in Iran and the fall of any ideology regime in the world, our society has learnt not to be a lab of another experiment. National state will be the fruit of Iranian people’s struggles for freedom from any dictatorial regime for ever; our people will never bow to any ideology or religion of submission. In other words, in my opinion, any regime picking or inspiring its legitimacy from interest groups like monarchists, Islamists, communism, and right-wing nationalists cannot be a guarantee for secularism and democracy and thus not an option for our future state.
An Iranian democratic movement should immediately present its political programme before the fall of the Islamic regime, otherwise cannot be reliable. The programme must contain effective solutions to free the country from the long yoke of backwardness and dictatorship caused by monarchy and Islam.
It is to explain how to prepare the conditions for unconditional democracy, social justice, gender equality, development of national economy, rehabilitation of an Iranian identity, reviving of art and culture, negation of Islam as state religion, elimination of all religious institutions, removal of all religious influence from education, judiciary, and all aspects of social life.
What is the ideal regime like?
Any new regime after the Islamic regime is expected to bring all criminals of the regime in the last 34 years, and their collaborators, before an international court for their crimes against humanity. However, we should not ignore the fact that the essence of such a process is not the individual punishment but the rehabilitation of our country. As such, the process should emphasise:
- No Iranian woman is half that of a man
- No Iranian can be punished for his political or religious belief
- No dungeons, no torture, no political prison can be anymore tolerated
- No Islamic jurisprudence under form of amputation, stoning, lashing, human humiliation, genital mutilation, forced veil…will be ever be permitted.
- No death penalty under any circumstances.
In fact, by condemning the norms of such a medieval belief system, such a court will mainly contribute a lesson to our history, and a bid of return to our civilised pre-Islamic identity and norms of the modern intenational community.
The Movement‘s foreign policy
As we know, the key powers are traditionally interested in the economic gains. The EU has long ignored that their barrels of Iranian oil cost many lives in the hands of Islamists’ squad deaths. Russia and China have not yet learnt Human Rights and ethical standards in politics. The U.S.A, despite sanctions and rhetoric of animosity, can be satisfied with some reforms by and within the regime.
US conflicts with the regime have nothing to do with the trampling democracy and Human Rights in Iran, but because of stirring sectarian conflicts in Iraq, and the Mullahs’ atomic ambitions which can be a danger for Israel and the interest zone of the West in the region. Many accusations on the Islamic regime are also true of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and many other allies of the U.S.A. Washington has already found compromises with any dictatorial regime in the past. This can be also the case with the Islamic regime. For the matter of fact, if today the bellicose Mullahs refuse to enrich uranium for their nuclear programme and do not disturb the U.S.A in Iraq, the U.S.A - Iran’s conflicts will not be necessary taken into consideration.
With or without the Islamic regime, the U.S.A wants to advance their strategy in the region. In the highest probability, their “regime change” can mean a replacement of another regime's faction--they might have already found or will find new allies within the factions and outsiders of the Islamic regime, a kind of an Iraqi model of a Shiite government for Iran. Another option might be “à la military coup d’état” of Muslim generals in Pakistan. Our democratic and secular movement cannot rely on any foreign agenda.
Difference between such a movement and the Green Movement
In some critical conditions, and under pressure of a chain of crises, the ruling class in Iran may be further divided into several cliques and power-hungry factions. The ruling apparatus may even seek for handles with the inner or outer interlocutors. In another word, the Islamic regime might seek compromises with its outsiders, namely the Green Movement, or the U.S.A via its strong lobbyism and the "false" opposition in the West. A democratic movement should avoid accepting any possibility which keeps the Islamic regime or one of its Islamic factions, including the Green movement, in power.
Human Rights, Achilles Heel of the regime
The fact that a nuclear Iranian regime will have greater bargaining power to use as a lever to intensify its dictatorship must be recognised; therefore an Iranian intelligent opposition movement should take part in any international campaign against the Islamic regime’ s nuclear ambitions. However, it should not be forgotten that the greatest danger is not the regime’s nuclear programme, but its existence itself. What practically can be used from this conflict is to internationally further isolate the regime. Therefore, the Iranian opposition, beside of condemning the regime’s nuclear programme, should always put the priority on the question of defending the basic rights of people which are on a daily basis violated by the Islamic regime.
The nuclear conflict is intentionally propagated by the Islamic regime and its front, Green movement, Islamist residents in the West, lobbysts, Toodeh-Party and its conciliator line, to mask its totalitarian character; it is a cover-up to associate its parasitic existence with the "national “right of having a nuclear programme for the "peaceful" cause of the nation. The lobbiyst groups and factions of the regime highlight the topic for the sake of the regime.
No stone must be left unturned; every occasion must be used to confront our main enemy, the Islamic regime. The regime cannot legally be forced to give up the right of nuclear programme--the country is expressly allowed as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. This also included enrichment of uranium; we should associate the regime’s nuclear programme with its Islamist / Jihadist ambitions, or war against humanity and drastic violations of human rights in Iran. Only so we can challenge the regime’s nuclear programme.
It is wrong to reduce the whole legitimacy of the regime to the right of atom, for Iranians the problem is the existence of the regime itself with or without atom. In the nuclear dispute, both the regime and the U.S.A are adding fuel to the flames and making all nonsense of assertions to attempt a dangerous escalation. This is however not our main problem, one should argue that the Islamic regime is a totalitarian regime with a capacity of thousands of brainwashed Jihad, Allah’s worriers, who can blow up any "enemy" of God. So, nuclear technology in the hands of such terrorsts means a new weapon for Jihadis. Alone because of this Jihadist character, a nuclear arsenal should not fall into the hands of Islamic regime.
Ethics of the movement
Nevertheless, there are no military solutions to atom ambitions of the regime. Neither blind economic sanction can solve the problem. Not only these are highly immoral, but also counterproductive and even exacerbate both Mullahs’ mafia and repression in Iran. Neither military nor economic sanctions must be accepted by an Iranian democratic and secular movement as long as it does not merely target the regime.
What should the movement immediately do?
The solution is to internationally further isolate the Islamic regime. All diplomatic, cultural, and sportive contacts with the Islamic regime must be suspended. All foreign accounts of the regime’s officials must be frozen. Their mafia activities in the Persian Gulf and around Iran must be internationally under control. International mandates must be asked to be issued against the regime’s officials for their crimes against humanity. There are sanctions that can be proposed on the regime’s officials.
Position of the movement
The outstanding point is the illegitimacy of the regime because:
- Its Supreme Leader is unelected, and his repressive institutions permanently violate Human Rights. Therefore, the UN and the Council of Europe must be demanded to approve resolutions which put the regime on an equal status of fascism, racism, and criminal organisations. Such resolutions are not beyond judicial facts, but legal contributions to elaborating a charter of principles for the totalitarian regimes like that of the Islamic regime in Iran.
- In the meanwhile, such an Iranian democratic movement, once formed, must try to represent Iranian people in the UN as the only legitimate delegation of people.
- In short, although a common platform is difficult to all opposition groups because monarchists and MKO do not respect the least purposes of the people since the 1979 revolution, we all activists and intellectuals must speak up for the unity and attempt to convince the sympathisers of these two opposition groups to join the secular and democratic movement once it is formed.
- Such a democratic and secular movement must be immediately formed and respond to the following four major aspirations of people:
- Organising and leading Iranian people’s struggles to sweep away the Islamic regime entirely, it means all its Islamic relics like the Green movement, all Islamic institutions, and all its suppressive organisations.
- Forming a temporary government to organise a constitutional assembly for a new constitution based on the universally adapted norms of democracy, secularism and Human rights. The new constitution is only legal when it is approved by the majority of people in a referendum supervised by the international inspectors.
- Preparing conditions, as sooner as possible, for a democratically elected parliament and government based on the right that people can elect and dismiss all key authorities, from the head of state to the local authorities.
- Transferring the power to the hands of the new government. | <urn:uuid:16006d1a-5af5-4308-840c-b425bc0e4106> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iranian.com/posts/view/post/3808 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941068 | 2,536 | 1.632813 | 2 |
To date, more than eight hundred bills have been introduced in the House of Delegates. In general, they are assigned to committees, once there they can be put on the agenda to be considered, or they can be left sitting on a desk. This decision is in the hands of the Committee Chairmen. A bill either passes or fails in the committee that it is assigned to. If it passes in the committee it usually gets to the full House for a vote where it passes or fails. If it passes the full house it still has to get through the State Senate and of course be approved by the Governor. While the House is working on bills, the Senate is doing the same with their own bills. If they pass the Senate they come to the House and to the Governor. This is a simplified explanation, but it will give you an idea of the process.
In this third full week of the legislature, which began on March 4, the full house passed bills that greatly increase the fines on gas companies in the event of failures such as the one that resulted in a massive explosion in Sissonville. We passed a bill to continue to monitor selenium levels in mine discharge water, while allowing West Virginia coal mines to operate, and HB 2760 passed out of House Judiciary. This bill is an attempt to standardize the firearms concealed carry laws. It is scheduled for a full house vote. Other lower profile bills provide for funding indigent burials, and give additional authority to assistant attendance directors in schools. This is where I got my first amendment passed through the education committee, and the full house. It was a minor chance in language that replaced the phrase “adjust the attitude of parents” to “encourage attendance.” This just seemed like a more respectful way to communicate with parents.
The main initiative for this session is still the Governor’s education bill, SB 359. It is an attempt to better prepare West Virginia graduates for work or college. The bill is being discussed and amended in the Senate; it was taken up there again this week.
I am hesitant to comment on this bill because it is a work in progress, being amended just about every day, but I will try to address a couple of myths. One was that holiday pay for teachers was being taken away, and another was that seniority would no longer be considered when hiring or transferring employees. I have answered and returned phone calls and e-mails from dozens of teachers. I would like to assure you that I will consider all of your concerns, and voice them when this bill finally gets to the House. I will also keep an open mind in hope of having the opportunity to improve education policy for students and teachers.
Finally, I have signed on to bills that are not on the schedule yet. One would capture additional revenue that is expected to be generated from severance tax on natural gas production for the purpose of providing a revenue source to fund counties. This could allow us to lower punitive taxes on job creators. Private sector jobs are vital to the future of our state.
(Note: On March 11, the House of Delegates, with support from Delegates Butler and Scott Cadle did pass HB 2760 to standardize firearms regulations in West Virginia.)
Jim Butler, House of Delegates, 14 District
Room 150R, Building 1, State Capitol Complex
Charleston, WV 25305
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Law makers on Capitol Hill are hard at work trying to write a 2012 Farm bill both parties can agree on.
Senator John Hoeven is optimistic a farm bill will be passed before the fall deadline.
Hoeven says an extension is possible.
But he says with so many producers enduring natural disasters nationwide, the bill that the Senate passed that includes 23 billion dollars in cuts, needs to be passed so our producers have protection they can count on.
(Senator John Hoeven / ND (R)) "Our producers are facing a challenging year this year and they need to know that they have a strong farm program for the future. so I think again, that makes it even more important that we get this farm bill done."
The current bill expires on September 30th. | <urn:uuid:291d7f59-a1bd-4ef7-8b13-51de4efa676c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kxnet.com/story/19092479/senator-john-hoeven-talks-farm-bill | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953479 | 159 | 1.585938 | 2 |
With its picturesque beaches and beautiful blue waters, Ashok Solanki discovers that there are few more delectable places to unwind than the exotic ‘Spice Island’ of Zanzibar…
“One can smell the spices in the air, even though the island itself is still not in sight. It is said that in the old days pilots followed the scent of the spices to locate this tiny speck in the Indian Ocean. The ferry from Dar es Salaam takes just over 2 hours, but when you land on Zanzibar you step back in time to an, as yet, unspoilt and little-known paradise.
The island is surrounded by brilliant white and almost empty beaches, and bordered by swaying coconut trees that are bathed in sunshine nearly 365 days a year. But thats not all; it has a very rich history too!
There are palaces from the Arab sultans and rich Persian merchants, a church standing on the grounds of a previously infamous slave market, and Prison Island, just 5 miles offshore where Arab slave traders held captive slaves in tiny rooms.
The island is full of coconut and mango trees and spices of all kinds, such as cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla – their spicy smell wafting through the cool breeze. The local roasted or fried mogo (cassava) chips are excellent. So is the local tuna and swordfish, cooked with delicious organically grown vegetables.
The people are the friendliest that you’ll meet anywhere. They’re a cosmopolitan community, with traces of blood from their Portuguese, Arab, Indian, African and Persian ancestors flowing through their veins.
With the combination of stunning vistas, warm blue waters and welcoming locals, if I was in search of a Heaven is on earth, I think I’ve come very close to finding it in Zanzibar!”
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* photo by Jess Wight – Intrepid Photography Competition | <urn:uuid:9270e1d6-b3b4-4f3e-b472-996f1957c955> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intrepidtravel.com/community/blog/?p=2963 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94151 | 460 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I’ve had a lot of readers ask that I continue to explore the issues of civility as it relates to technology. There seems to be a great deal of interest around the subject of civility and social networking, in particular. While I’ve covered cyber-bullying and the enabling of incivility by the anonymity provided by the internet, I hadn’t thought about the mechanics of incivility in the social networking space until just recently.
I think the reason that I haven’t dug into social networking as a source of uncivil behaviors is because, like you, I enjoy using technologies like Facebook and LinkedIn. I like re-connecting with friends and colleagues that I haven’t seen for months, years or even decades. I enjoy it when I receive a request to connect to someone that I first met when I was 6 years old but haven’t seen since graduation day from high school. It hasn’t been until the last year or so that I’ve been forced to acknowledge the dark side to social networking; a messy underbelly that most of us react to by “de-friending” those in our circle of connections and acquaintances. And I’ve finally come to grips with what fuels that uglier side of reconnecting via the internet. It comes down to following a simple guideline your grandmother probably taught you.
Before I dive into that particular re-discovery, I think it is worthwhile to visit a component of this issue that I’ve written about before. It is really important that we accept and understand that social networking is not the same as having a relationship with someone. Connecting with someone on Facebook is not the same thing as a healthy and helpful friendship. It isn’t the distance or the digital nature of social networking that makes this so – people who are truly friends can certainly agree that social networking tools can be a useful communication channel. The difference is, true friends know that social networking isn’t the ONLY communication channel. In fact, true friends will certainly know that social networking is, at best, a sub-optimal communication channel.
The problem with social networking today is that we all fall into the trap of thinking that the short updates provided by a “friend” that we haven’t been in the same room with for 3, 7 or 20 years is a complete picture of everything that that person is, was and will be. I’ve said before that familiarity breeds contempt. In the case of social networking, familiarity often breeds an attitude of entitlement.
Because I have watched you post updates, comments and photos for the past year – I feel entitled to share my observations, opinions and even my beliefs in the hopes of “helping” you. Sometimes we invite this often unwanted feedback upon ourselves, by sharing too much information on our social networking pages. “Drunk dialing” has been replaced with “drunk updating” – and I can tell you for certain that receiving an update from an inebriated friend, co-worker or family member is never anything but an awkward experience. Well, maybe not always awkward – there are those moments in time when “drunk updating” can be pretty funny, but most times we’re laughing at you and not with you.
What I find most interesting about behaviors on Facebook and through other social networking outlets is the complete lack of regard for a simple rule that I’m certain you’ve heard, or may have even been taught to you by your parents or grandparents.
Quick, what are the three subjects you never discuss at the dinner table?
Sex – Religion – Politics
Think about the intimacy of a dinner with friends. A social occassion sharing dinner and conversation with people you haven’t seen for, let’s say 14 years. There you are enjoying the opportunity to reconnect, when your dinner partners launch into a lengthy monologue on why they think our current elected officials are awful. Or maybe you initiate a conversation about your ingrained hatred for a particular religious faith. Or even worse, you start up a discussion about your wild weekend in Cabo where you blacked out at least 4 times, lost your digital camera and you keep chasing down embarassing pictures posted on the internet of your “private moments”.
I’m guessing that in any of these instances, you’d pretty much determine that having dinner together again would not be happening. Ever.
When it comes to civil behaviors in America, particularly in reference to the use of technology, I feel compelled to emphasize a very important reminder. Freedom of speech is NOT the same as freedom from responsibility for what you say. Disparaging someone’s faith, political beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, financial situation, social standing, socio-economic theories, race, cultural background – are making these types of inflammatory comments the kind of things that “friends” do to each other? If the entire premise of Facebook is to “friend” someone – why on earth would you use that networking channel to treat a “friend” so poorly? We tend to only register horror and concern about the power of social networking when the abuse of the technology by a bully or a group of bullies results in the suicidal death of a teenager. But the simple day-to-day interactions of appending comments to our friend’s updates in the social networking space have power over our lives and our self-image. An acidic comment by a “friend” to an update we’ve made or a picture we’ve posted can, and frequently does, ruin our entire day. Words have power. And those words stay on your Facebook page – they don’t just disappear on the wind (well, unless you delete them – but if you have to delete a comment it pretty much proves the point that your “friend’s” comment struck a nerve).
When participating in the social networking community, we would be wise to heed the words of author Chuck Palahniuk. “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can hurt like hell.”
Or maybe my mother had the best advice on the subject of how to treat people in a civil manner. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” | <urn:uuid:74935835-8039-4eac-9783-7f39e5f87603> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://collapseofcivility.com/tag/incivility/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951241 | 1,328 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Last week, Dan Mitchell’s ponderings on the state of music licensing had me wondering if the same question couldn’t be applied to textbooks. Similar to the music industry, textbooks are controlled by a small but powerful group of companies that have fought hard to preserve their oligopoly.
If textbooks are losing their relevance, it won’t be the rise of e-books that kills them. That will merely change the shape of the industry. Physical textbooks will remain in the picture because of the hardware problem — schools need a default device that is available to every student before they can truly kill hardcover books.
And still, publishers have adapted there. Many of them lease to their digital books for a monthly fee, which costs much less to the publisher but can end up costing the student as much as the printed book over the course of a semester. And — bonus! — it is a timebomb that can’t be shared or accessed after the course is over. Not a terrible deal for publishers.
But that doesn’t mean textbooks get out of the digital transformation unharmed.
No, the real issue comes when we realize we don’t even need that e-book subscription. Open Educational Resources (OER) — a network of freely available content — is becoming a huge disruption for textbook companies. While any significant change in entrenched school systems will take a long time to actually be implemented, the book publishers’ days of minting a profit selling commodity educational content at premium prices may be waning.
Evidence of the seachange, and these companies’ scramble to adapt, is everywhere. See the way Pearson, Cengage, and Macmillan have sued Boundless, a startup that’s using open educational resources to create free equivalents of expensive college textbooks.
See the way Macmillan has given Troy Williams, former CEO of e-book company Questia Media, more than $100 million to build a business within Macmillan that undermine the business as a whole.
See the way Pearson’s Learning Solutions group aims to transition the company from, as the company says, “a printed textbook provider to a learning company.”
They all seem to believe their future is in providing not the textbook, but services around the textbook. And yet. And yet! They will still fight protect their existing business for as long as they possibly can. Ah, the Innovator’s Dilemma.
Even the SVP of Pearson Learning Solutions, Clancy Marshall, admits that, for some subject areas, physical textbooks will be gone in five years. Certain subjects like humanities have a high demand for printed books. But subjects like math and science, where students mostly only use the textbook as a reference and focus more on homework, have little use for expensive textbooks, she says.
Marshall is in a strange position. Like Williams of Macmillan, she’s trying to execute against the innovator’s dilemma within a large company. She’s tasked with shepherding Project BlueSky, Pearson’s attempt at blending freely available Open Educational Resources (OER) with Pearson’s not-so-free books and services. The company partnered with Gooru, an OER search engine, for the project. Thirteen schools are currently piloting Project Blue Sky.
The goal of the project is to show that, even as Pearson sues a startup focused on open educational resources, the choice between free educational content and expensive educational content doesn’t have to be so black and white. There is a gray middle ground (or, in this case, blue sky?) that allows faculty members to choose the “best of both worlds.” With Project BlueSky, teachers can choose to use OER content alongside Pearson content. It’s a way for publishers to stop educators from switching wholesale to OER content and preserve a little book-related revenue.
While touting these new innovations, Pearson and its publishing peers warn of the dangers of OER content. Similar to the reputation YouTube has for crappy user-generated cat videos, OER gets accused of being noisy, low quality and difficult to sort through. If something is free, it must be garbage, the thinking goes. “Faculty members don’t have time to vet a resource in their classroom,” Marshall says. “It’s difficult to know that they are giving accurate information to their students with OER because often you don;t even know who created the resource or if its been reviewed.”
The OER community has responded to these concerns hiring professors and textbook providers to build professional-grade textbooks out of OER content. The books are constantly being peer-reviewed, modified and updated — an OER Intro to Statistics book has 60,000 students using it and is on its 11th version, says Cable Green, Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons. More than 3000 teachers are using open textbooks in the US.
Open source software had a similar reputation for much of its life. When first introduced, the idea that communally-written free software could evolve into a threat for enterprise mega-giants was laughable. Then IBM and startups like RedHat and MySQL made them professionally palatable for large companies. Now it’s hard to find any company that doesn’t use open source software somewhere in its stack.
Its not surprising that the most cash-strapped education consumers are embracing OER first: Governments. And considering taxpayers are footing the bill for K-12 books, they probably should. The State of California, British Columbia, Brazil and Poland are using state funds to commission the development of open textbooks. Part of Green’s work at Creative Commons works is to enrure that content and research developed with aid from US government grants must have a creative commons license on the end product. The idea is that if the government is paying for something to be developed, taxpayers should be able to access the results.
Green agrees with what many believe the textbook industry will eventually become: The publishers will offer all of their content — a mix of OER and copyrighted content — to the universities and schools for free. And on top of it, the universities can pay for the data and services that come with it. It’s not unlike the way IBM got its start building computer mainframes. When the hardware business became commoditized, the company transitioned into a provider of business services and software. And the innovation cycle rolls on.
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4Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus* is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. 4Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9Gods love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. 15God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19We love* because he first loved us. 20Those who say, I love God, and hate their brothers or sisters,* are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister* whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters* also.
The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Enter another bible reference:
10 February 2011 | <urn:uuid:74cef22a-cdb9-4a8d-9bac-c1ce34fd2053> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=85060089 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974004 | 656 | 1.5 | 2 |
The Southern Nevada Health District has raided an organic farm picnic destroying the organic produce, which was classified by them as bio-hazard material.
Apparently all the natural food served from farm must be certified by the United States Department of Agriculture so the owners had to dispose of all food including vegetables because of their ‘bio-hazard potential‘.
This meant the owners of the farm had to pour bleach on the produce in order to safely render the dangerous organic healthy potatoes safe and prevent them from being eaten by the farm owners as private citizens or by livestock such as the pigs on the farm.
All this was done at the request of a representative of the Southern Nevada Health District called Mary Oaks.
One individual who attended the picnic who is identified on the video below said “It’s despicable with the feast that was prepared to have the order [from the Southern Nevada Health District] for not a valid reason for a certified chef to destroy all this food, it’s just an absolute shame not because we are here but because its good quality food that has no reason to be destroyed.”
This is probably one of the most ridiculous stories I have ever covered. How can eating healthy organic produce possibly be discouraged and categorised as ‘bio-hazard material’, whilst America is full of fast food outlets with substandard produce which can only be described as poison.
America had better wake up fast and start supporting their local farmers and walk away from fast food outlets forever.
The inspirational Jamie Oliver went to the United States and found himself up against a wall of ignorance and hostility from many Americans, who unfortunately have been brainwashed into believing that processed food is OK to eat and that shows the battle that natural food producers are up against in these end-times. Just ask yourself, who is man that he can order people not to eat food as God gave it to us?
People of America it is time to Occupy your food and someone should think about organising an ‘Occupy our Food Week‘ or a ‘Support your Farmer Week‘ where everyone in America buys local produce or in the case of city dwellers, seeks out organic produce sold from reputable farms such as the one mentioned in this article and find out if they do an online service. | <urn:uuid:769e3d71-8307-4078-b4fd-c75cf8c733f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economicvoice.com/nevada-health-district-shuts-down-organic-farm-picnic/50025543 | 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 | 0.977407 | 465 | 1.5 | 2 |
Free fishing, free fishing pole, free hot dogs, and free ice cream at Kids Free Fishing Day at Sparks Marina, from 7am – 11am, June 9!
If you happened to read that list aloud, we can imagine there are little hands tugging on your arm, and little eyes lighting up with fish and ice cream, and you’re already thinking about where you stashed those water pants last winter…
The event is designed to teach children how to successfully participate in the art of angling. Over 1,800 fishing poles have been strung by volunteers for the event – everyone should have the opportunity to feel the rush of excitement when there’s a keeper on the line. Be sure to arrive early before they run out!
Free Fishing Day is statewide. The public is allowed to fish in any public fishing water in the state of Nevada without needing a fishing license or trout stamp as long as they follow regulations.
Are you hooked yet?
For more details visit http://www.ndow.org/about/news/pr/2012/June/Free_Fishing_Day.shtm. | <urn:uuid:b8f215b8-343f-4f4d-9fee-c34f6309ff91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.visitrenotahoe.com/tag/fish/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940865 | 231 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Britain's poet laureate has accused the government of behaving like "scrooge at his worst" after ministers decided to axe all funding for a free book scheme that benefits 3.3 million youngsters a year.
Carol Ann Duffy, who was appointed poet laureate in 2009, leads a series of writers who have attacked the decision to cut all government funding for the Booktrust charity which provides free books for children from the age of nine months until their first term of secondary school when they are 11.
Duffy said: "Support for Bookstart is support for the dreams and imaginations and futures of British children. To withdraw that support is to behave like Scrooge at his worst. Here's hoping the powers- that- be see the light in tiime, as he did."
Duffy was joined by the best selling novelist Ian McEwan. The author of Atonement said: "I'm appalled to hear that Bookstart is for the chop and I'm counting on Michael Gove to reconsider. This modestly funded, truly civilised scheme has brought to millions of kids benefits far beyond the calculations of politicians. Who knows what seeds have been planted in young minds? It's by initiatives like this that we hope to measure ourselves as a mature and thoughtful society. A U-turn on this would be an honourable choice."
These uncompromising views were echoed by Viv Bird, chief executive of the Booktrust charity, who said she was "astounded and appalled" when told all government support for their work was going to be scrapped. "There was no dialogue. It was completely devastating," she said.
The Booktrust charity runs several programmes that together provide free books for children from the age of nine months until their first term of secondary school when they are 11, and is widely admired by teachers, parents and authors.
They began as a pilot project in 1992 but were awarded government funding in 2004 to become universal. But 10 days ago – despite having previously offered to take a 20% funding cut – the charity was told it was to lose 100% of its £13m-a-year government grant.
The literary world has reacted with horror and has begun a campaign that has echoes of the one launched against the decision of Michael Gove, the education secretary, to axe funding for school sport, a plan revealed in the Observer. In fact, the decision to end Booktrust's funding is thought to have been taken to finance the education secretary's eventual U-turn on sport, which saw much of the threatened £162m cash for school sport partnerships restored.
The reaction by authors to Gove's latest move has been furious. "It's like seeing someone smashing aside a butterfly with the back of their hand: wanton destruction," said Pullman. "Sheer stupid vandalism, like smashing champagne bottles as a drunken undergraduate. It doesn't matter: someone else will clear it up. Well, if you miss the first years of a child's development, nothing can clear it up. It's gone. It won't happen. A whole generation will lose out."
Referring to the charity's early years programme aimed at babies, he said: "Bookstart is one of the most imaginative and generous schemes ever conceived. To put a gift of books into the hands of newborn children and their parents is to help open the door into the great treasury of reading, which is the inheritance of every one of us, and the only road to improvement and development and intellectual delight in every field of life."
Motion backed these words: "The decision to scrap Bookstart is an act of gross cultural vandalism. For the last 20-odd years the scheme has successfully introduced an enormous number of young people to both the pleasure and the necessity of reading and has been of tremendous benefit in the drive towards literacy. Very well organised, and very well run by Booktrust, it has become a national institution, and the envy of the world [24 other countries now run a similar scheme].
"The savings made by its abolition will be negligible; the damage done will be immense," Motion added.
Nicholas Tucker, author of the Rough Guide to Children's Books, and a leading academic in children's literature, said reading for pleasure was the best way of making sure reading skills acquired when young were retained and improved. "With a survey last week showing that one in 11 boys leave primary school unable to read at all, this is no time to let up on a scheme that has already enthused so many parents, teachers and children in the vital area of development."
Bird also questioned whether Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg had backed the move. "I would be interested in Clegg's response," she said. "He was a great champion of Bookstart but he's gone quiet. I would like to know if he's still going to support us."
By contrast, Labour leader Ed Miliband was forthright in his condemnation. "Bookstart has been proved to make a difference to the lives of kids up and down this country and is now being copied round the world. This is a small-minded, high-handed and nasty decision."
Richard Holmes, biographer of Coleridge and Shelley, joined the criticism. He said: "One of my earliest memories is of my mother sitting under a Victorian standard lamp with curious golden fringes, reading the poems of Robert Louis Stevenson to me, while the rain beat in gusts on my bedroom window. I think my feeling that life is some sort of mysterious adventure, which I still feel after 60 years, began with those three things: the rain, the poems, and my mother softly reading under a golden palm tree. That is why I support the brilliant, magical idea of Bookstart."
Last night there were signs that Gove was preparing to execute another partial U-turn. While insisting the full £13m cut would still go ahead next year, sources said ministers were keen to negotiate another contract to ensure some free books could still go to poorer children.
An earlier statement from the Department for Education made no mention of continuing any part of the scheme. "We believe that homes should be places that inspire a love of books and reading," said a spokesman. "While we appreciate that some families will need to be supported if they are to provide this kind of environment, in these difficult economic times ministers have to take tough decisions on spending."
But on Boxing Day the education department and Booktrust released a joint statement: "[We] are determined to ensure that reading for pleasure is a gift every child can enjoy. That is why the DFE will continue to fund Booktrust book-gifting programmes in the future."
"Although the current contract will end in April the Department is talking to Booktrust about how to develop a new programme which will ensure that every child can enjoy the gift of books at crucial moments in their lives while ensuring we develop an even more effective way of supporting the most disadvantaged families to read together. The Department and Booktrust will be working together, with publishers, in order to ensure that we can make every possible saving in developing an enhanced programme." | <urn:uuid:43a3fd5d-77a2-4f6d-990e-64d5fc0f693c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/26/booktrust-funding-cut-pullman-motion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9798 | 1,444 | 1.585938 | 2 |
1. Why does the Oregon State Bar track pro bono hours?
2. How did the Oregon State Bar select the pro bono aspirational standard of 80 hours with 40 hours in direct legal services to the poor?
This goal was adopted by the members of the Oregon State Bar in 1989. In addition, Section 4.4 of the OSB Statement of Professionalism states that it is a principle of professional practice to engage in pro bono activities, and that all lawyers share an obligation to make legal services available to all members of society.
Moreover, the Legal Needs Study, sponsored by the Oregon State Bar and the Oregon Judicial Department in 2000, found that more than 470,000 low-income Oregonians cannot afford to pay for legal advice and representation in civil matters. Existing legal aid programs can help less than 20% of the need.
3. What if an attorney provides more than 80 hours of pro bono legal service?
Many Oregon attorneys do provide more than 80 hours of pro bono legal services each year. The Oregon State Bar commends those attorneys for their outstanding efforts. An attorney who provides at least 40 hours of pro bono legal services to the poor, qualifies for the Oregon State Bar annual OSB Pro Bono Honor Roll. The Pro Bono Challenge recognizes attorneys who donate the greatest number of pro bono hours in several categories.
4. Does the Oregon State Bar require lawyers to report their pro bono hours?
No. Reporting your pro bono hours is voluntary.
5. How many hours of pro bono service should attorneys complete?
Each lawyer in Oregon should endeavor to perform 80 hours annually. Of this total, each attorney should endeavor to devote 20 to 40 hours, or to handle two cases involving direct provision of legal services to the poor, without an expectation of compensation.
6. What happens if an attorney does not satisfy the aspirational standard?
While each Oregon attorney is strongly encouraged by the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors to provide 80 hours of qualifying services each year, pro bono services are not mandatory, and no attorney will be disciplined for failure to comply.
7. What if an attorney is unable to provide direct representation?
Only one of the four Pro Bono Roll Call categories tracks direct representation of clients. Many opportunities exist to improve the law, volunteer for community service, and to make a comparable financial contribution to an organization that provides or coordinates the provision of direct legal services to the poor.
8. Is the Oregon State Bar planning to make pro bono service mandatory?
No. The Oregon State Bar believes that volunteer legal services should be provided on a voluntary basis and has no plans to establish a mandatory pro bono policy. No other state in the United States requires pro bono service, although several require lawyers to report their pro bono hours.
1. Where can attorneys find a reporting form?
The OSB Pro Bono Roll Call form (a.k.a. the reporting form) is available on the OSB Pro Bono website at www.osbar.org/probono. If you are unable to access the form online, contact the OSB Pro Bono Program at 503.800.452.8260 ext. 355 or email@example.com.
2. How can an attorney find out about local pro bono opportunities?
Click here to view information about pro bono opportunities. Your county Bar Associations may also have information on pro bono opportunities.
3. What are the pro bono reporting categories?
A. VOLUNTEER LEGAL REPRESENTATION
(This category counts for the Pro Bono Challenge.*)
This category includes volunteer legal services in which you provided direct representation
B. VOLUNTEER LAW IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITIES (NON-REPRESENTATIONAL)
This category includes volunteer activities that improve the law, the legal system, and the legal profession. Examples:
C. COMMUNITY SERVICE
This category includes volunteer time in a non-legal capacity for the public good. Examples: volunteering for community organizations like Meals on Wheels or Habitat for Humanity.
D. FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION
This category includes financial contributions to an organization that provides or coordinates the provision of direct legal services to the poor.
4. How does the aspirational standard define "the poor"?
The pro bono aspirational standard does not specifically define "the poor." That decision is left to the individual program or attorneys. Many programs, such as those funded by the Legal Services Corporation or the Oregon Law Foundation define "poor to be 125% of federal poverty guidelines (e.g., in 2010 $27,563 gross for a family of four, and $13,538 for an individual). Clients referred by organized pro bono programs generally have been screened for income eligibility according to the local guidelines.
5. Can attorneys report legal services as pro bono if the client does not pay the bill?
Report your time as pro bono for cases that you accept with no intention to charge, but unpaid bills may not be counted as pro bono hours.
6. What if an attorney accepts a client on a fee-paying basis and later decides to provide services on a pro bono basis?
The definition includes legal services provided without an expectation of compensation. Attorneys must use their discretion to determine what services are provided without an expectation of compensation.
7. Do legal aid staff attorneys, public defenders, and prosecutors count their work time as pro bono, since they provide free legal services to the poor?
No. Although the services are free to the clients, the attorneys are paid for their work as salaries they have accepted. However, if these attorneys provide volunteer legal assistance to the poor outside their regular work, they may report those hours as pro bono service.
8. Do legal services to the poor have to be provided through an organized pro bono project to qualify?
No, services do not have to be provided through an organized pro bono project to qualify. Many attorneys provide substantial amounts of qualifying pro bono legal services to the poor on an independent basis.
9. Transactional attorneys often provide legal assistance to non-profit organizations such as schools, churches, and social service agencies by doing such things as drafting by-laws, handling contract negotiations, and providing legal advice. Do these services count for the Pro Bono Roll Call?
Yes, these services are examples of the Volunteer Legal Representation category in the Pro Bono Roll Call.
10. Are there any other non-litigation services that transactional and other attorneys can provide that count as pro bono for the Roll Call?
Yes. There are many kinds of pro bono opportunities that do not involve litigation or court work that would qualify as direct legal services. Included are various real estate transactions (such as assistance with clearing title), explaining the terms of a contract, negotiating a lease or repayment agreement, drafting a will or other estate planning documents, probating a will, advising on tax matters, appealing the denial of SSI or other public benefits, and negotiating with an insurance company. Most pro bono programs provide volunteer attorneys with specialized training, materials, and mentors to help guide volunteer attorneys through simple family law matters. Participation in a legal clinic or free legal seminar for the public, such as a legal awareness for the elderly clinic, also qualifies as pro bono. Simply providing free legal advice over the phone qualifies, as does conducting intake through organized pro bono programs.
11. Do law related lectures/education to the public count as pro bono activity?
Yes, as long as the lawyer does not receive MCLE credit for the teaching activities reported.
12. If an attorney did not track the exact number of hours provided? Are estimates ok?
Yes. Although accurate tracking of pro bono hours is preferred, estimates are acceptable for the Pro Bono Roll Call and the Pro Bono Challenge.
13. Can an attorneys firm report hours on the attorneys behalf?
Yes. An Excel spreadsheet is available on the OSB Pro Bono website for firms to track the pro bono hours of their attorneys using the OSB pro bono categories. If an individual attorney submits a separate reporting form, either in print or online, that form will supersede the hours reported by the firm. | <urn:uuid:d30b4e46-0a5b-4474-a4e9-94b0526bea8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.osbar.org/probono/reportingFAQ.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931038 | 1,711 | 1.671875 | 2 |
US prime money market funds' holdings of euro zone bank debt rose in January to their highest level in 15 months, Fitch said.
Money managers pulled out more than $1 bn from India and other BRIC economies in Q1 of 2013, and US and Japan attracted a large amount of money.
UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's much tom-tommed free laptop sop for students appears to have sucked away funds from the treasury.
Gold remains the best hedge in case of a financial crisis or currency deflation, experts say.
The firms are typically paid by clients with fees tied to the growth or contraction of client assets, and not to specific products.
MMFs hold short term financial instruments such as deposits and commercial paper. They are used by big companies to park money and manage cash flows.
Some of them such as Annex Infrastructure have vanished with the booty, while those still in operation have taken a severe beating in their collections
British banks have been asked to raise a combined £25 billion in new capital. It would damage necessary lending.
This will actually increase the amount of money we can use for services at the juvenile hall.
I'm happy that the county is always looking for ways to save money | <urn:uuid:ac16e9d3-c0f6-468f-af35-5a4f7d6c326a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/US-money-fund | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967204 | 253 | 1.59375 | 2 |
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Jack has the divorce complaint drawn up, stating grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment along with a summons for Mary to appear in court. He decides to take them to her himself. The lawyer tells Jack she'll be surprised if Jack can convince Mary he wants the divorce; he hasn't been able to convince her.
Mary is in the living room going through her purse when Jack arrives with the papers. She is happy to see him, but he tells her it isn't a social visit and he didn't want to explain over the phone. Mary assures Jack she's glad to see him. See likes being with him and wants to be with him all the time; one of the reasons she wants to stay married to him, she says.
Jack tells her he has to talk to her about the annulment and asks her not to make it any worse than it already is. Mary says she will make it just as horrible as she can. When Jack asks if he can sit down, she tells him not to talk about the annulment. On the other hand, if his back hurts, he can take a chair.
They sit and Mary asks what he's been up to. Jack tells her he's been to the chancery and talked to Father Richards, who will be getting in touch with Mary. Mary will like him, Jack tells her, but Mary says she loathes him.
Father Richards has told Jack he has grounds for annulment, provided he can come up with two witnesses who remember Jack talking about not wanting children. Mary tells Jack he doesn't have two witnesses. Jack thinks he does and tells Mary that even though he has grounds for annulment, he can't start the procedure until he's filed a civil divorce suit. He's gotten a lawyer and had the papers drawn up, he explains.
Mary wants to know on what grounds he plans to divorce a faithful wife who is six months pregnant. Jack tells her the papers say cruel and inhuman treatment. He's hoping she'll have sense enough not to contest it, so that the divorce can go through as quickly and painlessly as possible.
He tries to hand her the papers and tells her to sign them to show they've been received.
"You know what you can do with that?"
"Now look Mary, be reasonable. I don't want to send a server..."
"A process server is reasonable? It's reasonable to sue me for divorce on grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment? You're being reasonable when you ask me not to contest it? You're not reasonable, Fenelli; you're crazy."
"I'm serving you with a summons."
"No, you're not, darling. You're taking that summons and getting the hell out of here. I will not sign anything. I will not cooperate."
Mary goes to the door, telling him she won't do anything to suggest their marriage isn't good and valid, or that she doesn't love him and want to stay married. Jack yells that she is stubborn and determined to be right. She's going to kill both of them trying to prove she's right. Before she slams the door, Mary tells Jack if he thinks this is stubborn, just try to divorce her. Then he'll see stubborn.
After Jack leaves, Mary talks to Frank. She asks him to tell her Jack isn't going to get away with it. What Jack really wants is her all to himself, but he's too dumb to know it, she says.
Frank suspects that Mary is right, and while it's up to the judge, Frank doesn't see how Jack can prove cruel and inhuman treatment. They both laugh when Mary points out she did talk him into living with Da for a couple of months.
Frank tells Mary he will represent her. They sit down and Frank asks her if she's sure she wants to contest this divorce. What if it turns out that Jack means it, he asks. If Jack can convince her that he really doesn't want her and to share his life with her, she answers, she'll let him have his divorce. Until then, she adds, he's in for a fight.
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Writers from across the state and beyond will gather at two conferences this month to gain inspiration in a series of lectures and panel discussions exploring the craft. The North Words Writers Symposium will be held in Skagway, followed later in the month by the Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference in Homer.
So, is Skagway, an isolated place that many writers outside the state might not have even heard of, inspiring?
"Damn right we are," said Buckwheat Donahue, founder of the North Words Writers Symposium. "If only you could come see and experience us, then you wouldn't ask that question. Southeast rules!"
North Words, running from June 2 to June 5, represents the stronghold of creative writing in Southeast, Donahue said. He cited the termination of the Sitka Symposium, which held its final annual meeting last year after 25 years.
"Hopefully the North Words Writers Symposium can pick up where they left off," he said. "If not, Southeast won't have a writing venue."
Donahue said that writers in a place like Alaska might be isolated in some ways, but that the cultural and historic nature of the region itself creates unique avenues to explore.
"It's more challenging the remoter the location," he said. "But isn't that part of the attraction to Alaska? I mean, just because something happened 100 or 200 years ago doesn't mean it's changed. That's one of the reasons for hosting this event. Reminding folks that our history, culture and future is still relevant today like it was years ago."
As far as Alaska as a whole, Donahue said the outlook for writers is good.
"Kachemak Bay's conference has an impeccable track record whose reputation is very, very good and growing," he said. "We're doing OK."
The Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference certainly seems to reflect this opinion. The various workshops scheduled from June 11 to 15 will include panels, readings, and workshops discussing fiction, nonfiction, poetry and "the business of writing." Celebrating its 11th year, the conference will have more than 130 writers in attendance, plus more who attend the public readings.
Among the presenters will be keynote speaker Michael Cunningham, the internationally renowned writer whose novel "The Hours" won the Pulitzer Prize. Juneau-based educator and poet Emily Wall will also be presenting.
Carol Swartz, director of UAA's Kenai Peninsula College Kachemak Bay Campus in Homer, described the writing scene in Alaska as "vibrant, diverse, expanding, complex, creative, changing, all genre."
The goal in putting together a conference like this is clear, Swartz said.
"To promote the intellectual and cultural life of Alaskans by providing aspiring writers, writers, students, literary enthusiasts and the general public with a collaborative opportunity to explore the art, process, and techniques of creative writing," she said.
Swartz said most of the writers come from nearby south central Alaska, but the conference also brings people from other parts of the state, and more than a dozen from the Lower 48. As is always true when writers gather anywhere, the objective is illuminating and expanding each other's worldviews in a collaborative effort.
"Alaskans from throughout Alaska gain new ideas and experience in the literary world of our state, as well as beyond its borders," she said. "We strive to provide this statewide, world-class, literary event and educational experience to a broad spectrum of Alaskans."
People interested in more information on the conferences can visit the groups' web sites, North Words at www.nwwriterss.com and Kachemak Bay at writersconference.homer.alaska.edu/
Juneau Empire ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:fa0b453f-532c-41e3-89cc-ac38877e522b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://juneauempire.com/stories/060310/art_648333076.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968554 | 789 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Way back at the beginning of the school year I was sent a box of review items from Greek 'n' Stuff. In the box was the Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek Level 1 Workbook, answer key and pronunciation CD. Greek 'n' Stuff has been the only review I've done that had requested such a long review period--months really, and I think it was wise of them. You can only know if a product stands the test of time if you spend time with it, and that's just what we on the Homeschool Crew did with this product.
Greek 'n' Stuff offers 8 levels of workbooks to teach the student Greek. Level 1, the level we received is for the child who knows no Greek, and who is capable of paper and pencil work. It focuses mainly on learning the Greek alphabet--writing the letters, knowing their names and sounds. The CD is a must when using this level since it tells you how to pronounce each letter.
The level 1 workbook is $14.95, and the Answers Only Answer Key is $4.00. The pronunciation CD is $10.00 and includes pronunciation for the words and letters in both Level 1 and Level 2. Greek 'n' Stuff also offers partial starter sets and complete sets if you want to order more levels at a time.
Little Bean started this when he was 5 and is now 6, which is the target age range for this level. He really enjoyed the workbook, which has a variety of activities to keep things interesting. Cut out flashcards are at the back of the book, and are at the heart of this program, since they provide frequent review and opportunities for memorization beyond what a workbook can provide. Greek 'n' Stuff recommends that older children or adults begin at level 3 in their study of Greek.
This was a very thorough program, but I'll be honest, my son could probably have learned the Greek alphabet in just a few short weeks or days. There aren't a ton of letters, and many of the sounds are intuitive, it seems. Thus, while we did take our time using the workbook, doing only one letter per week, we could have moved at a much faster pace and probably been on the next level or two by now. It's a very simple program, I think my son would have enjoyed something a little more engaging, but for many children, a no-frill program works well since it doesn't have anything to distract the child from the work at hand.
Will we be continuing our study of Greek at this time? No, probably not. However, if we do go back to Greek at some point, I now know of a source for quality workbooks that I will look into if we do decide to go that route one day.
Note: I was given this product free of charge in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine. | <urn:uuid:f9ccabcb-ceb2-4a76-b7ea-2bd8f39ceac3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mytwohappyhomeschoolers.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981572 | 594 | 1.523438 | 2 |
In the midst of political debate, the candidates vying for our votes offer their opinions and solutions for many hot button topics. The Republican Party's stance on so-called personhood laws is one such subject. It seems to me, though, that although these politicians may talk a big game, many don't understand exactly what it is they are actually talking about. It is our job, as educated citizens, to think critically about some of these topics and not place our blind faith in the notion that these politicians are "in the know."
Mitt Romney has been quoted for emergency contraceptives "abortive pills." Yet definitions, like this, that attempt to establish fertilization as the beginning of pregnancy are in opposition to decades of federal policy as well as the long-standing view of the medical community. It appears that emergency contraception continues to be a highly emotional and controversial issue, both for those who believe it lowers the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions as well as for opponents who believe that using it equates to an abortion -- "the moral equivalent of homicide." Yet it can be strongly argued that this politically charged debate over the morning-after pill may actually be rooted in outdated and incorrect scientific guesses about how these pills work (go figure - right?).
Despite lack of scientific proof and objections by the manufacturer of Plan B One-Step, the FDA has managed to fuel this controversy by choosing to include, on the drug's product label, that one of the ways that Plan B works is by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg. In fact, the FDA's own description was speculative, saying Plan B "could theoretically prevent pregnancy by..."
And it turns out, research is consistently showing that what happens "theoretically" is much different than what ACTUALLY happens when women use Plan B One-Step as emergency contraception. So what caused all this confusion? Why is there such a discrepancy between what has been found in research and what the FDA product labels say?
- How Plan B Really Works: Research Findings vs. FDA Labeling
- The Emergency Contraception Debate
- Emergency Contraception Quiz
|| FREE Contraception Newsletter | Twitter | Facebook| Share Your Stories or Tips | Contraception Forum ||
Photo © 2012 Dawn Stacey | <urn:uuid:db2366d5-db3d-496a-8082-8f3b07e04045> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://contraception.about.com/b/2012/09/12/some-strong-beliefs-about-the-morning-after-pill-may-be-unfounded.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963696 | 459 | 1.835938 | 2 |
This youtube clip doesn't do the scene justice. Is there anyway you can make a clip at a larger frame rate? You can't really see all the overlapping action the way this looks now...Thanks!
This is my favorite kind of animation!
It only existed for a short time-between 1939 and 1942 or so.
It's round and bouncy, has tons of overlapping action and is just super lively. It's a way of moving that can only be done in drawn cartoons and makes animation a world unique to itself.It's just automatically fun just by itself. But then in context of great gags, direction and pacing, it's thrilling.
I wish real people could be so bouncy and floppy all the time-and there should always be a great jazz soundtrack happening behind you.
This, by the way is by Bob McKimson. He is not normally known for this kind of thing. His normal strengths are solid and powerful looking characters (as the Queen is here). His creation, Foghorn Leghorn epitomizes his style.
In 1942 this kind of animation is a bit of a throwback. Clampett loved to hang on to earlier cartoon styles and take them further than anyone else thought to. Gruesome Twosome is a caricatured throwback to characters from 1938.
Another nice example of this style is Elmer's walk in Elmer's Candid Camera - he's walking along, and his hat is bouncing up and down on his head. So fun!
Brad Caslor did a great cartoon in the 80s called "Get A Job" where he brought back Clampett's style of motion. Maybe it's on youtube...go look, it's wonderful!
I sure wish there was a way today to do stuff like this. Animation today seems to be ashamed to be animation, it just doesn't use its power to create magic anymore.
You would think with all the animated features and the ton of money they sink into them, that SOMEONE would want to revive and maybe even build on this great style of movement.
Boy, if anyone ever gave me the money to do full animation, you can bet you'll see this come back pretty fast.
I've been stuck in TV Land for 2 decades trying to figure out how to revive some semblance of techniques from the 40s, but having to use tricks to simulate what could be done easily and naturally back when you had your own animators sitting in the room next to you.
I'll tell you something-the prime time TV cartoons they make today that look like they cost 50 bucks to produce... They actual spend a fortune on them-waaaay more than Warner Bros. cartoons cost-even counting for inflation, and could easily afford to do all the animation in North America and do it fully too. | <urn:uuid:659d48d0-955e-4de9-81f5-c57f8eaf2056> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/06/coal-black-bike.html?showComment=1151061960000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972182 | 579 | 1.726563 | 2 |
January 26, 1997
"Personal History," by Katharine Graham, Knopf. 625 pages. $29.95.In December 1937, Katharine Graham, a 20-year-old senior at the University of Chicago, wrote her older sister Bis that she wanted to go into the newspaper business to become a labor reporter and maybe someday "working up to political reporting." Clearly, she had some reservations about her ability to be - as she wrote - a "GOOD reporter ... a gift given by God to very few."Graham never realized that dream, but in the course of 30 years at the helm of the Washington Post, she fostered a newsroom environment where hundreds of ambitious, idealistic and determined reporters realized theirs. | <urn:uuid:233316be-bc27-4ccf-8372-ecf7a2a3ab2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.baltimoresun.com/keyword/katharine-graham/recent/2 | 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 | 0.980188 | 148 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Minister acts to rebuild Hoki stocks for future
23 September, 2004 Media Statement
Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope has announced strong measures aimed at rebuilding New Zealand's valuable deepwater Hoki fishery.
From 1 October the Total Allowable Commercial Catch (TACC) limit for the 2004-05 fishing season will be cut by almost 80,000 tonnes, to 100,000 tonnes. Within the TACC, allowances will be split between the western and eastern fishing grounds - 40,000 tonnes and 60,000 tonnes respectively.
Mr Benson-Pope says 2004 stock estimates showed that it is imperative urgent action be taken to reduce the catch. Estimates for Hoki on the western spawning grounds have the species at only 13-22 percent of its original, unfished size.
Hoki stocks on the eastern side of the South island are judged to be at sustainable levels, estimated at or above 40 per cent of the original Hoki biomass. However, scientists believe that mixing of juvenile Hoki from both eastern and western populations occurs on the Chatham Rise, so increased harvest from the Chatham Rise fishing grounds may have affected recruitment of juveniles to the pressured western stocks.
"It is vital to give the stock every chance of rebuilding as fast as possible," said Mr Benson-Pope. "The gradual reductions in catch allowances made in recent years have not arrested its decline, and therefore, a more significant cut is needed now.
"My long term aim is to ensure that the full benefit of the Hoki fishery is available to current and future generations."
Mr Benson-Pope acknowledged that the cut to the TACC will have economic and social impacts on fishers, processors, and supporting sectors.
"The TACC I have set was the lowest of the three options put forward to me. However, it does match the reality the industry faces. This current year it seems likely that fishers will take between 110,000 to 120,000 tonnes - substantially below the 180,000 tonne TACC allowed. The consequences of the decline in Hoki abundance are already being experienced.
"Industry has been aware of the depleted state of the stock and the pending reduction in TACC for some time, and many companies have already taken steps to reduce capacity."
The industry, led by the Hoki Management Company, has also imposed other voluntary measures to address Hoki sustainability concerns within an agreed industry code of practice.
Mr Benson-Pope acknowledged the work the Hoki Fishery Management Company had done to mitigate juvenile mortality on the Chatham Rise, and also its efforts to reduce harvest pressure on certain spawning stocks.
"Having made the decision to reduce the TACC I now look forward to the Hoki industry complying with its own code of practice to assist in the rebuild of the stock, so that the TACC can be increased in the future and regulatory action can be avoided," he said.
"I will monitor the success of fishers' compliance with the industry Code of Practice and reserve the option to use regulatory measures if voluntary industry compliance is not achieved."
Other sustainability measures for the 1 October fishing year to be gazetted today, include fishstocks of Ling (LIN 5&6), Rig (SPO2), Hake (HAK4), Kina (SUR5), Orange Roughy (ORH 2A Sth, 2B, 3A), School Shark (SCH2), and Sea Perch (SPE4). | <urn:uuid:31dd6fe0-7222-48f6-b07a-8e5bd8022516> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Press/Press+Releases+2004/September+2004/Minister+acts+to+rebuild+Hoki+stocks+for+future.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished%25252525252525252525252525252525252525252b | 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 | 0.958368 | 705 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Gross (Sociology/Univ. of British Columbia; Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher, 2008, etc.) examines the facts behind the conservative movement’s oft-heard criticism of higher education: that American universities are, as presidential candidate Rick Santorum famously said, little more than “indoctrination mills” for the political left.
Relying on years of research, the author confirms that conservatives are correct in their belief that many professors align themselves on the liberal spectrum, though he notes also that academia has far fewer radical professors in its midst than generally thought. While a mere 8 percent of professors self-identify as “radical,” a recent study revealed that 62 percent of students believed the term accurately described their professors—proof of the conservative movement’s ability to perpetuate the myth of the radical professor. Gross readily acknowledges that some conservative scholars may feel outnumbered in a university’s social science department but that the professor’s marginalized status is hardly any different than “progressives at some elite law firms.” More interesting than academia’s demographics, however, are the causes of these demographics. In short: What is at the root of liberalism in academia? Do liberal academics share a different value system than their conservative counterparts? Does self-selection play a role? To what extent does one’s politics affect one’s career path? And a related question: How can professors protect their academic freedoms in an environment so closely tied to the politicians who hold the purse strings? Gross examines all of these questions and more, often overwhelming readers with facts and figures that lead to somewhat nebulous conclusions. Its academic tone—while appropriate given the subject matter—reminds readers that an academic in academia produced it. While Gross’ neutrality is admirable, his work’s inability to open itself up to a wider audience risks confining a valuable debate to the primary players within it.
A dense sociological report on the facts and falsehoods of the political leanings of professors. | <urn:uuid:42e52050-527f-40f0-92a5-a960521f3814> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/neil-gross/why-are-professors-liberal-and-why-do-conservative/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94713 | 421 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The White House has lost perhaps its most prominent Catholic ally in its controversial effort to expand contraception coverage, with the huge Catholic Health Association saying Friday that the mandate for most religious employers to offer coverage would not “adequately meet the religious liberty concerns.”
The change of position at the association, the country’s largest group of nonprofit health care providers, comes as polls show President Obama and Mitt Romney tied among registered Catholic voters. In the last four of five presidential races, the candidate who won Catholics won the presidency.
In a five-page letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, leaders of the association said it supports the president’s overall health care overhaul, but believes he should broaden the exemption for religious groups who say facilitating the use of contraception in any way goes against their religious belief.
The mandate that employers, including most religious ones, offer employees a variety of preventative services including contraception without any out-of-pocket charge, has been controversial among some from the start, particularly Catholic bishops. Actual houses of worship were exempted, but not other faith-based institutions like schools or hospitals that don’t primarily employ or serve people of the same faith.
The White House earlier this year attempted to allay the concerns of faith-based employers by announcing that such employers wouldn’t have to pay directly for the contraception coverage. Instead, health insurers would pay at no additional cost to the employers. But opponents, most visibly the bishops, said that still violated their faith and conscience.
In contrast, the health association, led by Sister Carol Keehan and made up of more than 2,000 health care entities, said it was comfortable with the compromise. But Friday’s letter includes the same concerns the bishops have voiced all along, that the mandate codifies in law that houses of worship are inherently “religious” — and thus entitled to an exemption — but faith-based social service groups aren’t.
The mandate as is “parses a bona fide religious organization into secular and religious components solely to impose burdens on the secular portion. To make this distinction is to create a false dichotomy between the Catholic Church and the ministries through which the Church lives out the teachings of Jesus Christ. Catholic health care providers are participants in the healing ministry of Jesus,” the letter said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the association’s change of view. The letter cites “our examination and study of the proposal,” and officials at the White House and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have said private meetings about the mandate have continued in recent months.
In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll Romney is beating Obama 55-41 among white Catholic voters. | <urn:uuid:aabe53a5-d2ae-41dc-9d05-4e4a44e71e70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/key-catholic-obama-ally-shifts-position-opposes-contraception-mandate/2012/06/15/gJQAYpUjfV_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964686 | 564 | 1.5 | 2 |
This odd-looking fish gets its name from the way it appears to look down as it swims along. It is also unique in the way that its bright, polished, silver body is laterally compressed and extremely thin.
Rosamond Gifford Zoo • One Conservation Place, Syracuse, NY 13204 • (315) 435-8511
Joanne M. Mahoney, County Executive
© Rosamond Gifford Zoo | <urn:uuid:313e7701-3b57-4f18-bf09-26903f31e3fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rosamondgiffordzoo.org/live | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939764 | 90 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Self-described "rural folk piano" player George Winston was among the earliest and most successful proponents of the genre of contemporary instrumental music later dubbed new age. Although born in Michigan in 1949, he was raised primarily in Montana, the extreme seasonal changes he experienced there later greatly influencing the pastoral feel of his music. Even as a child, Winston preferred instrumental music over vocal performances, counting among his early heroes Booker T. & the MG's, Floyd Cramer, and the Ventures; he did not take up music until after high school, however, beginning with organ and electric piano but moving to acoustic piano by 1971. Influenced by the stride piano of Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson, Winston turned from rock and R&B to jazz, and soon released his first solo piano effort, Ballads and Blues 1972, after which he mysteriously retired from music for the next several years.
Discovering the music of the legendary New Orleans R&B pianist Professor Longhair in 1979 was the epiphany Winston was seeking to inspire a return to performing; signing to the Windham Hill label, between 1980 and 1982 he recorded a trilogy of albums -- Autumn, December, and Winter Into Spring -- of impressionistic, seasonally themed piano musings which laid much of the groundwork for the new age boom to follow. Winston's music continued to grow in popularity and influence in the years to follow, but in typically enigmatic fashion, he virtually dropped from sight for the remainder of the '80s, resurfacing only in 1986 to score a reading of The Velveteen Rabbit by actress Meryl Streep.
Finally, in 1991, Winston returned to action, completing his seasonal cycle with Summer; Forest followed three years later. In 1996, he paid tribute to another of his greatest influences with Linus & Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi. A compilation album, All the Seasons of George Winston, was released in the spring of 1998, followed a year later by Plains. The new millennium brought anniversary editions of several of his landmark albums, including Autumn, December, and Winter Into Spring, as well as the 2001 album Remembrance: A Memorial Benefit, which was Winston's response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. His 2002 release, Night Divides the Day, focused on the music of one of his earliest influences, the Doors. Montana: A Love Story from 2004 was inspired by Winston's childhood in Montana. An impressive solo piano outing, Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions, released as a benefit set for hurricane relief, appeared from RCA in 2006. Winston continued to perform solo, but didn't cut another record until Love Will Come: The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Vol. 2 appeared in 2010. Winston toured in support of the album, playing solo piano concerts as well as performing on slack key guitar and harmonica. In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon's explosion and its resultant, massive oil spill and environmental disaster in 2010, Winston monitored the situation closely and became deeply concerned about the loss of the wetlands in Southern Louisiana. In response, he issued another benefit recording, entitled Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions, Vol. 2: A Louisiana Wetlands Benefit, in March 2012 in order to help with funding bluesman Tab Benoit's The Voice of the Wetlands organization and other environmental concerns resulting from the crisis. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi | <urn:uuid:4683d187-6052-40c1-a686-39c9e03915b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mtv.com/artists/george-winston/biography | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969318 | 684 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Article of the Month
Richard M. Bennett
Evangelicals throughout the centuries have maintained that justification by faith alone is the way in which sinful human beings are in Christ made right before the all Holy God. Justification itself is a judicial declarative act on the part of God alone by which He declares that only in Christ is a man perfectly just. His judicial declarative act is not made on the basis of anything within a man, but rather it is made solely and wholly upon the righteous life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life and paid the just penalty for sins upon the cross. Historically, Evangelicals have been in agreement with the Apostle Paul, “to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
A person calling himself Evangelical is professing to be committed to the Gospel of Christ as proclaimed in Scripture. The true Gospel demands separation from all who teach another Gospel, as the Apostle declared, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Without such separation the name Evangelical signifies nothing. New Evangelicalism, which willingly compromises with, and accommodates another gospel, has gained ground everywhere since about 1960. Since then the Evangelical world has changed beyond recognition. This is fully documented in Evangelicalism Divided by Iain Murray (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2000). The first and second National Evangelical Anglican Conferences that met at Keele and Nottingham in the UK in 1967 and 1977 respectively showed a willingness to be united with ritualistic Anglicans, essentially Roman Catholic in belief and practice, and liberals who believed in a fallible Bible. Leading evangelicals, such as J.I. Packer and John Stott, endorsed the statements from these conferences and, in so doing; set aside Gospel truth in favor of accepting fellow Anglicans as true brothers and sisters in Christ. The most drastic departure however from the Biblical Gospel took place some seventeen years after the Nottingham Conference in 1994 in the USA. At the end of March 1994, a group of twenty leading Evangelicals and twenty leading Roman Catholics produced a document entitled Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium (ECT).
Two of the main instigators of this intense ecumenical thrust were Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus, a Lutheran pastor turned Roman Catholic priest. The specific task was begun in September 1992. These men were joined in the writing process by Larry Lewis of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Jesse Miranda of Assemblies of God, John White of the Geneva College and National Association of Evangelicals, and others, including two Jesuits, Avery Dulles and Juan Diaz-Vilar. Two more Jesuits had signed the declaration by the time of its presentation. In addition to the Evangelical participants who helped form the document, signers included J. I. Packer, Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, Mark Noll of Wheaton College, and Pat Robertson of the 700 Club. Roman Catholic signers included such well know figures as Cardinal John O’Connor, now deceased, Archbishop Sevilla, Archbishop Stafford, and Bishop Francis George, now Archbishop of Chicago.
The Gospel According to ECT
The signers of ECT readily admit of “differences that cannot be resolved here”. However motivated by the desire for union on important moral issues, the authors of ECT proclaim that Evangelicals and Catholics are one in Christ, and that all are truly Christians. The primary fallacy of the lengthy document is its declaration on the Gospel. The signers state what they believe comes closest to Gospel of Christ when they declare,
To be Biblical, this statement should read, “We affirm together that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.” The word “alone” signifies that the perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus_and that alone_is sufficient before the Holy God to justify unholy sinners. To so define justification, however, would exclude the Catholic sacraments and the priests who control them, both of which are necessary for the Catholic.. Thus a subtraction had to be made from the Gospel of Christ in excluding what is signified by the word alone. In a similar manner an addition had to made to the gospel in ECT words that qualify faith as, “living faith active in love”. This was to accommodate the inclusion of the Catholic sacraments. This was exactly the same intent of the Council of Trent in its qualification of the meaning of faith. Trent declared,
The theology of the Church of Rome always comes back to the concept of “living faith” so as to include works, particularly her sacraments that she defines as necessary for salvation. The New Evangelical signers of ECT have concurred with the Roman Catholic definition of “living faith active in love”, and thus they have formally agreed to an addition to the Gospel that nullifies its message. Rome continues to show her understanding of “living faith” in the 1994 Catechism when she declares, “the very root of the Church’s living faith [is] principally by means of Baptism.” If the New Evangelicals do in fact believe the Roman Catholic concept of “living faith,” they ought logically to endorse Rome’s curse upon all who have simple faith in God’s grace, as was officially done by Rome at the Council of Trent,
To endorse Roman Catholic teaching, therefore, is to deny the clear teaching of Scripture, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”
Evangelicals also Endorse Baptismal Regeneration
In the general heading of “We Witness Together,” and (to use the document’s language) “in the context of evangelization and ‘reevangelization,’” the New Evangelicals go so far as to recognize that “for Catholics, all who are validly baptized are born again and are truly, however imperfectly, in communion with Christ.” (p. 23). These New Evangelicals might as well have quoted the Roman Catholic Code of Canon Law that says the same thing,
In contrast to the teaching of Rome and the signed statements of J. I. Packer, Chuck Colson, et al., the words of the risen Christ in giving the Gospel are crystal clear. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Faith is the key of saving grace, and unbelief is the chief damning sin. Faith is what is absolutely necessary to salvation, baptism is an ordinance that follows faith and simply testifies to it. Proof of this is found in the fact of the omission in the second half of the verse: it is not “he that is not baptized shall be damned,” but rather “he that believeth not.” The repentance from this endorsement of the doctrine of Baptismal regeneration, and of an incomplete Gospel, by both subtraction and addition, requested over the years and formally called for at the 1999 Ex Catholics For Christ Conference has not come. Rather a defense of the document has been maintained both in the USA and overseas.
The Devastating Effect of ECT
The real effect of the New Evangelical compromise with the Gospel is to put a stop to the evangelization of Roman Catholics across the world. If this compromise of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is accepted, then Bible believing churches will refrain from evangelizing Catholics. The impact on the true church in third world Catholic countries in Central and South America, in Africa, as well as in Spain, Portugal, and the Philippines, is already apparent. If this anti-Evangelical trend continues unchecked it will become ruinous to the spiritual welfare of millions of souls. But this is exactly the policy the ECT signers promulgate when they state,
Since when has it been theologically illegitimate to expose error and heresy? Because these intelligent and educated men have contradicted the very Gospel of Christ, it is time to state that the biblical mandate of separation from such men must be observed! “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”
Compounded Endorsement of Rome
On November 12, 1997, a document entitled “The Gift of Salvation” was signed and published by Evangelical and Roman Catholic leaders. Its expressed intention was to demonstrate the “common faith” of Evangelicals and Roman Catholics, and to further “acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.” It was published in the December 8, 1997, issue of Christianity Today. Explicitly, the Roman Catholic (RC) signatories such as Richard John Neuhaus and Avery Dulles, S.J., state in the document that they are “Catholics who are conscientiously faithful to the teaching of the Catholic Church.” What might be expected then is in fact discovered in the document. The Roman Catholic doctrine of conferred justification is taught as the Gospel. J.I. Packer, Charles Colson, Os Guinness, Richard Land, Bill Bright are now joined together with Timothy George, T.M. Moore, John Woodbridge, and others in not only giving a clouded Gospel-Justification message, but also in a distinctively erudite manner, endorsing Rome’s doctrine of conferred inner righteousness.
A Studied Denial of the Gospel
The document states, “Justification is central to the scriptural account of salvation, and its meaning has been much debated between Protestants and Catholics.” Then it claims that the signers have reached an agreement. Their statement of accord is,
The subject under review is stated clearly in the first sentence. “We agree that justification . . . is conferred through the Father’s sheer graciousness.” Then by careful reading one comes to see that what the two pivotal sentences state grammatically,
This is traditional Roman Catholic doctrine. To employ the Roman Catholic word “conferred” instead of the Biblical word “imputed” is tantamount to putting aside Scriptural authority on the issue of justification. Since medieval times, the RCC has clearly distinguished between the concept of imputation and the concept of God’s grace conferred as a quality of the soul. Since the Council of Trent she has condemned the Biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. Present day dogma of the RCC not only upholds the teaching of the Council of Trent but also declares that such Councils are infallible. The Council of Trent proclaims the following curse:
Rome’s reason for such a curse on those who hold to “justification by faith alone” and to “justification imputed” is logical because of what she refuses to concede. For her, justification is not an immediate one-time act of God, received by faith alone; rather, she teaches that grace is conferred continually through her sacraments. Thus she is able to make a place for herself as a necessary means through which inner righteousness is given. She teaches in her 1994 Catechism,
Because inner righteousness, which is claimed to have been conferred, is located in the person, and not located in Christ, it can be lost and may need to be conferred again and again. Thus Rome officially states,
“Conferred justification” is necessary for Rome because of her claim that the work of her sacraments is the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus she states,
Calling “sacramental grace” the “the grace of the Holy Spirit” is pretentious blasphemy against the All Holy God. What is declared in Scripture is the imputation of God’s righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the words of the Apostle “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” The Roman Catholic Church’s persistence in using the word “conferred” is an attempt to exchange her sacraments for Jesus Christ, the Lord and giver of life.
In the face of such clarity, both on the part of Scripture and on the part of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), this new Evangelical distortion claims that both sides now agree on what has been the issue of division between Protestants and Roman Catholics for several hundred years. This it does_precisely by using Roman Catholic terminology: The perversion by which the Biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone is set aside in this document is by the use of the RCC term, “conferred”. Through this accommodation, the Biblical teaching of the righteousness of God imputed to the believer is subsumed under Rome’s traditional concept of inner or infused righteousness. Evangelicals such as J.I. Packer, Timothy George, and Os Guinness, known for their writings on the subject of the Gospel, are accustomed to the Biblical word, “imputed”. For them to agree to the Roman Catholic word “conferred”, in place of the Biblical term “imputed”, is a major betrayal. The Apostle Paul uses the concept of imputation (crediting, reckoning or counting) eleven times in Romans chapter four, a summary of which is verse five, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Now this pivotal truth of God’s righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to the believer is undermined in the document’s most horrifying concept,
With like subtlety, so Rome has always taught, from the Council of Trent to the present day. Now the New Evangelicals join them. This is pious professional fraud. What response can one make to these new Evangelicals personalities teaching the conferred righteousness of Rome? Can one do other than separate from such men in the words of the Apostle “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
The Defense of “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.”
The most serious apologetic for the document entitled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium”(ECT) is in the book of the same title Evangelicals & Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission. The architects of ECT were well aware of the crucial distinctions with regards to the Gospel separating Catholics and Evangelicals, but they chose to by-pass them. Packer writes in Common Mission, “Neither evangelicals nor Roman Catholics can stipulate that things they believe, which the other side does not believe, be made foundational to partnership at this point; so ECT lets go Protestant precision on the doctrine of justification and the correlation between conversion and new birth. . . .” That such compromise is heretical is seen from his statements earlier in the same article in Common Mission, when he said, “. . . Roman teaching obscures the gospel and indeed distorts it in a tragically anti-spiritual and unpastoral manner . . .” and “Rome’s official doctrinal disorders, particularly on justification, merit, and the Mass-sacrifice, so obscure the gospel that were I, as a gesture of unity, invited to mass_which of course as a Protestant I am not, nor shall be_I would not feel free to accept the invitation.” Packer towards the end of the article speaks of the evils of “humanism”, “materialism, hedonism and nihilism”. To rebuild a Christian consensus he proposes that, “. . . domestic differences about salvation and the Church should not hinder us from joint action in seeking to re-Christianize the North American milieu. . .” But the orthodox Evangelical Packer of old spoke of the doctrine of justification by faith alone in this way, “like Atlas, it bears a world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of saving grace”! Now, the same saving faith is downgraded to the “domestic differences about salvation.” The warning of the Apostle Paul must sound again now, “but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
Most Serious and Bizarre Defense
Packer, who leads the New Evangelicals, has taken an unusual explanation for his position. He has given it in different articles. One example of his strange defense is in a 1996 article, in which he states,
No orthodox Evangelical has ever maintained that “notional soundness and precision”, that is, doctrinal theory, ever saved anyone. Rather, orthodox Evangelicals have always held to Romans 10:10, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” It appears that Packer is conducting a little casuistry of his own here. It is an ego defense attempting to preempt his critics by raising an anti-biblical dichotomy between head (religion) and heart (religion). This is an old liberal tactic, i.e., to create an unbiblical dichotomy and then infer and insinuate that any party who refuses to acknowledge it, must in the nature of the case, be unspiritual, opposed to Christian love. None of the historic Evangelical confessions of faith hold out that mere doctrinal “soundness” saves anyone. This is an absurd caricature that Packer has invented. Rather orthodox Evangelicals today, even as they did in the days of the Apostle Paul and at the Reformation, declare that it is the righteousness of Christ Jesus alone that saves a person!
What Packer does in setting aside very point of faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone, is what the Church of Rome continually does. This is the exact point that the Apostle Paul contended for against the Judaisers and the Reformers against the Roman Catholics of their day. This is the exact point on which thousands of Evangelicals gave their lives, such as John Huss, William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, John Rogers, Anne Askew, John Bradford, and John Philpot, to name a few. Now Packer creates the concept of notional correctness and of a charged “justification by words.” The ardent desire of true Evangelicals to” be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith,” was and is the heart of the Gospel, not “contentious orthodoxy” nor “cultic heresy”. What Packer has done is to deny the importance of the Scriptures on the precise point of Sola Fide. He also denies the Reformation history of those Evangelicals who under the Roman Catholic Inquisition gave their lives, not for any correctness in words, but rather for their faith in Christ Jesus alone. Since the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is involved and these Reformation martyrs loved not their lives unto the death for faith in Him alone, we think this matter is so serious as to demand the judgment of the Lord Himself. “For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”
“Separation for the Sake of the Gospel is not Necessary”
In his essay in Common Mission, Roman Catholic Neuhaus stated emphatically, “If, at the end of the twentieth century, separation for the sake of the gospel is not necessary, it is not justified” What Neuhaus declared is that the Gospel is no longer relevant to Christian unity. This seems to be the precise intent of the 1994 ECT document and equally the 1997 “The Gift of Salvation” document. If Evangelicals who would be true to the Gospel do not combat the challenging defenses of ECT I and ECT II made by New Evangelicals and their Roman Catholic counterparts, then Neuhaus’ anti-Scriptural words “separation for the sake of the gospel is not necessary” might well fall on them and their children after them. If the lie is swallowed that separation for the sake of the Gospel is not justified, then the logical conclusion is that churches should cave in and submit to the Church of Rome. This has always been the avowed goal of Rome, as her documents verify,
. . . little by little, as the obstacles to perfect ecclesial communion are overcome, all Christians will be gathered, in a common celebration of the Eucharist [the Mass] into that unity of the one and only Church. . . . This unity, we believe, dwells in the Catholic Church as something we can never lose.”
Neuhaus’ conclusion is similar to Packer’s and still the more frightening since it comes from the Roman Catholic side, known to have legal teeth in what it decides among nations. Neuhaus states, “But to declare it [justification by faith alone] to be the article by which the Church stands or falls in a manner that excludes other ways of saying the gospel is to turn it into a sectarian doctrine.” The true Gospel of grace has in this statement not simply been declared unnecessary, but it has been labeled a “sectarian doctrine”. What has already happened and been reported in Europe might one day be the news in the USA.
C. H. Spurgeon’s timely words apply now even more than his own day “Since he was cursed who rebuilt Jericho, much more the man who labors to restore Popery among us. In our fathers’ days the gigantic walls of Popery fell by the power of their faith, the perseverance of their efforts, and the blast of their gospel trumpets. . . .” The Gospel trumpet is the very issue at stake_for the Roman Catholic and Evangelical signers of ECT I & II first give the false message of Rome, go on to uphold baptismal regeneration and then in defense of what they have written, declare that the Gospel of Christ is a “domestic matter” or even “a sectarian doctrine”. The Apostle Paul before he concluded his letter to the Romans inserted a final warning against false teachers who cause divisions by perverting doctrine of the Gospel he had delivered. His words were, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” This is the same as his command in Titus 3:10-11 “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” How serious is the Word of the Lord to true believers in this commandment? How serious is the truth of the Gospel of Christ?
Breaking Point in History
We have reached a watershed moment in history. Those who truly adhere to the Gospel of Christ must hold that the Gospel not only is the power of God unto salvation, but that, as such, it cannot be contaminated with any other gospel (Galatians 1:8-9). Therefore, those who truly are ambassadors of the Gospel of Christ must separate themselves, not only from Roman Catholicism and her sacramental claims, but also must separate themselves from so-called Evangelicals who have proposed this declaration of Evangelical and Catholic unity, or have been party to it. In the Scriptures we are warned continually to separate from brothers who are in error.
We are considering men of our own day, some of whom have done outstanding work for the sake of the Gospel in the past. But now that these men consistently are acting as false teachers, they must be judged according as the Scripture directs us. Separation must take place. “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” In the implementation of ECT I and II, J. I. Packer and Charles Colson, together with Timothy George, have been the prime movers. It is necessary now to apply Biblical principles to these men and to those who support them. Since the Gospel of Christ has been denied in these two documents, it is therefore necessary that they be treated as brothers who are in grievous error.
In our temporal world, infectious diseases are quarantined and contaminated food is discarded, but the danger involved here is not only temporal. Ought not brothers who would deceive the saints of God and draw them away into an ecumenism that is contrary to the Gospel of Christ be separated from the saints of the Lord for their eternal safety? God’s presence demands holiness, separation from evil. Fellowship with evil shuts out God’s gracious favor. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.”
False Teachers Then and Now
The testimony of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures expressly forewarns God’s people of principal teachers becoming false teachers, or grievous wolves. So it was in the early days of the Church and right through history. The Church of Rome has been the main apostate system throughout the centuries because above Scripture she has embodied “the wise and learned” and because it has been the religion of kings and rulers. In history, as in our own day, she attracts scholars and philosophers, writers and businessmen. She has a form of godliness, notwithstanding errors, impieties, superstitions, and idolatries. And she has engaged well-known teachers and pastors to lend the weight of their fleshly credit to her soul-destroying errors. Even so, the Lord warned of false prophets in sheep’s clothing that are really ravening wolves. Leaving off sound doctrine is so serious that we are told, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” The infallible Spirit of God testifies to the danger of apostasy. The Apostle Paul cautioned the elders of the church of Ephesus about “grievous wolves . . . not sparing the flock.” The same warning is given by the Apostle Peter calling those who would bring in damnable heresies, “false teachers”.
There are a number of unequivocal warnings in the New Testament from the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Apostles, that a serious decline from the revealed truths of the Gospel would occur even among professed disciples. It cannot be held that these warnings were only for the first days of the Christian faith! They are directly pertinent to all believers living through New Covenant times. In the present day religious climate it is politically incorrect to say that any man has fallen into error and is acting the part of a false teacher or prophet. It is as though even these clear warnings were only for a certain period of early church history and not for us.
It is for us, however, to fear the All Holy God and obey his commandment to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”, and to “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel”. J. I. Packer like a modern Pied Piper is leading many thousands of Evangelicals astray. Charles Colson, Bill Bright, Mark Noll, Pat Robertson, Os Guinness, Timothy George, and T.M. Moore to mention just a few of the more prominent New Evangelicals have publicly denied the Gospel in endorsing the anti-biblical terms and erroneous doctrinal concepts of the Church of Rome. All together, they are falsely identifying Catholics as “our brothers and sisters in Christ”, thereby reinforcing the tragic and catastrophic delusions of these poor souls and denying them the substance of saving truth! Unless there is some public repentance, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ must not only separate from these men, but also go on to pray that the Lord would vindicate His Truth!
Since it is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and His glorious Gospel that is at stake here, we are commanded in the words of the Apostle to “stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” May the God of all grace who “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” regarding even this present perversion the Gospel, bring forth a clarity of the Gospel in which His name will be glorified and souls will be saved.
Permission is given by the author to copy this article if it is done in its entirety without any changes. Richard Bennett, Berean Beacon.
The ministry’s Internet web page is: www.bereanbeacon.org
DISCUSS THIS TOPIC
Please join others who have commented upon this and other topics in our Discussion Group. | <urn:uuid:a1bf76bb-d5c9-432e-ba45-9309de5e8b0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://the-highway.com/articleJuly01.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957579 | 6,244 | 1.734375 | 2 |
KABUL — In his first overseas trip as defense secretary, Chuck Hagel landed Friday in Afghanistan, a country fast fading from political debate and public interest at home, but where 66,000 US troops continue to experience what he described as ‘‘the ugly reality of combat and the heat of battle.’’
“We are still at war,’’ said Hagel, who earned two Purple Hearts while serving as a combat infantryman in Vietnam.
Before landing in Kabul, the Afghan capital, Hagel said a significant focus of his visit would be assessing the plans for transferring responsibility for security to the central government, army, and the police in Afghanistan by the time the NATO combat mission expires in December 2014.
‘‘That transition has to be done right,’’ Hagel said. ‘‘It has to be done in partnership with the Afghans, with our allies.’’
He emphasized the importance of ‘‘our continued focus and energy and attention on Afghanistan’’ even as the number of US troops declines.
Hagel has visited Afghanistan four times before, while serving as a Republican senator from Nebraska. His first trip, in January 2002, came just a month after the rout of Al Qaeda fighters and the Taliban government that had provided Osama bin Laden safe haven.
His most recent visit was in July 2008, when he accompanied a Democratic senator from Illinois — Barack Obama, who as president nominated Hagel to his current post. Since retiring from the Senate in 2009, Hagel has not been as directly involved in Afghan policy as was his predecessor, Leon E. Panetta, who arrived at the Pentagon from a tour as CIA director.
Given the evolving mission, Hagel acknowledged that another goal for his visit was ‘‘to better understand where we are in Afghanistan’’ as the US and allied role shifts from combat to a mission focused on training and advising.
‘‘Even as we move into more of a support role, this remains a dangerous and difficult mission,’’ Hagel said in a separate statement to US and coalition personnel. ‘‘But the goal we have established — to have Afghans assume full responsibility for security by the end of 2014 — is clear and achievable.’’
The small US military force that carried out the invasion of Afghanistan, ordered in retaliation for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda, grew to more than 100,000 under Obama’s troop increase. But it has dropped to 66,000 and by early next year will be cut in half, falling to 32,000.
“I need to talk to, listen to, get a good sense from our commanders on the ground,’’ Hagel said.
He also was scheduled to meet with President Hamid Karzai .
Obama has made no decisions on the size of a possible US military presence beyond 2014, and Hagel said this trip would put him in a better position to offer advice to the president. NATO defense ministers have discussed proposals for a US and alliance force of 8,000 to 12,000 troops after 2014, although senior US commanders proposed a combined coalition deployment of up to 20,000 troops. | <urn:uuid:8e7113a1-c2d7-4b2f-ae62-5d4f9c7bfdb1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2013/03/09/hagel-makes-first-visit-afghanistan-defense-secretary/fifBzmPGmK2gYxrnaN1IAO/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972495 | 675 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Written by Nicky Martin, Education Northwest
For 45 years, Education Northwest has been working with schools, districts, and communities across the country on comprehensive, research-based solutions to the challenges they face. Staff at Education Northwest are dedicated to and passionate about learning. Through our work, we strive to create vibrant learning environments where all youth and adults can succeed. We work with teachers, administrators, policymakers, and communities to identify needs, evaluate programs, and develop new solutions. The breadth of our work—ranging from training teachers, to developing curriculum, to restructuring schools, to evaluating programs—allows us to take a comprehensive look at education and to bring wide-ranging expertise and creativity to our clients’ challenges.
Since 1998, Education Northwest has worked specifically to support national service programs and community- and school-based mentoring programs. In partnership with Bank Street College of Education, we administered the LEARNS project for more than a decade – providing training and technical assistance to national service programs working with schools to provide tutoring, mentoring and out-of-school time support to youth.
In October, we built on this experience to partner with the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) on The Symposium: National Service as a Strategy to Support Schools. This two-day event in Thompsonville brought together teams of practitioners to learn about evidence-based best practices in tutoring, out-of-school time and school readiness and to hear from successful program peers. Teams spent focused planning time translating best practice into site-specific strategies that will strengthen their programs and bolster their school partnerships. The MCSC will follow up the event with facilitated learning communities that will help to carry on the conversation post-event.
We at Education Northwest have a long history of collaboration with MCSC and were happy to have this latest opportunity! MSCS does terrific work supporting programs throughout the state and sharing knowledge and expertise across the larger national service community. It’s our hope that our event can be replicated in other states in support of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s continued focus on education as a priority area. | <urn:uuid:ebec8af5-4ad9-4601-963a-056fb9f724e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://learnandservemi.blogspot.com/2011/10/education-northwest-and-mcsc-host.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956103 | 428 | 1.71875 | 2 |
“If we lose that case, we will lose heavily” said Toyota in Delhi’s High Court. The judges had no sympathy for Toyota’s pleadings. Their decision might impact seriously on Toyota’s plans to market the Prius in 40 countries worldwide. As if Toyota doesn’t have enough problems with recalls and class action suits, now this:
The Delhi High Court is teaching Toyota a long needed lesson: A trademark is not a god given right. You must monitor your trademark and “vigorously defend” it against all infringers, lest you will lose it. Or not get it in the first place, as it is the case in India.
Eight years ago, Prius Auto Industries, a maker of “automobile accessories, bumper grills, bumper guards, side beeding (sic) and head lamp accessories” did set up shop in Delhi. They properly registered Prius as a trademark. As there was nobody else in India who had that mark, they received it, used it, and lived happily ever after. Until …
Toyota showed their Prius at the Delhi Auto Expo, Jan 5th to 11th. Then it dawned on them that a little known manufacturer of side beeding had the Prius name. Toyota also had bad (or greedy) lawyers. They should have told Toyota that Toyota has no case. India is a “first to file” country. When Prius Auto Industries filed, there was no prior Prius in India, and Toyota did not object.
Therefore, “The Delhi High Court has rejected Toyota Motors claim to exclusive trademark right over the name ‘PRIUS’ for launching a new car in India,” as India’s Tribune reports.
The court also tut-tutted Toyota for approaching the court “six years after Prius Auto Industries got its trademark registered and started its sales,” reports The Hindu. The court was especially unsympathetic to Toyota’s plight because “Toyota slept over the matter and idled over it for a long period,” as the ruling reads. The court also intimated that Toyota should have known better, because Prius Auto Industries has grown into a big company with large orders from companies such as General Motors, Hyundai and Mahindra and Mahindra.
Moral: If you register a mark, research it carefully, in all the markets you want to use it, especially in growth markets such as China and India, which, coincidentally, both follow the “first to file” doctrine. Many others, such as Mexico, do the same. A lot of whining about trademark infringement comes from the misunderstanding of the difference between “first to use” and “first to file.” Another reason for pain is lack of monitoring of the “first to file” countries. If you are too lazy or too stingy to register your mark in these countries, then you should at least monitor trademark applications there and object if something comes too close.
The court thinks that the buyer of Toyota’s spare parts will not get confused with the products of the Prius Auto Industries and will not be deceived into believing that their side beeding is from Toyota. As far as India goes, Toyota must be content with living as Prius inter pares. Or find another name. Priapus maybe? | <urn:uuid:be804c2d-fdbc-4a40-a858-81a2a3db91e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/03/toyota-loses-critical-prius-court-case/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960538 | 706 | 1.546875 | 2 |
In less than two hours the president will unveil his latest push for immigration reform at an event in Las Vegas. He will call on Congress to move reform quickly, but also reveal new details of his proposal.
In excerpts released by the White House prior to the speech President Obama is expected to say: "The good news is that -- for the first time in many years -- Republicans and Democrats seem ready to tackle this problem together. Members of both parties, in both chambers, are actively working on a solution. And yesterday, a bi-partisan group of Senators announced their principles for comprehensive immigration reform, which are very much in line with the principles I've proposed and campaigned on for the last few years. At this moment, it looks like there's a genuine desire to get this done soon. And that's very encouraging."
According to those briefed on the policy, Obama's call for reform will fit into three categories: better enforcement of immigration laws; providing a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country; and reforming the legal immigration system.
Members of the Obama administration believe the U.S. border, with a record high 18,000 patrol agents along the Southwest border alone, is currently more secure than it ever has been. So their plan will focus on enforcement inside the U.S. The primary focus will be on beefing up enforcement at the workplace by strengthening the E-verify system, making it easier for business owners to determine the legal status of potential employees. Look for the president's plan to include new penalties for businesses that break the law by knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants.
A second category will be providing a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. This path will require them to learn English, pay fines and back taxes and get in the "back of the line." Once they reach the front of the line, if they qualify, after five years, they would be eligible for citizenship.
The third category addresses unclogging the legal immigration system which is currently backlogged. Immigrants who come here under legal work visas often find that bringing family, or extending their time in the US, is a Kafka-esque nightmare, officials say. This reform is designed to encourage highly skilled and educated workers to stay in the US. At the present time, many immigrants leave after they give up fighting the immigration system.
Unlike the Senate blueprint released yesterday, a senior administration official confirms that the president's plan would require same-sex couples be treated the same as heterosexual couples throughout the immigration process. The Senate plan also includes proof of work requirements that may or may not be included in the President's plan. | <urn:uuid:6f45e5b1-f377-4661-8e78-c52f82f3f2cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcvb.com/news/politics/What-to-expect-from-the-president-on-immigration/-/9848766/18322892/-/j7rhksz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967928 | 541 | 1.53125 | 2 |
From Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources & Environmental Control
-- Delaware hunters are reminded they are now required to register all harvested deer by calling the toll free number (866)511-3337 or going online at www.dehip.com within 24 hours of harvest and before butcher shop processing. The old registration system using paper forms at check stations and butcher shops was discontinued in 2009.
When registering a deer, hunters need their hunting license numbers as well as the deer management zone in which the deer was harvested. Zone information can be found on pages 19 to 22 in the 2010-11 Delaware Hunting & Trapping Guide.
After registering, hunters will be given a 12-digit registration number to record and keep as proof of registration. Hunters having deer processed by a butcher need to give this number when dropping off the animal.
Although the DNR is sensitive to the tradition associated with hunters taking their deer to check stations, a change was needed with both Delaware's deer population and harvest numbers increasing.
Nearly 14,000 deer are harvested annually, and nearly half of those were being registered at check stations. The time required to enter the paper forms used at check stations had become overwhelming in both staff time and expense. The old system was inefficient in that harvest numbers could not be totaled until May because of the time it took to enter the information into the computer.
"The new electronic system proved its efficiency last season. After the season ended in January, we had harvest estimates the first week of February instead of four months later," said wildlife biologist Joe Rogerson. "Plus, the Division had additional cost savings by not having to print thousands of harvest record forms, possession tags and hide tags each year."
Delaware continues to collect data on chronic wasting disease and biological harvest data, including antler measurements, weights and ages. During the peak deer seasons, Division personnel will be stationed at deer processors statewide collecting this information.
For more information about deer registration or any other deer related issue, contact Rogerson at (302)735-3600. | <urn:uuid:fa9dde4d-7bfc-4804-8fa0-c372426ade08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buckmasters.com/delaware-hunters-register-deer-by-phone-or-internet.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961207 | 414 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Completed applications are reviewed by the Social Work Program faculty. Accepted applicants are notified and are eligible for enrollment in specified third and fourth year professional social work courses. Applicants who are not accepted are advised and referred to pursue opportunities in other curriculum areas.
The Social Work Program reserves the right to make changes at any time in the individual courses and in the curriculum leading to a degree.
The social work program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is committed to providing a quality education to baccalaureate level social work students who upon graduation are prepared to engage in entry-level generalist social work practice with client systems of various sizes and types. Social work students are prepared to apply the basic problem-solving techniques, as well as other intervention strategies utilized when working with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations.
The program builds its professional foundation upon the values, knowledge and skills necessary for graduates to practice with diverse populations, groups, and settings. The program is committed to preparing students who demonstrate competent practice skills when working in rural and urban settings. Strategies and interventions to alleviate poverty, oppression, and discrimination are constantly sought as mechanisms to promote social and economic justice, and empowerment. Overall, ongoing and continuous evaluation of the total program is always at the forefront of the faculty’s agenda.
The social work program’s baccalaureate curriculum prepares students for generalist social work practice. The program’s conception of generalist practice was decided collaboratively among the faculty. During the evaluation of the total program and curriculum, the social work faculty agreed to utilize Kirst-Ashman and Hull’s (1999) definition of generalist practice which states, “generalist social work practice is the application of an eclectic knowledge base, professional values, and a wide range of skills to target systems of any size.” Thus, the social work program conceptualizes generalist practice as a set of entry-level skills necessary for working with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities that prepares baccalaureate social work students for beginning professional practice upon graduation.
The program is committed to utilizing a problem-solving approach to effectively address the multiplicity of issues and/or problems that require multilevel intervention strategies at varied systems levels. The generalist social worker emphasizes professional relationships that are characterized by mutuality, collaboration, and respect for clients. This allows the social worker to use the problem-solving approach appropriate to the needs of clients and to recognize clients’ strengths. The generalist practitioner recognizes that intervention can occur on a practice continuum, which includes work with the individual (micro practice), work with groups (mezzo practice) or work with organizations and communities (macro practice). | <urn:uuid:3e1b81e6-2113-45d1-bfba-2acbfd4d0391> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uapb.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=295 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937957 | 556 | 1.515625 | 2 |
While this isn’t exactly BlackBerry news per say, this will prove to be very important to the tech community as a whole. Steve Jobs the man that led Apple out of the dark days of the early 90′s to what it is today has resigned as the CEO of the company. There is no doubt that Jobs’ influence and visions as Apple’s CEO have not only driven what his own company has done, but has also made other companies like RIM strive to do better in the mobile environment. It may not be a shock for many of us that Jobs has decided to resign, due to his continued illness and health issues, but it has still sent shock waves through the tech community. Tim Cook, formerly the COO of Apple, will take over from Jobs as the CEO and join the board as a director.
“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”
“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”
No matter how you feel about Apple as a company no one in their right mind can deny the influence that Steve Jobs has made, and to do so would be foolish. While Jobs will remain on as the Chairman of the Board, he will no longer be involved in the day to day operations. To read Steve Jobs resignation letter hit the jump, and please share your thoughts on this situation by dropping us a comment (please be tasteful).
August 24, 2011–To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you. | <urn:uuid:c9050f4a-6827-439a-a57e-0a20147e5aa4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nerdberry.net/2011/08/24/steve-jobs-resigns-as-ceo-of-apple-takes-on-role-of-chairman-of-the-board/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979531 | 618 | 1.65625 | 2 |
First things first, what are meta keywords? Meta keywords are keywords that SEO advertisers use in the code of their site to drive traffic and increase their site rankings organically. Don’t get meta keywords confused with meta titles, aka page titles or meta description. These are two different aspects of SEO that are important and should be included in your SEO strategy.
Why you shouldn’t bother using meta keywords? A quick answer, the search engines don’t put as much weight on meta keywords any longer. Back in the day, meta keywords were a great way for search engines to rank sites organically based on their meta keywords. The search engines were assuming that if people put particular keywords in their site, those keywords were relevant to their site content. However this wasn’t the case for all websites. It’s pretty common for people to begin abusing this once they learned how the search engines worked. Putting keywords that have a high search volume in your site when that’s not what your site is about at all is one practice called black hat seo. Well, the search engines are relatively smart, and caught onto this rather quickly.
Another thing people began to do with their meta keywords is what we like to call ‘keyword stuffing’. Which is repeating your keywords over and over again in your site in order to try and rank higher. Well the search engines caught onto this as well, and you can actually get penalized (minimally) by doing this.
Now -a- days, search engines no longer put much weight on meta keywords as a result. Instead they focus on page titles, meta descriptions, body copy, etc.
Another negative aspect to using meta keywords is that any competitor of yours can view your page source and see which keywords you’re trying to target for each page of your site. It may not seem like a big deal, you’re both probably targeting some of the same keywords. However if there is a keyword you are targeting and you’re competitor isn’t, well they are now, and you just gave them the idea for it! | <urn:uuid:b287199e-628f-4aab-85ec-0416f8a8b688> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seoboy.com/dont-bother-adding-meta-keywords-to-improve-seo-rankings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961996 | 437 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Algae company Solazyme was one of the first of the biofuel startups to decide to focus on the food, nutraceutical and specialty chemical markets first, before tackling the daunting fuel industry. But after nine-years, an IPO and $125 million in venture funding, Solazyme is finally ready to break into biofuels in a more commercial way: this week Solazyme announced the ground-breaking of a plant that will produce biofuels in Brazil through a joint venture with Bunge.
The factory, Solazyme’s first large one, is being built next to Bunge’s sugarcane factory in the Moema region of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is supposed to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2013. Bunge is providing the sugar stock and Solazyme is utilizing its sugar to oil production technology. The plant will produce 30 million gallons of Solazyme’s algae-based oil a year, and the oil will be used in both the specialty chemical and fuel markets — applications like a sustainable alternative to palm oil for use in various products.
Solazyme went public last year, at $18 per share, and raised $198 million in the process. Today Solazyme is trading at $13.67, and generated $13.56 million in revenues for the most recent quarter, up from $7.74 million for the same quarter the year prior. At the same time the company lost $16.78 million, a greater loss than the $7.29 million loss from the quarter the year earlier. Solazyme engineers efficient algal strains and grows its designer algae in fermentation tanks without sunlight by feeding it sugar. Then, using existing industrial equipment, it extracts the oil.
The fuel market has been daunting to companies like Solazyme, because to compete in the fuel market the biofuel product needs to be able to be competitive with oil on cost and scale. Most biofuel makers just aren’t there yet and haven’t been able to achieve these economies of scale. As GigaOM Pro analyst Adam Lesser pointed out (subscription required), Amyris recently decided to scale back its biofuels production in favor of manufacturing the specialty (and higher margin) chemical squalene.
The specialty chemical market is a smaller market than fuels, but specialty chemicals can be sold for a higher price. Specialty chemicals are things like polymers that make up plastics or substrates for pharmaceutical manufacturing. OPX Biotechnologies is an example of a startup focused on bio-chemicals like bio-acrylic.
But now Solazyme is tackling biofuels head-on, and mitigating some of this risk through its joint venture. Solazyme has long maintained that it wanted to commercialize its fuel technology in the 2013 time frame, with a production cost target of $60 to $80 per barrel. Seems like it’s almost there. | <urn:uuid:4c54b4a8-5ad9-4391-a2b0-6c6d2b5edb89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gigaom.com/2012/06/28/solazyme-now-moving-into-biofuels-in-a-major-way/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948875 | 602 | 1.84375 | 2 |
16-Feb-2002 -- For many months, this has been the only unvisited confluence in the state of Victoria. The reason for this .... its location is within the Puckapunyal Army Base, which is a restricted area. It turned out to be very close to the firing ranges where small arms, rifle, artillery and tank firing practice occurs. My friend Ian Kelly and I have been contemplating for some time how we would attempt to visit it. I had also been receiving some emails of encouragement from Targ Parsons, a veteran confluence visitor in China.
Finally, one night I rang the Department of Defence Duty Officer, whose number I found in the White Pages. He gave me a number for Puckapunyal, which I rang the following day. This number was the security guard at the gate. He redirected me to Range Control and I explained what we wanted to do. A little later Bob Baker from Range Control rang back and advised that the Army would assist us in our mission, and that if we didn't do it within a couple of weeks, the Major would go and do it himself!
So it was that on the morning of Saturday 16th February, Ian and I left Melbourne in drizzling rain, and drove the 100k from Melbourne to Puckapunyal. By the time we had arrived, the rain had stopped and the approch to the base was quite dry. We reported to the guard post and were issued with passes then directed to proceed to the Range Control building. As we drove through the base we were amazed by the number of kangaroos. They were everywhere, and kept the lawns and grass areas well trimmed. There were many emus present as well. The Puckapunyal Base is laid out in harmony with its bushland setting, and but for the occasional squad of soldiers in fatigues passing by or a tank rumbling past, it was ironically a very peaceful location.
When we arrived at Range Control we reported to Gary Willcocks who had been briefed on our mission, and showed us our destination on a topological map of the area. The confluence was located on the side of a small hill just behind one of the small arms ranges. Gary assigned Kevin Thompson to escort us to the site in one of the army vehicles, and we grabbed the marker I had made and set off. For security reasons I cannot describe the base in detail but Ian and I were very interested in the features Kevin pointed out to us as we proceeded. He had heard that there were 40,000 kangaroos in the area covered by the base. I believed him, they were everywhere.
We were able to drive to within about 25 metres of the confluence, scattering kangaroos as we went. It was located in a small group of eucalyptus trees on the side of a gently sloping hill. The grass was eaten down very short and the trees were well spaced out so that access was very easy. We had all zeros up on the GPS without difficulty at an altitude of 233 metres, and the GPS estimated accuracy was 4 metres, which is the highest accuracy estimate I can ever recall seeing. While we were taking photographs at the site, we noticed a wedge-tailed eagle circling overhead, majestically watching what we humans were doing in his domain.
After we finished our business at the site, we returned to Range Control with Kevin, in order to thank Gary for his help. He had been joined by Major Greg Folkard who was quite interested in what we were doing and was keen to see our report on the web site.
We then said goodbye to our friends at Range Control, and paid a quick visit to the Tank Museum which was unfortunately not open for visitors on Saturday.
As we returned to the guard post to hand in our passes and leave the base, we contemplated the many similar adventures people all around the world would be encountering in carrying out confluence visits in unusual places.
Finally we would like to thank the Australian Army for supporting this visit and allowing us access to the confluence point. | <urn:uuid:4a159f93-a056-4ce5-b60c-c010b9a490d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-37&lon=145 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989864 | 840 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Liberal parties have a complicated case to make. It not easy to explain that you can be devoutly Muslim and support the secular rule of law, for example. It is also easier to explain the fairness of majority rule than the concept that in democracy it is crucial to protect minorities.
With easy electoral victories, Islamists proceeded to implement their agenda, much faster than many expected. A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, a man named Mohamed Morsy, had declared in 2011, "We are not seeking power."
The make-up of the panel that would write the constitution sparked bitter conflict from the beginning.
The assembly, which should have made the most of the country's precious constitutional moment, was supposed to include representatives of all segments of society, constitutional scholars, intellectuals, members of professional guilds, union members, writers; in short, views from all Egyptians.
The first panel was such a transparent power-grab by Islamists that the courts threw it out. A second assembly chosen in June proved just as controversial. Once again, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party used its muscle to pack it with supporters.
Non-Islamists, one by one, walked out of the constitution-writing body in frustration at the strong-arm tactics. Fearing the courts would invalidate the process, President Morsy essentially made himself dictator on November 22, the day after the rest of the world heaped praise on him for helping broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, providing a measure of political cover.
The opposition took to the streets, in what started to look like Revolution 2.0. Then Morsy ordered the constitutional assembly to hurry up and finish its work. In a mad rush, with a final session of 19 hours, the assembly approved a draft. By then, all the non-Islamists walked out.
The document, scheduled to go to voters for ratification on December 15, is an affront against democratic principles. It lays the groundwork for an eminently un-free future.
Trying to quiet the opposition, Morsy rescinded the decree that gave him absolute power, but he plans to go forward with a constitutional referendum, pushing forward a document littered with tiny seeds that can germinate into religious oppression. It is not surprising that it received high praise from Yasser Borhami, one of the country's top ultra-conservative clerics, who raved about its many "restraints on rights" and concluded, "This will not be a democracy that can allow what God forbids, or forbids what God allows."
The constitution says Sharia is the main source of legislation, and establishes that the (unelected) scholars of al-Azhar, the ancient center of Muslim learning, shall be consulted on Sharia matters. The draft speaks of equality for all, but orders that the state should "balance between a woman's obligations to family and public work." It also says the state must "protect ethics and morals and public order," and guard the "true nature of the family." | <urn:uuid:bbde5d8b-2685-48bd-be18-4fb563a60c65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ketv.com/news/national/Ghitis-Egypt-s-constitutional-moment/-/9674576/17725230/-/item/1/-/v5qec5z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966578 | 611 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Within two years, the number of hours people spend viewing online video will easily surpass the time they spend watching television. There's no doubt that online video has enjoyed stratospheric growth of late, but despite that success, the technical underpinning by which video is delivered into your browser hasn't really developed much since the 1990s. Back then, watching a video on the Web meant squinting at a postage stamp-sized low-res player with very jerky video.
Nick Wilson is CTO at Break Media, an entertainment community for men. He's spent the last two decades building products that leverage digital content and is a recognized innovator in the digital entertainment field. He's excited about Break.com being one of the first HTML5-enabled video sites.
Fast forward ahead to 2004, when YouTube and casual gaming sites burst onto the scene and we finally had killer applications that meant one thing: To experience the new wonders of the Web, one had no choice but to download Adobe's Flash browser plugin. After all, the two most popular browsers, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox (collectively with 80% market share), still have no native way to play a video or animation without installing Flash.
Every transitionary technology reaches a peak (98% adoption is a pretty good peak!) and eventually declines as newer developer-friendly technologies with better standards compliance take hold. Of course, with Flash being so ubiquitous on desktops and laptops it will be years before developers ditch it all together. But the desktop isn't where the next battle for video will be fought - rather it will be the new breed of platform and mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and set-top boxes - all of which have limited processing power and little to no ability for a user to download and install plugins like Flash.
The arrival of the iPad unquestionably puts the fate of online video - and the means by which it is distributed - center-stage. It's unsurprising that Apple's newest baby, the iPad, would follow in the footsteps of its older sibling, the iPhone, by relying on the browser to handle video rather than allowing a Flash plugin. But there's one critical difference: The iPad allows an embedded video playback experience, so the video can appear within a normal Web page without having to go full-screen as with the iPhone.
And what about the online video economy, with its Flash-based pre-roll videos and overlay advertising units? Well, with some clever coding they can work just fine on the iPad, too. Transcoding video ads into H.264 is a straightforward process, and ad units such as a "video bug" (those pop-up messages that show at the bottom of a video) can easily be reprogrammed to work in HTML5. When we combine the in-video units like preroll and video bug along with non-Flash IAB-standard ad units, there are plenty of opportunities to monetize a video view impression.
So the iPad without Flash, rather than presenting a problem for online video, presents a great opportunity to modernize the video playback experience, supporting the unique and immersive user experience that the iPhone started and the iPad will continue and enhance. | <urn:uuid:15736361-c7a8-4d72-82b8-cdbc2456b620> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://readwrite.com/2010/06/10/what_does_the_ipad_mean_for_online_video | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934921 | 646 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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