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KNPR's Ky Plaskon reports on the first weekly 'e-brief', an attempt to increase the impact of the governor's messages on the public in anticipated tough economic times.
During this year's battle over the state's proposed budget, lawmakers debated and were deadlocked months beyond the state's deadlines. It ended in court action and the state's difficulties led to a national debate over the legislative 2-3rds majority vote needed to raise taxes. Greg Borterlin, Press Information Officer for Governor Kenny Guinn says better communication could have made the process smoother.
"It became crystal clear that we needed to get our message out in an unfiltered format. It's the media's perogative to cover what they are going to cover and there were times during this last session when there were some misunderstandings and dare I say misinformation about the budget and when those instances rise again the governor can communicate directly to key business people to set the record straight."
The move to start the e-brief comes just as debate is heating up again over the state's budget - specifically that the state could be 200 million dollars short in 2005 as a result of decreased income from the federal government. Borterlin says the e-brief is in anticipation of tough times to come.
"We are clearly not out of the woods yet."
Not only that, in an interview last week with KNPR, Governor Guinn said that despite record tax increases the state's economy is still not healthy enough to support expenditures under the current tax structure. He has also said that he will not raise taxes and he hopes to use the e-brief to explain to the public how to meet the states needs without raising taxes.
"It is incumbent on the governor and his staff to communicate how we are going to deal with that and knock on wood we hope the economy makes a robust turn, but reality is probably is something different from that."
Kieth Schwer - director of UNLV's center for business and economic research, says an e-brief is a good start to more civic involvement from Nevadans, almost all of whom have been in the state less than 10 years
:12 - :37
"Building consensus is not easy, what the record of the last few years has told us is that consensus going forward creates great problems for us so any efforts to start now to educate people to put facts on the table and to build consensus is very important and welcome I would think."
And its going to take some local and national brainstorming to solve the problem he says.
:08 - :30
"States and local governments nationally have evolved into this problem, the problem of fiscal shortfalls and the problem of revenue streams, and that the volatility in revenue is significantly greater than what local governments want in terms of spending streams that they feel they need to respond to."
Nevada's budget won't be the only weekly topic - transportation and Senior RX are other named topics. With this e-brief from the Governor, Nevada will be joining Washington, Arkansaw and Hawaii - that also put out regular messages to the public using e-mail.
For KNPR, I'm Ky Plaskon
To sign up for the Governor's weekly e-brif, go to www.nv.us
Add a comment here or send your comments to firstname.lastname@example.org
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Looks like this event has already ended.
Check out upcoming events by this organizer, or organize your very own event.
R@iHub Workshop: Designing 101
Friday, July 1, 2011 at 5:00 PM (EAT)
The research arm of the iHub presents to you Designing for the Users, Making Technology work for the day to day man. These will be a series of workshops to be held at the iHub by a number of reputable designers. On Friday 24th, Susan Wyche presents Design 101, what it means to design for the user, on July 1st Andrew Maunder presents The Design Research.
In attendance will be members of Frog Design to answer your questions .
Susan Wyche is a Computing Innovation Fellow (CI Fellow) at Virginia Tech's Center for Human-Computer Interaction. Her research focuses on human-computer interaction, design and cultural studies of technology. In her dissertation, Wyche used religion as a lens to understand how alternative worldviews can inform design. She has explored how Muslims in Atlanta, Charismatic Pentecostals in São Paulo, and Protestant Christians in Nairobi, use mobile phones, computers, and the Internet to support their religious practices. Each study has resulted in a publication at top-tier conference in her field, multiple design concepts, and in one case, a mobile phone application available for download at Apple Inc.'s "App Store."
Prior to coming to Virginia Tech, Wyche received her PhD in Human-Centered Computing from the Georgia Institute of Technology, her master's degree from Cornell University and her undergraduate degree in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to her academic pursuits, Wyche has professional design experience, most notably working at Libbey Inc. designing glassware and as a design researcher for S.C. Johnson Inc. She has also worked as a research intern at Microsoft Research, Cambridge (U.K.) and Intel Labs (Berkeley).
"Andrew (29) is a user experience researcher, designer and strategist. Over the past six years he has used various user-centric design techniques to create valuable and usable mobile and Web experiences. Much of that time was spent working on his PhD thesis titled 'Designing appropriate interactive systems for the developing world'. It explored ways of designing mobile services that are appropriate for technologically and financially poor communities in South Africa.
His work culminated in several international publications, most notably a full publication in the International Journal of Human Computer Studies and a US patent which was filed in collaboration with Richard Harper from Microsoft Research and Prof. Gary Marsden from UCT. Both described a mobile media sharing platform which provided feature phone users with 'free' access to rich Web content (YouTube & Flickr).
Following his studies, Andrew took up a position as user experience (UX) architect at MXit Lifestyle where he was charged with improving the user experience of MXit's mobile offering and facilitating user centric design company wide. In early 2010, Andrew moved to Flow Interactive to work as a UX consultant under the guidance of Philip Barrett (director of Flow Interactive London). He currently designs interactive mobile services for international clients and assists them in developing appropriate user experiences and the supporting business models."
Also Bob Ryskamp who has been a Designer at Google for 8 years will give an overview of user experience design and talk about how we do it at Google the following week, Friday July 1st at the iHub. He will be hoping to lead a discussion about what techniques and strategies work well for designers in Nairobi.
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Portsmouth Raceway Park was once a camping ground for the Shawnee Indians and other tribes, but the white men came along and ran the Indians off the land. June 3, 1799 the town of Alexandria was plotted out. Eventually, many floods forced the white man from the land. During the years of 1813 and 1814, one by one the settlers moved to higher ground, settling in what is now Portsmouth. As the years passed, this abandoned area was converted into farmland.
Much later, in the 1970's, another white man by the name of Boone Coleman farmed this same land. Some people say he never was a farmer, just walked around in a straw hat and pretended he was. Anyway, Boone raised a lot of corn here. Rumor was, it went for livestock feed, but some say it was used to make a potent liquid for medical purposes. Now the plot unfolds and becomes very weird.
In the summer of 1990, Boone went a little off the deep end and brought in graders, bulldozers, and trucks and started tearing up the land. People asked, "Boone, what are you doing?" He replied, "My son, Tim, has a race car (mini sprint) and no place to practice!" Before long Boonie had quite a few bucks tied up, so he thought, "I'll put some seats in and try to recover a little of this green stuff."
Now the farmer turned contractor turned track owner was really lost; he had never watched a race, much less operated a track, so he called on an old friend who had fooled around racing for a number of years. Well, some say he just fooled around, but he came to Boone's assistance. We now have a farmer who can't farm and a guy who just fools around, but somehow they managed to build a beautiful racetrack for the drivers and fans' enjoyment.
Now to the serious side of racing!! PRP opened in the late fall of 1990 with only two races held that year. Our first full year of racing was 1991. In 1992 we were preparing for our first big "two day" show, which was to be held the 4th of July weekend. We had a lot of heavy equipment at the track making the last minute preparations. The night before the races, vandals took it upon themselves to start a D-9 dozer and demolish the buildings and grandstand area at PRP. The area was fogged in as it sets along the river and no one could see what was happening. When workmen arrived the following morning they were devastated to find everything gone. Building's were leveled, bleachers and restaurant equipment was destroyed. The whole area looked like a battlezone.
It took a lot of prayer, strength and courage to meet this situation head on, but with the help of the community, family and friends we began immediately to rebuild. Within two weeks we were open and ready to race again. This was a task that was taken on by so many devoted people who spent endless, hard working hours getting PRP back together again and for this we are truly appreciative.
As years went by we continued to increase seating, improve grounds and make PRP one of the nicest dirt racing facilities in the area.
In the fall of 1999 we decided to enlarge the track to 3/8 mile. A lot of work was done in 2000 and as we approach the 2013 season, we are looking at a tentative opening date in May 2013.
It is our intention to make PRP the finest, cleanest and the most family oriented racetrack in the the tri-state area. By your attendance you, the race fans, are the ones that help PRP enjoy the success that it has had.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND ENJOY THE 2013 RACING SEASON AT PORTSMOUTH RACEWAY PARK!
Facts About Portsmouth Raceway Park
Portsmouth Raceway Park in Portsmouth, Ohio is 1 mile West of Portsmouth off Rt. 52 & 73/104. It is a 3/8 mile clay high banked track with seating for over 6,000 spectators with additional seating of 300 in the pit area.
Regular Weekly Racing is held on Saturday nights with the following format: Late Models, Modified, Limited Late Models, and Bombers. Special racing events during 2013 will be 33rd Annual DTWC. Others will be announced at a later date.
As stated above in the track history Portsmouth Raceway Park was built in 1990 and opened the same year with two races being held that year with full schedules being run since 1991. The track is owned and operated by Joyce Coleman, and Tim & Jenny Coleman. Tim, son of Boone and Joyce, is the track coordinator and track manager. Donna Rayburn is the track promoter. Advertising is with National Speed Sport News, and local news media in the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. P.R.P. is fortunate to have people with many years of racing experience handling the main duties.
P.R.P. is situated on 100 acres, where the Scioto River empties into the Ohio River, a very picturesque setting in the Ohio River Valley. The Super 8 Motel, the Comfort Inn (PRP Race Headquarters) and AmeriStay are located on US 23 North from Portsmouth, the Days Inn and Comfort Inn Motels are located on US 52 East from Portsmouth, the Holiday Inn Hotel is located in downtown Portsmouth, and the Shawnee Lodge and Resort is located west of Portsmouth on SR 125, all within a few minutes of the track (See our 'Lodging' page for locations and phone numbers). Downtown Portsmouth has many retail stores and restaurants within five minutes of the track. Second Street in Portsmouth has over twenty antique shops, and Front Street in Portsmouth has a Mural Display depicting the early history of the Portsmouth area. Good fishing in the Ohio River and Scioto River at the south end of the parking area.
We'll see you all at Portsmouth Raceway Park where Southern Hospitality Begins!!!
Portsmouth Raceway Park, Inc. P. O. Box 1543 Portsmouth, OH 45662 Track: (740) 354-FAST Office: (740) 858-6661 Fax: (740) 858-5251 Track Promoter: Donna Rayburn - Phone: 740-821-1161 email: firstname.lastname@example.org
25648 State Route 73, West Portsmouth, OH 45663
Located 1 mile West of Portsmouth, Ohio on SR 73/104
(Directions: Take US 52 West from Portsmouth and follow the signs.
Take the 2nd St. Bridge out of Portsmouth, turn right at the end of the bridge.)
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Bin Laden assassination sets stage for withdrawal from Afghanistan
April has been a bloody month for US forces in Afghanistan, with 45 Americans killed, compared to only 20 last April. And now the Taliban has announced the start of a "spring offensive" that may soon draw comparisons to the Tet offensive in Vietnam in 1968. Meanwhile US allies are doing less and less of the fighting in Afghanistan, reducing their share of casualties from 37% in early 2010 to only 25% so far this year. America is gradually being left to fight its war on its own - or not...
So the presumed assassination of Osama Bin Laden by American "spooks" in Pakistan comes at an interesting time. I say 'assassination' because it seems unlikely that the U.S. had any desire to take Bin Laden alive, and because President Obama said that he was killed after a fire-fight, not during one. This would be consistent with other U.S. 'kill or capture' operations, in which even 12-year old children have been summarily executed after being captured and flexi-cuffed by US 'special forces'.
Obama also suggested that Bin Laden's whereabouts had been known for some time, so the timing of the decision to kill him now seems noteworthy. The most serious obstacle that Obama has faced to withdrawal from Afghanistan is political. In Iraq, the "surge" created a narrative by which Americans could see the expulsion of US forces as some kind of victory. But the quest for a "victory" narrative in Afghanistan has always been more problematic, and a year of blowing up villages in Helmand and Kandahar provinces hasn't changed that.
The awkward truth facing US policy-makers on Afghanistan is that its future, like its past, lies in its relations with the great powers that surround it: China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran, not with the United States - as Brian Downing explained a few days ago in Asia Times: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MD27Df01.html
But, after claiming for ten years that the US had vital interests in Afghanistan that were worth fighting for, how could Obama all of a sudden say that we really don't? Killing Bin Laden provides the US government with precisely the narrative it needs to justify withdrawal from Afghanistan. "We've accomplished what we set out to do. We've avenged 9/11. We can leave with honor. We don't need to occupy the country. We can kill anyone anywhere anyway."
So, if you've been treating the US war in Afghanistan as an American folly that would persist against all reason and beyond your power to stop it, this may be the time to re-engage with the peace movement, call your Member of Congress, organize locally and nationally, and hit the streets. The administration is already committed to doing or saying something in July, and, with enough pressure from the public, what they say could just be "We're out of here!"
Nicolas Davies is the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq, and the local coordinator of Progressive Democrats of America in Miami (www.pdamerica.org).
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For an idea of what the point of this series of posts is, please see the first post in the series.
11. Le Bec du Hoc, Grandchamp, Georges Seurat (1885)
So far I have written a great deal about paintings and photographs with which I already have a relationship, but I thought now I might say something about a work of art which I came to only recently. Being engaged in a leisurely stroll through the vast wonderland of the National Gallery once more (isn’t it lovely that it’s free? Let’s keep it that way), I passed through to the more modern rooms by accident more than by design. My habit at that gallery is usually to visit L’Ortolano, to gush over some Caravaggios, snigger at Marriage A-la-Mode by William Hogarth, and then mill around the more bonkers bits of medieval iconography before exiting as all good museum-goes do: through the gift shop. I have, for example, a positive allergy to entering the Flemish rooms.
However, the Degas and the Monets and the Seurats are gathered about not far from the main entrance/exit, and I was happily cataloguing paintings for my vast imaginary gallery of stolen art that I will have when I am a criminal mastermind, so I popped in and stumbled all the people looking at whichever version of Van Gogh’s bloody Sunflowers the National has got.
After a certain amount of thought I have in my head what it is about this painting which caught my eye. Pointilism is a strange and alienating technique which, to me at least, renders an image a lot like a grainy photograph of a memory. A sort of Instagram for an image which already exists only inside your mind, if you will. And something about the colours and the quality of like in this unassuming piece of French landscape as preserved by Seurat puts me very strongly in mind of “The Island” at St Ives (it is actually a promontory).
Sadly for anyone who is looking for analysis of this painting beyond my enjoyment of the colours and the bright summer coastal feeling it inevitably evokes, this means the rest of this entry will be not even an anecdote, but a smear of memories from a decade ago.
I am very fond of The Island, and when I was a teenager I was adamant that I was going to live on Teetotal Street, for reasons that time and, ironically, alcohol have hidden from me. One exceptionally fine summer’s day about ten or eleven years ago, my darling mother dumped me in St Ives for the day with some money for food so that she could go to a dance workshop somewhere and I wouldn’t annihilate the house with boredom remaining at home for yet another day.
It was one of the most delightful days I’ve ever spent in my own company. I had a library book (I Sing The Body Electric, relevant perhaps in light of the recent death of Ray Bradbury: it inspired me to write a short story about a man who was in love with the sea as if the sea was a person, and I believe I still have that somewhere), a sketchbook, and took a proper breakfast at a harbour cafe for over an hour. At that point in my life, the idea that I could just eat whatever I wanted and damn the cost, that I could sit in a cafe by myself and read and perhaps have a second drink if I felt like it, was new and exhilarating and, I dare say, it still is a little.
Over the course of my day I was assaulted by a seagull which nicked my Battenberg cake while I was reading on the habour wall (not so good), visited the Tate St Ives and was intrigued by the single-line drawings of an artist whose name I have since forgotten (else he’d be included too: Richard someone…), which led me to the cafe at the top of the gallery. Here I drank a pot of tea and attempted some line drawings of my own of the view from the window, which included a tiny, tiny church.
I made up my mind to visit the tiny, tiny church, and somewhere between the gallery and making my presence felt upon The Island, this turned into me scaling a semi-sheer cliff face in platform boots, a tattered black ballgown, and a corset while carrying a parasol and a bag with some books in. The sea was the same colour as this Seurat painting, the grass the same grass, and the sense of the world going on forever beyond the edge of the land was the same, too.
It’s not my belief that all works of art should trigger some personal connection in their audience: some should be meaninglessly beautiful, some should start riots, some should remind you of things, some should make you fall in love, some should make you want to destroy them. My feeling is mostly that good art results in a reaction of some sort. I never like to be indifferent to these things. And therefore, it’s reassuring that even an alien, quiet Pointilist painting of a rock outcropping on the coast can conjure up a whole happy, entirely personal and private memory. Not least because that was a day that I made pleasant, without needing anyone else at all. Similarly, the communion between artist and viewer, the art, is something that is experienced on a private level.
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Chevrolet Corvette and Baby Boomers, Getting Old Together
DETROIT (TheStreet) -- It's not just baby boomers who are getting old. The Chevrolet Corvette, a car for boomers, turned 60 on June 30.
On June 30, 1953, the first Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Mich. AsGM (GM) put it in a recent press release, Corvette was "the first of a new kind of Chevrolet." Indeed, it was a new kind of American car.
"While the postwar baby boom was in full swing, this was definitely not a family car," GM said. "This was a very personal vehicle, one that promised a driver and a passenger all of the thrills of the open road.
"Skeptics gave the car little chance of lasting beyond an initial run of a few dozen units," the automaker continued. "However, 60 years later the Chevrolet Corvette survives -- and thrives -- as an American automotive and cultural icon."
Happy Birthday, Corvette. Have you joined AARP yet?
What is so special about the Corvette? Its introduction marked the first time a U.S. automaker succeeded in putting the feel of a European sports car into a mass market vehicle in the world's biggest auto market. Corvette had just two seats, no roll-up windows and no exterior door handles. Instead of being stamped from steel, the body was molded from reinforced fiberglass.
The timing was propitious. Introducing an aspirational product in 1953 meant that baby boomers could grow up wanting one. And of course, as the generation that inherited the fruits of the post-war industrial boom in the U.S. -- perhaps the greatest industrial boom in the history of the world -- baby boomers grew up to be able to buy what they want. Today's Corvette starts at $49,600.
Thinking back, we recall that in 1953 Eisenhower took over as president, Carl Furillo hit .344 to lead the National League, the Brooklyn Dodgers lost the World Series, and our family car was a Pontiac. You will notice that all of these -- Eisenhower, Carl Furillo, the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pontiac --are gone now. But Corvette is still rolling along.
GM said its initial plan called for about 150 Corvettes, "primarily to help draw potential customers into Chevrolet dealerships scattered across the U.S.'s then-48 states.Since 1953, more than 1.5 million Corvettes have been built.
By the way, the 1967 Corvette was selected as the fourth most beautiful car of all time by Edmunds.com.
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1 Then a Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will b unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
2 The a is my b and song, and he is become my c: he is my God, and I will d; my father’s God, and I will e him.
3 The Lord is a man of a: the Lord is his b.
4 Pharaoh’s a and his host hath he b into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the c.
5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a a.
6 Thy a b, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as a.
8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the a were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an b, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, I will a, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my b shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who is a unto thee, O b, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in c, d, doing wonders?
12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.
13 Thou in thy mercy hast a forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.
14 The people shall a, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of b.
15 Then the a of b shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall c away.
16 a and b shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast c.
17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the a, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
18 The a shall reign for ever and ever.
19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
20 ¶And a the b, the c of Aaron, took a d in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.
21 And Miriam answered them, a ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of a; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
23 ¶And when they came to a, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
24 And the people a against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
25 And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the a were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he b them,
26 And said, If thou wilt a b to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and c all his statutes, I will put none of these d upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that e thee.
27 ¶And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and a palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
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Private lessons on violin, viola, cello, guitar or bass guitar for students of almost all ages and abilities, offered by the Fort Hays State University Western Kansas String Academy, will begin in late January. Half-hour lessons, taught by WKSA staff, are available in four-, six- or 10-session packages. Lessons will take place in Malloy Hall on the FHSU campus and are arranged at mutually convenient times for the student and the assigned instructor.
The academy is also currently enrolling for two different Saturday morning pre-school music classes this spring.
"Meet the Orchestra" is a fun-filled exploration for 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds of all the instrument families and players of a symphony orchestra. During the eight-week class, children are introduced to basic music concepts such as pitch, tempo, dynamics, rhythm, tone-color, musical styles and beginning music notation as they learn about the brass, string, wind and percussion families and their leader, the conductor. Age-appropriate discovery through games, singing, drumming, movement and listening will be featured.
"Movers and Shakers" is the Level 2 class following "Meet the Orchestra." It will feature more opportunities to sing, dance, explore instruments and listen to a wide variety of music from all cultures and eras. "Movers and Shakers" will focus on reading music rhythm and playing those rhythms on different instruments. The children will learn songs that will enhance their reading, playing and singing skills and will serve as a preparatory class to playing an instrument. The final class will include a short performance highlighting the eight weeks of fun for parents and grandparents to see.
For more information or registration materials, contact Cathy Drabkin at (785) 628-5363 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Due to scheduled maintenance at the State Data Center, azdhs.gov and associated services may be unavailable intermittently on Saturday, June 15th, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Healthy Aging Communication Network (HACN)
The Healthy Aging Communication Network (HACN) provides communication tools on vital information, educational and evidence-based programs as resources to key partners, health professionals, the public and policy-makers. HACN members can link to programs that support good health and reduce risk for disability for older adults. The HACN has three major focus areas:
The HACN will link various members of the aging network including: state and local health departments, the Arizona Department of Economic Security (Arizona's Unit on Aging), the local Area Agencies on Aging, academia and various health-related agencies to address issues related to the healthy aging of Arizonans.
Regularly scheduled meetings are held via the web as well as impromptu meetings called to address a particular need of a registered member of the HACN.
The HACN provides issue briefs, fast facts, data summaries, annotated bibliographies, materials for marketing programs and for influencing decision-makers, and much more. Materials are downloadable for use in the public domain.
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Today I want to tell you about my 4xgreat grandfather John Dawson. He is the earliest Dawson relation I have found in Cowling, West Yorkshire. For a long time I believed that John was a local chap although I hadn’t been able to find any clues as to his birth or his parents.
More recently I have discovered via other researchers that it is highly likely that John actually comes from Clitheroe in Lancashire. Now for someone who believed that his roots were firmly set in Yorkshire the idea that I might orginate from Lancashire has been hard to take. But it may well be an opportunity for a later post when I have looked at the information available for the Dawson’s of Clitheroe in the future.
But for now I want to concentrate on John’s life in Cowling.
According to the IGI John Dawson married Ann Watson on 3rd May 1792 in Kildwick, West Yorkshire. I have an IGI burial record for John dated 16th October 1832 at Kildwick Parish Church.
On the 1841 census I found Ann indexed under the name of Davson. The IGI shows her burial also at Kildwick Parish Church on 9th July 1846.
John and Ann had nine children – Priscilla (1793); John (1795); James (1797); Thomas (1799); Alice (c1802); Elizabeth (c1804); William (c1806); Watson (c1808) and John (c1812).
The first John born on 31st May 1795 died the following year in July 1796.
The village of Cowling has had a number of textile mills over the years and this could be the subject of a post all on it’s own. However I want to talk about Ickornshaw Mill which was built in 1791. There is a very interesting story about John Dawson in connection with this mill. The following extract is from a book called Cowling A Moorland Parish written by the Cowling Local History Society and published in 1980.
Ickornshaw Mill is the oldest mill still in use in Cowling, being built in 1791, on land bought by John Dehane of Kildwick from Hugh Smith, a yeoman farmer of Cowling who owned Upper Summer House Farm.
The mill was built in three months and a waterwheel was installed by Mr Dawson of Clitheroe who lodged at the public house in Ickornshaw. Here he fell in love with the barmaid whom he married, but as his family disinherited him, he stayed on in Cowling and acted as “engine tenter”, blacksmith and mill mechanic. His son and grandson followed in his footsteps tending the wheel for one hundred and ten years. The wheel was capable of 50-60 horse power, running 150-180 looms with the engine completely stopped. In 1910 the wheel was overhauled, after 119 years free of any major repairs, a fine testimony to the quality and craftmannship.
The mill whistle had to be blown at 5.30am to rouse the workers, and as the engine tenter thought this was an unearthly hour to get up, Mr Dawson having an inventive mind, built a contraption from old clocks, picking bands, a weaver’s beam, pieces of wire and a few loom weights which would perform the duty for him whilst he slumbered a little longer. He tried out his invention several times, but always being on hand in case it failed, and at last decided that there was no point in him having his “brainchild” working and being present himself. So, the following morning he decided to listen to his invention operating on its own. It started off at the correct time, but Mr Dawson quickly realised that it was not going to stop. However, it did bring the hands to work earlier that morning, anxious to see what all the noise was about. The contraption worked well for some considerable time, and was only terminated when Messrs. John Binns and Son took over the responsibility of rousing the neighbourhood with their own much louder whistle.
I really like this story and have a great fondness for John Dawson.
As mentioned in the extract above his son, John, took over from him. In the 1851 census this John Dawson’s occupation is shown as “mechanic”. In 1861 and 1871 he is described as “engine tenter”.
This John Dawson’s son…..also called John, took over from his father and continued to look after the wheel and the engine. I have found him on the 1871, 1881 and 1891 census records described as “engine tenter” – but so far I haven’t been able to find him in 1901. In 1881 and 1891 this John was living in Nelson and Barrowford respectively – about nine miles from Cowling – so he had a bit of journey in those days to get to the mill.
I am not the only Dawson to have found the story and the history really interesting. Here is a letter from Jas Dawson dated 3rd December 1937 published in the Craven Herald & Pioneer and reproduced here by Cowling Moonrakers. Jas seems to be the son of the last John Dawson to look after the wheel and engine. The letter was written shortly after the waterwheel had been dismanted and gives more history and information.
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Monday, October 10, 2011
Dehydrating Canned Fruit
One of the interesting new concepts that is fascinating to me is to dehydrate canned fruit; specifically canned pineapple.
I’m sure one of the first things that comes to mind when you first hear about this is the question, “Why?” I know that is what I asked when I first heard this idea.
There are several reasons why dehydrating canned pineapple or other fruits might be a good option:
First is the reason of rotation. If you have pineapple that you are not using up fast enough, you can always dehydrate some of you pineapple storage to make room for fresher pineapple. One pound of canned pineapple chunks will dry to about 2 – 3 oz of dried fruit.
Second is because of space concerns. Most of us only have a limited amount of storage space for canned goods, but still want the option of having fruit in our storage. Storing dried pineapple takes up little space and enables us to use the room for other things.
Third is because dried pineapple is an awesome snack and it is expensive and time consuming to dehydrate fresh pineapple, which can take many, many hours to dry, not to mention the time it takes to cut it up and prepare it for drying. The dried canned pineapple is very sweet and makes a delicious treat which is healthy and readily available. Remember, as the fruit dries the flavor intensifies and becomes even sweeter.
Drying canned pineapple is easy to do. The only stipulation really, is that you cut your pineapple in small enough pieces that they dry evenly and don’t take quite as long to dry as larger chunks. The ideal pineapple for drying is the tidbit size as opposed to the chunks. The chunks or slices can be easily cut into uniform chunks however, which will dry quicker and more thoroughly. When cutting pineapple for drying, remember that ¼” thickness is about right. Any less and your pieces will be too small, as it does shrink quite a bit.
Just drain the pineapple well. The juice can be used immediately for drinking or frozen for later use in cooking if you wish. If you have a temperature control on your dehydrator, dry at 135º. Spread the pineapple on your drying trays and dry for between 8 and 16 hours, or even longer depending on the size of your chunks, how juicy the pineapple pieces are, how many trays you are drying at one time and how thinly the pineapple is spread. It may be a good idea to try a can or two first so you can see how your dryer will work and how much time it will take. Watch your first batch carefully and dry only until the pieces are bendable and no juice remains.
I am so grateful that I found this idea because we love pineapple and, other than canned, have never stored any. I’m drying a couple of cases for our storage which I know will become a favorite snack. I understand that fruit cocktail and mandarin oranges also dry well. Has anyone tried these?
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Some Cues for Thinking and Action
Welcome to Our World!
At BIC Group our principals have collectively lived and learnt enough to hopefully be of some use to others. We are grateful to have the opportunity to do things that we want to do, and live for our vision of a world where global diversity, peace and sustainability are core agendas everywhere, and in Australia, for a nation that achieves Closing the Gap on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage, and an accepted measure of Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia, and comes to celebrate and respect the uniqueness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Here we would like to share some of the thinking behind our work and what gets us out of bed in the morning. We have outlined these in a dozen dot-points bookmarked either end by two Peter Senge quotes. We have trained under Peter, and are part of a community of practice with him, and needless to say we admire him and his work.
We have also outlined some references to other thinkers, some of whom we have also trained under or participate in communities of practice. These are also significant in terms of influence in shaping how we operate. In the final wash-up we believe that the ability to learn and to keep developing skills and ways of being is essential to making headway in a VUCA world.
‘the more we think of leadership in terms of Industrial Age thinking we think in ways that will actually make it less likely that the leadership actually needed will come forth’ Peter Senge
¬ Whether we like it or not we live in a *VUCA World
- ¬ The current helping system(s) fail and they fail badly because they are not geared to think and operate systemically, and are nowhere near agile or adaptive enough in the face of VUCA
- ¬ There is a certain fatalism that deep-seated problems can’t be fixed in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and this permeates a significant potion of our community sector as well as across the helping systems themselves
- ¬ Culture eats strategy for breakfast-even the very best strategies get swallowed up by non-aligned cultures-in a VUCA world our ability as culture hacks and building teams and tribes for change is critical
- ¬ The world is growing rapidly (9 billion on the planet by 2060) yet shrinking at the same time (social media, travel)-this has big implications for everyone and everything
- ¬ The ability to collaborate and make and meet commitments across cultural, functional and geographic divides is critical to all of our futures-a subset of that says ‘cross-cultural competence’ is a survival skill for a VUCA world
- ¬ To achieve Closing the Gap and/or Reconciliation in Australia is a significant adaptive challenge for this nation as a whole, and there’s little indication that we’re (i.e. the nation) collectively up for it at the moment
- ¬ Global diversity and sustainability are key agendas that should be embraced by Indigenous Australia as a relevant bigger context to position ourselves to leverage off our cultural strengths
- ¬ The conversations we don’t have are as revealing as the ones we do have-it is true to say that the sum total of our conversations produce either results or waste: conversational skills are critically important to getting results, and we need to cultivate our conversational and language skills so that we can consciously have more of the right type of conversations with the more of the right type of people
- ¬ We should remember that all conversations have a mood attached: the wrong moods close us to possibility, or from being open to building the capacity to shape our own futures-for the sake of getting ahead and surviving in a VUCA world we ought be aware of our own and others’ moods (even in the moment as it were), and develop skills to shift them when required (this is part of possibility)
- ¬ We see leadership as ‘the capacity of communities and groups of people to shape their own futures’-this is different from seeing leaders as a position, or having personal attributes or positional status that accrue to an individual (like a ‘boss’), what we currently do or don’t do today to foster, grow and nurture that capacity will impact us tomorrow
- ¬ Growing pressures on government revenues in a VUCA world will work their way through the system to impact severely upon those who rely too heavily upon public funding: there are no guarantees-nothing lasts forever, and these things can change overnight
*VUCA: volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous
‘where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together…’ Peter Senge
10 of the Best-Key influences on our thinking and practice: not exhaustive but some key ones.
Daniel Mezick, The Culture Game, 2012
Dave Logan, John King, Haylee Fischer-Wright, Tribal Leadership, 2008
Lyssa Adkins, Coaching Agile Teams, 2010
Diana Larsen, Esther Derby, Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great, 2006
Peter Senge et al, The Necessary Revolution, 2008
Dave Logan & Steve Zaffron, The Three Laws of Performance, 2009
Lisa Laskow Lahey & Robert Kegan, How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work, 2003
Arvind Subramanian, Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China’s Economic Dominance, 2011
Lawrence Miller, Lean Culture, 2012
Ronald Heifetz & Marvin Linsky, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, 2009 (e-Book edition)
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I was chatting with a woman at a networking event a couple months ago. She confided in me that it was the first time she had attended one of these types of events. It was apparent that she was not in her comfort zone and although I was quite preoccupied with greeting other people, I tried to keep an eye on her. Every so often, I made a point to check in with her and engage her in conversation.
A week ago, I ran into her again. This time, I had the ability to spend some quality time with her and really have a true conversation. As we got to know each other better, she confessed that this networking event was going a lot better than the first one. Because I had watched her out of the corner of my eye at the previous event, I knew exactly what she meant. And then she said, "I have been watching you. You are so confident talking to people. It's just so easy for you. I'm just nothing like that and this is really hard for me."
I shared with her that a person is rarely born with networking skills. Like everything else in life, you perfect the skill with practice. If you haven't had many experiences walking alone into a party or event, it can be overwhelming and even daunting. If you've spent the last 20 minutes in the car on the way to the event convincing yourself how you don't want to go, it will be that much harder. In lieu of this, let me offer a few tips to make socializing a bit easier.
Turn off your brain and just take action. When you walk into a packed room, you can easily be overwhelmed by the experience. The key is to take action and move without thinking about it too much. Don't analyze the experience or the individuals present. Just force your body to move, walk up to someone and introduce yourself. Whatever you do, don't grab a chair and sit down. I know that feels safe, but it immediately will put you at a disadvantage. It will also give you the opportunity to overthink what is going on and feel worse about the situation.
Realize that the best networkers are great listeners. If you are good at listening, you have already made it to first base in networking. You would be surprised how people truly enjoy talking about their selves. My suggestion is that you have a list in your head of the questions you might ask. For example, where do they work, have they been to this event before, etc. Also, when you become a little more comfortable, you might point out something about the person that you admire. For example, maybe they are wearing a beautiful scarf or great looking earrings. Conversation often flows from there. You can ask deeper questions with the answers you receive.
Greet everyone with a smile. We receive the bulk of our message from nonverbal communication. Therefore, your smile, your body, your hand gestures, relays the majority of the message to your receiver. Remember to approach people with a nonverbal message that communicates, "I am very interested in meeting you and want to be here today." Your message shouldn't say, "I am dreading every single minute of this and can't wait to get out and I am absolutely not interested in learning anything about you." Don't laugh; I remember meeting a woman that conveyed this very message to me.
I didn't take it personally because she treated every person at the lunch the exact same way.
Treat everyone that you meet in life with the same level of interest. I just discussed this with a new friend I met networking. Nothing burns us more than when we meet someone who's warmth and friendliness is in direct relation to whether we can further their career. Apparently, it's all about what's in it for them. Be friendly and kind with everyone. Period.
If the suggestions here seem too difficult, you might have to further develop your acting skills. Eventually, with enough practice, this whole thing called networking will become more natural.
Shari is a Women's Life Coach, Mental Health Therapist, Keynote Speaker and Author of 31 Days to Finding Your Inner Sass. She can be reached at email@example.com Learn more about Shari at www.sharigoldsmith.com
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SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. -- New federal flood maps approved Thursday that will govern rebuilding in the state following superstorm Sandy leaves many residents with a tough choice: Go higher now or pay more later.
The new guidelines will force homeowners in flood zones to spend tens of thousands of dollars to raise their houses now or pay exorbitant premiums of up to $31,000 a year for flood insurance later.
"This rule protects the public and our residents by ensuring that the Jersey Shore and our coastal communities will be reconstructed smarter and more resilient," Gov. Chris Christie said in announcing the maps, which were recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to municipalities last month.
Some local officials have voiced concerns about the maps, including their accuracy.
The governor said he did not want to wait for FEMA to adopt new maps within the next two years and leave property owners unsure about what rebuilding standards to follow.
He cited the example of a property in an "A" flood zone that is now in a "V zone" (where breaking waves are possible) under the new maps. The owner will eventually face flood insurance premiums of up to $31,000 a year if he does not elevate a home. But the owner would pay $7,000 a year if he rebuilds to the now-recommended elevation or $3,500 a year if he rebuilds 2 feet higher than that.
"Folks have to make decisions, and some of them are hard decisions," Christie said.
The governor's announcement came nearly three months after Sandy came ashore south of Atlantic City on Oct. 29, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. The megastorm killed 40 people in New Jersey and spawned record coastal flooding. It damaged or destroyed more than 122,000 homes and other structures in New Jersey. The state is seeking billions of dollars from the federal government for rebuilding.
Christie stressed that the guidelines don't force anyone to raise their homes. But he laid out a stark choice: do the elevations called for under the FEMA maps or pay through the nose for flood insurance each year.
"If you choose not to, you'll have substantially higher flood insurance costs, which could be ... seven or eight times what you pay now," he said at a news conference in Seaside Heights.. "There's going to have to be some hard decisions made. But for the shore as a whole, I think that's the right decision to make."
The FEMA maps show that water levels could rise 1 to 5 feet higher than expected in most flood zone areas under previous maps, a FEMA official has said.
The New Jersey Association for Floodplain Management, a nonprofit group of flood experts, has urged municipalities to adopt the new maps.
Towns should consider adding 2 feet of "freeboard" (leading to buildings that are 2 feet higher) above the ABFE elevations, according to the group. The costs are usually 0.25 percent to 1.5 percent for each additional foot of height, according to the group.
John A. Miller, the group's legislative committee chairman, said the group "backs the Governor's decision today, especially in light of the repetitive major flooding that New Jersey has been experiencing in the last eight years."
The group agrees with Christie that using the maps "will save (people) a great deal in flood insurance premiums; and that most importantly, the Governor's actions will save lives and ensure less damage in future storms," Miller said in an email, noting that he had not read the emergency rule.
But Toms River Business Administrator Paul J. Shives said this week the maps have "serious errors."
The maps are a "problem for Toms River and we've made that known, reached out to FEMA and also to the Governor's Office," Shives said. "It really challenges residents at a point in time they don't need it."
Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club's New Jersey Chapter, said Christie's emergency rules didn't go far enough.
"Flood elevations are going up, not down," said Tittel, who also raised concerns about streamlined permitting and the need to protect against sea-level rise.
Christie said he thinks this is "what we need to do to build a 21st Century Jersey Shore. We don't want to go through this again."
He also thinks there are very few places at the Jersey Shore that couldn't be rebuilt, if appropriate standards are used and dune systems with appropriate protections are built.
"We're trying to keep the Shore affordable" for everyone, he said.
According to FEMA, Sandy and sea-level rise were not included in the analysis that led to the ABFE maps, but the maps take into account storms similar to Sandy.
FEMA is working on new flood insurance rate maps, and the preliminary versions will come out around August, according to Chris McKniff, a FEMA spokesman.
That will kick off a regulatory process that can last a year to 18 months, according to McKniff. Comments will be accepted, appeals heard and the maps governing flood insurance rates will be adopted around mid-to-late 2014.
"The higher you build, the less your insurance premiums will be going down the road. So we do encourage people to build higher," McKniff.
According to Christie's statement, the Advisory Base Flood Elevations could change or become lower.
(Contributing: The Associated Press, Gannett Washington Bureau and Asbury Park Press archives)
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: N.J. Sandy rebuilding rules: Go higher or pay more
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Coro Strandberg of Strandberg Consulting is well-known and well-respected throughout Canada as a thought leader in sustainable business practices. One of Coro's more widely disseminated publications is her 2009 report developed for Industry Canada about the Role of HR Management in CSR [PDF]. The report came with a 10-point checklist and served as a how-to guide for HR professionals to use to create a comprehensive sustainability program; it covers everything from integrating CSR and sustainability into recruitment practices to measurement and reporting.
A Revised Checklist for 2011
I recently had the privilege of sitting down with Coro and asking her if, three years later, there are any elements she would add to the report or areas within it that today require a greater emphasis to bring it even more up-to-date.
CSR is a continually evolving field. More and more companies are seeking to embed their CSR in how they do business on a day-to-day basis. This leads to new opportunities for HR managers to play a leadership role in their organizations.
Were Coro creating this checklist today, she would put further emphasis on the role of sustainability in competency models. Competency models are currently a very hot topic within HR (see my previous article on the topic here), and businesses currently rethinking them have an excellent opportunity to add a sustainability element into their general framework.
Competencies are a key talent management tool as they shape the behavioral expectations that drive performance amongst organizational leaders. Coro says, "The opportunity is to ensure that the company competencies include behavioral expectations that address "sustainability" capacity, such as holistic and long-term thinking, change leadership, and collaboration and influencing."
Codes of Conduct
An area that requires even far more attention nowadays is the importance of employee codes of conduct. While most any business maintains a code of conduct, there is still wide spectrum as to how they are written; while many codes of conduct have become more values-based, others remain simply legalistic.
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Disk Imaging for Unix (Linux) Systems
I am new to imaging (or cloning) of Unix Disks.
I just wanted to know which Imaging Software is best to use in terms of easiness, reliability and some support (HowTOs, Forums, etc) .
I googled out and found these :-
Based on your valuable suggestions, I will learn any of these on my test servers. And then, I will suggest it to be used in my organization.
Depends on your needs. You can always dd your partition/disk and pipe it through tar and a compressor, if all you need is to archive it onto another medium for off-site storage/retrieval. rsync is another (more?) popular option, allowing incremental backups and some networking capability.
Those are probably the easiest and most well-documented options, but there are plenty of other options, mostly adding more features, such as integrated networking options (vpn and so on), "easy to use" GUIs, and various verification, duplication, and encryption schemes, and possibly boot/restoration capabilities.
Almost all of which can be done via command line, if you google a bit and don't mind reading a little. So it might be better not to think in terms of "best", but more in terms of what's most comfortable for you to use...as the underlying actions are all pretty much the same, from a command-line perspective.
Oh, and perhaps I'm wrong, but gparted is more a partitioning program, not so much a backup solution for regular use. Also, it's important to keep in mind that there have been A LOT of disk imaging solutions for Linux, but most barely last a few years before they become unmaintained, so you're going to want something with a robust history and a strong community.
I can tell you from my experience that I have used Clonezilla extensively with various linux distros, as well as with various editions of Windows workstations, and it has always worked like a charm. That being said, it is text-based, but you will be guided through the process linearly, question by question, so if you don't mind reading the few questions asked carefully, i.e. what is your source drive, what is your target drive and such, it is a solid solution. I have used it to backup and restore to disks of equal size, as well as restore backed up disk images do larger drives (and adjust the partitions with gparted or similar later on). The only thing you cannot do is restore a disk image to the drive smaller than the original drive.
Apart from these one man band operations, it also allows you to setup a central server in your LAN which will hold the images for all your workstations (space providing), from which you can then restore, to which you can backup, and so on. It has some options which are even more advance, and a website which is rather friendly and useful, so you might take a look there.
Thanks Predrag, I am trying out Clonezilla.
It needs DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot in Linux) to be configured but RHEL 5.4 is NOT supported by DRBL :(
Which distro were you using ? Any other idea ?
I used it with Ubuntu.
That is weird though, because the website states:
DRBL provides a diskless or systemless environment for client machines. It works on Debian, Ubuntu, Mandriva, Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS and SuSE. DRBL uses distributed hardware resources and makes it possible for clients to fully access local hardware
Perhaps if you contacted them directly?
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Android Tablets an Effective IT Solution
When business managers think of IT consulting, what comes to mind is most likely IT solutions that make use of laptops, desktops, and servers; in other words, traditional computers. While this type of IT solution is still the dominant form, it is by no means the only one. In today's mobile world, computing devices are smaller than ever before and frequently go by other names. The Android smart phone is an example of such a device.
IT consulting firms can help businesses understand how Android remote control applications can become a key part of the IT department's work. Using these apps, IT managers will be able to scan for ports, allow remote access to systems, and perform analyses of the network itself. In short, IT support personnel will find it easier than ever before to do their work even when on the road or working remotely.
Android tablets can also be a key player in such a strategy. By combining the use of tablets with effective cloud solutions, IT support staff can have instant access to the tools essential to their job functions, thereby enhancing their output. One of the most effective ways of implementing the use of Android tablets and similar technology, is by leveraging external IT consultants, such as iCorps Technologies, who have expertise in these areas.
Outsourcing IT staff will not only help to ensure that all systems are up and running correctly, but that the systems are working to enhance your company's productivity and bottom line.
Written by the IT technical staff at iCorps Technologies.
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Published in Cancer Weekly, June 27th, 2000
These initial trials were conducted at a major public hospital in Sydney, Australia, to provide data on blood level changes over time, and the tolerability of the drug in humans.
NV-06 was delivered as a single intravenous injection to a small number of cancer patients. Dr. Graham Kelly, Novogen, said the initial results are encouraging. "NV-06 behaved in the human blood stream just as predicted from pre-clinical studies," said Kelly. "The result marks an important milestone in...
Want to see the full article?
Welcome to NewsRx!
Learn more about a six-week, no-risk free trial of Cancer Weekly
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We live in era where cheaters, bullies and less-than-admirable characters — Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, etc. — too often dominate the sports headlines. The more outrageous, the better the ratings, the higher the contract. It wasn’t always so.
Baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial was put to rest last weekend, gone at age 92. Though many may have forgotten him, the greatest St. Louis Cardinal ever remains among the first few names in many a statistical category. It wasn’t just the numbers. He was a class act.
Forget for a second the unique, corkscrew batting stance; the seven batting titles; the three Most Valuable Player awards; the five home runs in one day’s double-header; the number of hits ranking him behind only Pete Rose, Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron; the record 24 All-Star Game appearances. This page chooses to remember the quiet and quite-uncommon-for-the-time leadership and fundamental decency displayed when he was the only white player to approach the black players in an All-Star Game locker room where they were playing cards and say, “Deal me in.” The guy who despite the pressure to do so would not go on strike in protest of Jackie Robinson’s breaking of baseball’s color barrier. The superstar never too big for his britches to memorize the name of a rookie, just called up. The one-of-a-kind who rarely struck out and was never ejected from a game.
Americans should remember the worker who with professionalism and dignity went about his business day after day, achieving a nearly unrivaled consistency — 1,815 hits at home, 1,815 hits on the road — and excellence. The businessman who had a successful second act — as a restaurateur — when his playing days were over. The down-to-earth fellow who greeted the statues — yes, plural — erected in his honor with almost embarrassed modesty. The family man who never left St. Louis and never sought the attention that ultimately came to him anyway, with decades passing before some of the above anecdotes became public knowledge.
When Musial received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2011, President Obama described him as “an icon untarnished, a beloved pillar of the community, a gentleman you’d want your kids to emulate.” Sadly rare praise, that.
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Fair enough. Where have you gone, Stan the Man?
Journal Star of Peoria, Ill.
Devils Lake Journal - Devils Lake, ND
Posted Jan. 29, 2013 @ 2:55 pm
» EVENTS CALENDAR
Connect with Devils Lake Journal - Devils Lake, ND
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We’ve all heard about the dangers of data loss, the importance of data backup and, in particular, ensuring that your key small business data is adequately protected. This is why most small and mid-sized businesses, and even SOHOs these days, make use of NAS appliances with at least RAID 1 configured for data mirroring protection.
While the most critical data is typically adequately protected, associated information such as source code, business documents and yes, even email messages are very often left out of regular backups due to cost considerations. In addition, proper backup procedures mandate that a separate copy of all pertinent data should be made, and preferably stored at a different location -- stringent requirements that may not be adhered to in the first place.
Today, we take a look at three types of problems that can arise in the absence of proper data backups and disaster recovery planning.
The disgruntled IT worker is hardly a new phenomenon. Indeed, the past year alone has seen some prominent cases where former employees took it upon themselves to erase entire banks of virtualized servers, or even wipe out all the corporate mailboxes in the company. Clearly, the use of a NAS (or SAN) would have offered no defense against such shenanigans by insiders. Only a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy where everything is backed up on a regular basis may have a chance of returning things to normalcy within an acceptable period of time.
Damage to Storage Medium
Many workers make the erroneous assumption that storing data on a portable hard disk drive (HDD) or USB flash drive constitutes a backup. This is certainly not the case, and such portable devices are in fact more susceptible to being misplaced, stolen, or damaged. In addition, it is important to remember that not all storage devices are designed for longevity in mind, or even for robust data preservation.
Do note that some mediums are particularly prone to damage, such as rewritable optical discs made with inferior dyes. Also, don’t be surprised if that suspiciously cheap USB flash drive you bought at the flea market abruptly stops working after a year or two.
I had an experience with this exact scenario just this weekend. When transferring thousands of email messages between two email servers, I carelessly opted to initiate the transfer moving key folders directly between the two locations. It was a bad decision because not all the data made it to the destination server before Outlook decided to call it quits (by crashing), even though the deletion from the origin took place immediately.
The loss of these emails was distressing because while I don’t make money from writing emails, they play an enormously important role by helping me connect with my editors, PR folks, and various expert sources. Thankfully, some tips from an Exchange expert allowed me to restore the more than 35,000 emails.
So what is my point here? Accidents can happen to anyone, even a seasoned computer user. The only real remedy would be to have separate copies of your data handy when mistakes happen.
Have you ever experienced losing important data? Feel free to share in the comments section below.
Paul Mah covers technology for SMBs for Small Business Computing and for IT Business Edge. He also shares his passion for and knowledge of everything from networking to operating systems as an instructor at Republic Polytechnic in Singapore, and is a contributor to a number of tech sites, including Ars Technica and TechRepublic.
|Do you have a comment or question about this article or other small business topics in general? Speak out in the SmallBusinessComputing.com Forums. Join the discussion today!|
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Posted by admin | Posted in Cell Phones & Plans | Posted on 25-05-2011
Another day, another hack attack against Sony.
More than 2000 users of Sony Ericsson’s Canadian Website are impacted by the latest hack attack to hit a battle worn Sony. According to Sony hackers made off with e-mail addresses, passwords and phone numbers–but no credit card details. Sony has now shut down the affected site.
Around 1000 of the stolen records from the Sony Canadian Website are already online, posted by Idahc, a “Lebanese grey-hat hacker”. Sony Ericsson is joint mobile phone venture between Sony and Ericsson.
“Sony Ericsson’s Website in Canada, which advertises its products, has been hacked, affecting 2000 people,” a Sony spokesperson told AFP. “Their personal information was posted on a Website called The Hacker News. The information includes registered names, email addresses and encrypted passwords. But it does not include credit card information.”
“Sony Ericsson has disabled this e-commerce Website,” Sony detailed to IDG News. “We can confirm that this is a standalone website and it is not connected to Sony Ericsson servers.” For security, Sony has shut down the Canadian Sony Ericsson eShop page, which currently reads: “D’oh! The page you’re looking for has gone walkabout. Sorry.”
The news of the Canadian site attack comes just one day after Sony admitted hackers attacked on Tuesday the Sony BMG Greece website, where details of over 8,500 people were stolen. A Sony Music Entertainment page in Indonesia was also hacked at the weekend, but Sony believes not information was stolen.
More than 100 million account details were stolen from Sony last month in a cyber attack of the PlayStation Network, which has returned to normal operation in the U.S. and Europe, but not in Asia (after more than a month of downtime).
Sony doesn’t know yet whether the recent incidents have any link to the attacks on the PlayStation network. Sony hopes to fully restore the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services by the end of May, but the massive data breach is expected to cost the company at least $ 170 million.
Follow Daniel Ionescu and Today @ PCWorld on Twitter
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Petition calls for U.S. Government to build the Death Star
Sure, we are just weeks away from the fiscal cliff here in America, but there are far more pressing issues that the government must deal with before we solve our tax problems and debt burden -- like the construction of a Death Star which has amassed 4,000 signatures (and growing) on the White House's official petition website "We the People".
It may not sound like a lot when you consider the entire population of the United States, but it sure is 4,000 more than I expected. I suppose if we ever want the rest of the galaxy to ever take Earth seriously we need a mobile death star. How else can we take what isn't ours?
So what exactly does the petition call for?
"Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016," the statement reads.
"By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense."
It sounds to me that this is just a ploy to help create jobs which isn't too bad of a deal, but just how do we expect the U.S. government to secure the necessary resources and funding? They can't even manage to agree on a balanced budget, so I highly doubt they'll have the brains to build a Death Star.
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I could barely contain my surprise when my brother asked me a few months ago which compost bin he should buy from Gaiam. We’re talking about a guy who arguably has the cleanest fingernails on the planet (he’s a heart surgeon) and who has absolutely no tree-hugging tendencies. His SUV gets 13 miles to the gallon. He doesn’t have a single compact fluorescent light bulb in his entire house. He occasionally bikes to work, but mostly to avoid becoming like one of his patients. But his 13-year-old son came home from Boy Scouts one day and said, “Dad, we have to start composting.”
My very earnest nephew was standing there with us that day, looking down(!) at me and brimming with newly absorbed knowledge about how to transform veggie scraps and yard trimmings into fertilizer, and how it would shrink the carbon footprint of my brother’s household in the process. “Sixty percent of our garbage is compostable organic matter,” he informed us. Who can say no when their kid is asking them to be more environmentally responsible?
Composting, some experts say, should be right up there with buying CFLs and using a programmable thermostat on the top-ways-to-save-the-planet list. Yet, despite the knowledge I’ve gained from working here at Gaiam, I had to admit to my bro that I needed to get with the program myself.
But I’ve never thought of myself as the composting type
Honestly, composting has always seemed a little too hippie-chick for me. I work in an office! I wear peep-toes! My nails look even better than my brother’s!
But I knew I had to get over myself. Not just to walk the Gaiam talk so I can maintain eye contact with coworkers who compare their composting conquests while munching veggie burgers at the zero-waste Gaiam cafe beneath 100kW worth of solar panels. And not just because it did sound smarter than stuffing potato peels down my disposal even though they invariably give the motor a seizure. But because I couldn’t let my brother, poster child of the eco-unconscious, beat me to the punch.
And what do you know? It’s really quite a thrill to present the composting gods with your humble offerings of peels, cores, leftovers and leavings, and watch them be transformed by said gods (okay, microbes) into rich, black, fertile, beautiful soil-like stuff. “Oh-woa-woa, it’s magic!” And my Spinning Composter looks so sleek out there in the backyard that our next-door neighbor asked me where I got that cool enclosed hose reel.
So guess what, girlfriend?
This is your composting wake-up call!
All the kids are doing it, and so are a lot of white-collar types, work-at-home moms and all manner of folks in between. Give it a spin, even if you’re a diva who only comes here for the yoga mats.
Start after dinner tonight; just save those scraps from being scrapped. Use a compost crock or an indoor composter so you won’t have to trek out to the outdoor compost bin after every meal. Get answers to your burning questions about composting in Gaiam’s A to Z Compost Guide and try these 5 Tricks that Make Composting Easy as Pie, including my favorite discovery about composting, which is this:
Don’t stress! You really can’t do it wrong. Mother Nature will help you out on this one sooner or later, even if you lift a finger only occasionally.
After all, it’s not heart surgery.
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Spiritual Qualities of StrugglePosted: January 16, 2012
The ruling class has material power to structure society in its own selfish interests. Their material power over us comes in many forms, one being the cultural hegemony they have over our minds that they execute in our bourgeois public education system, where they teach us to celebrate the ‘brilliance’ of our slave-owning, bourgeois fore fathers who founded ‘democracy’. We are taught that this is the best and only system. There is no exploration of our ancestors and what other societies looked like before Europeans begin to colonize the world and give birth to the global capitalism that rules our world today. That knowledge is there, but it is knowledge that we must seek out and share, and we can! We must reclaim our minds and spirit to nurture visions and dreams of a different way of living. Different, but familiar; a way closer to our origins on this earth before capital and all its destruction and exploitation existed. We must carry these visions in practice challenging our material chains. We will no longer participate in this domination that alienates us from each other and ourselves. That alienates us from the earth and the abundance of nature. Understanding and valuing our own spirit and our collective spirit, and fighting for it in practice are what will change the world. Our spirit is material. It is our beating heart; our restless mind; it is our love frequencies interacting with each other and the environment. It is the inspiration to fight back against a foreign system birthed from spells of greed and hate. We can no longer live in a society structured along such values, and the only solution is to fundamentally restructure society so that we are living and working for the survival of each other, and the planet, and striving for love and balance with all things living. People’s labor would contribute to the reproduction of these values within our communities through the way society is organized. Everyone would have a position within the division of labor, but labor would not be grounded in an exploitative power dynamic, which is what exists under capital. People would not be paid in wages, but with an equal share of resources for their survival. Everyone would collectively contribute to the reproduction of society through their skills and talents. This vision will only manifest through a serious worldwide revolutionary overthrow of the global capitalist system, whose very structures are responsible for all suffering, harm, exploitation and oppression that has been happening in this world for centuries.
When looking for the solutions to a problem it is important to be scientific, and find the root of a problem so that you may get rid of it and the problem will cease. For an example, when you have a tree that is rotting from the root, but you only see the problem from the surface, because the bark looks off. You can continue to cut away the infected parts that show in the bark, but it only changes the appearance of the rotting tree; it doesn’t stop the rotting that is happening at the roots. In order to fix the problem you must go deep into the earth and pull out the roots and the tree in its totality, before it infects the soil and other plant life. You lose the one rotting tree so that you may continue to reproduce the soil and have more healthy trees and plants for the future. This is the approach that we must take with capitalism. There are no solutions to the crisis of capital except to go deep and take out the problem, which is capital itself. Capital is not only responsible for creating a harmful exploitative economic system, but its very structures also impact the social relations between people, and the unhealthy ways we interact with each other.
In chapter 23 on simple reproduction in Karl Marx’s Capital Volume I, in a very logical manner he reveals how the economic system is also a sociological system that influences the social relationships within society. Economics and people are clearly interwoven, which is why we must look at the politics of the economic system we live under. Our political system is a bourgeois government that has been put in place to protect the interests of capital and capitalists. This is why our government will continually support legislation that bails out and/or protects banks and corporations over the people and the earth. We must stop being surprised by this and pushing recall elections and other solutions that lie within the preservation of the current system, because the current system is opposed to us at its roots. We must develop our own revolutionary politics through our shared experience as proletarians (employed and unemployed) to fight back and build a new world. Marx inspired us through his dialectic to fight for these dreams in struggle. Through his very important analysis of capital he gave us clarity on the inner workings of the system, and how exploitative relationships are at the heart of it. He writes,
“In reality, the worker belongs to capital before he has sold himself to the capitalist. His economic bondage is at once mediated through and concealed by, the periodic renewal of the act by which he sells himself; his change of masters and the oscillations in the market price [wages] of his labor.
The capitalist process of production, therefore, seen as a total, connected process, i.e. a process of reproduction, produces not only commodities, not only surplus value [profit], but it also produces and reproduces the capital-relation itself; on the one hand the capitalist, on the other the wage-labourer.” (brackets added by me)
It is difficult to see capital as one connected system, because it divides us all from each other through a hierarchical division of labor that reproduces racial, gender, age, and countless other privileges and oppressions. We are spatially alienated from each other in different schools, workplaces, jails and detention centers. Marx examined every aspect of the system in order to reconnect it as a totality for the working-class to study and understand so that they may fight back stronger with knowledge of their position in the world, and their historic task to transform that position. This is the dialectic. The subject’s relationship to the object, aka a person’s interaction with their objective conditions. Understanding the development of the working-class and ruling class historically, and how capital has been able to enslave the vast majority of the people on this planet in order to reproduce itself is key to understanding how to destroy such a harmful system.
In order to be successful in this task we must come together as a fighting class demonstrating our shared experience through struggle. We must constantly strive to transcend the divisions that the system places on us materially and internally so that we may see ourselves as a collective against the system consciously and practically through revolutionary struggle. We come together once we begin to see our commonalities and shared human experiences. We reject the divisions placed on us by the system, and begin to live for each other. This can be a very spiritual thing, because it is a recognition of our common experience and shared spirituality; an understanding of the life energy that flows through us all. We can come together in order to use this energy in harmony with each other, and not in antagonisms. There are beautiful souls out there already committed to living differently through their spiritual practices, which they may share with others through group meditation, workshops, various retreats and countless other spiritual community resources. Often I find these communities to be more grounded in individual self-care work in community settings. This work is important, because we must heal and take care of ourselves, and self-care comes in many forms depending on the individual. However, this work can become counterproductive when it remains solely in the realm of your personal life; it fails to become revolutionary. We must heal and take care of ourselves so that we may be able to build and sustain a healthy revolutionary movement. Therefore, a real liberating spiritual movement is one connected to a holistic class struggle that inspires and develops people’s consciousness and spirit collectively.
Just as we must be intentional about connecting spiritual movements and communities to revolutionary struggles waged by the workers of the world, we also must be mindful of developing our spiritual practices within our practical work. That involves allowing space for that culture to develop within our movements so that we are simultaneously healing and fighting and healing. We must relate to each other differently and reject the selfish principles of bourgeois individualism. I am a communist and a revolutionary, and that means that I am against capitalism, but I don’t solely express my politics through negation of the current system. I also want to affirm what I am for, which is a communal system based on principles of love and collectivity.
Organizations that are dedicated to this revolutionary project of building a new world should demonstrate that vision within the structures of their organization. It is important to not neglect matters of the mind and heart, because that is what our oppressors do, and that is one way that they keep us mentally and spiritually weak. And when our spirit is weak it can be harder to become inspired to fight back. We want to wage militant powerful struggles that can tear down the walls of capital. We can have this militancy and discipline without reproducing hierarchical social relations within our organizations and movements. Unfortunately we all live under the same system that reproduces domination within our relationships that we internalize and project onto each other. We must relate to each other differently and love and support each other so that we can sustain ourselves through the ebbs and flows of struggle. To commit your life to building struggle takes serious work outside of the work you are already forced into as a proletarian to survive. This is why we must come together with our communist hearts to support each other. Finding the balance between collective spiritual healing and reproductive work and political organizing is key to building a healthy holistic communist revolutionary struggle and world.
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Mary Katherine Murphy
The Autism Society of North Carolina will host its seventh annual Autism Summer Enhancement Program in July at North Laurinburg Elementary School.
Essie Davis, a parent advocate with the autism society, founded the program as a one-week affair in 2006 to provide continuity for children with autism spectrum disorder.
“With the break during the summer, sometimes they forget what they’ve learned during the school year,” said Velveta Dupree, a pre-kindergarten teacher at North Laurinburg who will assist in instructing the program this year.
This year’s Autism Summer Enhancement Program will span three weeks, from July 9-26, with classes meeting from 8 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. daily to model students’ school schedules.
Students will be grouped by age into three classes, each led by a teacher and a teaching assistant. In addition to Dupree, retired teacher Ann Gardner, I. Ellis Johnson pre-kindergarten teacher Chantress McNeill, I.E. Johnson kindergarten teacher Chaka Davis, North Laurinburg autistic students’ teacher Lorie Locklear, and Spring Hill Middle School autistic students’ teacher Nicole Pegues, will provide instruction.
“That’s what makes this program so different and special - our teachers are certified and trained in the field of autism,” Davis said.
The program will enroll some 20 students, aged from 5-20. Classes will include arts, crafts, and academic and computer skills as well as field trips. Past programs have taken field trips to the Parks and Recreation splash pad and other local activities.
Although all students can benefit from summer enrichment to help retain knowledge attained during the school year, autistic children particularly enjoy the restoration of a daily routine and social interaction.
“All of them have trouble socially and with communication - it’s good for them to get together with their friends that they know during the summer,” said Locklear.
“It helps with structure, too, in their lives - they really need structure and routine,” Gardner added.
The program is free.
For information, to enroll a child, or to sponsor a field trip or supplies, contact Davis at the autism society’s Laurinburg office at 277-2887.
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An article in today’s New York Times describes what could be a “new convergence” of media- internet and television. The article was a bit dense and industry-focused, and I’m not sure if I understand it completely myself, but I’ll do my best to sum it up for you here. (Here’s the link, click it while it’s still free.)
Premise: Google acquires dMarc broadcasting for $1.24 billion.
DMarc uses software to help place ads on radio, and it could conceivably do the same for Google’s armada of Web ads. The deal, along with other experiments by Google to reproduce its advertisers’ notices in newspapers and other print outlets, suggests that Convergence 2.0 is moving in interesting and previously undeveloped directions.
So for starters, the article isn’t really about convergence so much as placing advertisements. Yet, we go on to discover that by using customer’s bills/mailing addresses along with IP addresses, online content providers may start doing something interesting soon: they may begin to provide regional programming online, i.e. content that is specific to a global region that can only be accessed from a computer within that region.
What good is this? Ads, of course! Now the local pizza place can put an ad up on cable TV as easily as putting an ad on Google, or the yellow pages. A point of confusion here: do they mean as long as the viewers are going online for their cable TV? Does this assume readily available internet-based broadcasting?
Possibly it refers to online TV purchases such as the kind available on iTunes and other stores? One affiliate makes a bold claim, that he wishes to sell episodes of CBS shows on the affiliate website. Miss an episode of CSI? Go to WRAL.com and pick it up for $1.99 while you check up on local news.
“The next thing that we’re all buzzing about is this concept of selling programming to people over the Internet,” said Mr. Goodmon, whose flagship station, WRAL, is the CBS affiliate in Raleigh. “If CBS wants to sell ‘CSI,’ we would like to be able to sell it for them - in partnership with them - on our Web site. I think we’re in the best position to sell and promote that material on behalf of the network.”
The advertising on such shows would be extremely cheap, according to the article, only a few dollars per spot, or $300-500 for an entire campaign.
This strikes me as a bit odd for a few reasons. First, when you download a show from iTunes, it is typically commercial-free. This isn’t to say that commercials can’t be added, but I think one of the selling points of these online shows is their ad-free nature. By adding in local commercials, boradcasters may be killing the goose that lays the golden egg. And it seems likely to me that online ads will be unceremoniously skipped- especially if it’s in Quicktime, or a format that easily facilitates fast forward and rewind. You don’t even need TiVo. A Realplayer or Windows Media format may be better for something like this, but personally I wouldn’t want to watch a TV show in Wind–buffering 50%–buffering 78%–ows Media.
I’ve got low expectations for all of this. Anybody can feel free to chime in here and let me know if I’ve missed something, but judging from the article, I don’t think I have.
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Want to get a toy for your preschooler that will allow them to exercise their creative muscles and help them explore their limitless imaginations all while learning important skills like basic math and vocabulary building as well as social etiquette like taking turns and sharing? Consider investing in a play kitchen. More than just a place where pretend play happens (and that is certainly important), play kitchens allow your little one to practice being in a social situation with endless opportunities -- like playing "house" or "restaurant." As they manipulate plastic food and utensils, they'll learn new words and all about shapes, size and colors -- important early academic lessons that will help them down the line. Best of all, play kitchens offer a chance for family fun.
These top play kitchens run the gamut in price and size so you are sure to find something that fits your space and budget.
- Graphic Index
- Text Index
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Anger as Commonwealth slashes funding for Aids fight
Although 60 per cent of sufferers live in member countries, organisation has turned its back on the cause
The leaders of Commonwealth countries meeting in Trinidad and Tobago were facing a scandal last night after it emerged that the organisation has withdrawn most of its funding for preventing HIV and Aids.
The Commonwealth of Nations is home to 30 per cent of the world's population but 60 per cent of its HIV victims, and the pandemic is acknowledged as a "Commonwealth emergency". Despite this, a decision was taken without public consultation earlier this year to stop funding the only Commonwealth programme that directly tackles the crisis.
Over the past four years, nearly £400,000 has been spent through the Commonwealth Foundation to create an international network of experts, activists and civic organisations working on HIV/Aids. The foundation, funded by taxpayers in the 53 member states of the Commonwealth, decided in April to switch the money from the Pan-Commonwealth HIV/Aids Network to cultural activities without informing its partners, according to confidential emails seen by The Independent.
A storm of protest followed behind closed doors in which the foundation was accused of "jumping ship" and its director, Mark Collins, was asked to explain the "abandonment". In an email exchange with Mr Collins in April, the Canadian scientist John W Foster, of the North-South Institute in Ottawa, wrote to express his "deep surprise and concern regarding the news that HIV/Aids is no longer a priority of the ... foundation".
He added: "This is particularly surprising given ... that the highest incidence countries are either current or former (Zimbabwe) members of the Commonwealth, many of them resource-challenged and least-developed states."
Mr Foster asked for the decision to be reversed and demanded to know the rationale behind it.
In addition to southern Africa, which has been hit harder by the disease than any other region, the Commonwealth includes the Caribbean, where HIV and Aids are the leading causes of death in adults aged 25 to 44.
While some experts said this week that the Aids pandemic might have peaked, no one disputes that it is crippling many developing countries.
"For the Commonwealth not to prioritise HIV/Aids in every single arm of its activities would be crazy," said Stephen Lewis, a Canadian former politician who until recently was an Aids envoy for the UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon.
"If, in fact, it is off the agenda it is inexplicable." Mr Lewis, who runs a charity that helps Africans affected by HIV and Aids, added: "Taking Aids off the agenda at the height of the pandemic is like taking racism off the agenda at the height of apartheid."
The foundation's response to the furore was to deny any change in strategy. Mr Collins insisted yesterday that the network's funding had reached the end of a "three-year commitment". He has instead told the foundation's partners they can apply individually for small grants through a website.
But one of the founding members of the network, Dr Robert Carr, of the International Council of Aids Service Organisations, rejected this explanation as nonsensical.
"When we enquired about next year's funding we were told there was to be no funding," he said. "How can you do that? They came to us and persuaded us to start a civil society network and then unilaterally decided they couldn't be bothered with it."
Dr Carr said it made "no strategic sense" to spend time and money building up a network and then closing it down "without asking what happened and what did it achieve?".
The network, designed to share expertise, lobby governments, set up education schemes and strengthen civil society has been credited with shaping national strategic plans on HIV in at least two countries.
In September, confusion over the goings-on at the foundation deepened when Mr Collins abruptly suspended his own programme manager, Anisha Rajapakse, without explanation. Ms Rajapakse, who previously worked for the UN and the German government, is thought to have objected to moves to downgrade the importance of Aids work. Attempts to contact her were unsuccessful. The foundation refused The Independent's request to speak to her and would not discuss the grounds for her suspension, insisting yesterday that the matter was "internal and confidential".
When members of the Aids network, all of them recruited by Ms Rajapakse, demanded to know why she had been "silenced", several of them, including Dr Carr, were "disinvited" from the Commonwealth People's Forum – the main civil society event in the build-up to this week's summit of Commonwealth heads of government.
Lisa Williams-Lahari, an HIV and gender activist from the Pacific region, was originally invited to Trinidad by the foundation but found herself "disinvited". The justification given was that that the forum was oversubscribed, yet the next day someone else from the same Pacific network was invited to register.
"I went from an invitation, my name on a programme and preparing for my sessions in September to a wall of silence six weeks long," said Ms Lahari. "To date no one at the foundation has withdrawn their invite. They simply pretend it never happened."
James Onyango from Kenya's Aids Intervention and Prevention Project Group, said it was a scandal that members who should be working to save lives were wasting time trying to find out what was going on.
"Colonialism came to an end and this arrogance shouldn't be there," he said. "The foundation is meant to work with the people to bring change."
Mr Collins denied any strategic shift on the Commonwealth's HIV and Aids policy and said a meeting had been held by the forum this week.
"There is no intention to lower the priority of HIV and Aids in our programme. HIV and Aids remains high on the list of concerns," he said in a statement from Trinidad.
Dr Carr, who attended the meeting, described it as "a shambles". Others, speaking anonymously after the session, said it had been "incoherent" and "inconsequential".
HIV pandemic: Network in crisis
*The Commonwealth of Nations is made of 53 countries covering all continents and religions
*It is home to 30 per cent of the world's population but 60 per cent of its HIV-infected people
*24 million HIV-positive people live in the Commonwealth
*The Commonwealth Foundation invested £387,700 to create a HIV network. Members have been told to reapply to a separate fund that last year issued £37,772.
*The Caribbean has the second-highest prevalence of HIV/Aids of any region in the world
*The pandemic is the leading cause of death among Caribbean people between 15-42
*There are 430,000 HIV sufferers in the Caribbean
That's some guestlist! Stunning images show huge dynastic wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families which attracted 25,000 guests
'He was always smiling': Lee Rigby named as Woolwich victim
Heathrow airport reopens runways after British Airways plane 'on fire over London' makes emergency landing
Two bailed after arrest over Woolwich attack Twitter comments
Exclusive: Woolwich killings suspect Michael Adebolajo was inspired by cleric banned from UK after urging followers to behead enemies of Islam
- 1 Pope Francis: Being an atheist is alright as long as you do good
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BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Get the latest on The Evening Standard's campaign to get London's children reading.
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Facts and Events
BEP Utah Timeline (1850,1860,1870)
We as descendants of Amelia Ann are extremely grateful for her life and love her very much.
Amelia Ann Jones was born in Salt Lake City Utah on the 1stof Jan. 1857. She had four sisters and two brothers, the first brother died at about the age of one year. She was about 18 years old when she met my great grandfather Henry Charles Longmore. I picture her as a beautiful young lady, although I have never seen a picture of her. Amelia and Henry were married on the 5th of November 1874, and were sealed in the Endowment House on the 26th of July 1875. The thrill of having a child turned to sorrow as Amelia died from complications of giving birth to her son George Brooks Longmore. She died on 17 Oct. 1875 and was buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery. George Brooks was raised by his grandparents Henry and Caroline Jones. We have great love for Amelia’s parents for the great job they have done in raising grandpa George Brooks Longmore (known through out his life as Shorty).
Because George Brooks was Amelia’s only child it might be interesting to mention Amelia and George’s posterity. George married Maud Mary Walters 20 Feb. 1901. From that union there were five children, Lester, Elmer (my Father), Alma, Louella, and Hyrum. Les and Estella’s family was eight, Elmer and Lillian’s family was eleven, Alma and Elaine adopted two they had one of their own, Louella and John had five, Hyrum raised several from a previous marriage, but he and Irene had one. So there was five children, twenty six grand children, and I tried to think of how many great great grandchildren, but I found that to be impossible for me, but it is in the hundreds at this time, and third great grandchildren makes it even more. So Amelia’s descendants are great and are still growing.
Amelia’s parents are Henry Jones born in Kidderminster, Worcs, England on 25 Feb. 1824, and his wife Caroline Brooks was born in Crowcroft, Worcs, England on 4 Dec. 1825. Henry and Caroline were married in Claines, Worcs, England in 1848. They joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints about 1853. They decided to come to America and join the Saints in Zion. So on 31 March 1855 they boarded the sailing vessel Juventa. Henry, his wife Caroline, his mother Susan, and Henry’s two sisters Susannah, and Margaret, and his daughter Althea. They were listed on the ships log as number 85, and their Company leader was William Glover. Caroline was sick the whole crossing, expecting a new baby. After a rough crossing they arrived in Philadelphia, then went by rail to Pittsburgh, by steamboat down the Ohio
River to St. Louis Missouri; and then overland to Mormon Grove Kansas.
The Charles A. Harper Wagon trains list shows Henry Jones, Caroline Jones, Susanna Jones, Althea Jones. And Eliza Jane was born enroute on 10 Aug. 1855 at the Big Blue River. They arrived in Salt Lake City in Oct. 1855.
The Jones family lived in West Jordan. They went to church in the East Millcreek Ward, where Amelia was baptized and grew up. That is where my great grandfather Henry C. Longmore met her and they fell in love, and were married. Henry served in the Civil War as an assistant surgeon. He finished his doctorate degree before coming to Utah, and served as a doctor the rest of his life.
We don’t know a great deal about Amelia but we know that we love her very much. We also love and owe the Jones family so much for raising our grand father. He was the most honest person I have ever known, and I am sure that comes from his upbringing in Amelia’s family.
Information in this history were obtained from ships logs, wagon train listings, memories of family members, and information from Eliza Jane Howick, Althea M. Howick Williams, “Heart Throbs of the West” by Kate B. Carter family records and history written and filed at D.U.P. central library by Laura Silver Backman, daughter of Althea Caroline Jones Silver
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with Talyaa Liera
I'm Talyaa, the poster child for the concept that there's no one right way to be a parent. I went from stay-at-home attachment-parenting mom of four to being the non-custodial parent, working as a professional writer and channel-psychic. Let's talk about throwing away the parenting manual and exploding the myths and mystique of motherhood!
Check out my personal blog at Juxtapositioning.
It’s time we stopped trying to fix our shy kids. So what if they quietly sit on our laps at Mommy and Me classes? Those kids aren’t detaching from the world or being swallowed up by the floor; they’re being quietly observant, taking in and analyzing the world around them. Not to diss the extroverts happily parading around the room banging on drums, taking tigers by the tail, and generally being Awesome with a capital A, but shy introverted kids are overwhelmingly creative, informed, attentive and empathetic. In short, shy kids rock and it’s time we understood their power to change the world for the better.
I was a shy kid. My kids were shy kids. I understand the shy thing from the inside out. Agreed, it is easy to go from “shy” and “introverted” (read: observant and attentive) to “socially paralyzed”, but that’s the job of us parents: to hold space for, guide, encourage, and love our shy kids so that they become secure in themselves and aware of their unique gifts and perspectives. By accepting our kids for who they are, we can help them accept themselves. By expanding our idea of how people should be — by making room for shy kids as well as drum-bangers — we make room for more individuality, more creativity, and ultimately more evolution as a species.
I’m not advocating that we turn our natural extroverts into introverts. I’m quite okay with the present 80/20 split (80% extroverts, 20% introverts). Extroverts create movement and take action. We need that. As a people we thrive on it. But we also need to love our creative side, our deep internal natures, and our humanity as empathetic beings. That’s the gift our shy kids can give us.
Were you a shy kid? Do you have shy kids? What are the gifts and pitfalls of shyness in your world?
photo: jkingsbeer, SXC
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Obama to confront oil pipeline, climate change
Thursday - 1/17/2013, 3:05pm EST
By MATTHEW DALY
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's second-term energy agenda is taking shape and, despite the departure of key Cabinet officials, it looks a lot like the first: more reliance on renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, and expanded production of oil and natural gas. Obama also is promising to address climate change, an issue he has acknowledged was sometimes overlooked during his first term.
"The president has been clear that tackling climate change and enhancing energy security will be among his top priorities in his second term," said Clark Stevens, a White House spokesman.
While the administration has made progress in developing renewable energy and improving fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles, "we know there is more work to do," Stevens said.
He'll have to do that work with new heads of the agencies responsible for the environment. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have announced they are leaving. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is expected to follow his colleagues out the door in coming weeks.
The White House says no decisions have been made on replacements for any of the environment and energy jobs but says Obama's priorities will remain unchanged.
One of the first challenges Obama will face is an old problem: whether to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. Obama blocked the pipeline last year, citing uncertainty over the conduit's route through environmentally sensitive land in Nebraska. Gov. Dave Heineman is considering a new route; he is expected to make a decision next month.
The State Department has federal jurisdiction because the $7 billion pipeline begins in Canada.
The pipeline has become a flashpoint in a bitter partisan dispute. Republicans and many business groups say the project would help achieve energy independence for North America and create thousands of jobs.
But environmental groups have urged Obama to block the pipeline, which they say would transport "dirty oil" from tar sands in western Canada and produce heat-trapping gases that contribute to global warming. They also worry about a possible spill.
If the pipeline is approved, "the administration would be actively supporting and encouraging the growth of an industry which has demonstrably serious effects on climate," 18 top climate scientists wrote in a letter to Obama this week.
Obama also faces a choice over whether to promote a boom in oil and natural gas production that has hampered growth of nontraditional energy sources such as wind and solar.
The emergence of cheap, plentiful natural gas in particular poses a dilemma for Obama, who supports gas development as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels that trigger global warming.
Many environmental groups who support the president are wary of natural gas and are critical of drilling techniques such as hydraulic fracturing that allow drillers to gain access to reserves that formerly were out of reach. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as "fracking," involves injection of water, sand and chemicals underground to break up dense rock that holds oil and gas.
The Obama administration has said it will for the first time require companies drilling for oil and natural gas on public and Indian lands to publicly disclose chemicals used in fracking operations. The proposed rules also would set standards for proper construction of wells and wastewater disposal.
Environmental groups are pushing the administration to do more to crack down on fracking, while industry groups and Republican lawmakers say federal rules are unnecessary, since states already regulate the drilling practice.
The natural gas boom "puts the administration in an interesting position. They can be aggressive and look at natural gas for the possibilities it brings, or they can bow to the environmental community, which is not interested in more natural gas drilling," said Frank Maisano, a Washington spokesman for a range of energy producers from coal to wind.
The Environmental Protection Agency also is expected to forge ahead with the first limits on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. The administration has imposed rules on new plants but is expected to move forward on rules for existing plants, despite protests from industry and Republicans that new rules will raise electricity prices and kill off coal, the dominant U.S. energy source.
Older coal-fired power plants have been shutting down across the country, thanks to low natural gas prices and weaker demand for electricity.
Environmental groups also hope Obama will use his executive authority to protect more wild places, through creation of national monuments and other steps. The last Congress was the first since the 1960s not to designate a new wilderness area.
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NEW YORK: The dreaded Haqqani network has emerged as the "most ominous threat" to the already fragile US-Pakistan ties as American officials believe the terror group has an "ongoing relationship" with the ISI and the two were doing more than just talking, a media report has said.
A senior Obama administration official said that the US thinks the Haqqani network has an "ongoing relationship with the Pakistani spy agency ISI, according to the New York Times.
The US and other Western officials, citing intelligence reports, say the ISI and Haqqanis "do more than just talk."
Pakistani intelligence allows Haqqani operatives to run legitimate businesses in Pakistan, facilitates their travel to Persian Gulf states and has continued to donate money, the NYT said. Senior Haqqani figures even own houses in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where their relatives live unmolested.
At a time when the US readies to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, recent terror attacks like the June 1 assault on Camp Salerno near the border with Pakistan orchestrated by the Haqqani have "cemented the group's standing as the most ominous threat to the fragile American-Pakistani relationship," officials from both countries say.
The paper said a "new boldness from the Haqqanis that aims at mass American casualties, combined with simmering political tension, has reduced the room for ambiguity between the two countries."
A commonly held view inside the Obama administration is that the US is "one major attack" away from "unilateral action against Pakistan, diplomatically or perhaps even militarily," according to a senior official.
"If 50 US troops were blown to smithereens by the Haqqanis or they penetrated the US Embassy in Kabul and killed several diplomats, that would be the game changer," he said.
The two countries are just beginning to mend relations after months of grueling negotiations that reopened NATO supply routes through Pakistan.
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I'm trying to create dynamic graphics for my game, which I'm building with Cocos2D. The graphics generation will occur at predictable, finite points, such as level loading. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to actually draw this at runtime. From what I can tell, the easiest way would be to draw into a PNG file at runtime and then load an AtlasSprite based on the PNG file, but I can't seem to figure out if this is indeed the best way or how to go about doing it. Any suggestions?
I'm not sure how Cocos2D loads Sprites or Atlases so this is a more general answer.
It might be worth taking a look at the Texture2D class that comes with the old CrashLanding example app. It uses a bitmap graphics context to generate a texture of a string for drawing with OpenGL. The code uses the CGBitmapContextCreate function to create a context. You can draw whatever you want onto it.
Then once you've finished drawing, you can either save the file as a PNG or you can call glTexImage2D on the data to use it with OpenGL.
There's more information about it in the Graphics and Drawing documentation, specifically the section: Creating and Drawing Images.
Edit: It looks like Cocos2D comes with Texture2D so you should be in good shape. Check out the initWithString method here.
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1. Know your terminology.
The phrase “small business grants” is rare on Canadian government Web sites, perhaps because pure small business grant programs are so rare. Besides the generic term “small business financing”, look for awards, contributions, shared costs, subsidies, rebates, tax credits (or tax rebates) or non-repayable loans. All of these terms may refer to funding that your business does not have to pay back – and that’s a small business grant, isn’t it?
2. Know where your business falls on the grant priority scale.
Some businesses are in a grant-rich industry or area. Some industries fit well with government objectives and are targeted for funding. Others don’t and aren’t. For instance, small business grants for retail businesses are notoriously scarce. And there are many more assistance programs for small businesses in Northern Ontario than in Southern Ontario.
3. Use hub sites to search.
Government hub sites, such as the Industry Canada website, come the closest to providing a full listing of government assistance, including small business grants. From the Government Assistance page, you can search for government business financing available in your province.
The Canada Business Network is another convenient hub of sites to help you access information on small business grants and government programs. Click on the Financing a Business link to get started. And the website of your provincial Business Service Centre is well worth a visit. My favourite is the Canada Business Services for Entrepreneurs site which lets you search for grants, loans and financing for your small business by purpose, location and industry.
4. Look within your particular industry.
There are many small business grants and assistance programs that are specific to particular industry sectors, so looking within your industry can narrow your search. You can Search by Industry on the Industry Canada website, for instance to find government assistance programs available for that particular industry.
You may also search via search engine, of course.
5. Position your business to take advantage of the small business grants and/or programs that do exist.
For instance, participating in the SR&ED Tax Credit Program will get you access to “free money” in the form of tax credits – funding just as good as a small business grant in my opinion. And the great thing about the SR&ED Tax Credit Program is that you don’t have to prepare a proposal and wait for approval of your project to get involved in it; you can just design and carry out your project and then make your tax claim (assuming you follow all the rules). Yet many businesses are unaware that they can participate in the program.
What other areas of business development is the government particularly keen on funding? Exporting and alternative energy, just to name two. By getting involved in business activities such as research and development, exporting, or environmental improvements, for instance, you can greatly increase your business’s chances of finding a small business grant.
Small business grants for Canadian businesses are out there. Applying the tips above will give your small business a better chance of finding one – or more.
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MINERVA - A state Police laboratory has identified the human remains dug up at the former home site of Thomas A. Collard as belonging to his wife June Collard, who disappeared in 1980, police announced Friday.
Thomas Collard, who confessed to killing her, state police said, is now being held in Essex County Jail on a charge of second-degree Murder.
Aug. 10, State police unearthed the bones at 76 Wilson Rd. in Olmstedville, where the Collard trailer stood decades ago.
Thomas Anthony Collard, 62,was charged with Murder after he was questioned and arrested several weeks ago in Alabama.
When questioned by state Police investigators, Collard allegedly confessed to causing the death of June Collard, describing in detail how he had disposed of her body.
Thomas Collard's signed confession said June Collard had come to his home - they had been separated for some time - and after an argument, he punched her and she then fell through a door and hit her head against a hot water tank, authorities said.
In his statement, Collard said he checked for signs of life, but found no pulse or breathing, and later dumped June's body out a window into a hole that had been dug for a septic system, according to the confession, police said.
After June Collard's disappearance in 1980, Thomas Collard told authorities he believed she had left town with another man. She was 30 years old at the time of her disappearance - under suspicious circumstances - which left several of her children motherless.
(Valley News Editor Matt Bosley contributed to this report.)
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Information on Khan Market of Delhi
Delhi Khan Market is a retail market that is known for being a high end area. The famous khan Market of Delhi is actually the most expensive shopping area in all of India. It is a market that is home to a variety of high end stores and outlets. It features some of the most appealing places to go shopping in all of India.
The Khan market is located at the southern part of New Delhi. It is a few blocks away from the India Gate. The Khan market Delhi is open from Mondays to Saturdays.
Khan Market was named after Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. He was a noted spiritual leader who helped influence non-violent protests against British Rule in the country.
A key feature of the Khan Market new Delhi is that it features several different kinds of brand name retailers. There are several big name companies that offer all sorts of different products in its stores. These include the newest fashions that these companies have. Some of the most popular brands that have stores in the market include Levi's, Nike and Etam among several others.
There are also several different restaurants situated around Khan Market. These include a variety of restaurants that feature Ayruvedic foods. These are foods that are prepared to where they will support the body's senses and improve its ability to handle its diet.
Several book shops can be found in the khan market as well. These shops feature all sorts of traditional Indian texts for sale.
There are even some tailors around the market. A big point about these tailors is that they can measure people for suits and get their suits prepared in very short periods of time. a typical tailor at Khan Market should be able to get a suit prepared within a week's time in most cases.
The area is known for being incredibly expensive to shop at. In fact, the Cushman and Wakefield real estate firm found that Khan Market is the most expensive shopping area in India and is one of the twenty-five most expensive shopping market areas in the world. This puts it right alongside other high end shopping centers like the Causeway in Hong Kong and Fifth Avenue in New York.
Therefore, the market has become a popular place for people around Delhi to go to in order to find many big name celebrities. These include a variety of stars of the Bollywood film scene.
There are some other spots to enjoy at Khan Market that don't involve shopping. There are a variety of lounges in all sorts of public spaces in the market. Some of these lounges are ones that overlook many streets around the area.
A good point about the market is that it is not too far from some park areas. It is right near the Lodi Gardens. It is also located next to the Sikandar Lodi Tomb.
There are also a number of high end residential and commercial areas that surround this property. These include a couple of spaces that are owned by the national government. In fact, the space even features a golf course that is not too far from the area.
Today people can easily access Khan Market. The market is accessible through the Violet Line on the city's Metro Rail system. This is located near the end of the rail line.
Overall, there are not very many markets around the city of Delhi that are as unique or high end as the Khan Market. The Khan Market is a market that features several big name stores and all sorts of brand names. The stores that are found around here are very unique and appealing.
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The University Record, January 30, 1996
MQR releases volume two of special centennial issue on movies
By Bernie DeGroat
News and Information Services
Although many film students today regard the golden age of cinema as a topic of classroom discussion only, many of the writers in the second volume of the Michigan Quarterly Review's (MQR) special centennial issue on the movies make it clear that film was far from an academic subject in their experience.
"We are reminded by their testimony, and their nostalgia, of the bedrock significance of film for so many people in so many cultures," say co-editors Laurence Goldstein, professor of English, and Ira Konigsberg, professor of English and of film/video studies, in the introduction to MQR.
"What passes now as classic cinema was more than a mind-blowing distraction, more than an escape, a place of refuge from the hard realities outside the theater. It was an art form central to the cultural life of the planet, one that people took in like milk, that gave them nourishment and hope."
The second part of MQR's The Movies: A Centennial Issue, an anthology of essays, reviews, fiction, poetry and graphics on the subject of film, includes works by William Paul, associate professor of English and of film/video studies; alumnus John Briley, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay for "Gandhi;" and Poonam Arora, who teaches film and cultural studies at U-M-Dearborn.
Paul's essay calls attention to a topic usually neglected in film scholarship: the screen---its size, its shape and its place in the motion picture theater. In a short memoir, Briley refers to film as the major art form of the 20th century and expresses gratitude for having participated in a film industry conscious of the quality of its product and its moral impact on audiences. Arora reviews four books that deal with multicultural cinema, one each on the movies of China and India and two collections of essays on ethnographic film.
In all, the writings of more than two dozen contributors appear in the second part of MQR's special movies issue, including:
Michael Anderegg's account of how the separation between the performer in the real world and on the screen has eroded at times, especially in the case of Orson Welles.
Bonnie Friedman's essay on what "The Wizard of Oz" meant to her as a child and the conformist message it sends to young girls.
Martin Marks' essay on how Warner Brothers used music in diverse ways to enhance "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon."
The late producer Samuel Marx's account of meetings with Truman, Marshall and Oppenheimer in the process of making the first movie about the A-bomb.
Director Pier Paolo Pasolini's poem of homage to MarilynMonroe.
Television writer Burt Prelutsky's interview with director Billy Wilder.
Alan West's examination of the opera film.
Part 2 is now available at local bookstores and at the MQR office in Room 3032, Rackham Building. For more information, call 764-9265.
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VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis will visit one of Rio de Janeiro's favelas, or slums, during his weeklong visit to Brazil for World Youth Day, his first foreign trip as pontiff.
The Vatican on Tuesday released Francis' itinerary for the July 22-29 trip to the world's largest Roman Catholic country. It includes a meeting with prisoners and a visit to a Rio hospital as well as events linked to the Catholic Church's youth festival.
The 76-year-old Francis will remain mostly in Rio but will make a daylong side trip to Aparacida to pray at the shrine to the Virgin Mary.
He will also visit the Varginha favela, north of Rio, and deliver a speech.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio often worked and preached in the capital's slums.
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KINONDONI District authorities have ordered the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation (DAWASCO) to lift a ban on public water kiosks in several areas of the district to allow residents draw clean and safe water.
Kinondoni District Commissioner, Mr Jordan Rugimbana further instructed local government leaders in the areas to form probe committees to investigate the claims that some residents had violated regulations that govern the operations of the kiosks.
"Those who would be proven to have defaulted payment of DAWASCO water bills and stealing water from the designated water supply points should be taken to task," he said. More than thirteen private owned water kiosks, which fall under the Kinondoni Municipal community supported water kiosks project were banned from selling water in Kinondoni district after a crackdown conducted by the council recently.
The operation was meant to establish those who were defaulting payments which covered the areas of Magomeni, Kimara, Ubungo and surrounding areas in the district. "Many areas of Dar es Salaam face serious shortage of water supply, including Kinondoni district," he said.
He advised DAWASCO to work with the local government committees formed to work out strategies that will help to address water problems in the district. Dawasco Operations Officer, Jasper Kirango said that his organization was partly to blame because it was not meeting standards in terms of water supplied to their clients.
"Some people sell water which is dirty, because sometimes the water supplied by DAWASCO is not purified before it is delivered to customers," he said. He also admitted that lack of water supply equipment and vehicles had allowed some traders to use contaminated water tanks to supply water in the market.
"Sometimes lack of water cleaning agents can cause serious health problems to consumers, which could lead to outbreak of diarrhoea and cholera," he said. Some local leaders who attended the meeting convened at the DC's office said that water for domestic use is a big problem because it is available only one or two days a week in their areas.
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President Obama’s State of the Union had a number of themes and crosscurrents that don’t really add up, but taken together they send an important message. He’s willing to say just about anything — something we learned during the debate over Obamacare — regardless of its relationship, or lack thereof, to the truth. And the Age of Big Government isn’t over. It may be on life suipport, but Obama won’t be pulling the plug.
Taylor Dinerman comes at the speech from a historical angle, considering the trope of “our Sputnik moment.” Was the invocation of Sputnik something more than Obama’s effort to reconnect with the older demographic? Citing the American space program to promote big government certainly has a retro feel to it.
Charles Krauthammer mentions in passing that Obama drew on the trope of the “Sputnik moment” despite “the irony of this appeal being made by the very president who has just killed NASA’s manned space program[.]” And Rich Lowry offers “[a] new cliché about the Apollo program[.]” Like a lot of clichés, it has a kernel of truth: “If we can send a man to the moon . . . we can waste lots of money based on false analogies.”
No one has taken the Soviet theme deeper than Daniel Greenfield. He titles his critique of the SOTU “Obama’s state of the Soviet Union.” Greenfield is a close reader whose attentiveness to the text may go beyond what the text warrants, but he may have found the essence of the speech. Here, for example, is Greenfield on Obama’s celebration of Kathy Proctor:
One of the more surreal moments in the address came when Obama mentioned Kathy Proctor, a 55 year old woman who after losing a job in the future industry is now a second year student at a community college working toward a biotechnology degree. Her plan is to become a biofuels analyst.
I can’t imagine a worse model for American workers than a 55 year old woman amassing unknown amounts of student debt for a job in an industry that doesn’t exist except as a government subsidized program. Even if Obama succeeds in obtaining more ethanol subsidies and some biofuels company decides to hire Kathy to be their biofuels analyst, her job will only exist because of the billions poured into subsidizing the educations and industry that make it possible. A job and an industry that would not exist without those subsidies. This is not how a genuinely productive country is run. It’s not how we’re going to beat China.
What’s worse is that the odds are very good that Kathy Proctor will join the ranks of other struggling Americans whom Obama singled out as examples, only for them to lose their jobs and homes. Jennifer Cline was one of those success stories, using unemployment benefits to go to college. Then she had to sell Obama’s “Things will get better” card to make ends meet. It’s true, “Things will get better”, as long as you have a letter from the big man himself and there’s still a market for Obama’s autographs.
In the words of Ralph Kramden: To the moon, Alice!
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Preview of Member Only Content
For full access: or Become a Member
By Barbara Bergman
President's Column columns.
Sentencing policies in the United States are in drastic need of reform for many reasons, but in this column I want to focus on the harshness of our sentencing policies and the need for innovative alternatives.
Many have complained about the draconian nature of our sentences. Few recognize, however, that almost 132,000 of those incarcerated in the United States are serving a life sentence.1 That means that one of every eleven inmates is now serving a life term. By 1997, the actual time served by those with life sentences had increased to 29 years.2 About a third of those prisoners between 1998 and 2001 were serving time for offenses other than murder — including burglary and drug offenses. Indeed, sixteen percent of people serving life were convicted of drug trafficking.3 The composition of the population serving life sentences has changed in large part because of the frequency of imposing life for drug offenses and the “three strikes” legislation in California and other states.4
Want to read more?
The Champion archive is reserved for NACDL members.
NACDL members, please login to read the rest of this article.
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See what NACDL members say about us.
To read the current issue of The Champion in its entirety, click here.
- Media inquiries: Contact NACDL's Director of Public Affairs & Communications Ivan J. Dominguez at 202-465-7662 or email@example.com
- Academic Requests: Full articles of The Champion Magazine are available for academic and research purposes in the WestLaw and LexisNexis databases.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2008 9:03:02 AM
ryan99, the media have special rights due to the free world having a free press. If they are on public property the police do not have the right to tell a member of the media to stop filming.
The only thing the media can't do is film children without the consent of their parents which is why you often see footage of childrens feet or out of focus footage.
In this case the media is not subject to the whim of the police officer especially if they are not involved with the protest.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 11:39:27 PM
How can you lean towards the cop he has no legal right to tell someone to stop filming in a public place just becasue he wears a badge and a uniform does not give him carte blanche to dictate to people in that manner! He was wrong and is a bad example of a poorly trained cop on a power trip!
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Every year, 4.5 million patients are rushed to the emergency room due to medication side effects or errors. About 1.9 million of them are admitted into the hospital, and as many as 100,000 die. An adverse drug event (ADE) is an unexpected or dangerous reaction to medication. They are very common and hugely preventable. People 65 and older are especially prone to these adverse events, because as the occurrence of illness increases with age, so does the frequency of prescription drug use. This threatens the safety and health of older patients and nursing home residents.
ADEs can be avoided by helping health care systems more readily detect and prevent potential risks associated with patients who have chronic conditions, are treated by multiple physicians or caregivers or take many different medications. Mountain-Pacific is working to collaborate with pharmacists, clinicians, patients and patient advocates to improve health and safety by reducing the number of ADEs that occur every year.
NOTE: Mountain-Pacific is committed to providing access to its Website for individuals with disabilities. We do this primarily by complying with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requirements. Section 508 requires that individuals with disabilities, including Federal employees, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to those without disabilities. Mountain-Pacific strives to meet this goal except when comparable access would result in undue burden.
If you use assistive technology (such as a Braille reader, screen reader, TTY, etc.) and cannot access information due to the format of the material, please contact Mountain-Pacific by phone at 1-800-497-8232.
To enable us to respond in a manner most helpful to you, please indicate the nature of your accessibility problem, the preferred format in which to receive the material, the web address of the requested material and your contact information.
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America's military installations, including their associated environment, have many purposes. They must sustain the regular forward and home station presence of U.S. forces as well as provide support in training and deployment to meet the Nation's need in periods of crisis, contingency, and combat.
DoD's public DENIX website contains information on the chemicals identified as having potential impacts on DoD missions in addition to more information on the Chemical and Material Risk Management Directorate and MERIT. The DENIX site also contains fact sheets on specific chemicals DoD has identified as being of potential concern.
Contact us via email or by phone: 703-604-1882
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North Charleston wants a full Montessori school sooner than later, officials working on proposal
North Charleston is the only “zone” in Charleston County that doesn’t have a full Montessori school, and some say that’s a problem.
Public Montessori school options in the Lowcountry
Murray-LaSaine Elementary on James Island will pilot five Montessori classrooms this fall, and it eventually will offer only Montessori instruction.James Simons Elementary will offer Montessori classes to some students this fall, and the downtown school eventually will offer only Montessori instruction.Other public options with a Montessori focus in Charleston County are: Montessori Community School in West Ashley and East Cooper Montessori Charter School in Mount Pleasant.Mitchell Elementary downtown and Hursey Elementary in North Charleston have Montessori programs, as does Whitesville Elementary in Berkeley County.
Superintendent Nancy McGinley has pledged to make the same choice offerings available in each of four geographic areas or “zones,” and school officials are working on a proposal to do that in North Charleston.
“This isn’t about traditional versus Montessori,” said North Charleston parent Louise Monteith, who has three children in Montessori classes at Hursey Elementary in North Charleston. “This is about my kids having the same opportunity that the kids downtown have and that the kids in West Ashley have.”
A range of residents, from parents to Mayor Keith Summey, have been speaking out about the need to open a full Montessori school in their community, and to do it soon. Many were disappointed in the school board’s recent decision not to convert Hursey Elementary, which offers traditional and Montessori classes, into a full Montessori school.
“We’ve been trying to get parents to keep their kids in North Charleston schools, and we’re starting to get more young people in North Charleston,” Summey said. “There is a demand for that type of choice.”
Across the district, more than 500 students are on a waiting list for Montessori classes. Montessori education encourages students to learn at their own pace and work independently, and teachers do more individual lessons rather than instructing an entire class.
North Charleston resident Kathleen Hamrick was trying to figure out where to enroll her daughter for kindergarten when she visited Hursey’s Montessori program. She saw a classroom with ample natural light and 3- to 5-year-olds who worked quietly and independently.
She was so impressed that she pulled her daughter out of her private pre-school to enroll her in Hursey’s Montessori program. At the time Hursey was rated “at risk,” but Hamrick said she was willing to try the school because Montessori students were well-behaved and learning at high levels.
“The classroom I saw wasn’t an ‘at-risk’ classroom,” she said.
North Charleston resident Catherine Loichinger’s 3-year-old son started at Hursey last fall, and she echoed reasons similar to Hamrick’s. She couldn’t believe a room full of children could be so quiet, and she said the small, intimate setting reminded her of the school where she grew up.
“We were blown away by the atmosphere,” Loichinger said. “We love it.”
The school board agreed at its last meeting to expand Montessori programs at Hursey so that current students and students on the school’s Montessori waiting list would be accommodated. Some board members and the Charleston NAACP are opposed to doing that, because it will force some of Hursey’s students to be moved.
The board asked district officials to plan to return to it with more options and cost estimates for a full Montessori program in North Charleston.
School Board Chairwoman Cindy Bohn Coats said the board has made it clear that it supports Montessori, and she plans to push for the creation of a full Montessori school in North Charleston.
“I don’t think this is something North Charleston deserves in two years,” she said. “We need to find a solution to this quickly.”Reach Diette Courrégé Casey at @Diette on Twitter or 937-5546.
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Helping young people reach their goals.
Failings in care contributed to death of disabled teenager
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Mencap has called on the health regulator to reopen the case of Kirsty Pearce
Mencap has urged the General Medical Council (GMC), the body responsible for investigating the conduct of doctors, to reopen its case into the death of a 17-year-old disabled teenager at Basildon Hospital in Essex in 2003.
The inquest into Kirsty Pearce’s death took place on Friday (25 November) at Chelmsford Borough Council. The coroner'sexpert witness, Dr Ian Maconochie, of St Mary’s Hospital in London, concluded that “the delay in her [Kirsty] getting the sort of treatment required for her from the outset of her presentation contributed to her death”.
Mencap is concerned that no health professional has been held accountable for the death of Kirsty Pearce – who had a learning disability and complex health needs – despite expert evidence that numerous care failings contributed to her death.
A 2007 Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman report into her death found that there were ‘significant failings during her final illness’ and that there was a ‘failure to recognise the seriousness of her condition’ by Basildon Hospital. The GMC had planned a disciplinary hearing into the conduct of a doctor on duty the night Kirsty died, but this was then cancelled, despite continuing pressure from Kirsty's family and their MP. The family has been fighting for justice for eight years, and the inquest was an important part in their efforts to see the hospital held to account.
The inquest recorded a narrative verdict, concluding that doctors had failed to recognise the serious condition she was in and that delays from the outset had contributed to her death.
Kirsy's father said: "We have been fighting to get to justice for Kirsty's death since the day she died. It has been very hard to get hospital staff to accept that they have made mistakes. I have written a book about what we've been through as people need to know what happened."
Mr Pearce hopes to get the book, 'Kirsty – A Father's Fight for Justice', published next year.
David Congdon, Mencap’s head of campaigns and policy, said: “The standard of care Kirsty received the night she died was appalling.
“Mencap believes it is unacceptable that no one has been held accountable for Kirsty’s death. This is why we are calling on the GMC to investigate the health professionals responsible for those failings and show that the lives of people with a learning disability are valued by the medical profession.”
Find out more about Mencap’s Death by indifference healthcare campaign
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The Voztec System
The company has produced a 5th generation prototype motorcycle helmet. The helmet is a full face, rear access, dual locking helmet that has several advantages over and above the current state of the art full face helmets. The mechanics of the system are the subject of a patent application and is referred to as the Voztec Safety Release System®.
The Voztec system has been developed by the directors Mr. Mark Bryant and Mr. Johnny Vozzo and is suitable for incorporation into any full face Helmet. The Company intends to incorporate the Voztec system into a selection of helmet products that are robust, meet a market need and can be produced at a sustainable and competitive cost.
Shape was one of the main considerations whilst developing the Voztec System, extensive studies concluded that the safest shape helmets are the rounder and smoother shape helmets of the early 1990’s. The reason is, the fewer the snag points, the safer the helmet. The current shape and rear access design of the Voztec Helmet has allowed the lower edge of the helmet to be rolled, therefore creating a rounder, smoother, safer shape helmet that fits extremely close to the user’s head, creating less snag points than conventional full face helmets
Countless hours have gone into the development of the current prototype helmet with industry and user feedback being incorporated into further refinements leaving a helmet which is not only revolutionary in design, visually appealing but acceptable to the people that matter most - the end user.
The other significant safety advantages Voztec enjoys over its current competition is the emergency safety release system and the fully adjustable chin cup that replaces the old fashion chin strap. Both of these changes have significantly improved the safety of full face helmets firstly by allowing medical personal access if required to the users head in the case of an accident without having to cut the helmet off (especially useful in remote situations) and secondly the new fully adjustable chin cup is not subject to strap creep.
Patents have been lodged for the Voztec Safety Release System® in key countries, to secure the technology. The company has also registered a trademark “Voztec” whilst the assembly process remains a trade secret. Parties interested in licensing the technology for use with their helmet designs should
Australian Patent Nº 2005906523
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¶ All the commandments which I command thee this day ye shall keep for to do them, that ye may live and multiply and go and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And think on all the way which the LORD thy God led thee this forty years in the wilderness, for to humble thee and to prove thee, to wete what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. He humbled thee and made thee hunger and fed thee with manna which neither thou nor thy father knew of, to make thee know that a man must not live by bread only: but by all that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD must a man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy feet swell this forty years. Understand therefore in thine heart, that as a man nurtureth his son, even so the LORD thy God nurtureth thee. Keep therefore the commandments of the LORD thy God that thou walk in his ways and that thou fear him. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of rivers of water, of fountains and of springs that spring out both in valleys and hills: a land of wheat and of barley, of vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees with oil and of honey: a land wherein thou shalt not eat bread in scarceness, and where thou shalt lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou shalt dig brass.
¶ When thou hast eaten therefore and filled thyself, then bless the LORD for the good land which he hath given thee. But beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not keep his commandments, laws and ordinances which I command thee this day: yea and when thou hast eaten and filled thyself and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and when thy beasts and thy sheep are waxed many and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast increased, then beware lest thine heart rise and thou forget the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage, and which led thee in the wilderness both great and terrible with fiery serpents and scorpions and thirst where was no water, which brought the water out of the rock of flint: which fed thee in the wilderness with Man whereof thy fathers knew not, for to humble thee and to prove thee, that he might do thee good at thy latter end. And beware that thou say not in thine heart, my power and the might of mine own hand hath done me all these acts: But remember the LORD thy God, how that it is he which gave thee power to do manfully, for to make good the promise which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is come to pass this day. For if thou shalt forget the LORD thy God and shalt walk after strange gods and serve them and worship them, I testify unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before thee, even so ye shall perish, because ye would not hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God.
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Patti Smith, Tubby the Tuba, The Little Orchestra Society
The Little Orchestra Society (LOS) presents TUBBY THE TUBA narrated by Patti Smith, the iconic National Book Award-winner, rock musician and poet, on Saturday, March 16, 2013, at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. Ms. Smith brings to life George Kleinsinger's classic score about the most famous tuba in the world, Tubby, who teaches his instrument Friends in the orchestra that melodies and soloists can come from the most unexpected places. Tubby the Tuba is a childhood favorite of Ms. Smith's. As she writes in her 2010 memoir Just Kids:
"One evening Harry and Peggy invited us to visit with the composer George Kleinsinger, who had a suite of rooms at the Chelsea. ...I was free to rummage through George's musical compositions, stacked randomly among the ferns, palms, and caged nightingales. I was elated to find original sheet music from Shinbone Alley in a pile atop a filing cabinet. But the real revelation was finding Evidence that this modest and kindly snake-rearing gentleman was none other than the composer of the music for Tubby the Tuba. He confirmed this fact and I nearly wept when he showed me original scores for the music so beloved in my childhood."
In addition to Tubby the Tuba, audiences will hear an array of melodies and soloists, some familiar, some unexpected, with excerpts from works including Tan Dun's Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa, Morton Gould's Tap Dance Concerto, Mozart's Queen of the Night Aria from The Magic Flute, and more.
TUBBY THE TUBA
(recommended for ages 6-12)
SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2013, 11:00 A.M. AND 1:00 P.M.
DAVID ALAN MILLER, GUEST CONDUCTOR
PATTI SMITH, NARRATOR
LANE ALEXANDER, TAP DANCER
NATHAN CHAN, CELLO
MIN XIAO-FEN, PIPA
SOYOUNG PARK, SOPRANO
MIKHAIL GLINKA - Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla
JOSEPH HAYDN - Allegro Molto from Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major
Nathan Chan, Cello
TAN DUN - Allegro from Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa
Min Xiao-Fen, Pipa
MORTON GOULD - Toccata (with Cadenza) from Tap Dance Concerto
Lane Alexander, Tap Dancer
W. A. MOZART - Queen of the Night aria from The Magic Flute
Soyoung Park, Soprano
GEORGE KLEINSINGER - Tubby The Tuba
Patti Smith, Narrator
Performances are at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall (65th Street and Broadway). Single tickets: $15, $25, $45, $55; available by calling 212/971-9500, at littleorchestra.org, at the Avery Fisher Hall box office and by calling CenterCharge at 212/721-6500.
The Little Orchestra Society's new website serves as the gateway to its live magical and musical experiences. Parents and kids can find activities, games, chats and other materials surrounding Little Orchestra Society concerts at any time through the LOS Kids section of www.littleorchestra.org.
Patti Smith, born in Chicago and raised in South Jersey, migrated to New York in 1967.
Patti Smith's first recording, Horses, was inducted into The National Recording Registry in 1975 and into The Library of Congress by The National Recording Preservation Board in 2010. Her subsequent albums are Radio Ethiopia; Easter; Wave; Dream of Life; Gone Again; Peace and Noise; Gung Ho; Trampin; Land; Twelve; and most currently, Banga.
Author of the acclaimed memoir, Just Kids, which chronicled her friendship and Journey in art with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith was awarded the 2010 National Book Award. Her other books include Witt; Babel; Coral Sea; Woolgathering; and Auguries of Innocence.
Patti Smith's art has been exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide. Represented by the Robert Miller Gallery in New York since 1978, her exhibitions include Strange Messenger, Land 250, and Camera Solo. Steven Sebring's 2008 documentary, dream of life: the movie, was acknowledged internationally and received an Emmy nomination.
As well as being a Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, Patti Smith also holds the honor of "Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres" from the French Ministry of Culture, and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Rowan State University, Pratt Institute of Art, and the School of Art Institute Chicago. Patti Smith was honored by ASCAP with the Founders Award, representing lifetime achievement, and the recipient of Sweden's Polar Award, an international acknowledgement for significant achievements in music.
On February 7, 2013, Smith will be awarded the Katharine Hepburn Medal from Bryn Mawr College, which recognizes women whose lives, work and contributions embody the same drive and accomplishments as the four-time Academy Award-winning actress.
Patti Smith and her band continue to tour Worldwide as well as lend support for human right issues.
David Alan Miller (guest conductor) has established a reputation as one of the leading American conductors of his generation. Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, he has worked with most of America's major orchestras, developing particularly close relationships with the Minnesota Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted the orchestras of Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, as well as the New World Symphony and the New York City Ballet. Mr. Miller is also founder and Artistic Director of "New Paths in Music," a festival in New York City dedicated to presenting the works of significant non-American composers who are not yet well known in the United States.
As Music Director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1992, Mr. Miller has proven himself a creative and compelling orchestra builder. Through exploration of unusual repertoire, educational programming, community outreach and recording initiatives, he has reaffirmed the Albany Symphony's reputation as the nation's leading champion of American symphonic music and one of its most innovative orchestras. Other accolades include Columbia University's 2003 Ditson Conductor's Award, the oldest award honoring conductors for their commitment to American music, the 2001 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming and, in 1999, ASCAP's first-ever Leonard Bernstein Award for Outstanding Educational Programming.
His extensive discography includes recordings of the works of Todd Levin with the London Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as music by Michael Daugherty, Kamran Ince, and Michael Torke for London/Decca. His recordings with the Albany Symphony include discs of music by John Harbison, Roy Harris, Morton Gould, Don Gillis, George Lloyd, Peter Mennin, and Vincent Persichetti, all on the Albany Records label. He also led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in its recording of Mel Powell's music, including "Duplicates: Concerto for Two Pianos," winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
A native of Los Angeles, David Alan Miller holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School.
Lane Alexander (tap dancer) has a performing career spanning over 30 years that includes work on the concert stage, musical theater, television and film. He is one of the foremost experts on Morton Gould's Tap Dance Concerto which he has performed with the New York Pops, the London Philharmonic, the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, and many other prestigious orchestras around the globe. He was the first artist to publish a recording of the Tap Dance Concerto since the original recording with Danny Daniels in 1952.
Lane toured nationally with Austin on Tap and appeared in the Candlelight Dinner Theater's long running production of 42nd Street (directed by Bill Pullinsi and choreographed by Marc Robin) before joining William Orloski's National Tap Dance Company of Canada in 1987 as an ensemble member. While still appearing as a guest artist with the NTDCC, Lane Co-founded alexander,michaels/Future Movement (am/FM) with Chicago native and noted contemporary dancer/choreographer Kelly Michaels. Together, they created a repertory of tap, modern dances that stretched the boundaries of both and worked for an acknowledgement of American tap as a recognized art form. They co-founded the Chicago Human Rhythm Project in 1990 as a summer festival of tap and percussive dance to further that mission. Lane's choreography and contributions to the field have been recognized by The National Endowment for the Arts' American Masterpieces program through the Illinois Arts Council, the Ruth Page Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field, and the Chicago Dance and Music Alliance for Outstanding Solo Performance, among others.
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Lufthansa Airlines flight
EUROPEAN Union airlines must pay compensation for delayed flights unless the delay was caused by circumstances beyond their control, the bloc’s highest court said.
Travellers should be recompensed for delays of more than three hours, the European Union Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday (October 23), reaffirming a right established three years ago in a case involving Air France.
The ECJ was ruling in one case involving German carrier Lufthansa and a second involving British Airways , easyJet, TUI Travel and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Passengers on flights operated by EU airlines starting or ending in the 27-nation grouping are entitled to $330-$780 for delays or cancellations under EU rules.
“The Court of Justice has confirmed its previous ruling that passengers whose flights have been delayed for a long time may be compensated,” it said. It did not say what circumstances leading to a delay might be beyond an airine’s control.
The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) said the EU’s executive arm should do more to reinforce passenger rights.
“In the long run, the European Commission needs to set this and similar recent judgments in stone in its ongoing review of the regulation,” said BEUC Director General Monique Goyens, referring to the 2004 EU rules.
“Keyhole surgery is needed, not dramatic reform. The main challenge is enforcing what already exists. They also need to withstand what is quite robust industry pressure to dilute the law.”
Raymond Veldkamp, the owner of Flight Delayed which helps consumers seek compensation from airlines: said “We do not expect the ruling would make it any easier for passengers to get money from the airlines when their flights are delayed.
“Most of the time, passengers get fobbed off with vouchers for a free meal or a refreshment. While in reality they are legally entitled to a much higher compensation.”
In the Lufthansa case, passengers sued the airline for compensation in a German court after a flight delay of more than 24 hours. Judges subsequently sought advice from the ECJ.
In the second case, British Airways, easyJet, TUI Travel and IATA, challenged Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority after it rejected their request to be exempted from paying for flight delays. British judges also asked the ECJ for guidance.
Earlier this month, the ECJ told airlines to compensate travellers bumped off flights because of strikes, saying that was not a good enough excuse not to pay up.
The cases were C-581/10, Nelson and others vs Deutsche Lufthansa AG, and C-629/10 TUI Travel and others vs Civil Aviation Authority.
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Walmart Mexico paid bribes to open stores: Report
Global retail giant Walmart, which is facing uproar in India over its lobbying efforts and allegations of bribery, has come under increased scrutiny after a US media report said that its Mexico affiliate bribed local officials to open stores in desired locations.
According to a New York Times investigation, Walmart de Mexico was "not the reluctant victim of a corrupt culture that insisted on bribes as the cost of doing business.
"Nor did it pay bribes merely to speed up routine approvals. Rather, Walmart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited," the publication said.
Walmart's Mexico affiliate used bribes to subvert democratic governance — public votes, open debates, transparent procedures as well as to circumvent regulatory safeguards that protect Mexican citizens from unsafe construction. It also used bribes to outflank rivals, the report said.
The report comes amid opposition in India over Walmart's lobbying efforts to enter the Indian market as well as allegations of bribery.
The US Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are conducting their own investigation of Walmart of possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal law that prohibits American corporations or their subsidiaries to bribe foreign officials.
According to the Times report, Walmart Mexico was eyeing a location near Mexico's ancient ruins in Teotihuacan, north of Mexico City to open a store. However, zoning requirements were coming in the way of Walmart to open the store at this location.
But at the headquarters of Walmart de Mexico, executives were not about to be thwarted by the unfavourable zoning decision.
Walmart executives paid a USD 52,000 bribe to an official to change the zoning map to allow Walmart's store.
Walmart de Mexico broke ground on the location in 2004 amid fierce opposition by protesters who did not want a Walmart so close to a cultural spot.
The Times accessed confidential Walmart documents which identified 19 store sites across Mexico that were the target of Walmart de Mexico's bribes.
Matching information about specific bribes against permit records for each site, the Times found that dates of bribe payments coincided with dates when critical permits were issued.
The report said that bribes totalling USD 341,000 were paid on eight instances, including on one occasion to build a Sam's Club in one of Mexico City's most densely populated neighbourhoods near the Basilica de Guadalupe without a construction license, an environmental permit or even a traffic permit.
Another nine bribe payments totalling USD 765,000 were paid to built a vast refrigerated distribution centre in an area of Mexico City where electricity was so scarce that many smaller developers were turned away.
Responding to the allegations of bribery, Walmart spokesman David Tovar said in the Times report that the company is "committed to having a strong and effective global anticorruption programme everywhere we operate and taking appropriate action for any instance of noncompliance."
In Teotihuacan, the Times found that Walmart de Mexico executives approved at least four different bribe payments of more than USD 200,000 to build a medium-size supermarket.
Without these payoffs, it would not have been possible for Walmart to build the store in the location.
Walmart is the largest private employer in Mexico, employing 221,000 people working in 2,275 stores, supermarkets and restaurants.
The report said that Walmart de Mexico officials did not themselves pay bribes but that payoffs were made by outside lawyers and fixers.
According to Walmart de Mexico's written policies, these fixers could be entrusted with up to USD 280,000 to "expedite" a single permit.
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You're a great employee. You whiz through tough work projects and shine during performance reviews. Too bad your shoulders are slouchy (from sitting at your desk too long), your skin is splotchy (lunch, smunch—the break room's greasy potato chips will kill hunger), and your sleep is shoddy (you didn't finish that last work project until 4 a.m.). To help you recognize professional choices that compromise your overall health, here's a list of the most unhealthy work habits:
1. Your footwear. You have a huge office presentation or an important board meeting, so you match your power suit with the perfect power heels. But by the workday's end, you could be trading new-found confidence for some newly formed corns. If you're going to sport your spikes to the office, Dr. A. Holly Johnson, chief of foot and ankle orthopedic surgery at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, suggests bringing in a fall-back pair of shoes. "The key to everything in health is moderation," she says. "Wearing a high heel all day at work, whether it's two inches or four inches, is probably not a good idea. If you're going to be sitting in your office all day, then you should have some flats at your desk. It's fine to wear those heels for a couple of hours, though."
[In Pictures: 6 Summer Office Attire No-Nos.]
Another way to combat possible foot strain and pinched toes: Make sure to wear shoes that actually fit. Johnson says many people underestimate the size of their feet. "Wearing the wrong shoe size is going to exacerbate any problem you have," she says. "When you're going to buy new shoes, have the salesperson measure your foot or measure your own foot at home. Over time, a foot gets progressively wider and longer."
2. Your commute. It's a good thing you packed that spare pair of comfortable shoes for the work commute, because chances are, you're going to be travelling for awhile. The average commute is just north of 25 minutes, according to a 2009 report from the American Community Survey. Experts say excessive traffic could lead to stress and reduced sleep, while lengthy car, train, and bus rides result in longer sedentary time and therefore, a higher body mass index, waist circumference, cholesterol, and blood pressure. Over time, a hassled commuter could grapple with heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and even kidney failure.
If you live close enough to your office, you might want to swap your bus pass for some sneakers and walk to and from work. Commuters who can't avoid their long and sedentary travel times should also aim to squeeze more physical activity into their daily routine.
3. Your all-nighters. Sometimes it takes longer than an eight-hour workday to complete an assignment, which could cause us to revert to an all-nighter à la school days. And while occasionally missing sleep is more of a nuisance than a serious health concern, it can become an issue if it happens consistently. "We talk about acute sleep deprivation and chronic sleep deprivation," says Dr. Lawrence J. Epstein, the chief medical officer for Sleep HealthCenters in Boston and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "There are some clear effects that go along with not getting enough sleep, and the longer you go, the sleepier you get. Acute sleep deprivation could immediately affect work performance."
"But as you miss more sleep, your cognitive functioning drops," Epstein continues. "You won't be able to think clearly and you won't be able to learn as much. The effect of 24 hours of sleep deprivation on performance is the equivalent of having a blood-alcohol level of 0.10." According to him, one of the dangers of chronic sleep deprivation is that people lose the ability to judge their level of sleep impairment. Receiving one or two hours here or there might make a sleep-deprived worker feel rested temporarily, but ultimately, he or she could still make poor decisions, like getting behind the wheel of a car.
According to Epstein, the only remedy for missing sleep is to sleep, so consider using your lunch break to get some shut-eye. "The best times to be asleep are in the middle of the night, and then 12 hours after that, so in the middle of the afternoon," Epstein says. "If you didn't get enough rest at night, it's easiest to try again at your next peak of sleepiness."
4. Your choice to skip breakfast. You might not feel hungry for breakfast if you work a sunrise shift. Or perhaps your mad dash to make the morning meeting just doesn't leave time for bacon and eggs. Whatever your reason for skipping breakfast, Rebecca Scritchfield, a registered dietitian and food and nutrition expert, urges you to change your ways. "By skipping breakfast, you're basically telling your body, 'let's not be able to focus and concentrate, and let's not have energy.'" she says. "Food gives you the calories to boost your energy, and it boosts your blood sugar. You need breakfast to give you that boost after fasting all night. Not doing so compromises your ability to focus and be productive."
[In Pictures: What a "Power" Breakfast Really Looks Like.]
You don't have to get that first meal in right when you wake up, though. Scritchfield suggests you eat sometime within two hours of rising. "Or you could decide to eat a piece of fruit first thing, and then wait until you get in the office to have something else," she says.
Skipping the morning meal could also lead to an afternoon binge. "It sets you up to get hungry, to overeat at lunch, and then to get more tired during the second half of the day," says Scritchfield, who also blogs about nutritional practices at the site Rebeccathinks.com. "It could also lead you to race to the vending machine, where there are poor food choices."
5. Your out-of-the-office lunches. Picking up lunch on-the-go is a nutritional land mine, where choices range from posh and pricey to cheap and carbohydrate-filled. More often that not, you have no idea about the nutrition facts of the food you've grabbed. "The cheaper food is the faster, easier option, and it tends to be loaded with processed carbs," says Scritchfield. Not only are those types of meals fattening, but they'll also zap you of energy.
Your safest, most affordable option would be packing a healthy lunch at home. But if you're going to eat on the run, Scritchfield suggests looking for places that serve minimally processed food. "The energy-producing foods are going to be very rich in vitamins and minerals. You're going to need to meet your veggie targets. If half of your plate isn't vegetables, then you don't have enough," she explains. "Also eat fruits, beans, and lean proteins like fish. And stick to the whole grains for carbohydrates, so try having sweet potatoes, quinoa, or wheat."
6. Your at-your-desk snacking. So you start with a balanced breakfast and take a noon-day break to enjoy a pre-packed and healthy lunch. But you choose to munch on your goodies while sitting in your cubicle. This could cause two problems. One, there are the little crumbs and germs that will miss your mouth and hit the desk and keyboard, and two, you'll be eating amidst days-old crumbs and germs that had previously missed your mouth and hit the desk and keyboard. Gross.
A recent study by the paper products and cleaning solutions company Kimberly-Clark Professional found that computer keyboards are one of the dirtiest spots in a workplace; they're crawling with a molecule known as ATP that is found in most living organisms and which can lead to illness if found in excess. If you want to keep germ ingestion to a minimum, try eating away from your desk as often as possible. If you do snack while sitting, be sure to disinfect your keyboard and the surrounding area both before and after eating.
[Quiz: How Dingy Is Your Workplace?]
7. Your posture. Your deadline is looming and the pressure is mounting, so of course your shoulders are slumping. Practicing poor office ergonomics (in other words, failing to sit properly at your office desk) could lead to muscle strain and fatigue. And forgetting to take breaks from sitting all day could cause poor circulation. "I tell people to think about how they feel after a long car ride," says Dan MacLeod, a professional ergonomist. "Your muscles are achy, you're exhausted, you're wiped out. That's because you've been sitting so long. So you've got to get up and move around. There is no correct posture for an eight-hour work day."
When working in an office, "It's common for people to think they're supposed to sit upright at right angles," MacLeod says. "But there's no science to that. ... All studies show you should actually lean back in a semi-crouched position. ... One of the reasons is when you're leaning back with a good back rest, the weight of your upper body is transferred to that backrest. Sitting upright tends to make you round out your back in the wrong direction."
You should also let your hands rest in a semi-relaxed position when typing. "The optimal posture for the wrist is not straight up and down like holding a bouquet of flowers, and not flat side to side like playing the piano," MacLeod says. "It's actually halfway in between. Your wrists should be positioned similar to driving a car, when you place your hands at the 10 and two position [of a steering wheel]. That way, your hand is slanted forward and a little bit to the side."
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The biggest challenge for web marketers, brand managers and organizations targeting at more sales and brand loyalty via Web is engaging their website visitors. By engaging, we mean getting website visitors to spend time on the website and get involved in it. The ultimate purpose is, of course, conversion.
What most marketers and brand promoters miss is the fact that the goal should not be keeping website visitors (prospects) engaged with ‘cool’ graphics; the goal should be getting website visitors to involve, and understand the message, and become a customer. There is no denying that good a copy, decent color scheme and attractive graphics grab the attention of website visitors but what makes them stay or come back to the website is something else. ‘Something else’ – that creates the desire to know more about the brand or own the product.
This post is intended to give you an insight into ‘something else’ that works.
We just had a round trip of the World Wide Web and brought back some useful pointers for you.
Future of Web Design
First thing first, the much awaited Future of Web Design Conference 2011 is going to commence on May 16th. This is going to be an eventful conference with three days of workshops and technical sessions on HTML5, CCS3, web design, creativity and a lot of exciting ideas for designers, developers, startups and entrepreneurs. You would also get a chance to talk to gurus like Jeffrey Veen, the founder of Typekit, Aarron Walter, the user experience lead of MailChimp and many others. If you are in London, register today to confirm your booking.
Done with your latest and the greatest web design?
Do you know that a large number of people in your audience would not be able to view your design as you intended. Imagine how a person with vision deficiency (like color blindness) would experience your website. According to an estimate, among adult computer users of the USA alone, 1 user in 4 has vision difficulty, 1 has dexterity problem and 1 in 5 has hearing problem. By ignoring these users, we not only reduce the number of users but also limit the scope of our products.
Today’s post is all about designing accessible websites/ web applications. Accessibility is the measure of ease with which users with physical disabilities, say visual impairment, can use a product efficiently and perform the required tasks satisfactorily. In other words, accessibility means that every user in his own context can operate a system and get required output without any constraints.
Here, it is very important to understand that many end-users may be using the product in a context that is very different from the context in which it is designed. For example,
- The user may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all.
- The user may have difficulty reading or comprehending text.
- The user may be colorblind.
- The user may not have or be unable to use a keyboard or mouse.
These and many other contexts should be taken care of when designing or developing a system. The following is a set of basic rules of accessibility that you should understand and comply with when designing websites or web applications.
Use Colors Wisely
Recently, we have seen the entire landscape of web design transforming from traditional design and layouts to creative experiments in all directions. Most recent tends included rich imagery, table less layouts, interactive interfaces and extensive use of jQuery, CSS 3 and HTML 5 to minimize Photoshop and Flash.
For the rest of 2011, we can expect a number of new trends as basic requirements of good web designs.
Here is how Greep It! foresees the future of web design for the rest of 2011.
With rapid proliferation of iPad, tablet computers and touch screen phones, web designs are transforming rapidly to catch up with the new generation of mobile users. Web pages and applications, now, have to be ‘touch-enabled’.
You should design interfaces that render flawlessly on traditional PCs as well as on touch screens of multiple sizes and resolutions. On the same note, your applications and pages should load fast on mobile devices with lower bandwidth. Hence, web pages and applications have to be simple, fluid and lightweight.
The trend of photographic splash pages would continue to grow for the rest of 2011. You can see a large number of one-page designs on WordPress and all other platforms on the web especially since the launch of services like about.me. You can expect more and more creative experiments with splash pages/one-page designs with a lot of imagery, portrait pictures and animated background.
960 Gridder – A Grid Layout Design Tool for web designers & developers that you can either use as an integrated component to layout your websites or use it as a bookmarklet. The grid is fully customizable but it defaults to the “960px grid standard”.
It injects your website of choice and you can then work with this tool to help you out with whichever layout/design task you find it useful for.
Compatibility: 960 Gridder is cross-browser compliant and works well with all major browsers.
Webnode is a free website creation tool aimed at helping web design novices get a modern-looking website online in minutes. Once you’ve registered for a Webnode account, you’re asked to choose a title and slogan for your new site. Then you select a template and start adding content.
Webnode uses a common modular system which allows you to drag content areas to create different layouts or add content like polls, forums, and photo galleries. There are also widgets for PayPal, Flickr, YouTube, and Google Maps. It lets user to use his own domain instead of somename.webnode.com.
Designers stay much busy in their lives. This is a normal routine for Designers that they are working on several projects at a time. They could be working on their own projects, friend’s project, company’s project.
In this busy life, Inspiration means a lot for the Designers. They need inspiration to speed up the work and to finish in a timely manner. I thought to collect some nice Breadcrumb for Designers.
So here is the Breadcrumbs inspiration for you fellas.
- Fully accessible to screenreaders and other assistive technology
- Works on Mac, Windows, and Linux
- Works with all major browsers
- sIFR is less than 10k and only loads once
Website & Demo: http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/files/sifr/2.0/
I wonder if you knew that visitors to your website form an instant opinion? And they form it about you and your offer. This instant opinion is created subconsciously. It happens automatically within the visitors mind. It happens automatically. Your site visitors can’t help themselves. It matters not a jot how clever the text is on your page. You can have paid an expensive professional to produce your copy for you. The visitor need not read a single word, and yet they will form their instant opinion.
The quality of the images on your web page won’t make any difference. Their quality doesn’t affect in this instant opinion. You might think if you make an unrepeatable offer, that your visitor is bound to be swayed by that! I’m sorry, the instant opinion clicks in, and your brilliant offer lies unseen. This is because the instant opinion is made when your web page is displayed to your visitor. You may have guessed there is something subliminal at work here. In a way, that is right. Immediate opinions are formed by visitors to every single website. You may have already worked out that the answer is colors. When your web page appears to your visitor, the colors you’ve used go to work on the subconscious of your visitors.
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By Nick Timiraos
Banks and mortgage companies thought that they were getting a clear set of ground rules earlier this month when regulators spelled out long-awaited rules clarifying how they could satisfy new mortgage standards. But a new court ruling is calling all of that clarity into question.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued the “qualified mortgage” definition three weeks ago, which told banks how they could reduce their legal liability under new rules that require them to ensure borrowers have the ability to repay a mortgage. (Here’s a look at what those rules mean for banks and consumers.)
Now, the authority of the CFPB’s director, Richard Cordray, is in doubt because he was appointed by President Barack Obama without Senate confirmation during the Senate’s recess early last year.
A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the president’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board—which were made at the same time as Mr. Cordray’s appointment—were unconstitutional. Though the case doesn’t directly address the legitimacy of Mr. Cordray’s appointment, the coordinated timing of the two greatly raises the prospect that the court would rule the same way in a similar suit challenging Mr. Cordray’s authority.
So what does all of this mean for banks and mortgage lenders? In Friday’s decision regarding the NLRB appointments, a soda bottler and distributor challenged an adverse ruling in a union dispute, saying the NLRB didn’t have authority because the recess appointments weren’t valid, leaving the agency without a quorum or the authority to conduct business. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed. Because the NLRB appointments weren’t valid, neither was their order.
Over at the CFPB, the implications could fall along the same lines: the QM rule that was issued on Jan. 10 might not be enforceable, were it challenged in court, if Mr. Cordray’s appointment was deemed invalid.
So does this mean banks may not have to follow the qualified mortgage rule issued by the CFPB? Not so fast. Here’s where things get really messy: the Dodd-Frank Act, which gave the CFPB’s director the authority to flesh out the “qualified mortgage” definition, also provides an alternate definition that was to take effect on Jan. 21 if the CFPB hadn’t exercised its authority to issue its own rule.
So if the CFPB’s 804-page rule isn’t valid, then the alternate definition spelled out in the Dodd-Frank law could kick in.
Until courts clarify the validity of Mr. Cordray’s appointment—and the rules that the CFPB just issued—banks face the prospect of having two different “qualified mortgage” rules: the 804-pager issued on Jan. 10 that takes effect next year (and which banks generally liked), and the alternate definition spelled out in the Dodd-Frank Act, which was to take effect on Jan. 21 of this year (and which would be much stricter for lenders).
It’s likely that it will take some time for all of this to get sorted out. The NLRB decision could get appealed to the Supreme Court, and the Treasury Department could intervene and say that it had authority, in the absence of a fully-empowered CFPB, to finalize the ability-to-repay rules.
But the clarity that lenders say they’re coveting may have to wait for the courts to weigh in.
Follow Nick @NickTimiraos
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Patrick Grady '70 to Discuss Latest Book at Arizona Historical Society
January 19, 2013
"Patrick Grady, a writer from Cave Creek, and author of Out of the Ruins, a history of frontier Phoenix from 1867 to 1881, will be the guest speaker" at the January 24 meeting of the Peoria Arizona Historical Society," reports the Peoria Times.
"Grady’s professional career was in city planning and development; in his last position, he served as Director of Community and Economic Development and subsequently, Downtown Development, for the City of Phoenix," notes the article. "Upon retirement, he returned to his passion for history. He has a B. A. in history from DePauw University as well as a master’s degree in history and Ph. D. work in urban history from Kent State University."
Read more at the Arizona newspaper's website.
Patrick Grady, a 1970 graduate of DePauw University, also authored Homesteading Along the Creek: Pioneer Life in Cave Creek, Arizona, 1890-1940.Back
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I'm working on writing a small 10 question quiz program. What I am trying to do in one of the questions is make it so only one out of the two possible answers will not be clickable. What I mean is when the user get's near the one check box it moves away from the mouse and will not allow you to select it. I"m thinking it's possible to do this with the mouse move event but im not sure how exactly to do write it.
I have done something like this with the mouse hover event. Basically I created like 4 separate instances of the same check box and positioned them around my form. I set all but the default box to invisible. Then using mouse hover I set the first one to invisible and the next one to visible, and so on. It works but not exactly what i was going after. I want the user to be able to chase the box all over the form or even off the form. I can't seem to find anything on doing this. I've searched and searched but keep coming up with nothing.
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The Holidays are and the stresses are on: preparing the food; planning the party; figuring out the gifts and how to afford them. It is easy to get caught up in your own world. That is why it is so memorable when someone takes the time to be kind to a stranger. They are still paying attention to others that might be in need. the kindnesses I have seen latley have prompted me to encourage others to be kind.
They were just small gestures from big schedules. I would like to say thank you to the man who let me go in front of him at the post ofice because I was in a hurry and just needed to buy stamps, and to the man who rushed over to help me carrry packages and to the driver who let me in when I got stuck in the wrong lane of traffic. When the holiday season is over and somehow everything has been accomplished, these are the simple gifts I will remember. The memories of rushing and choosing and what was given will fade, but these thoughts that made my day a little brighter and hopeful, will stay.
So while doing what needs to be done for you and yours, don't forget to take small moments to look around and see what might be done to make a strangers day a little easier. As the man who helped me said, "It's no big deal, we are just neighbors trying to get along." Be kind, why not? Then the true spirit of the season will make that stressful burdens a little lighter.
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UK & World News
Ikea Pulls Almond Cakes Over 'Faecal' Bacteria
Ikea has removed a batch of almond cakes from its restaurants in 23 countries after bacteria normally found in faecal matter was discovered.
Chinese authorities confirmed that the Swedish-made cakes had failed tests "for containing excessive levels of coliform bacteria", the Shanghai Daily website wrote.
The Swedish furniture giant said 1,800 Taarta Chokladkrokant cakes - described on its website as an almond cake with chocolate, butter cream and butterscotch - were destroyed in December after being intercepted by Chinese customs.
"These cakes never reached our stores," said Ikea spokeswoman YIva Magnusson.
"There are indications that the levels of bacteria found are low but we obviously have to know the exact amount, and find out how this happened," she added.
Ikea told Sky News that the countries affected do not include the UK.
A microbiologist at the Swedish National Food Agency, Mats Lindblad, said coliform bacteria "could be an indication of faecal contamination, though not always".
He said the bacteria was not normally dangerous for consumers.
Last week, Ikea pulled its trademark meatballs off the shelves in 25 countries after Czech authorities found traces of horse DNA in a batch of 1kg bags of frozen meatballs.
"It's very important to us that the products our customers buy are safe and secure to use and to eat," Ms Magnusson said.
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A thaw in the forecast
Obama takes aim at a Cold War remnant
A thaw in the forecast
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
Another day, another policy overhaul. President Obama said goodbye to the status quo yet again yesterday, flexing his executive authority to soften our traditionally hardline attitude toward communist Cuba. For the first time in decades (indeed, in the biggest policy shift since the ice age of the Cold War), Cuban-Americans can now visit the island as often as they want, and they can send money to their loved ones in whatever amounts they desire.
If you haven't been tracking our Cuba policy over the years - actually, there hasn't been much to follow, since the policy has been largely frozen since Fidel seized power 50 years ago - the Obama decrees on travel and money may not seem like such a big deal. But even these moves would have been unthinkable not that long ago; previous presidents didn't dare try to thaw any aspect of our Cold War stance, lest they suffer domestic political damage, particularly in the electorally pivotal state of Florida, where the populous Cuban-American community successfully punished any presidential candidate perceived to be a commie coddler.
But Obama's announcement is symptomatic of a fundamental shift in the Latino political calculus. The older Cuban-Americans in Miami, traditionally Republican, are still a force in the electorate - but not to the extent that they once were. They are joined now, on election day, by a growing number of younger Cuban ethnics who don't feel compelled to cast their ballots on the basis of the Fidel factor. For today's thirty-something Cuban-American, the events of 1959 are a distant, second-hand memory; they are far more likely than their elders to vote on the basis of the same issues that animate all Americans.
Moreover, there is apparently growing sentiment among Cuban-Americans for the kinds of policies that Obama announced yesterday. In 2007, a Florida academic poll discovered, for the first time in the survey's 18 years of queries, that a majority of the Miami Cubans favored an easing of the travel and money restrictions. (George W. Bush had actually toughened the travel restrictions in an '04 decree.) More than 60 percent favored a liberalized travel and money policy.
And not only is the Cuban-American community more ideologically diverse and apparently more tolerant these days, it is also less politically dominant within Florida's Latino electorate. In recent years, Latinos of Puerto Rican origin and Latinos of Central and South American origin have put down roots in great numbers, becoming citizens and putting their names on the voter rolls. (In 2008, Obama political operatives, recognizing in particular that Puerto Rican ethnics tend to vote Democratic, greatly aided this process by conducting voter registration campaigns.)
The results of these political shifts were evident last November. Obama won Florida by three percentage points overall - with considerable assistance from the state's Latinos, who favored him by a whopping 15 points. (Contrast that with 2004, when John Kerry lost the Florida Latinos by 12 points.) Obama didn't win the Cuban-American share of that electorate - he drew roughly 35 percent, far better than Kerry's '04 share - but Obama's massive statewide margin among Latinos is proof that the Cuban-American community no longer has the clout of yesteryear.
So with his domestic political flank covered, Obama can focus on the international politics. For instance, there are a number of left-wing Latin American governments that soured on Bush because of his tightened hardline stance toward Cuba; those governments have been courting China and Russia (and vice versa) on issues of trade and investment, and have been engaging in considerable anti-American rhetoric. Obama, by signaling the first step in a possibly extensive thaw in our Cuban policy, could potentially buoy our battered image in Latin America.
The big question, in the longer run, is whether Obama will indeed urge an extensive thaw and promote a normalization of relations. This would require shelving our decades-old trade embargo with Cuba - generally viewed as one of the untouchable third rails in American politics. (When Obama first ran for the Senate, he favored ending the embargo; as a presidential candidate, he did not.) The embargo clearly hasn't worked as intended; five decades ago, it was designed to economically isolate Fidel and precipitate his downfall. But there seems to be little appetite, within Obamaworld, to take this step in the foreseeable future, at least judging by how rarely the subject is broached.
But it's clear that the administration ideally intends to nudge us ever further away from the status quo. Yesterday, a National Security Council aide told the press that "U.S. policy toward Cuba is not frozen in time," and that the travel/money decree was "the place to start."
Obama apparently prefers to erase this final remnant of the Cold War in an incremental fashion - but, arguably, he need not be so cautious. A CNN poll reported last week that 71 percent of American favor the reestablishing of diplomatic relations with Cuba. A warm wind is at his back. The Obama long-range forecast is for a more extensive thaw.
An observation about the pirate saga:
It's another symptom of our national parochialism that the Somali pirate epidemic in the Indian Ocean - which has been raging for several years, at great cost to international shipping and trade - never got much play in the American press until now. But we all know the reason, although many of us are loath to admit it: An international crisis doesn't really exist until an American is directly endangered.
Even though Captain Phillips is now safe, and the yellow ribbons have been untied, perhaps there is still interest in the broader story. If so, I recommend reading this. It was published in, of all places, GQ magazine - and written by the East Africa bureau chief of The New York Times. If newspapers die, this kind of piece will likely disappear.
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"I wish I was an octopus," says Roy Cohn in Angels in America, " a f--king octopus." These days Tony Kushner, the man who wrote that line, is a f--king octopus. With life more chaotic than usual—good news and bad news coming at us faster and from more directions than we can handle—what part of it escapes his tentacles? (Story continued below...)
Consider: Kushner was a socialist long before the financial collapse led this magazine to declare that we are all socialists now. The administration has renewed its efforts to address the Middle East crisis, a subject that Kushner has been writing, speaking and generally making himself obnoxious about for years. He is a leading advocate for gay marriage at a time when the issue zooms toward public acceptance (he and his husband, the journalist Mark Harris, share the distinction of being the first same-sex couple to be featured in the Vows column in The New York Times). And just as a bookish lawyer from Illinois settles into the White House, he's writing a Major Motion Picture about Abraham Lincoln that Steven Spielberg will direct. Of the many strange things about American life, one of the strangest is that a 52-year-old gay Jewish Southern playwright finds himself—economically, politically, socially, culturally—so near the heart of the action.
Corporeally, however, Tony Kushner finds himself in Minnesota. Or did, anyway, on a recent Saturday afternoon, when he waved sheepishly and offered a wan smile and looked entirely uncomfortable about the attention he was receiving. To be fair, it was a lot of attention. He had come to the Twin Cities because the Guthrie Theater, one of the nation's leading regional theaters, was kicking off an unprecedented and wholly immersive two-month celebration of his work. All three of the Guthrie's stages would host performances of his plays, as well as lectures, talkbacks and screenings.
But at the kickoff ceremony, the focus wasn't on the writing, it was on the writer. On a platform in the theater's towering lobby, the mayor handed him a proclamation declaring it Tony Kushner Day in Minneapolis. Kushner was clearly honored, but his instinct is to self-deprecate. "I have, I guess, another 11 hours left of Tony Kushner Day," he told the rapt crowd of 100 or so. "Then I'll go back to wishing I was David Mamet."
I had come to Minnesota because I wanted to see what a life of brilliant art and progressive advocacy looked like in the age of Obama, and could think of no finer specimen than Kushner. I had expected—what with the Guthrie lavishing on him the kind of adulation that Fellini would consider over the top and the dawning of a new progressive age for America and all—to find him riding pretty high. But Kushner wasn't in excelsis: he was in extremis.
After the speech, I asked him how he felt about all the praise. "If only they knew," he said quietly. He declined to specify what, exactly, "they" didn't know. But the fact that I was escorting him through the labyrinthine halls of the Guthrie to the small, windowless office where he was going to spend the rest of Tony Kushner Day frantically trying to finish the new play on which the festival depended—the one set to open in just two and a half weeks—contributes to an answer.
Beyond staging revivals of his plays, the Guthrie had commissioned a new work from Kushner: The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism, With a Key to the Scriptures—a title he adapted from a book by George Bernard Shaw that he found in his late grandmother's library. Though the festival had been announced more than a year earlier, his difficulties in finishing the Lincoln screenplay gave him a perilously late start on his new play. And because there were already 11 actors in a rehearsal room downstairs waiting for their lines, and buses zigzagging around town advertising the play, the show had to go on.
Kushner would call finishing this script amid all his other commitments the most demanding stretch of his professional life. It also turned out to be one of the most revealing. While he sat sequestered in his office (bare cubicle desks, cold overhead light, a fallout shelter's charm), the revivals of his plays elsewhere in the building revealed how work as politically engaged as Kushner's changes when our politics change. On his occasional breaks, his conversations revealed how a leading progressive reacts to Barack Obama's presidency. And the whole ordeal revealed how it feels for an artist to be plugged so completely into the 21st-century zeitgeist. For one thing, it is really, really tiring.
If you know of Kushner, chances are it's because of Angels in America, his two-part, seven-hour epic about gays, Mormons, AIDS, Roy Cohn and the national identity that exploded onto Broadway in 1993 and later became an HBO film directed by Mike Nichols. As Prior Walter grapples with a prophecy from heaven (delivered by an angel that crashes through his ceiling), the Mormon Republican lawyer Joe Pitt wrestles with his homosexuality and a half-dozen other vivid characters collide in moving and fantastical ways, Kushner delivers exactly what his subtitle (another riff on Shaw) proclaims his play to be: "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes."
Since then, Kushner's intuitions about society have added a new quality to the lyricism, humor and emotional power of Angels, one that the Guthrie festival makes clear: a freaky clairvoyance. A decade ago, Kushner wrote a play about a dowdy British woman who disappears into an obscure Central Asian nation, and the husband and daughter who go looking for her. By the time Homebody/Kabul opened in December 2001, the United States had invaded Afghanistan.
Next he wrote a musical based on his experiences growing up in a Jewish household with an African-American maid in Louisiana. A year after Caroline, or Change opened on Broadway, Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans, and suddenly the lines that a poor black woman sings to open the show, "There ain't no underground in Louisiana, there is only underwater," took on an eerie prescience. In fact, Kushner began hearing that phrase so often that his husband suggested "Eara Lee Prescient" should be his drag name.
At the Guthrie, Caroline now seems so prescient it's unnerving—so prescient it's absurd. If Kushner and the composer Jeanine Tesori tried to write a musical in which everybody is constantly singing about change a few months after an African-American rode the theme of change to the White House, they'd be called shameless opportunists. But this is a revival. Kushner really did write a play that evokes the spirit of Barack Obama's election four years before he announced his candidacy. He really did have Noah, the character based on his boyhood self, call Caroline (apropos of nothing) "the president of the United States." He somehow wrote an epilogue so keyed into its moment that what once felt bitter, even tragic—Caroline's daughter describing how her mother's sacrifices inspired her to fight for civil rights—now seems practically triumphant.
"What is it with you?" I asked him.
The day after Tony Kushner Day, he had emerged from his writing cave for a late dinner at one of the Guthrie's restaurants. He didn't come up with a good explanation for his psychic streak, but he did allow that the show's new resonance seemed "pretty cool" to him: "I would have assumed at some point, if the play lasted, there'd be an audience watching where there's an African-American president. But I didn't think it'd be in 2008."
Kushner has sharp features, dark-framed glasses and an affect that is at once academic and passionately engaged—making it as easy to imagine him strolling the quad with the rest of the adjunct profs as shouting imprecations in the faces of the other literati in some bygone European café. Particularly when the subject is politics, he talks very fast, conveying thoughts that have a tendency to divide, form squadrons, explore trails and reunite a sentence or two later. This happened when our conversation about Caroline became a conversation about Obama—specifically, Kushner's delight at his presidency so far. I wanted to know how he could reconcile his belief that Obama might be "a genuinely great president" with the fact that Obama isn't in favor of one of the causes dearest to Kushner: gay marriage.
"Pbbbht! Of course he's in favor of gay marriage!" Kushner said. "He's absolutely in favor. Does anybody actually believe that Barack Obama and Michelle Obama think that we shouldn't have—that this man who is a constitutional-law scholar—is it a complicated issue? Obama is capable of parsing infinitely more complicated questions than this. Read the Iowa Supreme Court decision—it's magnificently crystal clear. There's no issue here. It's over. It's done. Could the first black man or white man or Jesus Christ himself get elected in 2008 saying he believes in gay marriage? Of course not."
When Kushner talks about gay marriage, he uses a language of civil rights that evokes the era of Caroline: marriage, he said, would mean nothing less than "finally becoming complete citizens of this country." Kushner has worked to bring that about, through both his writing and his marching to protest California's Prop 8 in Manhattan earlier this year. He is also, in a sense, a living marker of how the issue moves fitfully but inexorably toward its resolution.
When Kushner and Harris met 11 years ago, "gay marriage wasn't even much of a phrase, let alone an issue," Harris told me. Their 2003 commitment ceremony made a splash in the Times. But last summer, when they had their legal marriage, nobody noticed. They didn't invite guests to join them at city hall in Provincetown; they didn't even write vows. "The meaningful part of it was walking into a government institution and having them be perfectly cool about giving us paperwork to fill out, just like any couple, and doing it," said Harris. "We said, 'Let's just go to city hall and get married and go to the beach'."
In Minneapolis, Kushner looked as if he could use some R&R. He'd never scheduled a production of a new play without a script before, and now opening night was approaching without even a glimmer of a finished third act. "I'm in a very peculiar cycle right now," he said. "I'm working all day long, every day. I didn't sleep last night at all." At all? "Two and a half hours. That's on top of the day before. It's been at least a week since I've had seven hours of sleep. I have to do that tonight." But he didn't.
Kushner admits to having "a certain degree of unhinged grandiosity that makes it hard for me to say I can't do six things," which is why, even into the fraught final stages of his writing process, he went on doing six things. He hosted a public conversation about a Caryl Churchill play that had been called anti-Semitic (Kushner defended her) and helped to organize a reading of his Lincoln screenplay, which he claims went very well, though its chances of getting filmed remain unclear (big budget, bad economy). The day after our Caroline conversation, he stopped writing to go talk to two groups of students at the University of Minnesota.
First up was the cast of an undergraduate production of A Bright Room Called Day, Kushner's first play, which used the story of young artists in Berlin reacting to Hitler's rise as a metaphor for Reaganism. Though Kushner looked happy to see the students and they beamed at him, his ordeal was breaking him down. As the actors set up the classroom all around us, he said something that I didn't quite catch, but that sounded as if he was asking me if he should "get a mean."
"What?" I said.
Working backward, I figured out that the question I'd half-heard was "I'm wondering if I should take an amphetamine."
"My doctor prescribed them three years ago and I've been carrying them around, but I've never taken one," he said. "I guess I probably shouldn't."
I told him this was where my professional interest as a journalist and my fondness for him personally collided, because if he took speed and started freaking out, I would definitely be writing about it. He laughed, and by then it was time to start the discussion—without chemicals.
After spending an hour talking to the actors about their dual responsibilities as artists and citizens, he crossed the hall to address students taking a course called Tony Kushner in America. Most of the questions he drew were friendly—adoring, even. But a young woman wearing a silver cross necklace told him she thought his plays demonized evangelicals—that is, people like her.
Kushner's response was a 10-minute symphony in the key of Everything That Is Wrong With Evangelicals. He didn't raise his voice, but with a level passion he proceeded to deny that he demonizes anybody, since he doesn't believe in demons; note the folly of a "literal" reading of the Bible, a text that must be interpreted to make any sense; explain why he was "very, very angry" about the way that evangelicals were depriving him of his civil rights by opposing gay marriage; accuse them of damaging America by trying to turn our pluralist secular democracy into a theocracy; and de-ride them for falsely claiming victim status despite their vast wealth and power.
"You seem like a lovely person," he told the young woman, now blushing bright red. "I hope I didn't suddenly turn into this"—and in lieu of a noun, he made an exaggerated snarling face and claws, drawing a laugh.
Anger seems to be, for Kushner, a kind of natural resource—a fuel that propels the machine. That's not unusual for lefty playwrights in New York. What is remarkable—and what the Guthrie festival reinforces—is that his instincts as a dramatist trump even his ferocious partisan sympathies.
In Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy, one of the short works that make up Tiny Kushner, the Guthrie's evening of one-act plays, Laura Bush reads Dostoevsky to Iraqi children killed by American bombs. The opening seems like a perfect setup for character assassination. On two prior occasions when I've seen the play performed, the audiences in the early going have greeted it as such. But Kushner is only laying a trap for the people who share his politics. As the play unfolds, it grants the first lady an aching moral conscience. In a deft reversal, it even indicts the audience that's intent on judging her, arguing that we share the responsibility for what the government does. Laura Bush may have left the White House, but at the Guthrie the message remains clear: we should be as guilt-racked as she is.
In a sense, this just means that Kushner anticipated the all-together-now vibe of the new era and is occasionally willing to write nice things about a Republican—which says more about other writers' tribalism than his independence. The really extraordinary quality of his political writing, though, runs deeper than partisanship. Seeing so many of his plays in quick succession, from Bright Room to the new one, makes the dynamic easier to spot.
However different their circumstances, Kushner's characters are (I like to imagine) standing on a beach, looking out at the sea, feeling the tide pull against the backs of their legs and the sand disappear under their feet. Before long, a wall of water—history—is bearing down on them. Self-regarding, stubborn, weak-willed, if well-meaning, they are swept away by their times. People appear in his plays not as some on the left and right want them to be—noble, heroic, pure—but richly, humanly imperfect. Even the Angel in Angels is a screw-up. "This age wanted heroes," says an artist in Bright Room, speaking for Caroline, the Homebody's daughter, Louis in Angels and, frankly, all but a very few of the rest of us. "It got us instead. A whole generation of washouts."
Kushner isn't shy about where this comes from. "Some of the best stuff I've [written] is about people with real problems," he said. "They're really unhappy, f--ked-up, tortured people. I didn't make all that stuff up. I am that. I'm a very complicated—as everyone is—complicated person with a lot of contradictions." It's no wonder he called writing his Lincoln screenplay "the hardest thing I've ever done"—harder even than Angels. Is any human being less like a Tony Kushner character—drowning in history, conquered by desires and phobias, unequal to the demands of the times—than Abraham Lincoln?
Three weeks later, Kushner looked depleted but used to it, like a public defender, or a mother of twins. When the new play's scenes were slow in coming—and were, even by Kushner's standards, fantastically difficult and dense—the Guthrie was forced to postpone the opening. Even with an extra week, he cut it close. The play's scenes had never been staged—or read, for that matter—in the right order until two days before the first official performance. A new scene was added less than three hours before the curtain went up. Director Michael Greif and his brave actors worked some kind of magic to get it over.
The Intelligent Homosexual's etc. tells the story of Gus Marcantonio, a retired Brooklyn longshoreman and communist who decides, in the summer of 2007, that he wants to die. His three grown children and his sister have come home to talk about it. Over more than three hours of stage time (with two intermissions), we watch family members argue with their spouses, lovers and siblings about Gus and each other but also (this being a Tony Kushner play) about Marxism, Christian Science, labor history and real estate.
The critics who attended press night have knocked the play for feeling unfinished. Well, yes. Even when Kushner has a smooth path to a world premiere, he goes on rewriting his plays for years. Yet some essential qualities are already plain.
This is, for one thing, the darkest play he has written, lacking anything like the warm benediction that closed Angels or the upbeat epilogue of Caroline. It also isn't a play that people will find prescient in a year or two: Kushner wants to lead the public conversation rightnow. He's written a moral response to the financial crisis, spurring the deep soul-searching that's only just getting underway in society. He's written, in effect, a family drama about the morality of money. It expresses a Marxist-tinged horror at the way our relationships are commodified in a consumer society: One of the sons talks about how money warps his relationship with a gay hustler. Gus contemplates suicide in part because it will leave his children a valuable piece of real estate.
But Kushner isn't a pamphleteer: he doesn't claim that Marx or anybody else has the answers. In fact, he is the leading playwright of the 21st century for the precise reason that nobody does a better job capturing the sensation that there are no answers anymore: that modern life means feeling your way instead of relying on one big theory, trying to keep a handle on an overbooked, hyperconnected, overwhelming world.
Only after seeing the play in front of an audience, Kushner said, did he realize why all its disparate concerns—politics, intelligence, homosexuality, family and the rest—ended up knocking around in this story. He was talking about the rewrites that still awaited him but could have been describing the task of the new president he admires so much or the challenge that faces the rest of us in our busy, fragmenting time: "Now I have to pull it all together."
Editor's note: After this story went to press, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that Kushner's new play would open on Broadway in spring 2010, produced by Scott Rudin. (When contacted by NEWSWEEK, a spokesperson for the show would not confirm details of future productions.) The producers asked the national critics not to review the play in Minneapolis— even though several had previously made plans to do so—citing a tradition of New-York-bound productions not being reviewed by New York critics. Also Kushner wanted more time to work on it.
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Study after study shows that more people are getting facial plastic surgery to perfect their social media close-up. Is it because the ability to see ourselves from multiple angles and megapixels makes us notice flaws we didn't know we had? Or is it because, as Betabeat's Jessica Roy says, "Social media has made self-presentation a blood sport?" She spoke with plastic surgeons and self-hating Skype users to figure it out:
"With a good degree of frequency, people will come in and say, ‘I saw myself in the mirror, but I didn't really notice it until I saw myself on Facebook or on my iPhone or iPad," Dr. Schaffner told us from his spa-like Midtown East office. "When you look in the mirror you're seeing the mirror image of yourself. But when you see yourself on social media, you're seeing yourself the way the world sees you."
For what it's worth, I prefer iChat's video chat feature to Skype and I believe it covers up a multitude of aesthetic sins. But maybe that's just me.
Facebook, Skype Give Cosmetic Surgery Industry a Lift [New York Observer]
Image via Robnroll/Shutterstock.
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Thai villagers began trickling back to their homes near a disputed stretch of the border with Cambodia on Thursday in a sign of easing tension after deadly clashes over an ancient temple.
But both Thai and Cambodian forces remained on alert a day after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the four days of fighting that began last Friday constituted "war".
Both sides have promised maximum restraint and deny beefing-up their forces, but witnesses on the Thai side saw tanks, armoured vehicles and fighter jets on the move.
Thailand and Cambodia blame each other for the clashes near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple that killed at least three Thais and eight Cambodians. At least 34 Thais and 55 Cambodians were wounded, according to statements from both sides.
The temple ruins, perched on a cliff overlooking the north Cambodian plain, have been a thorn in the side of relations between the neighbours since the 1950s.
The issue has blown up in recent years partly because of bitter divisions in domestic Thai politics with a pro-establishment "yellow shirt" activist movement whipping up nationalist feelings.
The governor of Thailand's Si Sa Ket province, Somsak Suvarnsujarit, said several thousand villagers had left temporary shelters and returned home.
"Many of those who come from villages further from the fighting range opted to go back," Somsak said, adding that in all, about 21,000 villagers had left their homes.
"Those in the villages right next to the scene of fighting were asked to stay back until it is really safe. For now, the situation remains uncertain and we have not got the all clear from the army."
In Cambodia's northern frontier areas, schools and temples have been turned into shelters for several thousand displaced people.
The Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers are heading to New York where they are due to present their cases to the U.N. Security Council on Monday.
Though the guns have been silent for three days and attention is turning to diplomatic efforts to restore calm, more forces have been heading to the area and witnesses spotted two Thai F-16 fighter jets flying within 10 km (6.2 miles) of Preah Vihear, for about 30 minutes.
The Thai air force said it was a routine exercise.
"We are not flexing muscles or provoking anyone," a spokesman said. "It was a regular air patrol."
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Our only choice, to deal with the world's increasing complexity, is more political and artificial instruction from our antiquated, top-down public sector. This industrial age president tells us we have no alternative but government growth and the Washington do-gooding he terms "collective action."
Obama sees a changing world. He would change America to match his vision of it. What he doesn't see is the institution most in need of transformation: the government under his command.
Republican or Democrat, we would all like to see a new era of progress and prosperity for our country. We all hope this president will allow our economy to be as successful as his campaigns were.
To that end, perhaps we should explore if there is another, more modern way to deal with our evolving challenges and their accumulated complexity.
Years ago, in another essay, I offered the advice that follows to President Bill Clinton. Since Obama has dragged the Democratic Party back to the pre-Clinton, old Democrat "era of big government," I offer it again, with only modest revision. Let's discuss government in a way most of us can understand.
Let's talk about sex.
Hell of a mess, isn't it? Risky and inefficient. The eternal conflict between the sexes. The time wasted on courtship. So many failed relationships and so few successful ones. Why does Mother Nature spend such energy on the mating dance: The gravitational tug of brightly colored feathers or a sequined inaugural gown?
Half the genes here, half the genes there. The ungainly act required to mix those genes together. Is it all necessary?
Why are there two sexes? Wouldn't it be more efficient if, like the amoeba, there were but one? Perhaps, inspired by his Affordable Care Act, this president could lead the country to a "single-payer" sexual system? Wouldn't it spare us unnecessary expense and anxiety? Surely the architects of Obamacare could contrive a less troublesome method of reproduction, designing the thing from scratch.
Biologists have great jobs: They think about sex and explore such questions. Their answers, conveniently, boil down to this: Inefficiency and failure have advantages. For all its uncertainty, there are vast benefits in the tumultuous chaos of sex.
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Lately, employers have really started to crack down on employee health. Lancaster General Hospital, for example, no longer hires people who smoke. And now CVS is taking it a step further.
CVS Pharmacy calls its "A Plan for Health". Employees have been told that they must report personal health information, including weight, body fat, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Workers must also be tobacco free or enroll in an cessation program by next year.
Those who refuse will have to pay $50 more for health coverage each month, totaling $600 a year.
Richard Hoffman doesn't agree. "I don't like it. I think some things are personal. And the company doesn't have a right to know. What we do on our own time is our own business."
CVS gave us this statement: "We want to help our employees to be as healthy as they can be, which is why we decided to implement this plan. Health care programs that incent employees to be healthier are not new. All personal health data from these screenings are collected and reviewed by a third party. Privacy is rigorously protected." - Mike DeAngelis, CVS Pharmacy
But, critics worry CVS will use the information and start firing unhealthy workers.
"That's exactly what's going to happen. That is what they are going to do. That's why they want to do this. They want to trim the fat, so to speak." Hoffman said.
CVS has 6000 stores and employs more than 80,000.
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Ship Sinks after Collision with Platform
According to reports, an investigation
is underway after a cargo ship collided with a gas platform in the North Sea and then sank.
The vessel, the Jork, struck the unmanned Viking Echo platform 40 miles north-east of Cromer, Norfolk.
The 2,000-ton vessel, which had been carrying grain from Lübeck in Germany, sank yesterday.
Sources said that the pipeline to the gas platform, which was not badly damaged, had been shut down.
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Last night, the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee took place in Washington, DC. 278 young spellers took the stage over the past week, with national TV cameras capturing the drama. We at OIF would like to extend a hearty congratulations to all the participants!
In perusing the biographies of the contestants, I noticed something interesting. When asked to list their favorite book, some interesting titles popped up.
And, of course, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Hunger Games ….
So I did an informal survey. And of 91 participants who listed a favorite book, fully 2/3 of them listed titles that have been reported to OIF as having been banned or challenged!
Now, far be it from me to draw any scientific conclusions from this study. But it does seem to confirm something I’ve known since I was a young, voracious reader: books are an essential part of a good education. Providing access to books — even controversial ones — helps kids (and adults), sparks imagination, and often leads to great things.
And The Phantom Tollbooth is, indeed, the best book ever.
- Jonathan Kelley, OIF Program Coordinator
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the Pickle Project. Each of those situations made me really think about why missions matter--and how we can delve deeper into them.
Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. When we arrived, we paid admission and then were asked to gather at a desk in the lobby to wait for a staff member to provide an orientation. Okay, fair enough. We stand around, other groups of visitors stand around, we wait for a visitor to come out of the bathroom and have a staff member say, "oh, you're back!" which is sort of a strange way to start a visit. Thus gathered, we're led down the ramp to the lower level. Ah, I think, here's where we'll hear about what tolerance means, or what the museum hopes to do, or what its mission is. Nope! We hear that one exhibit is to the left, one to the right, bathrooms upstairs. After the visit, I went back to the museum's website. It says that the museum is dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination in our world today. Why would you not introduce/reinforce/engage visitors with that powerful idea when they enter your museum? A totally missed opportunity at a place where I expected much more.
At a StEPs-CT training in Connecticut, I asked participants to introduce themselves to the group with their organization's mission statement. Out of the group of 25, I'd say easily half were virtually identical. "Collect, preserve, educate..." "history of x town, Connecticut, the nation" "collect real and personal property" and the long list of activities including historic markers, publications, exhibits, presenting, educating, taking care of historic buildings. Only one or two mentioned the audience in ways other than the phrase, "the general public." The next day, we had a great discussion about those mission statements--about why they're important and not just boiler plate--a discussion greatly helped along by AASLH's StEPs program and its benchmarking checklist. When your mission is the frame for your work, or the sieve through which all your activities must pass, it just makes sense to have a mission that really matters--and to make sure that everyone knows what it is.
Some time ago, Dorothy Chen-Courtin provided workshop participants with a useful way to think about mission--one I've continued to share with others. She encouraged us to keep asking why or so what? Why do you collect things? Because no one else does. So what? Because they're disappearing. So what? The goal is to push, push, push until you really figure out the why--the meaning; who it's for; and what your lasting impact will be. In writing this post I looked at many, many museum mission statements thanks to Google. And I've come to think that "appreciate the history of..." is just not enough. I can appreciate all kinds of things without wanting to make any effort to go any deeper. Is appreciate in your mission statement? Can you make a case for why? And if your organization has a hard time attracting donors or community interest--could it be that your mission just doesn't inspire passion or commitment?
Anne Ackerson of Leading by Design for sharing many of these).
- The National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, chronicles key episodes of the American civil rights movement and the legacy of this movement to inspire participation in civil and human rights efforts globally, through our collections, exhibitions, and educational programs.
- The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center¹s mission is to preserve and interpret Harriet Beecher Stowe¹s Hartford home and the Center¹s historic collections, create a forum for vibrant discussion of her life and work, and inspire individuals to embrace and emulate her commitment to social justice by effecting positive change.
- Through its preservation, research and interpretive initiatives, Historic Cherry Hill focuses on one Albany family’s search for order and stability in response to personal and social change, encouraging the public to establish an emotional connection and critical distance in order to gain perspective on their own history and lives.
- The mission of the Minnesota Historical Society is to foster among people an awareness of Minnesota history so that they may draw strength and perspective from the past and find purpose for the future.
- The Brooklyn Historical Society connects the past to the present and makes the vibrant history of Brooklyn tangible, relevant and meaningful for today's diverse communities, and for generations to come.
- In writing mission and vision statements, The Historical Society of Woodstock drew inspiration from that community's rich and varied artistic traditions:
The Historical Society of Woodstock will be the common thread that brings together the rich and colorful tapestry that is Woodstock. The society then provides a more detailed mission:
The Historical Society of Woodstock shapes our future through a shared understanding of our past. We accomplish this by:
. Creating engaging programs for all ages. Collecting and caring for our history. Encouraging and undertaking research and documentation of our history. Making it possible for all of us to share in our history
- The Pacific Science Center has what seems like a sparely worded mission: ...inspires a lifelong interest in science, math
and technology by engaging diverse communities through interactive and
innovative exhibits and programs. But that mission is accompanied by a passionate vision statement:
We envision communities where children and adults are inspired by science, understand its basic principles and bring their scientific curiosity and knowledge to bear in the world.
- Bringing curiousity and knowledge to bear in the world.
Why by markheybo , Questions by Gurdonark both on Flickr.
Museum of Tolerance parking garage and stickers.
Museum of Tolerance parking garage and stickers.
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The U.S. Department of Justice has sued the pharmaceutical company Forest Labs about the marketing of the antidepressant Celexa for use by children. It’s an affair about bribery, illegal marketing and cover-up of a drug trial with negative results. The company has set aside $170 million to settle the civil aspects of the matter with the government. That does not cover the potential criminal law violations. What has not been told is the important role played by the renowned European Professor of Psychiatry Dr. Anne-Liis von Knorring in this affair. She not only helped the company to cover up the bad results of her clinical trial of Celexa, she also actively misled doctors and the public about it.
Read the full story on http://jannel.se/celexa-cover-up.pdf
Reporter - investigating psychiatry
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Touch Our Fears
It might not be the first place you go when you are looking for a good novel—horror. Or maybe it is where you spend your time with your pleasure reading. Fear is a valid emotion to tap with the reader and it’s certainly a mainstay of horror writers. It’s also key for other types of fiction such as suspense, supernatural or thriller writers.
I was fascinated with Terrence Rafferty’s piece on this topic, The Thinking Reader’s Guide to Fear which appeared in last Sunday’s New York Times. Here’s a small snippet of his well-written article which caught my attention, “Enjoying horror stories, as I do, or finding them inherently pointless, silly and unwholesome, as many others do, is largely a matter of taste and temperament and is therefore unarguable. So rather than attempt to convert anybody, I’ll just try to explain, with as little defensiveness as possible, what attracts me to this often indefensible genre. Since I don’t actually believe in the existence of ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, I’m able to read horror fiction with a degree of equanimity, admiring the narrative skills of its best practitioners — whose storytelling, like that of most genre writers, tends to be classical, even old-fashioned — and allowing its bold, defiantly unsubtle metaphors to rattle around in my mind. To get anything out of horror, you have to be willing to surrender to those metaphors. Vampires may not be real, but the voracious, apparently unkillable, only nominally human predators they represent certainly are. (Chances are you’ve worked for at least one of them.) Zombies? Don’t ask.”
“The ability to embody your fears and anxieties and revulsions metaphorically may or may not give you pleasure or contribute in any measurable way to your mental health, but it’s a perfectly legitimate function of the working brain: one of those operations that help you maintain the appropriate respect for the power and weird beauty of unreason, its relentless prankishness, its capacity to prick us with sudden joys and sudden dreads. Horror fiction, even at its direst, frequently betrays an unexpectedly giddy quality, a sense of heedless, headlong freedom that’s the proper effect of a good metaphor, building and rolling and breaking like a wave of the sea.”
While Christian fiction doesn’t use vampires or zombies in their books, many writers do tap into the emotion of fear in their plot twists. Brandilyn Collins writes suspense fiction and I’ve enjoyed a number of her recent books. Ann Byle’s recent book includes a chapter about Collins’ fiction saying, “The lure, she says, is that suspense fiction is realistic. Its power manifests itself in sheer numbers of movies and television shows that have to do with crime or suspense, a trend Collins sees as beneficial to her kind of writing.”
“‘We live in a very evil world and that’s reality; more and more people want fiction to represent that reality. There are a lot of people out there who love suspense, and in the general market it has been very successful. Why not give Christians an alternative? Give them a good, strong suspense novel that has God’s message woven into it,’ says Collins.”
While you may turn away from the word “horror” in fiction, just look at this little fact from the Horror Writer’s Association media page: “Did you know that horror is one of the most pervasive literary types? Elements of horror can be found in almost every genre including mainstream, literary, science fiction, romance, thrillers, and mystery/suspense.” You may be surprised to learn there is a Horror Writer’s Association. You can follow the link to learn about the history and more about this genre. One of my friends Joe Nassise who is an active member at Scottsdale Bible Church, is a recent past president of this writer’s group. If you look around his website, you will see his horror fiction has been endorsed from some instantly recognizable names of bestselling authors.
I have two lessons that I draw about the writing life. First, fear is a valid emotion to touch in your fiction writing and use as an element as you create excellent fiction. Second, as Christians let’s not put unnecessary boundaries on our own potential. You can approach a genre like horror from your own worldview and provided your storytelling is excellent, you can be effective as a writer.
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Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Obama’s rumored potential Supreme Court pick to replace John Paul Stevens, has a history of supporting abortion, repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and expansion of the president’s regulatory power and has touted controversial White House regulatory “czar” Cass Sunstein as the “preeminent legal scholar of our time.”
‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’
While she served as dean of Harvard Law School in 2003, Kagan blasted an e-mail to students complaining that military recruiters had come to the campus, violating the university antidiscrimination policy, the Washington Post reported.
“This action causes me deep distress,” Kagan wrote. “I abhor the military’s discriminatory recruitment policy.” It is, she said, “a profound wrong – a moral injustice of the first order.”
The Post noted that Kagan’s position was entirely contradictory to the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in support of the military recruiters.
Kagan was also one of dozens of law professors to sign a Supreme Court amicus brief in Rumsfeld v. FAIR in opposition to the Solomon Amendment, a federal law denying taxpayer funding to colleges that have policies barring military recruiting on campus.
In 2005, Kagan distributed a note to the Harvard Law School community explaining that the Department of Defense notified Harvard University that it would withhold all federal funds if the law school continued to prohibit the military from being welcomed on campus. She then reluctantly lifted the ban for the fall 2005 recruiting season.
“I have said before how much I regret making this exception to our antidiscrimination policy,” she wrote. “I believe the military’s discriminatory employment policy is deeply wrong – both unwise and unjust. And this wrong tears at the fabric of our own community by denying an opportunity to some of our students that other of our students have.”
Kagan helped organize and moderate Harvard Law School’s 2007 Lambda Gay and Lesbian Legal Advocacy Conference, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” where she was shown appreciation for her support of the homosexual community.
Kagan was introduced by Harvard law student Alexis Caloza, who thanked Kagan for “her continuing support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community here at Harvard.”
Caloza continued, “She has been a staunch critic of the Solomon Amendment, and in the months leading up to and following the Supreme Court’s decision in FAIR v. Rumsfeld, she met regularly with students to discuss ways in which the Law School could help ameliorate the harmful discriminatory effects of the Solomon Amendment and ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ generally. This conference would not have been possible without the tremendous support HLS Lambda received from Dean Kagan and her office.”
Solicitor General Elena Kagan
Speculation about sexual orientation
The White House harshly criticized CBS News this month after it ran a column by blogger Ben Domenech claiming Kagan is an open lesbian.
Domenech wrote that Obama “would please much of his base” by picking Kagan because she would be the “first openly gay justice.”
The Washington Post reported an unnamed Obama administration official said she is not a lesbian. Likewise, former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn accused CBS News of “posting lies.”
Domenech then added the following update to his post: “While Karlan and Sullivan are open about it, I have to correct my text here to say that Kagan is apparently still closeted – odd, because her female partner is rather well known in Harvard circles.”
CBS News deleted the column posting. Domenech later questioned the White House attack in a column at the Huffington Post.
“I erroneously believed that Ms. Kagan was openly gay not because of … a ‘whisper campaign’ on the part of conservatives, but because it had been mentioned casually on multiple occasions by friends and colleagues – including students at Harvard, Hill staffers, and in the sphere of legal academia – who know Kagan personally.”
Domenech wasn’t alone in his initial belief that Kagan is a lesbian. Numerous blogs that cater to the homosexual community such as 365gay.com, Queerty and On Top Magazine have identified Kagan as “openly gay.”
Public funding of abortion
Pro-life advocates say Kagan has supported public funding of abortions.
Americans United for Life reported, Kagan has “publicly and repeatedly criticized Rust v. Sullivan, a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding federal regulations that prohibit recipients of Title X family-planning funds from counseling on or referring women for abortions. Ignoring the American public’s opposition to the use of taxpayer dollars to directly or indirectly subsidize abortion, Kagan argued that the regulations amounted to the subsidization of ‘antiabortion’ speech.”
According to National Review Online, when she was a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1987, Kagan wrote a memo in the case of Bowen v. Kendrick stating that faith-based groups shouldn’t play a role in counseling pregnant teens because they would impose their own religious beliefs on the teens. She explained:
The funding here is to be used to support projects designed to discourage adolescent pregnancy and to provide care for pregnant adolescents. It would be difficult for any religious organization to participate in such projects without injecting some kind of religious teaching. … [W]hen the government funding is to be used for projects so close to the central concerns of religion, all religious organizations should be off limits.
In 2009, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, told Life News her group urged pro-lifers to contact senators in opposition to Obama’s then-selection of Kagan as solicitor general.
“In the past Kagan has been a strong supporter of the proabortion agenda,” Dannenfelser said. “She has vigorously opposed the defunding of taxpayer-funded clinics which promote abortions, despite the fact that a majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars to fund abortion providers.”
Kagan: Give president more regulatory power
As WND’s Aaron Klein reported, Kagan has advocated for an increased presidential role in regulation, which, she conceded, would make such affairs more and more an extension of the president’s own policy and political agenda.
Writing in the Duke University law journal on the issue of the presidential role in regulation, Vanderbilt law professor James Blustein quoted Kagan extensively regarding her views on the issue. Blustein himself was President George W. Bush’s pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a position now filled by regulatory “czar” Cass Sunstein.
WND found that in his academic paper, Blustein quoted Kagan, formerly a senior member of President Clinton’s White House domestic-policy staff, asserting, “[W]e live today in an era of presidential administration,” an assertion that, she acknowledged, might be “jarring” or “puzzling” to some.
Kagan argued, “Presidential control of administration, in critical respects, expanded dramatically during the Clinton years, making the regulatory activity of the executive-branch agencies more and more an extension of the president’s own policy and political agenda.”
Kagan herself, writing in the Harvard Law Review in 2001, argued that an increased presidential role in regulation “both satisfies legal requirements and promotes the values of administrative accountability and effectiveness.”
William F. West, a Texas A&M professor who specializes in federal administration, told the Boston Globe last year, “She is certainly a fan of presidential power.”
Cass Sunstein: ‘Preeminent legal scholar’
While she was a dean at Harvard, Kagan hired numerous high-profile law professors. One was Cass Sunstein, the current controversial White House regulatory “czar.”
The Boston Globe reported when Kagan announced her choice of Sunstein for the position, she touted him as “the preeminent legal scholar of our time.”
As WND reported, Sunstein has argued interpretation of federal law should be made not by judges but by the beliefs and commitments of the U.S. president and those around him.
“There is no reason to believe that in the face of statutory ambiguity, the meaning of federal law should be settled by the inclinations and predispositions of federal judges. The outcome should instead depend on the commitments and beliefs of the President and those who operate under him,” Sunstein argued.
This statement was the central thesis of Sunstein’s 2006 Yale Law School paper, “Beyond Marbury: The Executive’s Power to Say What the Law Is.” The paper, in which he argues the president and his advisers should be the ones to interpret federal laws, was obtained and reviewed by WND.
WND also reported Sunstein wrote it is “desirable” to redistribute America’s wealth using “environmental justice.” He argued that global climate change is primarily the fault of U.S. environmental behavior and can, therefore, be used as a mechanism to redistribute the country’s wealth.
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Moderator: Super Moderators
Parker wrote:vonpenguin, your nephew, the captain of the guard, told you what happened or he openly told to everyone at the court? If that was managed in private, the punishment most fitted it's the one mentioned before: penance and demotion. He's a nobleman, the guard was in his hand, his fault was to your persona, the Lord, for acting without your consent.
As a result of his action, two things happened: 3 guards were dead (this is not a big concern: he's the captain of the guard, it's expected that soldiers will die defending the land. If he has to give reparations to their families it has to be a small one. The disobedience it's his real fault) and a 'guest' could be offended. The guest, he raise a case against you or your house? He knows what really happened? Honor bound, you may feel like reparations are at hand, but his religious practice incite this kind of things on the hearts of your men. Honor bound, you can't make the priest responsable for the deaths (if you weren't, I'll make the priest prove his words). If I were you, I'll give reparations in ways that he doesn't want: make your nephew pray for him and for the dead guards and their families to the seven at the sept, every night for the next month. And give your word that this will never happen again.
R'hllor it's an enemy of the faith to many septs. Dont give great reparations to the priest or your people will turn against you. He's a guest and nothing else. Put a few men of the guard to protect the red priest for now on (protect AND watch every of his movements), and make your nephew to prove his loyalty to you on a future ocassion (he owns you a favor for not being to rash on your punishment: remember him that you could have make him to wear the black).
By the way, a trail to combat with a man that could easily defeat three men its NOT a good idea.
Legate wrote:I am not sure how it works with the Red Priests, but in the Medieval era of history the Church would expect their represntatives be taken care of and kept safe while staying at a Lords home while on their travels (I'm talking Fathers and such.) Are the Red Priests a recognized Religion or are they lay clergy?
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Our Mission and Vision
Pink Jams! is a Washington, DC area non-profit promoting early detection and breast cancer awareness to young men and women. By combining an important early detection and awareness message with fashion, art, social events, and live music, we are reaching out to men and women under the age of 40 – our target audience.
Launched in 2009 after the loss of a 35 year old friend, Pink Jams! works with local breast cancer organizations, young survivors and their families, media and news organizations, and medical professionals to advance its mission. In the end, our goal is to save lives and to eradicate the misconception that breast cancer screening should begin at age 40.
What makes Pink Jams! events unique is the live music. Every event we host partners with local, regional, and national artists giving them the opportunity to donate their time and talent to a cause that can affect us all.
Mission: Our mission is to save lives by promoting breast cancer awareness and early detection among younger men and woman (ages 18 – 40) by combining live music and the arts community (art, fashion, social events) – making the discussion of early detection and the on-going fight against breast cancer more comfortable and engaging to a younger audience.
Vision: "Great Music for a Great Cause" - Pink Jams! commitment to the fight against breast cancer is really about trying to save lives. Inspired by a friend who, at 35, lost her battle breast cancer, we will organize and engage young people in our efforts in promote awareness and early detection.
"Talking about early detection is serious, but doesn't have to be somber."
In order to fight the misconception that breast cancer only affects people later in their lives, and to engage younger men and women, it is important to reach out to them using their specific existing areas of interest: live music, social and networking events, arts, fashion, and social media. We encourage and provide an outlet for talented artists and musicians to work to promote breast cancer awareness also.
Pink Jams! provides small grants to local breast cancer charities that provide screenings and mammograms, health education, and direct services to breast cancer patients and their families.
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Consumers across all demographics have developed a taste for the creamy satisfaction and rich flavors of contemporary milk-based drinks, and vending operators are better positioned than ever to represent the booming category in their cold beverage mixes. From chilled cappuccinos to smoothies, a number of novel dairy beverages entering the channel constitute a departure from the classic flavored milks aimed primarily at younger consumers. And many can be stored and transported at ambient temperature, easing the logistical problems long posed by their perishability.
Gehl Foods (Germantown, WI) is making its vending debut with a line of vendible, shelf-stable dairy-based smoothies. Called Main St. Café Protein Smoothies, they're available in strawberry, peach and mixed berry flavors. The line is packaged in 11-fl.oz. bottles and offers an unrefrigerated shelf life of six months.
"We're packaging today's dairy trends to fit consumers' busy lives," said sales and marketing vice-president John Slawny. "Main St. Café combines the appeal of foodservice smoothies and niche protein products in a fresh, simple way for the broader beverage market."
The aseptic process responsible for the long unrefrigerated shelf-life involves heating the product to a "food-safe" temperature and then bottling it in a sterile environment. Slawny said an important objective in refining the aseptic process used to prepare and bottle the drink has been to maintain its fresh, creamy taste throughout the distribution cycle.
"We have advanced our aseptic technology to the point that we get it up to sterile temperature and back down in as little as three seconds, which maintains the fresh milk taste," Slawny explained. "When I began in the industry, we heated the milk for two minutes, and consumers could taste what that did to the product. The technology to hold the flavor has really come a long way."
The dairy was an innovator in the late 1960s when it began producing shelf-stable dairy-based products. Until recently, its focus was on producing bulk-packed product for the foodservice market. The smoothies mark Gehl's entry into the single-serve retail arena.
In Slawny's opinion, Americans may have become averse to buying milk from a vending machine because of the fear that it might not be fresh, or the perception that if it's shelf-stable, it won't taste fresh. Yet they are receptive to purchasing other dairy-based products from machines. He instanced the success in the vending channel of iced coffee drinks, like PepsiCo's Starbucks Frappuccino, which is primarily made of milk.
"If you're going to vend anything dairy-based, you have to get away from the comparison to traditional milk. It has to offer added value," he stressed. "Consumers perceive value-added products like our smoothies -- that are creamy, with real yogurt and fruit purée -- differently from traditional milk."
Additionally, with 10g. of protein and 30% of the recommended daily value of calcium, Gehl's Main St. Café smoothies are both nutritious and satisfying. This makes them ideal snacks or meal replacements for consumers on the go, from college students and commuters to exercise enthusiasts at fitness centers.
Slawny added that retail consumers have shown that they are willing to pay a premium for smoothies and protein shakes, which they perceive as more than a refreshment beverage. Gehl's Smoothies have a suggested $2.50 vend price.
WORTH THE PRICE
"There is a higher price that comes with shelf-stable products because of the cost of producing them," Slawny pointed out. "But the operator benefits from a six-month ambient shelf life, versus other smoothie products with 30 to 60 days.
"The vending operator doesn't have to worry about what will happen to the product if the plug gets kicked out of the wall, or how to warehouse it or get it out of the machine if it doesn't sell with a short code. This product changes everything."
The vending market also has been influential in the launch plans made by Upstate Niagara Cooperative Inc. (Buffalo, NY) for its new line of shelf-stable milk beverages, sold under the Crave brand in 12-fl.oz. aluminum bottles. The initial chocolate and strawberry-chocolate whole milk varieties are described as having a bold, fresh flavor and staying colder longer, thanks to the new "frost-flow" bottle.
"We're still establishing distribution and looking seriously into vending, which we can now really target as never before with the ambient shelf life," said Eva Balazs, product manager for the cooperative of dairy farmers. "It's very beneficial throughout the distribution channel to not have to refrigerate the milk, but then to sell it chilled. It opens up whole new possibilities."
The company has considerable experience with vending; it has been selling its fresh Intense-brand flavored milks to this segment since its 2000 launch of the single-serve PET line. Balazs reported that the Intense line has been well received by a wide audience, but as with most milk products, the limitation is the short shelf-life.
"We describe Intense as 'an explosion of flavor in your mouth,' which is something today's consumers really seek," Balazs explained. "It's far more flavorful than your basic chocolate milk, which really broadens the consumer base that drinks it."
The Intense line is offered in whole milk chocolate, vanilla and mint chip and 1% chocolate and strawberry varieties. The dairy also rotates limited-edition flavors through the mix, including the latest novelty: red velvet cake.
The dairy cooperative also offers traditional single-serve Upstate Farms brand milk in whole, 2% reduced fat and fat-free varieties, as well as lowfat mocha, vanilla cappuccino, chocolate and strawberry. Upstate Farms products are sold in schools, colleges and businesses; the company anticipates a similar market for its new Crave milks, but skewed more toward young adults.
"It's more of high-value offering; consumers pay more to offset the cost of the bottle and the processing, but they feel they get more," said Balazs. "The cool bottle especially speaks to young adults. And because the product is shelf-stable, it appeals to people who are out and about, from sports to camping." Upstate Niagara also is promoting the value chocolate milk offers to athletes and others involved in strenuous exercise, taking advantage of scientific research that has identified milk as a desirable alternative to conventional sports recovery beverages.
The dairy cooperative decided on a 12-fl.oz. portion size for Crave, according to Balazs, because it is more in line with the portion the typical consumer drinks with a meal. The 16-fl.oz. flavor-rich Intense line, on the other hand, is often consumed on its own as a meal replacement.
"We've seen rising demand for grab-and-go items, because people nowadays are busier and often consume on the run," said Balazs. "This is where conventional milk was at a disadvantage: you had to keep it refrigerated. Crave chills in 20 minutes, and in its aluminum bottle, it stays cold longer than most beverages. Or you can just throw it in your bag and put it in the refrigerator when you get where you're going, with no need for a cooler bag and freezer packs."
The product manager added that schools are not the prime target for the new drink, since they have the infrastructure to store and serve fresh milk, which can sell at a lower price. The vend price for conventional 16-fl.oz. Upstate Farms and Intense milks is $1.50, versus $2.50 for 12 fl.oz. Crave.
"Schools get deliveries several times a week, so we can serve them regionally with single-serve fresh milk," she pointed out. "When we ship far away, which we're now able to do, shelf-stable milk comes into play for distribution and storage purposes at the other end." She added that schools remain a big market, and said the company is keeping close watch as the U.S. government develops federal school nutrition guidelines to ensure it is ready to offer products that comply.
Byrne Dairy, based in nearby Syracuse, NY, has also been addressing the vending market in recent years. Its major single-serve push began when the dairy added a single-serve bottle filling line at its ultrahigh temperature processing plant, which has been running since 2009. The technology allowed Byrne Dairy to extend the shelf life of its popular single-serve PET bottles to 120 days, versus the traditional 18-day standard.
Director of sales Eric Greiner told VT that before it converted to UHT processing, Byrne was confined to delivering its milk to customers within a 180-mile radius, on routes that retrieved the milk cases after making deliveries. "Now we can use a common carrier and ship to Virginia, offering a 100-day shelf life, with far fewer returns," he said. "We were limited to New York state distribution. Now we can effectively supply the eastern half of the country."
The longer shelf life also enables the dairy to produce more flavored varieties, ranging from chocolate and strawberry to mocha cappuccino and vanilla. "In the big picture, flavored milks are slower movers than white milk; the minimum run size is small, which is ineffective for a fresh plant," Greiner explained.
He noted that Byrne has seen single-serve sales rise 50% since converting from fresh to extended shelf-life products. Much of that increase is attributable to the addition of new flavors, and to the new ability it has given many of its customers who previously could not deal with the short shelf life of conventional milk.
Greiner pointed out that while the technology to extend the shelf life increases the wholesale cost to the operator, the reduction in out-of-dates and reduced service frequency offset the higher price.
"We've seen wide demand in all types of locations since we've been in vending, and more so with the UHT product," he said. "Milk is finding a real prominent place among other drinks. Consumers are more health conscious. In vending especially, it offers an alternative to mainstream drinks and complements a lot that is available, whether sandwiches or cookies. Food drives milk consumption."
Greiner told VT that Byrne Dairy is developing new value-added products, including milk drinks fortified with more protein and electrolytes that add another level of nutritional benefit for today's increasingly health-minded and mobile consumers.
John Imbesi, president of North American Beverage Co. (Ocean City, NJ), says the market for premium flavored milks like his company's flagship Chocolate Moose continues to grow as consumers gravitate toward drinks that not only refresh, but satisfy with a rich, indulgent taste and a nutritious profile. Adding to Chocolate Moose's appeal, from the vending operator's perspective, is the two-year ambient-temperature shelf life of the 12-fl.oz. cans. They vend for $1 to $1.50.
"Just about everyone likes chocolate, and Chocolate Moose, like the dessert it's named after, is a liquid chocolate treat," said Imbesi. "Yet the main ingredient is fat-free milk: it's cholesterol-free and offers all the nutritional benefits of milk. So healthwise, it also appeals to all audiences." Publicizing the beverage's healthy attributes to consumers, Chocolate Moose has earned the American Heart Association's "Healthy Heart" checkmark and the American Dairy Association "Real" seal, both displayed boldly on the packaging.
Imbesi added that the key to a well-balanced diet is moderation, and that the 12-fl.oz. portion is just the right size to be satisfying, but not excessive.
Increased attention to health and wellness probably was a key driver of Chocolate Moose's double-digit growth last year. "When you have a product that's good for you, it's extra important that it tastes good," Imbesi emphasized. "Our Chocolate Moose is perceived as a treat, and it needs to live up to that expectation."
In addition to cans, the dairy drink is offered in ambient 16.9-fl.oz. bottles in the original chocolate and cookies and cream and strawberry flavors, which Imbesi says are equally rich and satisfying. North American Beverage Co.'s strawberry Mega Moose, with a slightly higher fat content and fortified with vitamins A and D, is marketed as a kid-friendly energy drink alternative.
The company entered the beverage arena in 1995 with the launch of Chocolate Moose, and has established a presence in vending primarily through Pepsi bottlers who merchandise it in their machines.
Imbesi sees plenty of room for expansion in the vending channel. "It's perfect for vending, since spoilage is not an issue and it's a refreshing treat that's different from soda nutritionally; and because it's creamy and chocolatey," he said.
North American Beverage Co. expanded its lineup in 1998 with the addition of shelf-stable, milk-based Havana cappuccino in 15-fl.oz. bottles. The drink is made from premium arabica coffee beans and 1% milk; a diet version sweetened with Splenda is also available.
"There's big demand for coffee drinks with the sweet and creamy profile that consumers are used to getting in coffee shops, and Havana has been very well received," said Imbesi.
He emphasized that a key to success with milk drinks in the competitive beverage market is to recognize that it's not just kids who drink them. Today's consumers have sophisticated palates, and demand the superior taste and more healthful nutrition profile that comes from top-of-the-line ingredients. North American Beverage Co.'s products feature real milk rather than artificial substitutes, and premium ingredients like arabica coffee beans and cane sugar in both its chocolate and coffee drinks, he pointed out.
The advent of milk-based beverages with wide appeal at retail, plus storage and handling characteristics allowing them to be integrated into typical cold-drink vending routes, continues the marketing revolution launched by the dairy industry's Milk Processor Education Program more than a decade ago.
The challenge identified by MilkPEP was to restore the beverage to its former prominence in the away-from-home market by positioning it as an appealing drink in its own right, not just an adjunct to a meal, and by developing new flavor varieties and packaging that would appeal to the contemporary demand for "grab-and-go" convenience.
These initiatives had obvious appeal to the vending industry, but vendors have had to deal with the consequences of their long success at selling milk to out-of-home consumers in workplaces. These people expected to find white and chocolate milk in the refrigerated food machine, and they bought it faithfully. They were not prepared to pay more for a larger portion, a modernized package and a wider flavor spectrum.
At the same time, operators recognizing the appeal of the new widemouth PET containers and other innovative packages, and those attractive new flavors, could not readily add them to their existing cold drink routes because they required refrigerated transportation and machines equipped with the same health controls as food venders. Forward-thinking vendors looked ahead to the advent of shelf-stable milk-based drinks that could overcome those constraints. Their patience is now being rewarded.
The new generation of premium dairy beverages seems to combine the appeal of milk to today's health-conscious market with a novel presentation involving new textures and flavor profiles. These attributes are combined in products that can command the higher price needed to offset the added expense of ultra-high-temperature processing. And the vending industry's shift toward payment systems that no longer make higher-priced purchases inconvenient may provide the finishing touch. The result is a genuinely new cold drink category addressing a contemporary demand that vending is able to meet.
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Over the weekend, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced that 51-year-old Albert Johnson had been arrested for the brutal rape and murder of two three-year-old girls in the 1990s. Johnson had been an early suspect in both cases, but despite the fact that the state had samples of his DNA on file for more than a decade, it never bothered to test it against the DNA found in the little girls.
That's because Mississippi District Attorney Forrest Allgood decided early on in both cases that he had his man, and little could convince him otherwise. One of those men is Kennedy Brewer, a mentally handicapped man who served more than a decade on Mississippi's Death Row, then served another five years even after DNA evidence had cleared him. Allgood insisted on retrying Brewer anyway, arguing that bite marks on the little girl's body matched Brewer's teeth.
Curiously, Allgood resisted testing the DNA from the crime scene against that of a man he had earlier convicted of an eerily similar crime—another rape and murder of a young girl in the same area. It now seems clear why Allgood resisted the test. As it turns out, the man he'd convicted for that crime, Levon Brooks, is innocent, too. Brooks had been sentenced to life in prison.
Hood is expected to announce on Thursday that Brewer has been completely exonerated. A similar announcement for Brooks could also come Thursday, or perhaps a few days after.
Had Allgood not fixated on Brooks after the first murder, he may have been able to prevent the second. Instead, we have two little girls dead, one man wrongly incarcerated for nearly two decades, and another who came perilously close to execution. And of course, there's also the matter of a two-time child rapist and murderer running free for 15 years.
In both cases, District Attorney Allgood asked Dr. Steven Hayne to perform the autopsies on the little girls. Dr. Hayne then called in his longtime collaborator Dr. Michael West to perform "the West phenomenon," a bit of quackery using fluorescent lights and yellow goggles that West says enables him to see bite marks no one else can spot. West was Allgood's star witness in both cases. In fact, after the DNA test exonerating Brewer in 2001, West's testimony was all Allgood had left, and was the reason he insisted on keeping Brewer in prison until late last year. In the Brewer case, the defense called an actual, board-certified medical examiner, who testified that the marks weren't from human teeth at all, but bug bites due to the body's exposure in a woods.
The weekend's events put a big, fat exclamation point on the corrupt, good ol' boy forensics system in Mississippi I reported on in a feature for reason last November.
My article focused mainly on Hayne, but Allgood and West also made appearances. Dr. Lloyd White, one of Mississipppi's last two official state medical examiners, left his position in disgust after trying and failing to rein in Dr. Hayne and the state's prosecutors and coroners. This passage seems particularly relevant:
White also cited a case in which he had performed an autopsy on a woman who’d been found dead in her bathtub. White concluded it wasn’t immediately possible to determine a cause of death; he needed to wait for the results of toxicology and microscopic tests. According to White’s letter, he soon received a phone call from Hayne, who told him the body had been taken to Hayne’s office for a second examination at the request of Forrest Allgood, the district attorney for Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, and Oktibbeha counties. Although White was the state medical examiner at the time, he said the second autopsy was performed “surreptitiously, without my knowledge or permission.” Allgood already had a suspect he wanted to charge with the crime, White said, and “he was afraid my autopsy wouldn’t provide him with the evidence he needed.” (Allgood’s office did not respond to requests for an interview.)
According to White, Hayne told him he had concluded that the woman was strangled. White said Hayne then suggested it would be in White’s “best interest” to issue a report agreeing with him.
White's replacement also resigned in disgust after butting heads with Hayne, West, and the state's coroners and prosecutors. The office has been vacant since the mid-1990s, giving Hayne and rogue prosecutors like Allgood free reign.
This also isn't the first time an Allgood death penalty case has been overturned. In 1990, he convicted an 18-year-old mentally handicapped woman of killing her infant son. She was acquitted and released from death row after being granted a new trial due to problems with (surprise!) the conclusions drawn by the medical examiner Allgood recruited to perform the autopsy on the boy.
Since my article (and accompanying op-eds in the Wall Street Journal and the Jackson Clarion-Ledger) ran, very little has changed. That's too bad, because my sources in Mississippi tell me all the appropriate people down there were made aware of it, several times over.
Defense attorneys are more keen to Hayne, now, and are filing briefs challenging his status as an expert witness. But thus far, they've found little sympathy from the state's courts. Hayne is still doing autopsies in Mississippi, and judges are still letting him testify. Last November, the new judge in Cory Maye's case dismissed a brief in which Maye's lawyers asked that they be allowed to question Hayne's credentials. He said the case needed "closure." In another case, the court refused to grant an indigent defendant the funding to hire his own expert witness to review Dr. Hayne's autopsy. In both cases, attorneys cited my reporting on Hayne. My reporting on Hayne was also brought to the attention of Mississippi's State Supreme Court in the January 2007 case appeal of Tyler Edmonds. That case represented the first time the court had ever tossed out Dr. Hayne's testimony. Allgood was the prosecutor in that case, too.
So Mississippi's courts, lawmakers, and executive agencies are all well aware of the problem. They simply aren't interested in doing anything about it.
Attorney General Hood is doing the right thing in exonerating Brewer and (likely) Brooks. But it shouldn't stop there. It's time for Mississippi to conduct a thorough review of every case in which Dr. Hayne or Dr. West has ever testified. In fact, there are other medical examiners in the state whose work has been called into question, too. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened. Similar reviews have been conducted in West Virginia, Houston, and Oklahoma City after deficiencies and fraud in crime labs were exposed.
It's probably also time to start looking at possible criminal civil rights violations by Hayne, West, and Allgood. The state's entire medical examiner system is in need of a major overhaul. But right now, it's more important to undo the damage already done, and free the people Hayne and West may have already wrongfully sent to prison.
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A couple days ago, while sitting with the illustrious Duncan Mackenzie, Richard Holland, and Claudine Ise, recording some musings on Chicago art at a bar in the middle of the afternoon, we started to talk about the tradition of socially engaged art in Chicago. I talk about this a lot, especially trying to figure out how to explain it to my students at University of Illinois at Chicago, where I co-teach a class introducing the subject with my colleague Faheem Majeed. I’ve been thinking lately about how to distinguish, at least for myself personally, what I think is good or bad or boring or exciting or challenging socially engaged art, a very murky field. When judging that kind of work, as I’ve talked about previously on this blog, what interests me is that socially engaged art struggles to address the world outside the world of art. And with that comes a struggle for the artist to engage not only in what kind of artist they want to be in the world, but also what kind of person they want to be. Thus presents a complicated dilemma, because oftentimes it feels like to judge this kind of work also always includes a judgment on how ethical we perceive the artist as a person to be. And so trying to avoid the trap of deciding who I think is the best person or the most righteous (because really, socially engaged art should have the license to upend our perceptions and not always make the world a better place), I’ve been leaning towards the idea of compasses as a way of getting me somewhere out of the quagmire. I mean compass as a sort of aspirational mechanism, wherein a constellation of people, projects, and places provide for me a navigational tool for a world off in the distance that I want to get to. Like for instance, Laurie Jo Reynolds is a compass, because she along with tons of other people spent years trying to close Tamms Supermax prison, and they did it and that is completely amazing. And the beautiful process by which that came to be drew on a set of aesthetic strategies that made it art, not only because it was creative activism, but because it also created a space for speculation, for not-knowing, for metaphor and poetry. Tamms Year Ten is a readily available example because of all that was accomplished, but there are a host of others operating at different scales, both historically and today. And other folks, who shall remain nameless, are just not creating a world I want to be part of because they don’t think about the aesthetic experience or they have lazy politics or the artist thinks its about the social world, but by that they just mean the art world, because its all they really think about. I’m working on articulating this, but it’s a start.
And when I start thinking about compasses, I believe I’m also speaking of narrative. The process by which we encounter the world as it is and speak of how to transform it is a space of art, but capturing that process is a difficult thing. It cannot often be brought to life after the fact without a good story attached.
This last Monday, Julie Ault came to speak at SAIC, mostly about a creative archiving practice that spans the last 32 years. In 2010, her edited version of Group Material’s seventeen year history (of which she was a founding member) came out in the form of Show and Tell: A Chronicle of Group Material. In the text, she’s found a way to create a compelling portrait of a long and complex collaborative process, rather than a theorized history, zoomed out from above. Documentation of their projects is interwoven with minutes of meetings, polemics, ranting about collaboration, internal disagreements; all of this to assert the primacy of their voices and a ground level vantage point, situating readers in the time of the projects. A micro-culture gets revealed and what we theorize with a backward view to context and circumstance gets complicated by interjections and digressions that resist a single vantage point. The story is the complexity of collaboration, the struggle with institutional legitimation and the exploration of artistic forms, most notably in their practice of exhibition-making as a kind of artwork.
The multiple viewpoints, the many different takes on a situation, the resistance to one kind of narration, is the struggle to how to understand participatory, socially engaged work. What this brings to mind, in this riff on orientation and documentation and archiving, is the fact that Mess Hall will close on March 31 after a ten year run. Mess Hall formed in 2003 when a landlord in Chicago was prompted to supply a storefront in the Rogers Park neighborhood free of charge after reading an article in the New York Times mentioning Chicago-based Temporary Services. Thus began a space for “visual art, radical politics, creative urban planning, and applied ecological design” in which no money was allowed to change hands. Its many keyholders have hosted a local and international socially engaged creative community as well as potlucks, free stores and seminars on participatory budgeting with the district’s Alderman. It was a welcoming-and-kooky-and-homey-and-sometimes-dogmatic-but-mostly-not-and really-just-all-over-the-place space. I remember in 2008, when this amazing weekend symposium happened called “What we know of our past, what we demand of our future,” organized by Brett Bloom and Bonnie Fortune, where a group I am involved with, InCUBATE, was invited to stage our project Sunday Soup, which involved selling soup for money that would go towards a creative project grant. But since the rules of no money changing hands was so strict, we had to sell our soup out on the sidewalk and it was January so, obviously, absolutely freezing to be out there. I also met Nato Thompson that weekend, which led to me working for a summer at Creative Time, and we ended up hosting Sunday Soup at the exhibition Democracy in America with Robin Hewlett and Material Exchange and meeting tons of people which in many ways spurred the Sunday Soup network on its way.
Last Saturday I went to one of their closing events, The Material Production of Cultural Spaces, which featured speakers on “exploring practical models for building counter-institutions that are non-commercial, consensual and community driven. Guest speakers will offer concise presentations on the labor, tactics, skills and monetary investments required to forge/forage alternative cultural spaces in Chicago.” One of those speakers was Sara Black, narrating the experience of the now defunct Backstory Café and Social Center in Hyde Park. And she spoke of Backstory much in the same way as these projects I’ve mentioned: complicated, messy, beautiful collaborations, speculative at the same time as concerned with real world applications. (Robin Hewlett speaks of this as well in her essay “Small Business as an Artistic Medium.”)I went there frequently, I was close with the organizers, and hearing something that you’ve lived through (even vicariously) spoken of through a narrative creates a jarring nostalgia and I’m sure brings up complicated memories for all that were involved. But the only way to really hear and feel and understand what was important about that place is through listening to its story, because you cannot have the affective experience of standing in that place, with those people, at that time. I often feel this sort of inside/outside dilemma of narration and storytelling when explaining some of my own experiences like closing the InCUBATE storefront in 2010. The more I tell that story, the more it is told using the same words and the same pictures, which feels a little sad but I know I’m lucky that people actually care about it too. Ault talked about this as well, that for a long time she and Doug Ashford (another founding member) thought that the best way to keep Group Material’s voice present was to narrate the experience in person rather than through a set text. I imagine that archiving one’s own experience is overwhelming, grappling with a long, formative, contentious group history that doesn’t want to go silently into the archive.
I really am going to miss Mess Hall. I say that with unabashed sentimentality. It will remain a compass for me because of its messiness, its utopian promise, its desire to be so wholly other than the typical art institution and outside the market, and because its sweet belief that social and economic justice could exist coterminously with a desire to be an ethical, socially-engaged culture-maker. Go see them before they close, the final party is on Friday, March 29. As they say: Join us for our final gathering in the space. We will say our farewells with a parade, a key-tossing ceremony and a night-long party. The current key-holders do not wish to leave the space alone. We will leave it as we found it: together.
PS: Never the Same is doing a free seminar this summer on archiving Chicago’s politically and socially engaged history, their call for participation is here!
Recently, while trolling the facebook site for Works Progress, an artist-led public design studion in Minneapolis, I came across a thread on Colin Kloecker’s page (who co-runs the studio with Shanai Matteson) compiling a list of must-reads on the subject of Creative Place-making. What I gathered from the thread and then from talking more with Colin is that we share an interest in how new funding opportunities, that are becoming available under the rubric of “creative place-making” (most significantly through granting organizations like ArtPlace), are affecting and intersecting with socially-engaged practices. Most recently this conversation came up in Chicago when Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation along with the University of Chicago and the Bruner Loeb Forum held a conference called The Art of Place-making.
Artplace was there in attendance, my highlights were the presentations by Kennedy Smith and Walter Hood, presenting on the importance of small business development and creative urban design respectively (arguably the two poles of Theaster’s initiatives.) There were tours of the various properties and lots of conversations about what is unfolding at Dorchester Projects, Stony Island Arts Bank, the Washington Park Arts Incubator, and all the rest in development. One of the moments that stood out for me came in a meeting leading up to the actual conference where Theaster convened community members, local organizations, and neighbors at Dorchester Projects to talk about what was going to happen at the forum and getting feedback on a smaller-scale. I ended up in a break-out group on the Washington Park Arts Incubator and the community-building initiatives now in formation. I don’t pretend to fully understand the complexity of that project, in that neighborhood, with that set of partners, and while I am really excited about what’s happening there, I am also struck by the enormous responsibility being placed on an artist residency program sited in a neighborhood with a historically decimated economic infrastructure. A lot of people spoke about needing educational programs or job training, or of the difficulty in explaining to the neighborhood why they should embrace this place. And I thought, this is a really complex, long-standing socio-economic context to wade into and a lot is being put on artists to have a significant impact in the shaping of that conversation. Perhaps that’s just naive, but I also think it bears repeating. These issues are really, really complicated, the struggle against gentrification is a hard battle and the issues of good versus bad economic development are very deep and hard to parse out. And it is kind of a bizarre world in which artists are put forward to lead the way, while being asked to speak about economic development and community impact. Perhaps that’s where they should be, I’m not sure.
So with that in mind, while cribbing Colin’s list and adding some of my own, I thought it would be interesting to compile a list that reflects the dialogue as it is in this very moment. With the 10th anniversary of Richard Florida’s book “The Creative Class”, the much-criticized and massively influential book on urban development that ties arts funding to innovation culture and business development, rather than inherent social good, we’re primed to revisit the failures and the successes that are now the received wisdom as to the state of arts funding.
Creative Place-making from the government:
The original white paper from the NEA
In creative placemaking, partners from public, private, non-profit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, city, or region around arts and cultural activities. Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired.
And from ArtPlace on “Vibrancy Indicators”
ArtPlace is a collaboration of 13 leading national and regional foundations and six of the nation’s largest banks. ArtPlace is investing in art and culture at the heart of a portfolio of integrated strategies that can drive vibrancy and diversity so powerful that it transforms communities. To date, ArtPlace has awarded 80 grants to 76 organizations in 46 communities across the U.S. for a total of $26.9 million.
And then the analysis:
Dead End on Shakin’ Street in which Thomas Frank explains how Creative Place-making pits Cincinnati versus Rockford versus Kansas City versus Akron in the vibrancy test. It is perhaps unfair to pit funds for city tourism over what should go towards universal health care coverage, but it might as well be put in perspective. A very trenchant and important critique here.
This guy has some beef with Frank, writing from Asheville, NC. I think he misunderstands Frank’s larger point which to me is about pointing out the disinvestment in the public sector on a wide scale, not that universal health care is being specifically defunded via the millions spent on vibrancy initiatives. He also writes for what looks like a marketing firm called Placemakers. They “cultivate livability.”
The Fall of the Creative Class, a first person story of why following Richard Florida’s plan to the letter in deciding where you live might not be a good idea by Frank Bures. Madison-bashing and a totally baffling set of unrealistic expectations aside, this has some good analysis. Also as a side note, the part in here where an overweight woman who he imagines as never leaving her apartment stands in as a symbol of his existential angst is totally problematic. Fat people are not signs of the world coming to an end.
Richard Florida responds to Bures directly here in his “What Critics Get Wrong About the Creative Class and Economic Development” which is basically a rehash of the correlation versus causation debate and then Bures responds back here. And more from Richard Florida in More Losers Than Winners in America’s New Economic Geography.
Ian David Moss from Fractured Atlas and Create Equity blog (which is really good) has some great analysis in Creative Place-making has an Outcomes Problem. This will truly take you deep into art administration nerd-dom but his critique of ArtPlace and its vibrancy indicators is coherent and worth reading. And there are links at the bottom of his post that will lead you to more Florida backlash.
Roberto Bedoya on Creative Placemaking and the politics of belonging and dis-belonging writes about creative place-making strategies of community engagement not adequately meeting the challenges of spatial justice and how “place-making” has to contend with the very real histories of displacement, colonization and indigenous struggles. As Bedoya writes, “Creative Placemaking activities’ relationship to civic identity must investigate who has and who doesn’t have civil rights.”
And here’s a hilariously raw assessment of Richard Florida’s consulting group “The Creative Class Group” implementing a program to train “community catalysts” in Charlotte, North Carolina; Duluth, Minnesota/Superior, Wisconsin; and Tallahassee, Florida, conducted by Knight Creative Communities Initiative (KCCI) that Frank Bures talks about here. And a similar aggregate of the arguments with Can Creative Placemaking Be Proven? The (New) State of the Arguments.
Enjoy the rabbit hole!
Photo by Eric Rogers
OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS: DUE AUGUST 15th at MIDNIGHT
October 26-28th, 2012 at the Geolofts
Friday October 26, Vernissage
Open Saturday October 27 and Sunday October 28, 12-6 PM
The MDW Fair invites proposals for its fall showcase at the Geolofts in Bridgeport. Formed in spring 2011 as a collaborative project between the Public Media Institute, document, Roots & Culture and threewalls, the MDW Fair is a showcase for independent art initiatives, spaces, galleries and artist groups, highlighting artist-run activities and experimental culture locally, nationally and internationally. The MDW Fair is the world’s premier event for grassroots and independent art culture.
MDW invites curatorial proposals from not-for-profits, artist-run spaces, emerging galleries, collectives and independent curators across the United States and around the world. MDW also invites proposals for performances, programming and independent publications.
PROPOSALS ARE DUE AUGUST 15, 2012 AND SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY SEPTEMBER 10, 2012
Proposals for booths:
Groups are required to send 10 images of the curatorial premise they wish to focus on at the fair. Number of artists is not limited, proposals will be judged on quality of the premise and the artists’ work. Deadline is August 15th. Images should be sent as a zip file along with a short mission statement/bio about the presenters and 500-word curatorial statement. Successful applicants will be notified by early September with details. All booth spaces are 300 sq feet/$400. Successful applicants will be included in the MDW Catalogue, published by Public Media Institute and designed by Plural.
Proposals for publications:
We welcome exhibitors that produce and publish artists’ books, art periodicals, artist zines, or independent art-book culture in all forms, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Interested publishers and booksellers should send a 500 word or less description of their organization or project. Tables cost $50.
Proposals for programming:
Proposals can be for lectures, panels, performances, music, or any other kind of experimental action. Picnics, tours, public interventions, artist-led workshops and discussions as well as creative disturbances in public space are also welcome. Performance artists and event producers of all stripes are welcome. Please send a 500 word or less description of program, time limit, and preferred time slot during open hours on Saturday and Sunday.
Submissions for the MDW Fair can be emailed to: firstname.lastname@example.org
Questions about submissions can be submitted to Aron Gent at: email@example.com
Design by Plural
For more information, please visit mdwfair.org
A couple years ago, Mike Wolf wrote an article about his experience with the space Mess Hall, in AREA Chicago called “Can Experimental Cultural Centers Replace MFA programs?”. It’s a really poignant account of how becoming part of that particular community at that moment answered his concerns about what kind of artist he wanted to be, and by extension, what kind of life he wanted to lead and it was happening outside of the traditional school environment. He talks about watching his friends getting disheartened by the professional field that they work within, and questions whether or not it’s really all that worth it. Mike says, It sometimes seems like teaching in the cultural field is becoming more and more like the bluechip art world, an economy that sets people against each other and can only support a fraction of the people who aspire to be a part of it. I think as far as answering our economic needs and the need for health security, collective creativity is needed. For those in the PhD and MFA camp, there’s no denying that getting your school credentials is really all you can do if you actually want to find a job in higher education but it’s also pretty scary out there once you’re actually looking to be gainfully employed. There is another dream out there to stop the demoralization and be an autodidact: unconventional residency programs. My experiences with the temporary communities built out at unconventional and artist-run residencies like Harold Arts and ACRE is that they give me the necessary space to think outside of being productive, where I get to know new networks of artists outside of school affiliations and nerd out with them in the spirit of the place. It’s very true that not everyone has the luxury of leaving their life to go commune in the woods for a while, but they are just one model out of many for people to figure out how to slow down and blur the professionalism boundaries. But Sara Knox Hunter has an answer for those feeling all fucked up about the real world and looking for an alternative educational experience, she launched Summer Forum for Inquiry and Exchange this last year and the first iteration is happening this July.
So really, there’s this:
OR THERE’S THIS:
AS: Can you explain a bit about what inspired you to start Summer Forum?
Sara Knox Hunter: The idea for Summer Forum began to take shape during the fall of 2010 while I was preparing to apply for PhD programs in Comparative Literature but feeling increasingly unsure about the whole idea. Articles by William Deresiewicz, http://
AS: What is the format?
SH: Summer Forum will consist of a primary and secondary discussion each day, along with evening programming provided by one of our five invited guests. A text or set of texts will be the basis of each discussion. All residents are encouraged to attend the primary discussions each day and those who are interested can return for a second conversation on a different text. We wanted to give people the opportunity to read as much or as little as they wanted depending on their needs and interests. The evening programming will be determined largely by the invited guests – Linh Dinh, Lucky Dragons, Timothy McCarthy, Marisa Olson, and Randall Szott – but most of it will take place in the Atheneum, http://www.usi.edu/
AS: How did you decide upon New Harmony?
SH: I was researching spaces to host the residency when a friend told me about New Harmony. He had taken an architecture class with Ben Nicholson at SAIC and Ben took the entire class down to New Harmony. I visited last spring and knew immediately that it work well for what I was trying to do. New Harmony is the site of these two failed utopian projects from the 19th century but I was especially interested in the second project started by the social reformer, Robert Owen. That community was committed to educational reform, scientific research, philosophy, and art – it seemed like the perfect place to try a similarly minded experiment almost 200 years later.
AS: Will the theme change every year and so will the location change or is New Harmony the site for Summer Forums of the future?
SH: I’m not sure yet what will happen with the Summer Forums of the future. The theme will probably change from year to year and I’m also hoping to eventually have a permanent space, whether that be in New Harmony or elsewhere. I would also love to see a network of Summer Forum type ventures pop up all over. I’m interested in providing different lengths of sessions as well for people who can’t afford to get away for a whole week and longer ones for people who have more time to invest. Perhaps a Summer Forum in Spanish, too?
AS: I love the Hearth and Shelf program as a way for people to show off and perform their favorite texts or their own idiosyncratic approaches to the books they collect. I’m a big collector, or at least I can’t throw anything away, and I attach a lot of significance to what I choose to display on my shelves (even if it’s just for an audience of me and my roommates). They’re like spirit objects for me. And I think about Hearth and Shelf as a way for people to talk about their favorite texts with a generous spirit of inclusiveness rather than needing to be an expert on what the book actually proposes to be about, which I think seems to be part of the spirit of the program. Can you talk about how that series fits into the larger program for you?
SH: Yes, I love your response. I think Hearth + Shelf is a part of this new criticality that I’m talking about that does not negate the personal even amidst intellectual pursuits. The books that we have and like are often valuable because of the way they have affected us personally. Giving a platform for these types of conversations, especially in people’s homes, provides a generous environment in which to create new ways of relating to each other without the pressures of professionalization. We walk away having learned something and it opens up the opportunity to learn more.
AS: Will their be creative re-readings of texts out on the farm this summer or what other kinds of “spontaneous collaborative scholarship” do you want or imagine happening?
I am not entirely sure what to expect for the first residency. I hope that by giving dialogue so much focus and attention that the dialogue itself will be considered a collaborate work, operating as a creative and scholarly entity. I’m excited to see what each resident brings to Summer Forum, and what a space like New Harmony will do to all of us.
AS: If you were to do your own Hearth and Shelf reading, what would it be on?
Good question! We own a lot of books but we have also moved five times in the past seven years. Each time we move I scan through our collection and cull out a box or two of books. After five moves, there is a specific reason for keeping every book. It might be fun to share some of those justifications along with the books themselves. I might end with a demo on how to pack the perfect box of books.
P.S. Summer Forum has a kickstarter going, support them here
We lost one of the good ones this week. Actually, one of the best ones. Dara Greenwald, artist, activist, thinker, organizer, and all-around inspirational person passed away this week from cancer at the age of 40. She lived in Chicago between 1995-2005, worked at the Video Data Bank from 1998-2005 and was part of all the best Chicago organizing projects of that time, including Ladyfest Midwest, Department of Space and Land Reclamation, co-founding Pink Bloque, and many others.
Dara was the kind of person that all of us cultural organizers should aspire to be. My first experience with Dara’s work was at the Signs of Change exhibition that she co-organized with her partner Josh MacPhee about the history of social movement culture that started at Exit Art in 2008 and toured until 2010. That show just simply blew my mind and remains a model for me of exhibition-making and cultural research; the respect and attention to the act of making images, the breadth and depth of international politics at work, and the devil-may-care attitude about art with a capital A.
Oh I was so intimidated at first to talk to her, what a badass she was. And when I would see her over the years intermittently at different art/social organizing efforts, she was secretly my barometer of whether what we were all sitting around a circle talking about had any merit. At the same time that she was so no-bullshit, she was warm, funny and just whip-smart. Her work got me excited about so many radical projects like Videofreex, Pilot TV, Justseeds, the Interference Archive she was working on with Josh MacPhee, many other things, and just in general the possibilities of art and activism coming together to create transformative experience.
I’m thankful that I got to know her the little I did and admire her from afar. I want to take this time to revisit all the work that she put out into the world and simply marvel at what she accomplished. She was a fierce and brilliant person and will be missed.
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On September 3, 2005, President Bush nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to become Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Over the past decade, Bush has appointed Ms. Miers to several positions, and at one point retained her as his personal attorney.
Forty years ago, President Johnson nominated his longtime attorney and confidant to replace Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg∇. Fortas demurred, but Johnson was not deterred. While he considered several other candidates, including a number of Republicans, Johnson did not stop pressuring Fortas and eventually got his man.
From the LBJ Tapes:
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|From Gochen to Graceland...
"Guru Padmasambhava stayed in Tibet about 111 years. The book says he left for the West so maybe Guru Padmasambhava is here, somewhere in Tennessee."
Sarva dharma svabhava shuddho 'ham
"all phenomena are totally pure
According to our relative perception, our world is filled with errors, faults, stains and obscurations. We feel quite righteous about this. The faults of others, the imperfections of our environment, sometimes seem to be even more solid than tables and chairs. Our own flaws as well, if we are aware of them at all, sometimes can seem insurmountable or unforgiveable. But these, too, dissolve under close inspection and analysis. We cannot say that impurities exist anywhere, so how can we say we must become free of them? The idea of purity depends on the idea of impurity. Total purity from the beginning transcends such dualistic notions...
Because the absolute nature of reality is unchanging and incorruptible, it cannot be decreased or increased: it is unquantifiable. When we rest in the absolute nature, we are not expanding it in any way; when we begin to wander away from it, we are not shrinking it. The enlightened ones understood that absolute reality doesn't change under any circumstances, whether beings recognize it or not. Even Lord Buddha did not change the absolute nature in any way when he turned the Wheel of Dharma.
In the more elaborated Prajnaparamita teachings, it is often stated that this absolute nature, also known as buddha nature, is the inheritance of each and every sentient being. All of us, regardless of intelligence, character, or species, possess the buddha nature, and it is the buddha nature we seek to discover when we seek enlightenment. I say "discover" because it is not something essentially different from ourselves; we need not fabricate it or construct it on top of something else. When our buddha nature is revealed, we gain access to its many attributes, such as wisdom, compassion and loving-kindness. These qualities are extremely valuable. They guide us in times of delusion, and they radiate out to others in the form of communication, friendship, joy, and happiness. When relaxed and cheerful, sentient beings can actually share and work together.
If this absolute nature cannot be affected by increase or decrease, and all sentient beings possess it already, then why do we need to practice? It is often said that the buddha nature exists only as a potential, or spark, in the ordinary being; its brilliance is obscured by many layers of dualistic concepts, the bad mental habits of infinite lifetimes. Therefore it has always been necessary that we be clearly instructed in the truth of our relative existence. The many methods taught by the Buddha have the power to peel away our obscurations and allow us to see the truth for ourselves. Although these methods are many and varied, they all have as their essence the twofold mind-training of compassion and wisdom. Compassion and loving-kindness in themselves are undisputed as the greatest treasure of all sentient beings; even animals and insects are able to recognize their value. Compassion with the wisdom of emptiness together constitute the essential practices on the path to enlightenment - they are the great ornaments of the bodhisattva.
HOW THE CYCLONE
CAME TO THE WEST
2002 VISIT TO THS
The Venerable Lama Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche was born on the eighth day of the fourth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar in 1941. The morning he was born, a light snow fell with flakes in the shape of lotus petals. Among his ancestors were many great scholars, practitioners and tertons. He was raised in the village of Joephu in the Dhoshul region of Khampa in eastern Tibet near the sacred mountain Jowo Zegyal. The family was semi-nomadic, living in the village during the winter and moving with the herds to high mountain pastures where they lived in yak hair tents during the summers. At seven he began studying at the monastery and started ngöndro practice. Later that year, he went on his first retreat for one month. At the age of twelve, he went to Riwoche monastery which was one of the oldest and larges monastic institutes in eastern Tibet. Here he was trained to be the next abbot at Gochen. He completed his studies just as the Chinese invasion of Tibet reached that area. In 1960 he and his family were forced into exile. They left in the middle of winter and were captured and escaped three times during the journey. His sisters died during the escape and his mother died shortly after reaching India. He and his father and younger brother lived in refugee camps until he was appointed to teach at Sanskrit University in Varanasi. He was also a founding member of the Institute for Tibetan Higher Studies where he was head of the department of Nyingma studies.
In his own words-
My own education began when I entered the great college at Do-Kham Riwoche Drukpa Khang... At first my behavior was wild, despite very strict rules. I was far away from home, and poor in supplies and clothing. I did not study, and failed the first examination. My teacher, the Khen Rinpoche, kindly and frequently offered his advice, but I did not listen until I was harshly criticized and punished by the Dharma disciplinarian. After that day, I recognized my faults. I began to listen and think without break, studying even at night by moonlight and, when the moon was gone, by the light of a burning stick of incense. Thus studying the great root and commentarial texts with care and diligence, I earned the praise of my teacher and the reputation of being the smartest among my peers. Khen Rinpoche poured over me all the teachings of the Victorious One, both the general and the particular, the holy treasures of the lineage masters, and the nectar-like instructions from the most secret long transmission of the Old Translation School. These latter included the teachings of the two omniscient ones, Rongzom and Longchenpa, and the pointing out instructions according to the texts of Jamgon Mipham. I, Palden Sherab, well attained all that.
When the Red Chinese barbarians came to destroy the Buddha's teachings and the culture of Tibet, I decided to leave. I gave away my every last possession, offered a communal tea, and, in front of Khen Rinpoche, offered a mandala as a prayer for his long life. On the night of my departure I went to see Rinpoche to offer a last white scarf. My heart was exceedingly sad. "Don't stay here," I pleaded, "please go to Padma Kö." "I won't be able to reach Padma Kö," he said. I pleaded again, but he replied in the same way. I continued to weep and plead, and he said, "Okay, okay, now don't cry. I'll pray that I'll be able to get to Padma Kö and India. No matter what karma you meet with, don't turn your mind away from the Three Precious Jewels. Now, you know that your learning is good. Therefore you will definitely benefit both teachings and beings. Don't mess up! Keep this in your mind."
It was 1961 when I arrived in India. On the way, I had encountered great difficulties, exhaustion and danger, but I always held his words closely in my mind. To those Indian, Nepalese, Tibetan, and other people having faith in and connections with me, I have taught whatever Tibetan Dharma and culture I know. For seventeen years I taught in Varanasi at the Tibetan Institute for Higher Studies where the number of good students÷through whom both teachings and beings could benefit was not small.
K P S R
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When the opportunity came up to review a new tween-oriented app called Sara’s Cooking Class, I knew it would appeal to Sophie. The app encourages tween girls to ‘cook’ different recipes with the help of a friendly cartoon chef named Sara, which sounds very similar to a game she has on the Nintendo DS and that she loves. Sara'sCooking Class goes one step further though and, after the virtual cooking in the app, players are supposed to go and get hands on in the kitchen, trying out some real-life cooking.
‘Sara’s Cooking Class’ is a fun, educational gaming experience that parents can also get involved in, bonding together in a safe environment and testing out the recipes both on the app and in their own kitchen. The app aims to inspire young girls to learn more about recipes and cooking creatively for themselves in real life, rather than relying on processed and packaged food."
I was expecting lots of kid-friendly cookie and cake recipes, but I was actually impressed with the variety and originality of recipes featured, including exotic fayre such as sushi, fish tacos, falafel and Swedish meatballs. Even as a grown-up who loves cooking, I enjoyed discovering the recipes and found some new ideas that I'd like to try out - with lots of help from a very willing Sophie, she hastened to add !
It's not just an educational app though, it's also a lot of fun. Player earn points as they work their way through the recipes and can win stars at the end of each level. The only thing that I think is a bit of a shame is that the app targets only girls whereas it could easily have been more unisex, but as it is created by GirlsgoGames, that is the whole concept behind the company !
The app exists both as a lite (free) version, and as a premium (£1.99) version with additional features. We've been reviewing the premium version but the lite version will only allow you to create one recipe.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £1.99 (for the premium version), free for the lite version
for more information :http://www.girlsgogames.co.uk/games/saras_cooking_class_games/saras_cooking_class_games.html
Disclosure : We received a review code for the premium version of the app.
Other reviews you may be interested in :
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Sheer strips, clear strips, fabric, antibiotic, waterproof, foam. Dozens upon dozens of shapes, sizes and styles. Name brands. Store brands. How to choose?
As commonplace as the adhesive bandage is, there's precious little info online that will help you choose the right bandage. Type "choosing the best adhesive bandage" or "best Band-Aid" into Google and you will get a lot of links to message boards, but not much in the way of professional advice. I did find few somewhat useful links, including a wound-care tutorial on PlanetRX.com, which offers pros and cons on different bandage types without recommending one or another; a not-too-scientific comparison of bandages by a doctor on Detroit TV station WDIV, who found that a waterproof Band-Aid bandage promoted healing best; and an entertaining video at 5min.com that recommends waterproof bandages for most cuts and liquid bandages for joints and digits.
Hoping to get some additional information, I checked with Rod Brouhard, About.com's guide to first aid. His response surprised me: "The real dirt on adhesives is that you don't need them unless you're going to get dirty." Brouhard suggests leaving most cuts uncovered so they'll heal faster.
That's all well and good if you've cut your shin while out hiking, maybe, and all you do is sit at a desk all day long. But what about the cuts on my thumbs? I can't very well stop typing or using my hands altogether. What bandage should I choose? Brouhard says the kind of adhesive bandage is less important than the brand: "When you buy the dollar aisle specials, you get bandages that don't hold long enough to make it out the front door."
So what does he recommend? Waterproof bandages are a good choice if you're going to get wet; fabric bandages are best for all other uses. "It's not necessary to buy special bandages for anything, but I do like knuckle bandages for knuckle scrapes. A box of assorted Band-Aid or Nexcare brand will do most households just fine."
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NEW DELHI: The country is facing an acute shortage of pilots and 994 foreign pilots have been engaged by various airline operators to meet their needs, the Lok Sabha was told on Thursday.
The civil aviation industry is facing a shortage of "type rated" pilots and the government has taken various steps to reduce the gap between demand and supply of skilled Indian pilots, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in a written reply.
The steps taken by the government include conditionally increasing the age limit to 65 years for pilots, upgradation and modernisation of training infrastructure of the Indira Gandhi Rastriya Uran Academy to enhance its training capacity from 40 to 100 pilots every year.
Setting up of world class flying training institute in Maharashtra for training 100 cadets and assistance to flying clubs by allocating trainer aircraft through Directorate General of Civil aviation and Aero Club of India are the other steps, the Minister said.
The Minister also informed that foreign pilots are authorised to fly in India on the basis of their "foreign licence issued by International Civil Aviation Organisation contracting State upto the age they can exercise the privileges of their rating and licence issued by the regulatory authority of the country to which they belong".
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“Sometimes we must read between the lines in the book of Acts to see Paul the man and not just his travels. Acts 23:11 offers a perfect opportunity to read between the lines without stretching the text…”Have courage!” (1)
“The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Acts 23:11 HCSB)
Once again there were a group of men, more than 40, who were scheming to kill Paul. Actually scripture tells us that they put a curse on themselves and would not eat or drink until Paul was dead! (vs. 12) Aren’t you glad the Lord told Paul that he must go to Rome! As we read on in scripture someone tells Paul what these men are planning! YIKES… not again. But aren’t you also glad that Paul had an ear to hear the Lord?
“Why did Christ draw so physically close to Paul at this particular moment? I believe Paul was overcome with fear and may have been convinced he would not live much longer. He had looked straight into the eyes of rage. He was separated from his friends. He was imprisoned by strangers. I believe he was terrified.” (2)
“The Lord gave Paul motivation for courage by giving him confirmation: Paul was going to Rome.’ ‘Paul surely knew that Christ’s confirmation did not mean Paul wouldn’t suffer or be greatly persecuted. He simply knew he could not be killed until he had testified about Christ in Rome.’” (3)
Which is HUGE!!! Sometimes we feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit telling us to do something or not to do something. And sometimes those promptings keep reminding us over and over. What do you do with those times?
In Paul’s case he knew if the Lord had told him that he would be testifying in Rome about Him, then there’s no way Paul would be killed!! God orchestrated an escape for him and will provide the way for him to accomplish what He has asked him to do. Fear can sometimes try to sabotage us! But when we listen and understand carefully, we know that when the Lord puts something in our hearts … He will make a way where there may seem to be no way! The word I would use because we KNOW He will make it come about and our hearts AND minds agree in unison . . . PEACE!!!
If nothing else, this is a good example why we all should have our ear tuned to the Lord! For it is Him who leads us and guides us and in this case, for sure, protects us!!
What is He speaking to your heart today?
“My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.”
(John 10:27 HCSB)
(1-2) Paul, 90 Days in His Journey of Faith / Beth Moore / B & H Publishing
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Check these old gals out. Love the cute nursing caps. They look so dainty. Turn of the century nurses knew how to stretch a buck. They did all the work in the hospital. They cooked for their patients, did housekeeping chores, and whatever else they had to do to keep their hospital humming. Notice the nurse leaning up against the doorway. These nurses look tired. I wonder if they had coupons back then. Coupons are also a great way to stretch a buck while you’re buying new uniforms. I’m sure that these ladies would have appreciated wearing a nice pair of scrubs while they were doing their work. Imagine wearing a long white nursing uniform while stoking a coal burning stove!
My sponsor ScrubsGallery.com has a coupon offer that they want me to pass on to you. They are offering 20% off all Scrubs Tops. This offer is valid from December 12th through December 14th. Just enter the code “nursertops” in the coupon code box at checkout to receive your discount.
Just like old time nurses, hospitals also know how to stretch a buck. Community hospitals are cutting employee benefits, overtime pay, and they are making nurses work longer hours with less help. Nice. I hope that hospitals don’t try and go back to a simpler time when nurses did everything in the facility. Try these recipes just in case you find yourself cooking for your patients again. I originally published this information back in 2006. I can’t believe that I’ve been blogging for three years now, but this information is timeless:
This belonged to my great-grandmother, my great-aunt, my grandmother, and then it was passed down to me. The White House Cook Book, A Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information For the Home, was first published in 1887. This edition was published in 1912.
Before there were HMOs, PPOs, and primary care physicians, there was the White House Cook Book, A Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information For the Home.
Housewives used this cookbook, as well as others published at the turn of the century, as a health care resource book. My favorite chapter in the White House Cook Book is “For the Sick.” In the beginning of this chapter, the authors write, “Dishes for invalids should be served in the daintiest and most attractive way; never send more than a supply for one meal; the same dish too frequently set before an invalid often causes distaste, when perhaps a change would tempt the appetite.” Here are some of my favorite recipes from that chapter. Nurses, take notes. You’ll be tested over this material the next time someone you know gets the vapors.
One Pound of lean beef, cut into small pieces. Put into a glass-canning jar, without a drop of water, cover tightly and set in a pot of cold water. Heat gradually to a boil and continue this steadily for three or four hours, until the meat is like white rags and the juice is drawn out. Season with salt to taste and, when cold, skim.
Arrowroot Milk Porridge:
One large cupful of fresh milk, new if you can get it, one cupful of boiling water, one teaspoonful of arrowroot, wet to a paste with cold water, two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, a pinch of salt. Put the sugar into the milk, the salt into the boiling water, which should be poured into a farina kettle. Add the wet arrowroot and boil, stirring constantly until it is clear; put in the milk and cook ten minutes, stirring often. Give while warm, adding hot milk should it be thicker than gruel.
Toast Water, or Crust Coffee:
Take stale pieces of crust of bread, the end pieces of the loaf, toast them a nice, dark brown, care to be taken that they do not burn in the least, as that affects the flavor. Put the browned crusts into a large milk pitcher, and pour enough boiling water over to cover them; cover the pitcher closely, and let steep until cold. Strain, and sweeten to taste; put a piece of ice in each glass. This is also good, drank warm with cream and sugar, similar to coffee.
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Skip to comments.Baptists, Lent, and the Reformation Rummage Sale
Posted on 02/27/2011 10:55:58 AM PST by NYer
In recent years there have been a flurry of news articles prior to Lent, Holy Week, and Advent about how various Protestant groups and denominations have "discovered" that Catholic and Orthodox beliefs about the liturgical year are not nearly as "unbiblical" as many non-Catholics thought. Quite the contrary, as this Associated Baptist Press piece explains (ht: National Catholic Register):
Many Baptists are seeking to reclaim that pre-Easter focus -- historically called Lent -- which has been an integral part of many Christians experience since the earliest years of the church.
Its a biblical thing, not a made-up Catholic thing, says Kyle Henderson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Athens, Texas, acknowledging a robust Baptist suspicion of spiritual practices seen as too closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church or its distant cousins, the Anglicans.
Some Baptists say they sense those suspicions -- in part a legacy of the Protestant Reformation -- have left them with a diminished spiritual vocabulary.
There is an uneasy sense that something got lost, says Phyllis Tickle, whose 2008 book, The Great Emergence, chronicles the blurring of denominational distinctions in late 20th- and early 21st-century American Christianity.
Every 500 years or so, says Tickle, the church metaphorically holds a great rummage sale, getting rid of the junk that we believe no longer has value and finding treasures stuck in the attic because we didnt want them or were too naïve to know their true worth.
The Reformation was one of those rummage sales and the current great convergence is another, she maintains. For evangelicals, the long-forgotten treasures in the attic include a wide array of spiritual disciplines -- including Lent -- with roots in the churchs first centuries.
For Sterling Severns, discovering Lent and other seasons of the Christian year was an eye-opening experience, which he encountered at the first church he served after graduating from seminary.
It tapped into something in me that surprised me, says Severns, now pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. I remember I almost felt as if Id been let in on a great secret.
For many folks who have been Catholic their entire lives, such comments might be a bit surprising. "Secret? How is it a secret? Don't all Christians know about Lent and Advent?" No, they surely don't. I wasn't aware of either Lent or Advent until I attended Bible college as a 20-year-old Fundamentalist, and even then they were spoken of in mostly cautious or negative ways (most of my profs viewed the Catholic Church with suspicion or disdain, but a couple were quite positive about Catholicism). But things have changed a lot in the past couple of decades and an growing number of Evangelical groups are embracingin various ways and to differing degreesaspects of the Catholic liturgical calendar.
An excellent book for Evangelicals who are curious about Catholic beliefs about worship, the liturgical calendar, and the sacraments is Evangelical Is Not Enough: Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament by Thomas Howard. Also see his essay, "Catholic Spirituality", from the collection, The Night Is Far Spent.
I read another article earlier in the week about a Catholic and Baptist community that come together each year to celebrate Ash Wednesday. Have any of you experienced this in your parish or nearby community?
Nope,, cause we are Baptist. Catholic calendar is like a season ticket to disneyland,,,, way too many blackout dates.
It would have been great if the modern , non-mainline Protestant churches had held onto some of the meaningful Reformation/ post-Reformation traditions— like recitation of the Apostles’ Creed, the Gloria Patri, the doxology, hymns written before the 80’s and a choir instead of wannabe rockers up front, but all that has been kicked to the curb. Lenten liturgy, etc, forget it.
“Have any of you experienced this in your parish or nearby community?”
Not that per se, but we do have many non-Catholics taking ashes on ash Wednesday.
We have ecumenical services during the weeks of Lent with various different denominations. We come together to pray and discuss the meaning of Lent, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.
If it’s not in the Bible, how can it be a “biblical thing”?
So, DR, what are you going to do for the High Feast Day of Sts. Insouciance and Dysfunctiona?
I swear, someday im going to write a book on why the Catholics need to adopt the baptist faith,, and then every day after, post an article about how the Catholics should move to unify with protestants on purely one-sided terms.
It’s weird how obsessed they are with Christians who don’t see them as “the” church. Yes,, before 1600, they were usually more wrong than right.
“I have always been struck by the arrogance of people who think that no one understood or followed the Bible until they came along 1600 years after the fact.”
Arrogance? Compare the church of the 1600s to the life of Christ,,,, and look how they squeal at being reformed. That, is a good example of high arrogance.
I suppose to some Lenten fasting and repentence is actually a vain work and a denial that Christ’s work is finished. His justice and righteousness covers us letting God see the cleanliness of Christ instead of our sins. We can never truly be made clean. So practices such as this are wasteful and useless. It is a feel good exercise nothing more. The limit should be to ask for forgiveness for our sins. Anything else is extrabiblical and borders on idolatry.
Ohhhh,, i dunno,
Hold a “rummage sale” where i get rid of things i have found to be quite superfluous to the teachings of Jesus? And not be angry that my preacher isn’t speaking latin? And write a letter to the local Bishop that if he will give up the pope and the heirarchy, that i think i can see a path towards his reunification with ME?
Actually, I have a friend who is Russian Orthodox and in the current practice, we’re pikers in comparison. There’s a lot we’ve lost in the “modernizing” of the Church.
8 See to it that NO ONE TAKES YOU CAPTIVE THROUGH PHILOSOPHY AND EMPTY DECEPTION, ACCORDING TO THE TRADITION OF MEN, ACCORDING TO THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF THE WORLD, RATHER THAN ACCORDING TO CHRIST. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and IN HIM YOU HAVE BEEN MADE COMPLETE, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
16 THEREFORE NO ONE IS TO ACT AS YOUR JUDGE IN REGARD TO FOOD OR DRINK OR IN RESPECT TO A FESTIVAL or a new moon OR A SABBATH DAY 17 things which are a MERE SHADOW of what is to come; BUT THE SUBSTANCE BELONGS TO CHRIST.. 18 LET NO ONE KEEP DEFRAUDING YOU OF YOUR PRIZE BY DELIGHTING IN SELF ABASEMENT and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on vision he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and NOT HOLDING FAST TO THE HEAD, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
20 IF YOU HAVE DIED WITH CHRIST TO THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF THE WORLD (See verses 8, 16 above for details on what the Apostle Paul means by "the elementary principles of the world") IF YOU HAVE DIED WITH CHRIST TO THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF THE WORLD. WHY, AS IF YOU WERE LIVING IN THE WORLD, DO YOU SUBMIT TO DECREES SUCH AS, 21 Do not handle, DO NOT TASTE, DO NOT TOUCH! 22 (WHICH ALL REFER TO THINGS DESTINED TO PERISH WITH USE)IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COMMANDMENTS AND TEACHINGS OF MEN? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the APPEARANCE OF WISDOM IN SELF-MADE RELIGION AND SELF-ABASEMENT AND SEVERE TREATMENT OF THE BODY BUT ARE OF NO VALUE AGAINST FLESHLY INDULGENCE. (Colossians 2:8-23, NASB Emphasis added)
The Holy Spirit Himself testifies about what will characterize the times we are living in:
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will FALL AWAY FROM THE FAITH, PAYING ATTENTION TO DECEITFUL SPRITS AND DOCTRINES OF DEMONS, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage AND ADVOCATE ABSTAINING FROM FOODS which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5, NASB Emphasis added) The Lord Jesus Christ also speaks of the folly of self abasement via abstaining from foods:
After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, HEAR AND UNDERSTAND.
IT IS NOT WHAT ENTERS INTO THE MOUTH THAT DEFILES THE MAN , BUT WHAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH, THIS DEFILES THE MAN.
Then the disciples came and said to Him, Do You know that THE PHARISEES WERE OFFENDED WHEN THEY HEARD THIS STATEMENT?
But He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; THEY ARE BLIND GUIDES OF THE BLIND. AND IF A BLIND MAN GUIDES ABLIND MAN, BOTH WILL FALL INTO A PIT.
Peter said to Him, EXPLAIN THE PARABLE TO US.
Jesus said, ARE YOU STILL LACKING IN UNDERSTANDING ALSO?
DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT EVERYTHING THAT GOES INTO THE MOUTH PASSES INTO THE STOMACH, AND IS ELIMINATED? (Mark's account in Mark chapter 7:18-19 adds the following insight into the matter: 18 "He said to them, Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that EVERYTHING THAT GOES INTO A PERSON FROM OUTSIDE CANNOT DEFILE, 19 since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine? THUS HE HAS DECLARED ALL FOODS CLEAN")
BUT THE THINGS THAT PROCEED OUT OF THE MOUTH COME FROM THE HEART, AND T H O S E DEFILE THE MAN.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man. (Matthew 15:10-20, NASB, Emphasis added)
Christins are FREE in Christ and not under obligation to abstain from anything during Lent because although abstaining and self abasement has:
"the APPEARANCE OF WISDOM IN SELF-MADE RELIGION AND SELF-ABASEMENT AND SEVERE TREATMENT OF THE BODY BUT ARE OF NO VALUE AGAINST FLESHLY INDULGENCE."
In other words to do so: is WORTHLESS and of NO VALUE! I didn't say this, God did and if anyone has a problem with the above, you can take it up with Him.
We also picked up some non-Catholics customs I remember from childhood.
Protestant friends kept poor boxes with them and dropped small change into them when they denied themselves candy or a treat.
The boxes were collected by their Sunday school teachers on Easter and the money sent to the needy.
Our church has something similar now with children giving their change from self-denied treats to Project Rice Bowl. Nice.
Teaches them a lot about self-denial, the needs of others, penitence, and ties in with Christ’s temptations.
Baptists are part of a general "primitive church" movement which acknowledges the truth that the first-generation church, as constituted directly under Christ, was necessarily inerrant and that the fruit of the early church fell not far from that tree. This is why Baptists are interested in the earliest Christian adaptations of Jewish tradition, in this case Passover.
For Catholics to lay claim to the early church from which we all derive makes as much sense as a child pressing a claim to superior ownership of his siblings parents.
Its weird how obsessed they are with Christians who dont see them as the church. Yes,, before 1600, they were usually more wrong than right.
Amen to that brother. I too wonder why they spend so much time and effort on ecumenical things, as if there is some kind of frequent flyer rewards waiting for them because they belong to a certain church.
Roman Catholics and Bible believing Baptist are so far apart on so many issues and to simply blow that off with invitations to Swim the Tiber are, at least to this individual, silly.
Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all had 40-day fasts to prepare themselves spiritually for some great work. Were they doing something unbiblical?
It’s very sad to say but where I live, the non-Catholic churches aren’t too kind or receptive to us Catholics. In fact, I’ve encountered many who are as hostile as certain FReepers. And, as usual, their thoughts/opinions are based on pure ignorance; they’ll just never see or admit that.
I wear a crucifix at all times, so I am subject to ridicule at work & in my social life since I am easily identified as one of “those Catholics”. But I really don’t care. And my 3 year old proudly wears her scapular & crucifix, too. We get some looks but I hope someday those things will serve as a precursor to some intellectually honest discussion about the Church.
And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
-- Matthew 6:16-18
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
**In recent years there have been a flurry of news articles prior to Lent, Holy Week, and Advent about how various Protestant groups and denominations have “discovered” that Catholic and Orthodox beliefs about the liturgical year are not nearly as “unbiblical” as many non-Catholics thought. Quite the contrary, as this Associated Baptist Press piece explains (ht: National Catholic Register):**
Are other denominations waking up to the truth?
**Not that per se, but we do have many non-Catholics taking ashes on ash Wednesday.**
This is so true. All three Ash Wednesday Masses are crammed full.
Are people coming home to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church?
I think so.
You need to look up sack cloth and ashes in a Bible search program. It’s there!
Why are you yelling with all caps?? That’s too hard to read. Sorry, I skipped it.
So, Alex, are you Baptist or Evangelical? And does your church celebrate the biblical Lent?
Truth is alone and by itself. Few will embrace it. Falseness has many friends.
On the contrary. The spirit of Lent is the spirit of Christ Crucified. Therefore, whatever enables us to better understand Christ's Passion and Death, and deepens our responsive love for His great love toward us should be fostered during the Lenten season.
We can never truly be made clean.
Of course we can! John 20:21-23
So practices such as this are wasteful and useless.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our penance should strive to endure some pain in order to expiate the sinful pleasure that is always the substance of sin. This can take on a variety of forms, and no two people are the same in this matter. As an example, try renouncing television for 48 hours and devoting those hours to prayer, fasting and reading scripture. Most importantly, offer it up to God as repentance for your sins. You will be rewarded with a renewed strength of faith.
Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles.
Lent began in the apostolic era and was universal in the ancient church. For this reason, Lent is observed by the various Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, and Anglican denominations, by Roman Catholics, and by Eastern Orthodox Churches.
It is much easier to explain who stopped observing it and why.
In the 16th century, many Calvinists and Anabaptists discarded all Christian holy days, on the theory that they were Roman innovations. That was their best information at the time, but today we know that they were wrong. In the late 19th century, ancient Christian documents came to light. The Didache from the first century, the Apostolic Constitutions from the third century, and the diaries of Egeria of the fourth century; all which give evidence of the Christian calendar and holy days.
NYer. I agree with all your points. I was playing devil’s advocate.
I see from your freeper profile that you are in PA. At one time, PA hosted large catholic communities. Has that changed?
I wear a crucifix at all times, so I am subject to ridicule at work & in my social life since I am easily identified as one of those Catholics. But I really dont care.
Ditto! The same was true in my previous job. They 'tolerated' me, even the self-proclaimed catholics, none of whom wore a crucifix. I am proud of my faith and never attempted to conceal who I am. During my years with the state, I was intrigued by the fact that on Ash Wednesday, a priest would come to the State Capitol to administer ashes to the "hard working" legislators. Knowing when and where he would be, I took it upon my self to let secretaries in the governor's office know so they could pass this information on to other staffers. Over the years, the secretaries would begin asking me for that information on Monday, even though it was publicly posted next to every elevator bank. I graciously accommodated them. Last year, the line was so long that it snaked out the door and down the hall :-) I am no longer there but I pray someone else will take on this task and keep the publicans in step with their professed faith.
The Baptist Church was formed in 1609 by John Smyth, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
When I was Protestant, we always observed Lent. I don’t remember the details of how the various congregations (either Congregational or Presbyterian) observed Lent, because Sunday School was held during the adult worship services. However, in Sunday School, we always discussed Lent, talked about giving things up, and did works of service to others.
Not in 33 A.D., eight Sundays after the Resurrection. The Church hung out in the catacombs for a few centuries (doubts? Go to San Calista in Rome sometime and see them) before an emperor was friendly enough to make the Church legal.
Which in no way counters anything I wrote ("Baptists are part of a general "primitive church" movement..."). It does, however, verify that you attach identity to formal institution and not any actual system of belief.
“Its very sad to say but where I live, the non-Catholic churches arent too kind or receptive to us Catholics.”
“I see from your freeper profile that you are in PA. At one time, PA hosted large catholic communities. Has that changed?”
I am also a bit surprised by your comments. I also live in Western Pennsylvania, and it seems to me that, at least where I live, a large majority of people are Catholic.
oh please....Baptists are indeed protestant and not necessarily good at it. If you are not Catholic, are christian, then you are protestant....
were there bad people in the Catholic church, you betcha but to call the protestant revolution a reformation is to ignore fact. First of all you revolt from without, you reform from within and a reformation should improve not alter the organization. The "revolters" denied some of the basic tenants of the church, completely changed some of the most basic teachings of Catholicism to a point that they are almost unrecognizable as Christial "denominations"...but go ahead and do your own thing, Christ warned that there would be "false witnesses" and there are...started with Martin Luther
I grew up in johnstown and now live in Pittsburgh. While it is accurate to say a majority identify as “Catholic”, I have found many are CINOs. In addition, where I am in the city, there is much New Age, humanist bullcrap as well as many mainline Protestant churches openly advocating gay marriage. The non-lib Protestants I’ve met consider me to be”unsaved” and barely a Christian. Add to that the fundie churches around here & you will see that although our bishop is prominent in the local media with some other high-profile Catholics (like the Rooneys), everyday encounters are generally unfriendly.
WOW, you are far more capable at establishing a religion than was Jesus and the apostles....what did they know...Keep up the good work, you might become a full fledged PROTESTANT
“While it is accurate to say a majority identify as Catholic, I have found many are CINOs.”
I think Catholics being mostly CINO is generally true practically everywhere in America, including here.
“In addition, where I am in the city, there is much New Age, humanist bullcrap as well as many mainline Protestant churches openly advocating gay marriage.”
I think where we live in the Pittsburgh area explains the differences between the surrounding attitudes. I’d assume that you would see more liberal attitudes in the city, compared to where I’ve lived my entire life, which is one of the inner suburbs. However, although I would never consider any of the parishes that I normally attend to be very “traditional” at all, it is common for homilies to preach against liberal social issues. Freepers often comment that they almost never hear social issues being addressed, but it seems pretty common where the priest will go down the list of evils naming abortion, premarital sex, divorce, homosexuality, contraception, etc. We must be really bad if we need to be lectured all the time.:) I guess in the city, you’d see that type of liberalism from all the those libs in Oakland, Shadyside, and the Christians in Squirrel Hill.
“Add to that the fundie churches around here”
There’s not many fundamentalist churches where I’m at either. Honestly, I have no idea where any Baptist church is at, and I can only think of one “megachurch,” and it is 20-25 minutes away. Most protestant churches here are mainline, and I have no idea what they advocate since they seem to have so little impact here.
“Add to that the fundie churches around here & you will see that although our bishop is prominent in the local media with some other high-profile Catholics (like the Rooneys), everyday encounters are generally unfriendly.”
While you mention the Rooneys, from what I heard, Dan is the only liberal one, while the rest of them are still conservative Catholics. Btw, after going to the Vatican Splendors at the history museum, I went up to the football section to see about Pittsburgh’s “other religion,” and thought it was funny that there were three Rosaries on display there, including Art Rooney’s. IIRC, one of Art’s brothers chose becoming a priest over playing for the Yankees.
“If you are not Catholic, are christian, then you are protestant....”
Don’t forget Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox :)
May this special united for ALL Christian churches Lent 2011 by both the grace and help of the Lord bring ALL Christians to full unity. Amen
John Chapter 17.
.....And even if you do not fast, but simply pray more, it is so much worth it to making faith stronger.
What I like about Lent is that it comes towards the end of winter, with spring just around the corner, a time for new, fresh beginings. :)
And we get the door-to-door guys trying to sell this targetting Catholics specifically. These "missionaries" consistently target Catholics to leave the faith -- now, how can you then say "someday im going to write a book on why the Catholics need to adopt the baptist faith,, and then every day after, post an article about how the Catholics should move to unify with protestants on purely one-sided terms." when this has already been done?
Baptists are part of a general "primitive church" movement
Aha -- now Brass Lamp, that is your opinion. There are other Baptists who differ with you, so hence what is it --> do we say Baptists are Protestants or not?
do we say Baptists are Protestants or not?
Depends on the definition of "Protestant", alas, it too has been corrupted.
From a demographers' standpoint, Baptists are put in the Protestant pigeon-hole. Where "Protestant" is defined as 'protestari' in the "publicly declare" sense then only those Baptists who have a confession (eg 1689 London Confession of Faith) are Protestants. If the "protest" version of 'protestari' is the definition, then Baptists are not Protestants. If you listen to independent Baptists, they will tell you that they can trace their roots to John the Baptist. If you read the webpage and mission statement of many Big Box Baptist, one can safely say that they are neither Protestant nor Christian but "American Religion"
If you read the webpage and mission statement of many Big Box Baptist, one can safely say that they are neither Protestant nor Christian but "American Religion"
From a demographers' standpoint, Baptists are put in the Protestant pigeon-hole.
Where "Protestant" is defined as 'protestari' in the "publicly declare" sense then only those Baptists who have a confession (eg 1689 London Confession of Faith) are Protestants.
Thank you, tt
BL -- as you can see, for a non-Baptist it can be confusing,but that's true for any outside to a tradition. No disrespect was intended.
I, personally have said before "Protestants and Baptists" and been corrected by Baptists who insisted they were Protestants.
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United States v. Gates - 148 U.S. 134 (1893)
U.S. Supreme Court
United States v. Gates, 148 U.S. 134 (1893)
United States v. Gates
Submitted February 6, 1893
Decided March 13, 1893
148 U.S. 134
Under the Act of May 24,1888, c. 308, 25 Stat. 157, providing for extra pay to letter carriers in cities or postal districts connected therewith, who are employed a greater number of hours per day than eight, a letter carrier whose salary is $1000 a year, and who is employed, in a period of a little more than two months, 165 hours and 9 minutes more than eight hours a day, is not required to deduct therefrom the deficit of less than eight hours a day worked by him on Sundays and holidays.
The case is stated in the opinion.
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Fleisch: Despite national economy, PTC finances are in good shape
The city of Peachtree City recently received yet another AAA bond rating from Standard and Poor’s. This is a huge achievement for the city given the economic climate in which we find ourselves.
Roswell and Alpharetta are the only other cities in the state of Georgia that share in this achievement. Even our country can no longer boast of such an achievement since it was downgraded a couple of years ago.
Peachtree City has been rated twice within two years and both times has ended up with the same high rating.
This country is in the worst economy in recent memory, and the finances of this city have been found to be sound and stable by two independent rating companies.
Despite claims to the contrary, the finances of the city are strong and we should be very proud of that moving forward.
In 2005, when the economy was significantly different than today, the city received a AA+ rating by Standard & Poor’s. Our total budget in 2005 was $27,018,673.
The budget for 2013 is $28,608,355. In 8 years our budget has grown an average of .74 percent a year or a total of 5.8 percent in that time period.
Given the economic times in which we live that too is an amazing feat by our city financial staff who presents the budgets to the mayor and council.
The city of Roswell has an entire webpage dedicated to touting this accomplishment and we should be touting our accomplishment as well. We are fortunate that years of prudent financial planning has allowed us to borrow money at an interest rate of under 2 percent.
Standard & Poor’s cites the following contributing factors as reasons for the AAA Rating:
“Since fiscal 2010, the tax base has declined by 10.3 percent to $1.8 billion in 2013; this equates to a per capita market value of $133,631, which we consider extremely strong. Leading taxpayers account for a very diverse 6.4 percent of the total tax digest. Millage rates were increased in fiscal 2013 to offset declines in the tax digest; however, they remain revenue neutral.”
“The stable outlook reflects Standard & Poor’s opinion of the city’s primarily residential nature with direct access to the diverse greater Atlanta metropolitan employment base. The city’s consistently strong finances despite recent past draw-downs for one-time purposes, guided by conservative fiscal management, and low debt provide rating stability. The outlook also reflects our expectation that management will maintain, what we consider, strong finances and the financial flexibility resulting from high reserve levels and forward-looking and conservative budgeting. As such, we do not expect to change the rating within the outlook’s two-year period.”
As we move into another budgeting cycle I think it is important for all of us to note exactly what is going on with the finances of Peachtree City.
Post 4, City Council
Peachtree City, Ga.
[Fleisch is an announced candidate for mayor in this fall’s election.]
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The Oregon Department of Education has released its latest assessment
[PDF] of Portland Public Schools' program for teaching English to immigrant and refugee students.
The findings, which follow a 2009 audit
of PPS's department for English-language instruction, are mixed. The state found PPS had corrected some failings but still fell behind in other regards. For example, the state says English-language learners still are not accessing on-grade-level content courses, in violation of state and federal law.
Bottom line: The state is still withholding $617,918 in federal funds that PPS can access only after it's addressed the shortcomings of the state audit.
Last year, PPS started shifting English-language learners to on-grade-level courses, as required by the state. Even though that is what it appears the district should be doing, the results haven't been entirely positive,
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"Mr. Crockett's 'Lilac Sun-Bonnet' 'needs no bush.' Here is a pretty love tale, and the landscape and rural descriptions carry the exile back into the Kingdom of Galloway. Here, indeed, is the scent of bog-myrtle and peat. After inquiries among the fair, I learn that of all romances, they best love, not 'sociology,' not 'theology,' still less, open manslaughter, for a motive, but, just love's young dream, chapter after chapter. From Mr. Crockett they get what they want, 'hot with,' as Thackeray admits that he liked it."--Mr. Andrew Lang
al than long, a nose which the schoolmaster declared was "statuesque" (used in a good sense, he explained to the village folk, who could never be brought to see the difference between a statue and an idol--the second commandment being of literal interpretation along the Loch Grannoch side), and eyes which, emulating the parish poet, we can only describe as like two blue waves when they rise just far enough to catch a sparkle of light on their crests. The subject of her mouth, though tempting, we refuse to touch. Its description has already wrecked three promising reputations.
But withal Winsome Charteris set her pails as frankly and plumply on the ground, as though she were plain as a pike-staff, and bent a moment over to look into the gypsy-pot swung on its birchen triangle. Then she made an impatient movement of her hand, as if to push the biting fir-wood smoke aside. This angered Ralph, who considered it ridiculous and ill-ordered that a gesture which showed only a hasty temper and ill-regulated min
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This is not cynicism, it's called rationale: With a couple of kilos of commonsense, a dash of intelligence, a sprinkling of humour and over 50 years study at the University of Life.
As a mum of three who are now coming up 23, 21 & 17 I have had my fears but in reality they are more often than not my mind doing overtime and they have been fine. I had to allow them freedom otherwise they would not have been street safe in anyway if I was behind them every step.
I am more worried about them going out as young adults in town at the weekend. There are some nasty drunks out there simply looking for trouble and this is a reality!!
I don't think it's more or less safe, but it is different now than when I was growing up in the 1970's. For example there is a lot more fast traffic around now, but in those days we didn't wear seat belts. There is more awareness of abuse and children are believed, whereas in those days children didn't tell because they didn't always understand what was happening and didn't think they would be believed
The internet makes it easier for people to communicate with children, but there are also safeguards in place. People who work with children are subject to CRB checks now, but obviously some of them still slip through the system. Parks and playgrounds are safer thanks to health and safety, people have to pick their dog mess up and we are not allowed to smoke in public places - all these regulations benefit children.
I don't know if it is more or less safe, but it certainly is different.
It's more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and Somalia combined!!!111
We as a whole should not be ashamed of our selves as majority of us would do our utmost to protect children, those guilty of it and those guilty of covering up are the ones who should be ashamed.
We should be ashamed that children were not believed.
We should be ashamed that the higher up the pecking order in our society one is the less likely that they will be investigated when rumours of child abuse are in the air.
We should be ashamed that nurses tell kids to pretend they are sleeping when a certain person came around instead of reporting it to the authorities.
We should be ashamed that those in charge of children's homes stood back and did nothing when an individual took girls away in his car.
We should be ashamed that someone was given the keys of a mental institution that had no other qualifications other than they were a celeb and a charity worker.
We should be ashamed even today children's homes are far from safe places.
We should be ashamed that it appears the rightly focus on asian gangs targeting young girls is only the tip of the iceberg.
Also Thomas not all children's home are unsafe and I do take personal insult to this. I work with one of the best teams who genuinely care for our children. Any one can call at any time, we have an open policy and our children are more vulnerable than most as they do not communicate verbally so it is down to us to protect them and I will not have you insinuate that all homes, all those who work in them are out to abuse children. You should be ashamed at holding these views. There are more good, genuine, decent, experienced & professional people than not.
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Previous | Next | (P-PDF) Acrobat 6.0
Topic: Confusion on Distiller versus PDF Writer
Conf: (P-PDF) Acrobat 6.0, Msg: 108012
Date: 3/20/2004 06:42 AM
We received the statement below from a vendor which we are trying to decipher... I understood that with Adobe Acrobat 6.0 the Distiller was no longer available. In the old days there were two ways you could create the PDF, using the Distiller and using the Acrobat PDFWriter....
Though all of your documents were in pdf format, not all were distilled with Acrobat Distiller. It is recommended that all pdf's be distilled with Acrobat Distiller for a several reasons, two of which are:
Adobe Acrobat is the uniform standard and most states do in fact require that attachments be in PDF format and distilled with Acrobat Distiller
Many states require that Print to PDF work and by ensuring that your attachments are distilled and have no security on them will allow that functionality to work.
Could someone please explain? Thanks
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Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the six-year $450 billion highway authorization bill is unlikely to clear Congress this fall and that an extension of current transportation funding formulas is likely.
While Chairman Jim Oberstar still hoped to have a vote on his bill later this month, a spokesman said the passage by the full congress is unrealistic given Washington’s focus on health care reform and other issues.
The current law expires September 30 and the highway trust fund needs an infusion of money plus the states are facing a rescission, or a turn back of $7.8 Billion of funds by the same date.
An August 8, 2009 article in Congressional Quarterly summed up the uncertainty well.
- “State transportation officials say uncertainty about future funding is forcing them to foreswear ambitious new projects in favor of simple maintenance and repairs.”
- “While states did receive a one-time infusion of cash from the economic recovery package, almost all of the money for transportation has been obligated. Most went to “shovel-ready” projects like filling potholes or repairing guardrails.”
Nothing has changed.
The debate will now turn to how long the extension will be. President Obama and the Senate have suggested an 18- month extension, pushing the debate off until after the 2010 elections.
The rescission needs to be addressed and the funding for the trust fund needs to be back filled again to provide enough security for planning projects that make sense. This is no way to run the transportation business in the U.S.
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It was a common refrain during the House and Senate late-night votes to avert the fiscal cliff. Senator after senator, congressman after congressman lamented the fact that the legislation didn't "do more," "go bigger" or that it was "far from perfect."
Political watchers believed the fiscal cliff negotiations were the perfect time for President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner to hatch a "grand bargain" -- a deal that would have included both large increases in tax revenue and major cuts in government spending. At the time, both men looked better positioned to deliver a bipartisan plan. Boehner seemed to have a firmer hand on his caucus leading up to the talks, and the president was coming off a hard-fought re-election win.
Those hopes, however, proved empty.
What passed both the House and Senate was noticeably scaled back and far from grandiose.
This is not the first time a grand bargain has fallen apart. Obama and Boehner worked together in an effort to negotiate a path toward fiscal health in 2011 -- another so-called "grand bargain" -- but the efforts ultimately ended in acrimony. In an interview with CNN's Jessica Yellin, Boehner described it as his "greatest disappointment."
With two grand bargain failures between the president and the speaker, is it really possible for Congress to go big and pass meaningful, bipartisan legislation as the nation approaches hitting its debt ceiling? Members of Congress and political watchers alike say the prospect seems bleak. A combination of lawmakers lacking courage, the threat of primary challenges and nobody wanting to put skin in the game makes it incredibly difficult to get a big, bipartisan deal done.
According to Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of The Rothenberg Political Report, the biggest deterrent to "going big" is the next election.
"With anything big, members will get a lot of what they like and also a lot that they don't like," Gonzales said. "And in the realm of political campaigns, which focuses on the negative, it is easy to put the negative parts of a bill into a campaign ad and get a lot of attention."
The last few elections have proven this. Outside political groups have, in many situations, funded political hopefuls to challenge congressional incumbents. A whopping $293.5 million in outside money was spent in 2012 congressional races, according to the Federal Election Commission. In the 2010 congressional races, according to the FEC, $153 million was spent by outside groups, and 54 incumbents lost re-election, many of them Democrats.
One difficult vote "doesn't create primary defeat, but it could cause an outside group to get involved, to put the financial backing behind a challenger and all of a sudden make the member's electoral life more miserable," Gonzales said. "This is a fairly new phenomenon. The kind of immediacy with which someone can come out of nowhere, be funded by an outside group and get to a high stage is much quicker than before."
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UPDATE: Dr. Philip Ward, a colleague who is an ant systematist and evolutionary biologist, has offered his critique of the Lehrer article, which I’ve added as a comment below the following:
In several previous posts (e.g., here and here), I’ve described the recent dust-up about whether kin selection (selection of “altruisitic” traits based on their effect on increasing the reproductive fitness of relatives) was an important cause of social evolution in nature, particularly in the evolution of “eusociality” (social insects with a nonreproductive caste and a reproductive queen) and of “altruism” (animals who appear to injure their own evolutionary prospects by helping non-relatives).
The controversy was inspired by a paper published in 2010 in Nature by Martin Nowak et al. (reference at bottom, other authors are Corina Tarnita and the eminent biologist E. O. Wilson), maintaining that kin selection was not a good way to analyze evolution in nature, that it was not a form of natural selection (WRONG), and that the evolution of eusociality was better explained by “group selection” (differential reproduction of groups) than by selection among relatives.
To most biologists, this controversy appears to have been settled: Nowak et al. were wrong. About a hundred and fifty biologists wrote five separate critiques that were published in Nature, along with a lame response by Nowak et al. As far as I know (and I may have missed something), no paper has been published in support of Nowak et al., and only a handful of biologists (I think David Sloan Wilson was one of them) even supported it with public statements. Referring to Nowak et al.’s lame reply to their critics, science writer Carl Zimmer said this:
Nowak et al respond to all the criticism and don’t budge in their own stand. They claim that their critics have misinterpreted their own argument. And they claim that sex allocation does not require inclusive fitness. Oddly, though, they never explain why it doesn’t, despite the thousands of papers that have been published on inclusive fitness and sex allocation. They don’t even cite a paper that explains why.
Now Jonah Lehrer has written a big piece in the New Yorker about this controversy (and about the personalities involved), “Kin and Kind.” (It’s behind a paywall, but I’ve scanned it and will send interested readers that scan if they email me.) Lehrer is a young science writer about whom I have mixed feelings. He’s a good journalist, and his piece is absorbing, but it suffers from several problems. (You may remember Lehrer as the author of another overblown New Yorker piece about the inherent untrustworthiness of science, “The Decline Effect.”)
What is my take on the piece? As I said, it’s absorbing but flawed. It will draw you in and teach you a bit about the controversy, but it ultimately suffers from Lehrer’s “he said/she said” noncommittal stance about the article, and from his unwillingness to make any judgment about the scientific issues at hand. It’s not that he’s incapable of that, I think, since he was trained in neuroscience and has written two books on that subject, but he’s more interested in controversy than scientific truth. Such is The New Yorker, which really needs to dig up some better science writers (can I suggest John Crewdson?).
Here are the problems, starting with the trivial ones:
- There is a mistake, which is no big deal in most magazines but is unforgivable in the New Yorker, which has a scrupulous policy of checking and rechecking every single fact. Referring to the criticisms of Wilson, Lehrer says, “There have been denunciations in the press and signed group letters in prestigious journals; some have hinted that Wilson, who is eighty-two, should retire.” In fact, Wilson retired some years ago.
- Another trivial thing: Lehrer refers to Wilson’s monograph on the ant genus Pheidole, as an “eight-hundred page textbook”. It’s not a textbook, for it’s not for use in any class. It’s a monograph, and no scientist, much less Wilson, would call it a textbook. (As one colleague told me, “I don’t think I’d like to take that class.”) The mention of this monograph is notable because, according to Lehrer, Wilson is prouder of it than of his famous books Sociobiology and On Human Nature, since Wilson now decries the kin selection that infused those two books. Had Lehrer done a little more digging her (he didn’t dig enough for the entire piece!), he would have found out that this monograph is not held in high regard by other ant systematists, for it doesn’t use modern methods of taxonomy: in particular, it doesn’t take into account variation within species, a sine qua non for proper analysis of species. My ant-y colleagues are of a piece in this opinion, but haven’t criticized the monograph because of Wilson’s status; one person who has criticized Wilson’s taxonomic work on ants tangentially, including the monograph, is Dr. Alex Wild, author of the superb ant blog Myrmecos (see here and here).
- The bigger problem: Lehrer doesn’t really delve deeply enough into the controversy to be able to render an opinion, and he mischaracterizes the fracas, simplistically, as a battle between the mathematicians (on the Nowak et al. side) and the biologists (all the critics):
“The mathematicians insist that their critics don’t understand the math, and the biologists insist that the mathematicians don’t understand the biology.”This is completely bogus. Many of the authors on the critiques of the Nowak et al. paper were mathematical biologists with a high degree of skill in theoretical analysis, and certainly with the ability to analyze Nowak et al.’s math (Stuart West is a notable example). And Wilson, of course, is a biologist (Lehrer does note that Wilson doesn’t understand much of his colleagues’ math.)
- Lehrer discusses haplodiploidy: the system of reproduction in many eusocial insects, which involves females laying haploid, unfertilized eggs that become males and diploid eggs fertilized by a haploid male who mates with the queen; those eggs become sterile female workers. This system produces the peculiar result that female workers share 3/4 of their genes with their sisters—instead of the regular 1/2—and hence may have more of a genetic interest in becoming sterile and helping their mother produce sisters than having their own offspring (to whom they’re related by only 1/2). It’s been known for a long time that while haplodiploidy is associated with eusociality, the association is imperfect: some non-haplodiploid species are eusocial, like termites and naked mole rats, while other haploidiploid species aren’t eusocial.
Lehrer uses this fact to dismiss the importance of kin selection in the evolution of eusociality. But he neglects a very important paper that says the opposite: a paper of Hughes et al. in Science in 2008 (reference below). That paper shows unequivocally that eusociality in insects involved kin selection: in all eight cases in the Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) in which eusociality evolved, the ancestral species had queens that mated only once rather than multiply.This association was highly statistically significant.Under the kin-selection idea, single mating facilitates the evolution of sterility since females won’t be related by 3/4 if there is more than one father. The group-selection argument of Nowak et al., which doesn’t depend on relatedness, predicts that eusociality won’t be associated with whether or not females mate once or more than once in the ancestral lineage.The Hughes et al. paper is prima facie evidence that relatedness, and kin selection, facilitates the evolution of eusociality. It clearly shows that Nowak et al. are wrong, but the paper isn’t mentioned by Lehrer.
- If Lehrer had examined the math in the Nowak et al. paper, he could easily have seen that their model was incapable of judging the effects of kin selection, for it didn’t vary the degree of relatedness to see if that would make the evolution of eusociality easier. This was, I think, pointed out in some of the critiques published in Nature. Lehrer just takes a “hands-off” approach to the model. But had he dug a little, or done a little inspection guided by a modeller, he could have seen this. Instead he just throws up his hands and says the issue is unresolved. It isn’t. Nowak et al.’s model cannot say anything about whether relatedness facilitates the evolution of eusociality.
- Finally, at the end of the paper, Lehrer implicitly accepts Ed Wilson’s argument that altruism in animals must evolve by group selection rather than kin selection, for kin selection simply isn’t sufficient. That assertion is completely wrong, and Lehrer should have known that. “Altruism,” at least as “evolved altruism” that is not completely self-sacrificial, can evolve via either kin selection in groups of relatives or via individual selection if individuals can recognize and repay others who help them via “altruisitic” acts. The latter process is known as “reciprocal altruism,” and it’s probably how “unselfish” helping behavior evolved in our primate ancestors. (See my earlier post on how altruism can evolve by means other than group selection.)
Lehrer’s piece, then, suffers from a concentration on style over substance, and, most important, a failure to either dig deeply enough into the issues surrounding group selection, or a lack of understanding of those issues.
It’s not as if making his article scientifically accurate would have made it boring: after all, Lehrer does mention the work showing no statistical association between haplodiploidy and eusociality. He just fails to cite an equally important paper showing a highly significant association between multiple mating and eusociality, which shows ineluctably that kin selection is important in the evolution of eusociality. And he doesn’t talk about the ways that selection other than group selection can promote the evolution of altruism. I know Lehrer knows these other models, because I told him about them when he inteviewed me for the piece (I’m quoted in the article).
The New Yorker apparently likes Lehrer because he can write well and engagingly. But good science journalism requires more than that: it requires a deep understanding of the issues at hand and a means of conveying the substance of a controversy accurately. It wouldn’t have been hard for Lehrer to do that. But I guess the New Yorker doesn’t have any editors who can vet the science.
Oh, and the magazine needs to improve its fact-checking.
Hughes, W. O. H., B. Oldroyd, M. Beekman and F. W. Ratnieks. 2008. Ancestral monogamy shows that kin selection is the key to the evolution of eusociality. Science 320:1213-1216.
Nowak, M. A., C. E. Tarnita and E. O. Wilson. 2010. The evolution of eusociality. Nature 466: 1057-1062.
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The money comes as part of the omnibus appropriations bill of 2009, and brings the total amount corralled by Shuler for the effort to $500,000.
“What better way to bring back tax dollars to Western North Carolina than something we can implement that obviously helps save the environment and also helps people get to and from work?” Shuler said.
In 2007, Asheville City Council announced its intention to replace the city’s fleet of 15 buses with hybrid models. But at a cost of $550,000 each, funding will require a mix of city, state and federal dollars, with most of the weight on the federal side.
Mayor Terry Bellamy, introducing Shuler, praised the congressman’s efforts for bringing money to Western North Carolina, including a recent federal allocation for the Red Wolf habitat at the WNC Nature Center.
“We’re talking about transit today, but I could spend more time talking about other opportunities where we’ve partnered with the congressman,” Bellamy said. She added that she has big hopes for the environmental implications of a hybrid-bus fleet. “When I think about what we are trying to do to reduce our carbon footprint, this really helps us get there in a quicker method.”
Shuler made a point of noting that this funding did not come from the stimulus bill proposed by President Barack Obama, which the congressman voted against, and he defended his efforts to channel money back to WNC.
“This went through the proper process. It went thorough all the committees and subcommittees. It wasn’t something we just saw 11 hours before we voted on it,” Shuler told Xpress. “We sat down with the mayor and the Council and said what are some of your needs? Where can we help and where can we go after some of these dollars?”
The city is hoping to make a complete transition to hybrid buses within three years.
— Brian Postelle, staff writer
photo by Jonathan Welch
Read more articles in:News
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For São João (St John's Day) in June, the high school students and other young people performed a quadrilha (square dance) for the citizen's of Glória. It was a fun event. Everyone dressed up like a Brazilian hillbilly. We took weeks to prepare and practice the moves.
São João was celebrated as the beginning of winter ---the rainy growing season.
My students ranged in age from 12 to 44. The high school had been in existence only 3 years when I arrived. The small girl wearing red tights was only 12 and just out of elementary school. The man (to the right of her) with the plaid shirt was a 26-year-old tailor who finally had a chance to attend high school. He ended up working for the department of agriculture and the woman he married several years later (also one of my students) became a teacher.
(See also my story about the Festa de São João.)
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Fast underwater stern tube seal repairs in the United States and Panama keep ships out of drydock
Recently Hydrex diver/technician teams carried out two underwater stern tube seal repairs: one on a 143-meter general cargo ship in Galveston, Texas, and one on a 292-meter container vessel in Panama. Both vessels were experiencing oil leaks and a fast repair was required by the classification societies. Using the company’s flexible mobdocks, Hydrex teams were able to perform both operations on-site and underwater. This saved time and money for both owners.
Hydrex has carried out on-site, underwater repairs and replacements on all types of seals for a number of years. A dry environment is created underwater, in which the divers can work. Several major classification societies have also awarded Hydrex certificates that accept the Hydrex revolutionary flexible mobdock technique to perform permanent underwater seal repairs which previously would have had to be done in drydock.
Every Hydrex office has a fast response center equipped with all the latest facilities, lightweight equipment and tools. These centers were designed specifically to increase speed of service. This allowed us to mobilize a team together with all the needed equipment to the general cargo vessel’s location within the shortest possible time frame. After the diving team had set up a monitoring station, the operation started with a thorough underwater inspection of the stern tube seal assembly. The divers then removed the rope guard. The team then installed the flexible mobdock around the stern tube seal assembly creating a dry underwater environment for the divers to work in drydock-like conditions. This is a necessity for permanent stern tube seal repairs. After cleaning the entire assembly, the divers disconnected the split ring and brought it to the surface to be cleaned. Next the team removed the three damaged seals one by one and replaced them with new ones.
Oil was leaking from the stern tube seal assembly of a container vessel. Hydrex diver/technicians therefore mobilized to the vessel’s location in Panama, together with all the needed equipment. The diving team first set up a monitoring station. Next they started the operation with a thorough underwater inspection of the stern tube seal assembly. The underwater inspection revealed that the rope guard was missing. Fishing lines tangled around the liner had caused the oil leak. These were removed by the diver/technicians. The team then installed the flexible mobdock around the assembly. After cleaning the entire assembly, the divers removed the first seal and replaced it with a new one which was then bonded. This procedure was repeated with the other two damaged seals.
Both operations ended with the conducting of pressure tests with positive results, the removal of the flexible mobdock and the reinstallation of the rope guard.
Off-hire causes a substantial loss of money. The teams therefore worked in shifts to perform the stern tube seal repairs within the shortest possible time frame. This saved both owners the time and money which going to drydock would have entailed.
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SALT LAKE CITY — Successful treatment for addiction and chemical dependency relies heavily on a commitment from the individuals involved, as well as a supportive system of friends and relatives.
While health insurance and financial options often dictate where a person receives care, it is best to get into treatment as soon as an addict recognizes a problem is evident, said Dr. Ken Wander, a psychiatrist and medical director at Intermountain Healthcare's LDS Hospital inpatient psychiatric unit.
If families wait until desired facilities have openings, it might be too late, Wader said.
Individuals also differ in whether they should attend an intensive outpatient program or residential treatment, but the differences in cost can be significant, Wander told a caller to Saturday's Deseret News/Intermountain Healthcare Health Hotline.
"Families often want inpatient treatment, where they perceive the most invasive intervention taking place, but patients usually want the programs that are most convenient," he said, adding that outpatient programs allow a person to continue working.
Studies show that the two options offer similar outcomes, as each are equally effective in the broad spectrum, Wander said.
LDS Hospital's Dayspring Treatment Center offers a three- to five-day medical detoxification process, outpatient treatment programs and aftercare meetings that individuals and their families can attend for as long as necessary.
The program provides a structured environment while allowing participants to "live in the real world," where they can "exercise what they're learning in treatment," said Jan Frederickson, an addiction substance abuse disorder counselor at Dayspring.
When people can keep their job and stay living with family, "it gives them something to stay clean for," Frederickson said.
Couples are not advised to receive treatment or go through detox together, as it can prohibit the environment of honesty they create for themselves in the process.
Individuals without insurance or the finances to go through the often expensive treatment process can benefit from public programs offered throughout the state. Those interested must first show a sense of commitment by attending free, weekly meetings and pass a test with Assessment and Referral Services, housed at the University of Utah's department of psychiatry.
"The county-run programs are great, but there is sometimes a wait to get in," Wander said.
He said it is difficult for individuals to kick addictive habits on their own, and individuals often exhibit other behaviors that stem from underlying conditions that must also be addressed. A hospital or medical setting provides optimal access to professionals, such as social workers, who can help with depression, which is a common condition experienced by addicts.
While a family can be helpful in providing support, it is also important that doctors hear their side of the story. Parents can also sometimes provide a more extensive medical history than the patient alone.
"Individuals in the throes of addiction are not the best historians, as their memory is often impaired by whatever substance they're abusing," Wander said.
Privacy laws, however, can be difficult to navigate.
Wander suggests that parents and family members write and mail letters to doctors regarding the details of their loved ones' pasts. The method bypasses the physician's acknowledgment that a patient is being treated, a part of the law that cannot be breached by email or a phone call.
Oftentimes, addicts require multiple therapies, including for depression, various sleep disorders and other problems that can either stem from the addiction or have been intensified by it. The trick, Frederickson said, is sticking with it. She said some patients stay in aftercare for years, just because it feels right to them.
The health hotline is offered to readers through a partnership between Intermountain Healthcare and the Deseret News. It covers a different health topic the second Saturday of each month.
- Frances Monson, wife of LDS prophet, passes away
- LDS missionary 'stable' following hit-and-run...
- A firsthand perspective: Reflecting on the...
- Mitt Romney to live in Utah — at least...
- Members recall Sister Monson's quiet devotion
- Utah facing $1.2 billion-dollar water...
- Utah soldier presumed dead in Afghanistan
- Psychologist calls doctor accused of killing...
- Frances Monson, wife of LDS prophet,... 62
- Mitt Romney to live in Utah — at... 45
- Police say driver who hit 3 children... 27
- Angry Orrin Hatch: IRS guilty of... 19
- Utah GOP convention agenda includes... 19
- Attorney General John Swallow says he's... 16
- Mormon missionary age announcement... 14
- Angelina Jolie announcement leads to... 12
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A lightweight white-metal relative of platinum with similar durability and strength. Unlike white gold, which can yellow over time, palladium retains its brightness.
A dense and durable precious metal that is difficult to scratch and chip. With no yellow hue or alloys, this rare metal has a natural white luster and comes at a premium price.
A silver alloy made up of 92.5 percent pure silver and another metal (often copper) that increases its durability, as pure silver is soft and easily damaged.
An extremely lightweight yet strong metal in a burnished gunmetal gray hue that is popular in men’s wedding bands. Its strength makes it difficult for jewelers to carve and resize.
Gold that is often plated with rhodium, a shiny, durable white metal that gives it a white luster. Yearly replating is recommended.
A dense, soft, shiny and malleable metal. Yellow gold is usually alloyed with copper, silver or other metals.
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Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen speaks passionately about his new role as ambassador “Children & the Arts is the only charity I know that reaches out and leads children on a unique journey into the arts that will inspire, thrill and transform their lives, and I am in no doubt will sow the seeds of lifelong passions.”
Simultaneous performances in the Guildhalls of London and Derry-Londonderry of a new cantata by composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and poet Paul Muldoon will be just one musical highlight of Derry-Londonderry’s year as the first UK City of Culture.
The heirs of Francis Poulenc and his librettist Georges Bernanos have filed an injunction to prevent the Bavarian State Opera in Munich from reviving Dmitri Tcherniakov’s staging of Dialogues des Carmelites.
Matthew Bourne is known for his radical reworking of classic ballets and now he’s turning Sleeping Beauty into a 21st-century gothic romance. It’s the Twilight series meets Tchaikovsky, he tells Liz Hoggard
What is the first thought that comes into your head when the name ‘Edward Elgar’ is mentioned? The quintessential English composer? The last night of the Proms? That massive moustache? These reactions to Elgar demonstrate the way in which we label composers according to one particular trait, when in reality their music isn’t so black and white (have a listen to Elgar’s Owls: An Epitaph, recently discussed by Tom Service).
We tend to favour categorisations: Debussy is often labelled an ‘Impressionist’ composer, Philip Glass a ‘Minimalist’ and Arthur Sullivan as the satirical ‘operetta’ writer. These composers often resented the terms that have been used to define them, and if we look beyond these perceived artistic stereotypes, we can come across some surprising musical gems.
Tom Service recently highlighted this issue in his recent article on Górecki, drawing attention to his works which have been overshadowed by his famous Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. Aside from Górecki, there are many other musical surprises in composers’ outputs that are worth exploring. Here are a couple of interesting ones that we’ve found at WildKat PR:
The name ‘John Williams’ will inevitably conjure up the familiar melodies from the Star Wars and Harry Potter films. But John Williams’ other works, such as his rarely performed Sinfonietta for Wind Ensemble, prove that his compositional capabilities stretch beyond the well-orchestrated big tunes which have made him so famous. His Tuba Concerto is quite interesting to listen to as well, with a complex contrapuntal effect created between the scurrying dissonant strings and the jaunty tuba rhythms. There’s not a hint of a big Superman-inspired theme here!
With Poulenc’s output containing both witty chamber music writing and religious works, one music critic noted that ‘there is something of the monk and something of the rascal’ in the composer’s music. And another side to Poulenc’s creativity is revealed in his tragic ‘La voix Humaine’. This serious, monologue opera focuses entirely on a telephone conversation between a young woman and her lover who is abandoning her. Poulenc’s dramatic music reflects the woman’s psychological turmoil here, and this is emphasised the woman’s final, desperate pleas of ‘Je t’aime’. Have a listen to the tragic ending here.
Seduced by the commercial success of satirical operettas in the late 1800s, Sullivan’s more ‘serious’ compositions have been largely overlooked in favour of his Savoy Opera collaborations with the librettist Gilbert. Sullivan’s symphonic works currently lie dormant beneath the popularity of his pastiches and witty tongue-twister songs (such as The Pirates of Penzance’s ‘I am the very model of a modern major general’ from the Pirates of Penzance). Yet Sullivan’s Irish Symphony is richly orchestrated and his incidental music for The Tempest is an evocative portrayal of Shakespearean themes. By taking away the musical imitations and witty social observations of Victorian customs, Sullivan’s true musical voice is revealed.
Nielsen also wrote some poignantly simple folksongs in celebration of his Danish heritage which sound completely different to his complex symphonic writing: Jens Vejmand is one of these.
Schoenberg, who is strongly associated with the Second Viennese School’s atonality, composed some sublimely orchestrated tonal music. Have a listen to his oratorio Gurrelieder; doesn’t it sound so much closer to the music of Richard Strauss and Wagner than the works most often associated with Schoenberg? Compare this with his Pierrot Lunaire to get the full effect.
These examples demonstrate the fact that composers do not always sustain an evolutionary musical development throughout their careers, and this causes us to rethink our definitions of their music. If we look beneath the stereotypes and deeper into music’s endless repertory, there are many hidden gems waiting to be found. Why not download one of X5’s Rise of the Masters 100-track compilations; you might just discover a musical style you didn’t expect from one of your favourite composers!
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By Gerry Shih
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As Hurricane Sandy pounded the U.S. Atlantic coast on Monday night, knocking out electricity and Internet connections, millions of residents turned to Twitter as a part-newswire, part-911 hotline that hummed through the night even as some websites failed and swathes of Manhattan fell dark.
But the social network also became a fertile ground for pranksters who seized the moment to disseminate rumors and Photoshopped images, including a false tweet Monday night that the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange was submerged under several feet of water.
The exchange issued a denial, but not before the tweet was circulated by countless users and reported on-air by CNN, illustrating how Twitter had become the essential - but deeply fallible - spine of information coursing through real-time, major media events.
But a year after Twitter gained attention for its role in the rescue efforts in tsunami-stricken Japan, the network seemed to solidify its mainstream foothold as government agencies, news outlets and residents in need turned to it at the most critical hour.
Beginning late Sunday, government agencies and officials, from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo(@NYGovCuomo) to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (@FEMA) to @NotifyNYC, an account handled by New York City's emergency management officials, issued evacuation orders and updates.
As the storm battered New York Monday night, residents encountering clogged 9-1-1 dispatch lines flooded the Fire Department's @fdny Twitter account with appeals for information and help for trapped relatives and friends.
One elderly resident needed rescue in a building in Manhattan Beach. Another user sent @fdny an Instagram photo of four insulin shots that she needed refrigerated immediately. Yet another sought a portable generator for a friend on a ventilator living downtown.
Emily Rahimi, who manages the @fdny account by herself, according to a department spokesman, coolly fielded dozens of requests, while answering questions about whether to call 311, New York's non-emergency help line, or Consolidated Edison.
At the Red Cross of America's Washington D.C. headquarters, in a small room called the Digital Operations Center, six wall-mounted monitors display a stream of updates from Twitter and Facebook and a visual "heat map" of where posts seeking help are coming from.
The heat map informed how the Red Cross's aid workers deployed their resources, said Wendy Harman, the Red Cross director of social strategy.
The Red Cross was also using Radian6, a social media monitoring tool sold by Salesforce.com, to spot people seeking help and answer their questions.
"We found out we can carry out the mission of the Red Cross from the social Web," said Harman, who hosted a brief visit from President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Twitter, which in the past year has heavily ramped up its advertising offerings and features to suit large brand marketers like Pepsico Inc and Procter & Gamble, suddenly found itself offering its tools to new kind of client on Monday: public agencies that wanted help spreading information.
For the first time, the company created a "#Sandy" event page - a format once reserved for large ad-friendly media events like the Olympics or Nascar races - that served as a hub where visitors could see aggregated information. The page displayed manually- and algorithmically-selected tweets plucked from official accounts like those of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who was particularly active on the network.
Agencies like the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and the New York Mayor's Office also used Twitter's promoted tweets - an ad product used by advertisers to reach a broader consumer base - to get out the word.
The company said offering such services for free to government agencies was one of several initiatives, including a service that broadcasts location-specific alerts and public announcements based on a Twitter user's postal code.
"We learned from the storm and tsunami in Japan that Twitter can often be a lifeline," said Rachael Horwitz, a Twitter spokeswoman.
Jeannette Sutton, a sociologist at the University of Colorado who has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security to study social media uses in disaster management, said government agencies have been skeptical until recently about using social media during natural disasters.
"There's a big problem with whether it's valid, accurate information out there," Sutton said. "But if you're not part of the conversation, you're going to be missing out."
As the hurricane hit one of the most wired regions in the country, news outlets also took advantage of the smartphone users who chronicled rising tides on every flooded block. On Instagram, the photo-sharing website, witnesses shared color-filtered snapshots of floating cars, submerged gas stations and a building shorn of its facade at a rate of more than 10 pictures per second, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom told Poynter.org on Tuesday.
Many of the images were republished in the live coverage by news websites and aired on television broadcasts.
LIES SLAPPED DOWN
But by late Monday, fake images began to circulate widely, including a picture of a storm cloud gathering dramatically over the Statue of Liberty and a photoshopped job of a shark lurking in a submerged residential neighborhood. The latter image even surfaced on social networks in China.
Then there was the slew of fabricated message from @comfortablysmug, the Twitter account that claimed the NYSE was underwater. The account is owned by Shashank Tripathi, the hedge fund investor and campaign manager for Christopher Wight, the Republican candidate to represent New York's 12th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Tripathi, who did not return emails by Reuters seeking comment, apologized Tuesday night for making a "series of irresponsible and inaccurate tweets" and resigned from Wight's campaign.
His identity was first reported by Jack Stuef of BuzzFeed.
Around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Tripathi began deleting many of his Hurricane Sandy tweets. Tripathi's friend, @theAshok, defended Tripathi, telling Reuters on Twitter: "People shouldn't be taking "news" from an anonymous twitter account seriously."
Tripathi's @comfortablysmug's Twitter stream, which is followed by business journalists, bloggers and various New York personalities, had been a well-known voice in digital circles, but mostly for his 140-character-or-less criticisms of the Obama administration, often accompanied by the hashtag, #ObamaIsn'tWorking.
On Tuesday, New York City Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr. appeared to threaten Tripathi with prosecution when he tweeted that he hoped Tripathi was "less smug and comfortable cuz I'm talking to Cy," presumably referring to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
For its part, Twitter said that it would not have considered suspending the account unless it received a request from a law enforcement agency.
"We don't moderate content, and we certainly don't want to be in a position of deciding what speech is OK and what speech is not," said Horwitz, Twitter's spokeswoman.
But Ben Smith, the editor at Buzzfeed, which outed Tripathi, said Twitter's credibility would not be affected by rumormongers because netizens often self-correct and identify falsehoods.
"They used to say a lie will travel halfway around the world before the truth puts its shoes on, but in the Twitter world, that's not true anymore," Smith said. "The lies get slapped down really fast."
For Smith, the ability to disseminate information via Twitter and Facebook on Monday night became perhaps even more important than his Web publication, which enjoyed one of its better nights in readership but went dark when the blackout crippled the site's servers in downtown Manhattan.
Buzzfeed's staff quickly began publishing on Tumblr instead, and Smith personally took over Buzzfeed's Twitter account to stay in the thick of the conversation.
"Our view of the world is that social distribution is the key thing," Smith said. "We're in the business of creating content that people want to share, more than the business of maintaining a website."
(Reporting By Gerry Shih in San Francisco and Jennifer Ablan and Felix Salmon in New York; Editing by Robert Birsel)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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Balancing rights and responsibilities – rebuilding the social security system in the 21st centuryOriginal
11 May 2012
Labour MP and former pensions minister Malcolm Wicks argues that many Labour voters have lost faith in the welfare system and that to revive it the contributory principle needs to be restored.
Among the very many challenges facing the next Labour government will be to rebuild trust in the social security system. By 2015, the system will be characterised by mass unemployment and low benefit levels. Moreover, after years witnessing the triumph of fear over hope, faith in the welfare state will be at a low level with many benefit claimants on the hostile end of popular attitudes, not least from those in employment whose salaries are in decline. Labour’s challenge, if it gets back into power, will be to rebuild new public confidence in a system based on rights and duties.
The challenges we face
The starting point, as we seek to develop coherent and affordable policies for the future, must be our values. I would argue that these are guided by three key principles:
- we must aim for a more equal society
- it must be one that liberates individuals and families, empowers them, plays to their strengths and is allied to their aspirations – not a dead-end, dependency state
- and it must encourage ‘fraternity’ – or social cohesion: it should help to integrate society, not divide it.
The last point, the role of social security in promoting social cohesion, has been neglected in recent decades. But the views of the giant of 20th-century social policy, Richard Titmuss, that if services and benefits are focussed on the poor they are bound to end up being ‘poor services’ ring out as a strong truth that should guide the Labour party towards a new social welfare approach. As Titmuss argued in 1972:
‘Universal services available without distinction of class, colour, sex or religion, can perform functions which foster and promote attitudes and behaviour directed towards the values of social solidarity, altruism, toleration and accountability’.
At present, this sense of social solidarity, particularly in relation to the welfare state, is missing. A man in my Croydon constituency told me recently that after the war the ‘rules’ were clear: ‘You paid your contributions, when you had a job, and you could receive benefits when in need.’ He felt that clarity was now missing. One problem now is that the bridging concept of citizenship is not as strong as it was in the past.
In contrast to unity and solidarity, partly forged out of the battles against Hitler, there is today more individualism and also more diversity in our population in the wake of substantial immigration. There is also a decline in those institutions that created solidarity, whether large industries such as coalmines, steelworks and factories, or church and chapel, trade unions and mass political parties. So there is less shared interest and less shared history. And globalisation weakens ties between company and community, when shareholders’ and people’s interests point in different geographical directions. These factors challenge the reality of citizenship and therefore make it more important to foster.
This raises a central issue for a democracy: what are the fundamental rights and responsibilities of citizens? British politics has been weakened by the left’s almost exclusive focus on rights in recent decades (in contrast to a more traditional and equal emphasis on duty, whether as a member of the friendly society, the union or the co-op), and also by the political right’s equally narrow emphasis on duty, turning its back on an earlier ‘one nation’ tradition. To focus on either one without the other is crass, too narrow, merely partisan and, in practical terms, leads up a policy cul-de-sac. What we need is a proper balance between the two.
The responsible nation
The responsible nation should be one that fosters a strong sense of responsibility in the country as a whole, whether in government itself, the private sector, in communities, families or individuals, rich and poor. It recognises that we grow stronger if we respect mutual rights and responsibilities and if there is a strong egalitarian ethic that cherishes, but also holds to account, each and every citizen.
We need public understanding and support for the principles and the practice of a modern welfare state. All citizens, whether as taxpayers, family members or as pension or benefit recipients, need to have confidence in the underlying ethos and the ‘rules of the game’ – a confidence that welfare is not a burden, but rather a crucial foundation stone for a well-functioning social democracy.
Is this the case today? I don’t think so, at least not entirely. Parts of the welfare state, of course, are massively supported, notably the NHS. Yet, as many of us found during the general election campaign, there is much public disquiet about alleged benefit scroungers and the work-shy and a perceptible unease that hard-working citizens are taken for granted; that parents who responsibly plan for family-building go to the back of the housing queue; and that to work on a low income earns you little extra above benefit levels.
A recent survey found that, in answer to the question ‘do you agree or disagree that the government pays out too much in benefits; welfare levels overall should be reduced’, the total agreeing was a massive 74 per cent – more Tory voters, yes (94 per cent) but including 59 per cent of Labour voters. A further question concerned ‘scroungers’: respondents were asked how many welfare claimants fit this description. Of the total, 39 per cent said ‘a significant minority’, a further 22 per cent suggested ‘around half of all claimants’. Again, significant numbers of Labour voters thought that there were many scroungers in the system. Another survey found that as many as 69 per cent agreed with the statement: ‘Our welfare system has created a culture of dependency. People should take more responsibility for their own lives and families.’
Now, this is complex territory and not all public grievance can be taken at face value: there’s a fair share of urban mythology and certainly misunderstanding (and exceptional cases, such as families living courtesy of housing benefit in millionaire mansions, gain currency and undermine public confidence). But public anxiety does contain very strong grains of truth that need to be recognised and acted upon.
Indeed, some on the left seek to belittle the size and significance of benefit abuse or, by comparing it with tax avoidance, speak of its relative insignificance. They doubtless assume that raising the question undermines public confidence, yet the reverse is the case. We avoid this issue at our peril.
Abuse is clear, certainly to many living on our estates and in poorer communities. Sidestepping benefit abuse is a grave disservice to legitimate public anger about the failure of some to comply with the duties that must accompany rights, if the system is to be perceived as fair. Fraud is difficult to quantify but the DWP’s central estimate for 2010/11 is that fraud cost £1.32 billion, some 0.8 per cent of total benefit expenditure. A further £1.3 billion loss was due to customer error. For tax credits, fraud is estimated at £400 million. The scale of abuse was clear to me when I had ministerial responsibility at the Department for Work and Pensions for tackling the problem.
My argument is that a benefits system based on ‘rights’ alone is a system built on sand, rather than the granite rocks of citizenship, reciprocity and conditionality. It is one reason why we are losing the battle of public opinion on social security.
Moving forward: the key building blocks
If we are serious about building a modern social security system fit for purpose in the 21st century, much detailed work will need to be done. Here, however, I suggest some of the key building blocks that are required. Some I discuss only briefly, but I will conclude by emphasising the importance of the contributory principle as a key building block.
With the numbers of unemployed approaching 3 million, talk of the citizen’s duty to work (whenever possible) may seem idealistic. But evidence has grown that unemployment has impacts well beyond the obvious ones, including on health, on children’s educational attainment and on access to decent housing. The challenge therefore is to place employment centre-stage with strong implications for macroeconomic policy, but also for industrial policy and for skills and innovation. I believe that the urgent priority is to guarantee a job or training for Britain’s school-leavers. Few things can be more disheartening than leaving school and ending up in a wilderness of inactivity. This will require a national effort: the public sector and large businesses – Sainsbury’s, Marks and Spencer, construction companies and others must be signed up to help achieve this objective.
Skills and education
High levels of unemployment are not simply a consequence of today’s austerity regime but have been a feature of the labour market in recent decades. In Croydon, even during the ‘boom’ Labour years, many of my constituents remained unemployed. Yet there were vacancies and many migrants, typically from eastern Europe, were easily finding jobs. How do we explain this seeming paradox? Explanations relate to job-readiness, a lack of willingness to go the extra mile in search of work, and a frank lack of education and skills.
In contrast to the immediate years after the war, there are now far fewer jobs which require only low skills – on the other hand, there are more and more jobs that require high levels of literacy and numeracy at the very least, and often sophisticated IT skills as well as further and higher education qualifications. The last Labour government did much to address this problem, from literacy hours in our primary schools, tough targets at secondary level and a rising number entering university. But there is so much more to be done, and we need to make a reality of ‘lifelong learning’ and a new programme to focus on those who lack skills.
There is no more crucial building block for ‘social security’ than the family. It is the family that brings home the lion’s share of household income, and there is huge silent majority of families that bring up their children very well.
Our aim in family policy should be to be on the side of what I have called ‘strong families’. Such families are to be found among many different kinds of households, including those headed up by married couples, by those who are cohabiting and by single parents. We should play to their strengths and promote the right balance between rights and duties. We should be on the side of aspiration and ambition. It should be a positive family policy, but therefore one that does not shy away from tough and controversial questions.
In my view, the last Labour government failed to develop a coherent family policy.
It was hardly inactive, and many of our policies helped the family, from child trust funds to sure start centres, but I think we failed to tackle some fundamental and very difficult questions. These include:
- Why are Britain’s divorce rates among the highest in the world?
- Why do we have such a high percentage of single (never married) families?
- Why do so many fathers effectively abandon their own children, certainly financially, but often in other respects too?
One consequence of such trends is that the welfare state, and therefore taxpayers and, yes, therefore other parents, have had to take on financial burdens that properly should fall to the families themselves. Of all the children living in separated families, only half are financially supported by the ‘absent’ parent – normally the father. Other data from DWP for all separated families, totalling 2.5 million, shows that there is a CSA [Child Support Agency] payment liability or non-CSA arrangement in place for some 1.51 million. It is important to note, however, that this does not mean, in all cases, that payments are actually made or that they are made in full.
The depressing picture of irresponsibility shown by the child support data is but one indicator of a far wider and disturbing demography. There are too many children being brought up in families which are uncaring and chaotic, where there is no father figure. This is an inconvenient truth about the social revolution that has engulfed many families.
Some of these children will face harmful impacts on their socialisation, their educational attainment and consequently their future life chances. The last Labour government did much. However, there is a need for some fresh thinking.
First, we must emphasise that the frontline of defence against insecure childhoods must be the promotion of the strong family. How do we achieve this? And how do we ensure that social and benefit programmes nurture and support rather than discourage responsible parents?
Second, we must ensure that public expenditure is used to most effect, pooling portions of departmental budgets in pursuit of agreed priorities, such as investing in early intervention, raising teenagers’ aspirations and promoting parental responsibility. Spending money effectively requires a strong focus on objectives, not dull allegiance to Whitehall configuration.
A 21st-century social insurance strategy
A final, but substantial, building block for a modern social security system must be the renaissance and modernisation of the contributory principle, one based by definition on a proper balance between rights and duties. The idea of lifecycle accounts is worth exploring. These might include the following characteristics.
First, they would be individualised accounts, accessible via the internet. Individuals should have a sense of ‘ownership’ of the account.
Second, there should be flexibility, including the ability to access money at certain, albeit limited, points in one’s life cycle, ahead of retirement. The ability to ‘borrow’ certain amounts against future contributions should also be a feature. [I do not underestimate the need to build up funds for a decent pension, but the ability to draw on social insurance for specific purposes pre-retirement is attractive.]
Third, the scheme should enable individuals to make payments into their own account. This would be a welcome feature, not least at a time when many commercial schemes resemble a confusing savings swindle.
What should a new social insurance system cover? What 21st-century lifecycle risks and circumstances might be included in a modern social insurance scheme?
The current coverage of national insurance is the starting point, but surely we can do better for the major risk of unemployment. Many of those who might subscribe to a popular perception that benefit levels are too high are shocked when they come face to face with the actualité of unemployment, as many are now doing. Unemployment insurance now lasts only six months; after that, if their partner is in work, there might be no jobseekers’ allowance at all. Rates are very low: for the under-25s the benefit is just £56.25 a week; for the over-25s it is £71.
But more realistic unemployment benefit rates must rest on two things: a tougher stance on the duty to work and locating the goal of full employment at the heart of public policy.
As for national insurance pensions, why should not individuals be enabled to make extra contributions into the system in exchange for guaranteed enhanced benefits? Given the low administrative costs of national insurance, the system could offer a far better deal than those currently available from expensive private pension schemes, typically defined contribution schemes with low annuity rates.
Lifecycle accounts should include the reincarnation of child trust funds, not least to inculcate the savings habit early. A new child endowment should be vested in favour of every child at birth. There would be strict rules about the use of such an endowment. These might include the funding of post-16 or later further education, a deposit for home ownership, etc.
How would it be funded? The current period of austerity, which has affected families so badly, was caused primarily by the banking crisis, when government was forced to nationalise large segments of the banking system. When the nationalised shares are finally sold (and this should not be done at a low price) we should think more imaginatively than merely returning the money to the Treasury for general usage. What better than to use some of this capital to invest in our children’s future through the new endowment scheme? This would indicate that we take our newest citizens seriously and seek to promote their futures. Another mechanism would be to enable the funding of the new child endowment scheme through loans against future national insurance contributions.
Ideally, a new social insurance scheme should recognise the changing patterns of care within the nuclear and extended family, in the light of increasing employment among women (and mother) and the care crisis posed by an ageing population. These represent challenges which were not present in the society that Beveridge experienced when he devised the post-war social security system. Should a modernised social security system, possibly through social insurance, include either a childcare payment or enhanced parental leave, to be shared by both father and mother?
While Beveridge has much to say about pensions, surely today he would also have emphasised frailty in old age and the burden of long-term care as one of the important risks to be covered by social insurance. The Dilnot Commission on Funding of Care and Support has made important recommendations in this area, essentially proposing a sharing of costs between the individual and the state. Is there scope for a new insurance contract that would help meet these costs?
100 years after the introduction of national insurance, and indeed 70 years after the publication of the pioneering Beveridge report, it is time for fresh thinking about the role that social insurance might play in our national social security system. This is not about history or nostalgia, but rather the search for a system of social security that commands public respect (and must therefore follow public consultation and debate) and one based on sound public finance. A hotchpotch of benefit provision, based on neither clear values nor public consensus, will fail to see us through in the difficult years that lie ahead. A new social contract between citizen and state, based on clear rights and duties, is the way forward.
This article is based on an IPPR lecture given by Malcolm Wicks on 24 April 2012 at the House of Commons. Download the full text of the lecture.
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