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A congressman wants public transport service operators to secure for their vehicles a†comprehensive insurance coverage not only to protect themselves but also the victims of vehicular accidents.
"The sense of responsibility and accountability exercised by private motor-vehicle owners should be similarly demanded from public land-transport operators, specifically of buses and taxicabs because they are in the business of providing service to the vast majority who depend on public transport as the cheaper means of transportation," said Rep. Anthony del Rosario (1st District, Davao del Norte).
Del Rosario is the author of House Bill 6174, which makes it mandatory for public-utility vehicles to have a comprehensive insurance that should cover damages to the vehicle, theft, bodily injury, property damage, and a policy on passenger personal accident.
In filing the bill, Del Rosario cited Section 374 of the Insurance Code, which compels operators of public-utility vehicles to secure a third-party liability insurance or surety bond to assure the vehicular accident victims of immediate financial assistance or indemnity "regardless of the financial capability of the operators responsible for the accident sustained."
The solon also noted that†Insurance Memorandum Circular No. 4-2006 limits the third party or passenger liability for all compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance to a P100,000 coverage.
Under del Rosario's bill, which is known as the "Public Utility Vehicles' Comprehensive Insurance Act,"†the voluntary third-party liability coverage should be up to a particular amount that is applied after the limited liability amount of P100,000--as provided under the compulsory third-party liability insurance--is exhausted.
This would reportedly include the reimbursement of medical costs for victims of the vehicular accident and the liability for property damage caused by the insured vehicle against a third-party vehicle or property. The bill also provides coverage against death or bodily injury sustained by passengers due to accidents while riding the insured vehicle.
If passed into law, a P50,000 penalty and the suspension of the franchise to operate a public transport vehicle service will be handed to those who don't secure a compulsory comprehensive insurance coverage for their motor vehicles. | <urn:uuid:eeddcd94-f590-4880-879b-2f56e012d3b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.topgear.com.ph/news/solon-wants-puvs-to-have-comprehensive-insurance-coverage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945877 | 442 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Earlier this week I mentioned I'd be sharing my thoughts on carbon production. Today, I'm going to delve into my first hand experiences during last week's trip to China. I'll share some of my observations and give you a little information on the process of building carbon fiber bikes.
First, a little bit about the factories. I intentionally went into this trip with few expectations. All I knew was that we would be spending 2 days in China and visiting several factories. I was travelling with Steve (Owner), Rich (QBP Director of Product), & Joe (Product Designer). I knew our schedule would be tight. I felt a little bit like an infant learning something new. The first visit we had so many questions. That 1st visit was long as it was the first time we got to witness the process from start to finish. In the end, we left this first visit excited and motivated to learn more.
At the end of the first day, we had visited several factories. One factory even ordered KFC and Pizza Hut for us. Nothing like eating American fast food in China. We left this first day amazed and a bit overwhelmed with information and observations.
A few things stood out to me.
1) Carbon fiber manufacturing is so darn labor intensive. This is why a great majority of carbon manufacturing is moving to China. The labor force is strong, skilled and efficient.
2) The conditions of the factories blew me away. From the rolls and rolls of pre-preg carbon, to the cutting rooms, to the lay up rooms, to the forgings, ovens, presses, etc. Most factories were quite clean. Some were better than others. Conditions were good.
3) They take this business seriously. China is investing heavily in carbon. Many of the factories we visited were either in new facilities or planning to move to brand new facilities. One other note on taking it seriously, one factory had 60 R&D engineers and technicians. Wow!
4) Dorms. All the factories we visited had dormatories to house the workers. The workers work hard. The Chinese government has regulations for # of hours worked and # of days per week worked, but when asked, most of the workers wanted more hours so they could send money home to their families.
5) Process and work flow. Almost every factory we visited had the same process. One thing I found so interesting was the work flow. In every factory, the process went up. Raw material, carbon cutting & lay up, and forging were on the first floor. Second floor always had finishing. If there was a third floor, the final finishing and boxxing happened there. Finished frames on the top floor!? That means every frame they produce needed to be moved down the elevator(s). Seems slow and bulky to me. In my simple mind, I had expected it to be the opposite. Finished product on lowest floor so that it could be put in shipping containers immediately upon completion.
6) If you have a carbon bike or a carbon component on your bike, part or some part of it was likely manufactured in China. I could not believe it. I won't name names, but many products and brands were represented including many that I did not expect. This part was eye opening. Another fact here is that Europe must account for at least 65% of the carbon business and even more if you are specifically talking about carbon road bikes. One factory said that over 80% of their business was Europe!
So...enough observations. Here's a little bit about the process. This is overly simplistic, but should give you an idea of the process. This process is assuming the design and the development is completed. Also, most factories don't let you take pictures so you'll have to imagine some of these steps. Here is the process for monocoque frames.
- Cutting of pre preg into specific angles and cuts. All pieces to build the product are bundled and put together with build spec sheets
- Lay up. Layer by layer the carbon is hand layed up over silicon molds and/or plastic air bladders
- bladders are placed in heavy steel molds and internal air fittings are attached
- Molds are transferred to press, bladders are filled with air pushing the carbon outward into the mold, and heated to roughly 300 degrees
- Molds are removed from presses, cooled and then the carbon frames are removed
- Frames are cleaned, sanded and prepared for final finishing and/or assembly
- Rear triangles are attached to the monocoque front triangle
- Final prep
- Stiffness test. 100% testing is done on stiffness to see if it meets the spec. This step also gives poor results if something went wrong in one of the other steps
- Final finishing if they pass
Lastly, here are a few photo's detailing some of this process.
Here, two workers are prepping a mold and attaching fixtures to bladders
Here is a pic of the oven and press. Molds are heavy!
Each frame size must have a different mold. Another reason carbon frame are expensive.
Like this article? Share it with your friends.Tweet | <urn:uuid:225a2396-4082-47e2-8a83-5fdf6d951032> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://salsacycles.com/culture/carbon_101 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980331 | 1,056 | 1.578125 | 2 |
No amount of evidence will dissuade a conspiracy theorist, but when they appeal to scientific evidence, they're fair game. And the 9-11 conspiracy sites have some very strange science.
9-11 conspirators seem to be a mix of liberals still smarting over 2000 and ultra-conservatives angry that George Bush Jr. hasn't opened the national parks to a land rush. But if Dubya orchestrated a massive conspiracy to bring down the World Trade Center as a pretext for launching a Mideast War, why didn't he pull off the far simpler trick of faking the discovery of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Think of it - his biggest political liability could have been avoided with a piddling investment in special effects, Bush would be seen as America's savior, his strategy would be completely vindicated, and he'd be politically unassailable. All it would take would be spritzing an empty factory with the ingredients for nerve gas, with just enough cross-contamination to create a whiff of the real thing. Yet for some strange reason he didn't do it.
We live in a universe of patterns. Once a pattern is established, the burden of proof is on people who claim the pattern does not hold. When some philosopher of science points out that we cannot prove that the sun will rise tomorrow, I say he's absolutely right. There is no way to prove axiomatically that the sun will rise tomorrow, and nobody in science cares in the slightest. When the sun doesn't rise as scheduled, call me. Until then I absolutely refuse to waste time worrying about it. When Immanuel Velikovsky claimed the planets underwent wild disturbances in their orbits, the burden of proof was on him to show that it happened. The burden was not on scientists to show it didn't.
In the case of 9-11, we have planes hitting the World Trade Center and the buildings failing at precisely the level of impact. The observational evidence clearly shows a cause and effect relationship.
What else is a large building collapse going to look like?
Until 9-11, our only experience in bringing down very large buildings was controlled demolition. The highest buildings (apart from broadcast towers) brought down were in the 30 story range. Once the building starts to fall, the physics is going to be the same regardless of the initial cause. So alleged similarities between 9-11 and controlled demolitions prove nothing. You might as well argue that the collapse of Mount St. Helens in 1980 was set off by explosives because it looked just like a landslide caused by explosives.
One thing radically different about 9-11 is that controlled demolitions always set off charges low in the structure and let the weight of the building do the rest. Nobody ever set off charges high in a building to pancake the stories beneath. So why resort to a radical and unproven method if you want to bring down the World Trade Center?
Probably the most revealing commentary on the controlled demolition theory is Bringing Down The House by Michael Satchell in US News and World Report (June 30, 2003). This article describes the work of Controlled Demolition Inc., far and away the world leaders in controlled demolition, and Mark and Doug Loizeaux, who run it.
Like most Americans, the Loizeauxs were transfixed by the televised scenes of destruction shortly after the first jet struck. But as experts in buildings' vulnerabilities, they knew right away what few Americans realized. "I told Doug immediately that the tower was coming down, and when the second tower was hit, that it would follow," remembers Mark.
Horrified, the Loizeaux brothers watched first responders streaming into the doomed towers and tried frantically, and unsuccessfully, to phone in warnings. In the following days, CDI was called to ground zero to consult on safety and develop plans for demolition and debris removal. What if the twin towers, though badly damaged, had somehow remained standing? Without doubt, the Loizeaux family would have been called upon to bring them down. "Quite simply," says Mark in a rare moment of introspective uncertainty, "I don't know how we would have done it."
So according to the world experts on building demolition:
Of course, you can always claim the Loizeaux brothers were in on the plot. Some sites link to a story about Controlled Demolition later being charged with illegal campaign contributions, which certainly proves something. Or other.
Actually, the collapse doesn't look like a controlled demolition. Real controlled demolitions try very hard to avoid flinging debris far beyond the building itself. They blow the lower stories and the center of the building to cause the building to collapse in on itself. The collapse of the World Trade Center doesn't look remotely like a controlled collapse, apart from stuff falling down.
Implosion World, a site dedicated to controlled building collapse, agrees (http://www.implosionworld.com/wtc.htm)
DID THE WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWERS ACTUALLY “IMPLODE”? No. They collapsed in an uncontrolled [emphasis added] fashion, causing extensive damage to surrounding structures, roadways and utilities. Although when viewed from a distance the towers appeared to have telescoped almost straight down, a closer look at video replays reveal sizeable portions of each building breaking free during the collapse, with the largest sections--some as tall as 30 or 40 stories--actually “laying out” in several directions. The outward failure of these sections is believed to have caused much of the significant damage to adjacent structures, and smaller debris caused structural and cosmetic damage to hundreds of additional buildings around the perimeter of the site.
HOW DOES THIS EVENT COMPARE WITH A NORMAL BUILDING IMPLOSION? The only correlation is that in a very broad sense, explosive devices (airplanes loaded with fuel) were used to intentionally bring down buildings. However it can be argued that even this vague similarity relates more to military explosive demolition than to building implosions, which specifically involve the placement of charges at key points within a structure to precipitate the failure of steel or concrete supports within their own footprint. The other primary difference between these two types of operations is that implosions are universally conducted with the utmost concern for adjacent properties and human safety---elements that were horrifically absent from this event. Therefore we can conclude that what happened in New York was not a “building implosion.”
Check out the videos of the demolition of the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. Fireworks. Big pyrotechnic countdown clock. None of that on 9/11. Not even remotely similar. Silly? Yes, but still above the intellectual level of most 9/11 conspiracy theories. I mean, the similarities the conspiracy buffs point to are on the same level of superficiality as whether or not there were fireworks.
For the umpteenth time, nobody ever claimed the steel melted. It got hot enough to lose its strength.
|There are lots of accounts alleging that rescue workers encountered molten steel. The first question that comes to mind is whether these witnesses know the difference between incandescent and molten. Steel can get hot enough to glow long before it gets hot enough to melt. The fact that glowing steel was pulled out of the rubble doesn't mean it was molten.|
One particular red herring that crops up frequently is that temperatures in the rubble were high enough long after the collapse to melt aluminum. Since aluminum melts at 660o C (1220o F) I don't have the slightest doubt of it. Since a backyard trash fire can melt aluminum, so what?
Apparently, the melting of steel signifies the use of explosives or thermite cutting charges. But the purpose of either is to cut steel, not melt it. A controlled demolition simply does not produce large amounts of molten steel. You might as well argue that all the concrete dust shows the buildings were taken down by an army of gnomes armed with grinding wheels.
If the World Trade Center was hot enough to melt steel, where's all the molten concrete? Iron melts around 1500o C but so do many of the silicate minerals in concrete, and a mixture of silicate minerals would melt at a temperature lower than any of the individual minerals (I'm a geologist - I get paid to know about stuff like that). The fine particle size of the concrete dust would facilitate melting. So why wasn't there a huge puddle of molten concrete at Ground Zero? (There was some, but about what you'd expect from a large fire; certainly not what you'd expect from something hot enough to melt large amounts of steel.)
In a paper by Steven E. Jones, who bills himself as a "Physicist and Archaeometrist," there are pictures of glowing material falling from the World Trade Center, together with this comment:
Who can deny that liquid, molten metal existed at the WTC disaster? The yellow color implies a molten-metal temperature of approximately 1000o C
1000o C, is about 500o C below the melting point of iron.
Oh, by the way, there would have been cutting of steel during the construction. And there's another construction process that melts steel. Welding.
So if something happens for the first time, it can't happen because it never happened before?
No 110-story buildings were ever hit by fuel-laden airliners hard enough to strip the insulation off the structural steel before, either. Steel-frame buildings are incredibly strong. They have survived major earthquakes and fires, and the Twin Towers merely rocked when hit by airliners at full throttle. But the towers were not designed to survive an impact by fully-laden airliners at full throttle, then a fire in contact with unprotected steel. An impact from a jet approaching JFK at 200 miles an hour, with nearly empty tanks, and one slamming into the building at 450 miles an hour with full tanks, are two quite different things.
According to Roedy Green's How You Know 9-11 Was an Inside Job:
All three World Trade Towers fell faster over the first half of the collapse than physics allows by free fall. That meant they had to have an assist, e.g. an explosive push from pre-planted demolition charges, not just gravity pulling them down. The maximum collapse for free fall is computed bydistance = g t
where g is the acceleration due to gravity 32 feet per second per second, and t is time in seconds. In other words, free fall collapse should start out slowly and accelerate faster and faster for the big finale.
This is just plain weird. Whether a building falls by deliberate demolition or catastrophic failure, the collapse will be governed by gravity. Even if you used a teleporter to magically make several stories vanish, the part above would only fall as fast as gravity would accelerate it. Only if there was some kind of thruster pushing the building down could it fall faster. Why install a useless Rube Goldberg device? Once the building begins to collapse, who needs anything to accelerate it? Gravity has a pretty reliable record of pulling things down. And where's the evidence for faster than free fall collapse?
The videos show that the towers took 15 seconds to collapse. The free-fall time for something to fall 400 meters is about 9 seconds. So, no, the towers did not fall faster than free fall.
This rate is still much too fast to be explained by a gravity-driven collapse given that the descending rubble would have to crush and accelerate almost 1000 feet of vertical intact structure. It is especially revealing that each tower disappeared at about the same rate as the rubble fell through the air, as if the tower's structure provided no more resistance to the descent of rubble than did air.
|All photos of the collapse show a plume of debris extending far
below the main level of collapse. So the debris did fall
appreciably faster than the building itself. The building provided little more
resistance than air for the simple reason that a skyscraper is mostly
In the photo at left the collapse is about where the cloud fills the entire width of the picture, but the debris in free fall has almost reached the ground.
Note that the debris is at least a building width beyond the building itself. No competent controlled demolition flings debris that far.
The fall doesn't have to crush the stories beneath. It merely has to stress the structural elements until the fasteners pop and the welds break. The impact of that pancaking material will cause the outer vertical members to bow outward, then fly outward violently when failure occurs. There's no need to appeal to explosives to fling material outward from the buildings.
If a story is 4 meters high, it will take an object about 0.9 seconds to fall one story, by which time it will be going 9 m/sec. So once the collapse starts, the overlying structure will be falling at 9 m/sec by the time it has fallen one story. If we crush the collapsing story into rubble half a meter thick and expect the collapse to stop at that point, what kinds of forces are involved? We go from 9 m/sec to zero in half a meter, or 1/18 of a second. However, during that deceleration the velocity is decreasing, and the average velocity turns out to be half of the initial velocity, so the crunch time is 1/9 second. So the acceleration is -9 m/sec divided by 1/9 sec = -81 m/sec2, or about 8 g's.
This is the difference between a static load and a dynamic load. In the north tower, with about ten stories above the impact, the dynamic load was about equivalent not to ten stories but to eighty, nearly the total height of the building. I doubt if the tower at that level was engineered to support eighty stories - why waste the steel? Actually the loads are much greater because the initial collapse involved a fall of about three or four stories, not just one, and the dynamic loads on the points that actually resist the fall - the welds and the rivets, will be far greater. If you try to stop the collapse in the millimeter or so a rivet or weld can deform before failing, you're talking hundreds of g's. In the south tower, where the top 25 or so stories fell, the impact load at eight g's would be equivalent to 200 stories, or twice the total height of the building. Some conspiracy buffs argue that engineering standards require a safety factor several times the actual load on the structure, but the dynamic loads would far overwhelm those standards.
This, by the way, is the reason controlled demolition works at all. If physics worked the way 9-11 conspiracy buffs think, once you blew the lower stories of a building, the upper part would just drop and remain intact. Of course it doesn't because once the building begins to fall, the dynamic loads are far beyond the static strength of the building.
911Research devotes a lot of effort to debunking what it regards as disinformation campaigns designed to deflect attention from the theory of controlled demolition. But we keep coming back to the fundamental issue how any building can fall faster than gravity or why a conspirator would feel the need to set up a mechanism to do something so useless.
9-11 troofers keep blind-siding me because they keep on coming up with things I can't believe any toilet-trained human being would be dumb enough to say. Lately I've been hit a couple of times with the assertion that the 9-11 Commission Report states, on Page 305, that "At 9:58:59, the South Tower collapsed in ten seconds" Indeed it does. The 9-11 Commission Report deals with events leading up to 9-11, agency responses to the crisis, and possible changes in procedure and policy to cope with future crises. It contains no technical information whatsoever about the causes of the building collapse. Nevertheless, because the report says the South Tower collapsed in ten seconds, 9-11 troofers insist that is the official Government position.
People who take that stance aren't merely scientifically illiterate; they're verbally illiterate as well. Insisting that ten seconds is meant to be a scientifically definitive finding in a paragraph dealing with firefighting efforts shows a complete lack of critical reasoning. A person who reasons like that is completely lacking in the critical reasoning necessary to sort out the events of 9-11.
The technical information on the building collapse is in the NIST reports, not the 9-11 Commission Report. There is little discussion of the chronology of the collapse once the buildings began to fall, but the NIST FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) site has the pertinent information.
The seismic spikes for the collapse of the WTC Towers are the result of debris from the collapsing towers impacting the ground. The spikes began approximately 10 seconds after the times for the start of each building’s collapse and continued for approximately 15 seconds.
So according to the seismic record, the first impacts are about ten seconds after the onset of collapse. That's the free-falling debris. Seismic signals continued for 15 more seconds. So it took at least about 25 seconds for the buildings to collapse. The seismic records are probably the best information because the last stages of collapse were obscured by dust, but a time indexed series of video frames on the 9-11 Research site shows the collapse of one tower still in progress after 19 seconds. So the collapse speed was less than half of free-fall speed. Also:
From video evidence, significant portions of the cores of both buildings (roughly 60 stories of WTC 1 and 40 stories of WTC 2) are known to have stood 15 to 25 seconds after collapse initiation before they, too, began to collapse. Neither the duration of the seismic records nor video evidence (due to obstruction of view caused by debris clouds) are reliable indicators of the total time it took for each building to collapse completely.
And the people who like to take "ten seconds" and "essentially in free fall" literally don't seem to care much about paragraphs like this:
In other words, the momentum (which equals mass times velocity) of the 12 to 28 stories (WTC 1 and WTC 2, respectively) falling on the supporting structure below (which was designed to support only the static weight of the floors above and not any dynamic effects due to the downward momentum) so greatly exceeded the strength capacity of the structure below that it (the structure below) was unable to stop or even to slow the falling mass. The downward momentum felt by each successive lower floor was even larger due to the increasing mass.
9-11 troofers are a lot like some Biblical fundamentalists. Anything that they want to believe is to be taken with absolute literalness, and anything that contradicts what they want to believe, they just ignore.
Gravity tends to do that. You can't extrapolate what happens in the collapse of a small building, which may tilt intact, to what happens in the collapse of a 110-story building. The videos show clearly that the top floors of the South Tower did tilt during the first few seconds of collapse.
A lot of conspiracy sites talk about "sequential collapse" as if there were explosive charges placed on every floor detonated in sequence, like the destruction of the Empire State Building in Independence Day. But controlled demolitions don't do that - they use a small amount of explosives and let the weight of the building do the rest. Thirty-story buildings have been brought down with only a few hundred pounds of explosives.
What exactly did you expect? Actually photos of the site show lots of concrete, admittedly broken into small chunks. Falling 1000 feet, or having stuff fall from 1000 feet onto something else, will pulverize it.
Firefighters reported that no office furnishings were recognizable either. Did somebody rig a bomb to every single desk, chair, computer and telephone in the buildings?
If the collapses were merely gravity-driven, then any clouds of debris produced in the immediate aftermath should have occupied about the same amount of space as the intact towers before they had time to significantly mix into the surrounding air. The bulk of the clouds could only come from the expulsion of gases in the buildings as they collapsed, and the mixing of ambient air into the clouds.
This just makes me shake my head in wonder. First, the expulsion of air from the towers would have been pretty impressive, second, air rushing in to fill the space formerly occupied by the towers would have been equally impressive. Falling debris would also have displaced a large amount of air. Together they would have created a huge amount of turbulence, just what was seen at Ground Zero.
Actually the dust cloud at street level bore a remarkable visual resemblance to a pyroclastic flow, a hot, dense mixture of volcanic ash and gases. The dust cloud was cool, but the cloud itself was a density flow, a mixture of dust and air much denser than normal air. Density flows, whether in air or water, maintain their identity for quite a while. They stop moving when they run out of momentum, the denser parts of the flow settle out, and the lighter parts mix with the surrounding medium. Now here's a theory for conspiracy buffs to toy with - maybe someone triggered a volcanic eruption under the Twin Towers.
I should know better than to ridicule conspiracy theories on line. I simply don't have enough imagination to top what conspiracy theorists actually come up with. If you search 9-11 and "pyroclastic," you will find sites that assert the dust cloud was an actual pyroclastic flow. I could assist these folks in learning the difference. All they need to do is find an active volcano and stand in the path of a real pyroclastic flow. I guarantee it would cure them of posting nutty stuff on the intartubes.
The drywall used around the central core of the towers was an inch and a half thick. Now that will create a lot of dust.
Somehow the collapse of a quarter-mile tall building was supposed to produce no turbulence so that the dust cloud would remain over the footprint of the building and mix gradually with still air. Shades of the Road Runner, who goes "beep-beep" and leaves a road-runner shaped dust cloud behind. This is physics several levels beyond weird.
A lot of people confuse optical density with amount of dust. The fact that the dust cloud was opaque means only that light didn't penetrate it. The clouds that hung above the site weren't much denser than air so the total volume of dust in them was not large. Typical clouds in the sky contain a few grams of material per cubic meter. If we assume the 9-11 cloud had 10 grams per cubic meter - far more than even thick water droplet clouds, and the dust cloud occupied a cubic kilometer, far more than its actual volume, we have a billion cubic meters times ten grams per cubic meters, or ten billion grams, ten million kilograms, or 10,000 tons of dust, paltry compared to the million ton mass of the towers.
So what exactly were 52 FBI Evidence Recovery Teams, totaling more than 400 agents, doing on Staten Island for nine months?
This just in, the FAA doesn't leave the debris from plane crashes in place either; they take it to a hangar and lay it out for study.
Paired up with this question is why the cleanup trucks were so carefully monitored with GPS units. These days, trucks routinely have GPS units, so that's not particularly unusual, especially since a truck driver could probably sell a load of 9-11 steel for a tidy sum on the souvenir market. One driver who took a 1-1/2 hour lunch was fired, but that can get you fired lots of places.
So not leaving the debris in place is evidence of a plot, and tracking it en route to make sure it gets where it's supposed to go is also evidence of a plot.
The people clearing the site and examining the debris were responsible for removing a continuing hazard, recovering human remains, and finding any evidence that might shed additional light on what the obvious visual record shows - that the buildings collapsed after being hit by aircraft. They were not responsible for doing an archeological dig to satisfy the objections of every conspiracy theorist on the planet. Don't like that? Too bad. Deal with it.
When I did a radio interview with a truther a while ago, the discussion came around to temperatures in the fire. According to government reports, samples from the floors where there were fires showed only a few indications of very high temperatures. A much more significant question is this: if evidence wasn't properly collected, how did investigators know which floors the debris came from?
Ironically, the fact that personal effects of hijackers and passengers were found is not evidence that evidence was carefully sifted, for some odd reason.
Again, from Roedy Green:
Seismic evidence shows the two main world trade towers were taken down by demolition.
The link goes to a site of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory showing seismic records of the plane impacts and tower collapses. The impacts registered below magnitude 1, the collapses a bit over magnitude 2. The records look like perfectly ordinary seismograms. There's no elaboration on how exactly the seismic evidence shows demolition. Apparently some conspiracy thinkers believe a seismic imprint must mean an explosion, but the collapse of a large building will do very nicely. Oil companies routinely do seismic soundings by dropping masses of several tons, called "thumpers," to generate seismic waves. A million-ton building will make a very good thumper.
Other sites look in detail at the seismograms, arguing that a slow buildup of the signal shows a progressive use of explosives. But a building collapse spread out over 15 seconds will produce a signal of growing amplitude.
Good question. The investigators were baffled. But the conspiracy theory doesn't explain anything. Why bring down an empty building hours after the main attack?
Photos published to support the claim of a controlled demolition show puffs emerging from the top of the building. These could be explosives. Or they could be concrete suddenly failing, or windows shattering. But again we have the irritating question, why start a collapse from the top, completely at odds with the way all controlled demolitions are done, especially if you want the building to fall onto its own footprint?
If it was actually a controlled demolition by the Fire Department or the building owner, or both, as some people allege, so what? The remains of the World Trade Center itself were brought down in controlled demolitions after 9-11. What does that have to do with the collapse of the Twin Towers? It seems unlikely that a demolition crew would enter a burning building and install charges to bring down something 15 stories taller than any other recorded controlled demolition, all in the space of a few hours, but if the building was brought down by the owners or the Fire Department, what's the connection to the Twin Towers? How does a planned demolition of one building prove the Twin Towers were deliberately brought down?
I've gotten a fair amount of flak over this issue but I've yet to see anyone present a coherent explanation of what, exactly, the collapse of WTC-7 proves.
"Osama Bin Ladin, sitting in a cave in Afghanistan, could never have pulled off something of this complexity."
What complexity? You put 19 guys on four airliners on the same day armed with box cutters, after first giving a few of them enough flight training to allow them to perform some rudimentary maneuvers. Any travel agent who couldn't book 19 people on four separate flights on the same day needs a new job. The complex part would have been gaining and keeping control of the passengers and crew once the hijacks were in progress.
If Bin Ladin had known what would happen, he would certainly have had the hijackers hit the buildings lower. That would have trapped far more people while increasing the load on the heated steel, resulting in faster collapse. So if it wasn't Bin Ladin, why didn't the alleged conspirators do it? More outrage, more backing for the War on Terror. Why did they miss such an obvious opportunity?
What was the intent? If it was to bring down the Towers, why demolish from the top down? That's not how any other controlled demolitions are done. Why not strike low, maximizing the number of casualties and more fully galvanizing the country for war?
If the intent was to collapse only part of the Towers, keeping casualties limited but providing a pretext for war, then the total collapse was unanticipated. Or maybe the intent was simply to crash planes into the Towers and produce casualties but not cause building collapse at all. In either case, if the building collapses were unexpected, they happened through structural weakening and gravitational collapse and all the alleged "evidence" for sequential explosive charges and so on becomes worthless.
Why use planes at all? Why not simply stage a bigger and better remake of the 1993 attack? Why not claim the terrorists detonated a large truck load of explosives at the central core of the building, or smuggled explosives into the core? Instead of passenger planes, why not have the terrorists steal a FedEx or UPS cargo plane and fill it with explosives?
Why have a time gap between the plane crashes and building collapse, and why did the South Tower, which was hit later, fall first? That makes perfect sense in the conventional scenario, because the South Tower was hit lower and thus the load on the damaged structural members was greater. It makes no sense at all from the standpoint of a conspiracy.
Like all conspiracy theories, the 9-11 conspiracy idea suffers from the fatal flaw of having the conspirators engage in a complicated Rube Goldberg process to do something a rational person could do more effectively in a much simpler way.
Jonah Goldberg, Skepticism Versus Paranoia, The Corner, National Review On Line, Wednesday, September 13, 2006
I distrust the government but as a realistic conservative I think government is staffed with mostly well-intentioned but incompetent people — not because they're dumb, but because bureaucracies are dumb. These conspiracy theorists reverse this entirely. They think government is evil-intentioned but supremely, even divinely, competent. That's crazy-talk, Count Chocula.
Neal Boortz is a conservative-libertarian talk show host who gets under a lot of folks' skins, but he has one saving grace. He's death on conspiracy theories (and creationism). A listener e-mailed him asking him to explain about "chemtrails," which the government is supposedly using for mind control. His reply works just as well for 9-11 conspiracy thinkers.
OK, Jim. I'll explain. You're a nutcase. Those "chemicals" you think the military is spraying on citizens are nothing more than ice crystals formed by the condensation created by high-flying aircraft. Somewhere along the line some lonely demented hysteric decided that the military was crop dusting people with all sorts of chemicals designed to make us sick, change our behavior or neuter us. I have no idea in the world what went wrong in your education, upbringing or mental health history that caused you to actually believe this insane nonsense ... I can only hope that you don't vote.
Then there's Mark Steyn's wonderful observation:
There's a kind of decadence about all this: If 9/11 was really an inside job, you wouldn't be driving around with a bumper sticker bragging that you were on to it. Fantasy is a by-product of security: it's the difference between hanging upside down in your dominatrix's bondage parlor after work on Friday and enduring the real thing for years on end in Saddam's prisons.
I think it's rather interesting that, although you find moonbat leftists and rightists alike arguing for an inside job, all the comments above come from rock solid conservatives.
Since a lot of people have begun to catch on to conspiracy theories, 9-11 theorists have begun putting their own spin on the term. Just like creationists have begun using the word "pseudoscience" to brand evolution and blur the distinction between their own ideas and those of science, 9-11 conspiracy theorists have begun using the term "conspiracy theory" to label the conventional view of 9-11. So you get 19 guys, give some of them rudimentary flight training, they board airliners, hijack them, and fly them into buildings. Yup, that's a conspiracy all right. So the term "conspiracy theory" is entirely accurate.
On the other hand, government operatives spent days planting explosive charges in the towers, then crashed the airliners or flew them to a secret location, brainwashed, imprisoned, or killed the passengers and crew, and that's not a conspiracy theory? Or the videos of the airliner crashes are all fake and some exotic particle beam or energy weapon disintegrated the towers into dust and that's not a conspiracy theory, either?
Well, they're both conspiracy theories, so they're both on the same plane, so you get to pick whichever one you like. This is the classic relativism of the pseudoscientist.
Fortunately, there's a way to sort through the conflicting claims. Which of the two is more consistent with well known facts? Do Middle Eastern terrorists hijack airplanes? Check. Do Middle Eastern terrorists target civilians? Check. Do Middle Eastern terrorists deliberately cause mass casualties? Check. There's absolutely nothing in the standard picture of 9-11 that conflicts with these facts. Number of previous cases where U.S. government operatives have hijacked airliners? None known. Number of previous cases where the U.S. government has collapsed a building full of innocent people? None known (apart from artillery or bombing in war). Number of previous cases where the U.S. government has collapsed a building full of its own citizens? None known. So one conspiracy theory has a host of historical precedents, and the other has none at all.
Fascinating, isn't it, that the fact that no steel frame skyscraper had ever collapsed due to fire is touted as ironclad proof that planes couldn't have brought down the World Trade Center, but the total absence of historical precedent for the government doing it counts for nothing?
A question much asked by 9-11 truthers, who point to gold allegedly being removed from the World Trade Center, investigative files being destroyed, a pretext for invading Iraq or declaring martial law, etc.
A few months ago I agreed to be on a truther talk show (I'll try almost anything once. Almost.) and the commercial breaks were a revelation. There were endless spiels for crank medical remedies and nutritional supplements, investment schemes that ranged from shady to crazy, newsletters for conspiracy cults, and wacko theories on how to avoid taxes. One former truther who became disillusioned said he would no longer help the movement sell T-shirts and DVD's. It's a lot more than just T-shirts and DVD's. Look at the Web sites, the newsletters, listen to the talk shows and look at who's bankrolling them and advertising on them. Truther sites are to conspiracy thinkers what televangelists are to lonely Christians: a place to send money to buy a feeling of participation and fulfillment.
physics is quite clear on this....if random fires and structural damage was all it took to bring down buildings (onto their footprint, at free fall speed) why would there be demolition companies? Just start random fires and damage the top, the building will disintegrate...not likely...
The towers didn't collapse onto their own footprint, not by a long shot. They didn't topple like trees, but debris flew and did damage a long way away. The whole reason we have controlled demolitions beginning at the base of buildings is to prevent debris from flying as far as it did on 9-11.
I know this sucks, I was a Republican....I understand how much it seems crazy, but please, I beg of you, as an American...look at the facts... forget about politics for a min...just look at the physics. Look at the videos, there are many (of the towers falling and building 7)....
Forget about politics? Politics is hardly mentioned at all in the discussion above, which does "just look at the physics." The only people who are constantly dragging politics into the discussion are the 9-11 conspiracy believers.
I have read what you said on the internet about the collapse of the towers. First I find it unprofessional the constant use of pejorative to make your case....
Really? 9-11 conspiracy buffs can slander government officials, accuse them of mass murder and conspiracy, and ridicule their critics, and I'm being pejorative? If people are going to talk like that they should at least have the guts to take criticism. The conspiracy buffs supposedly have the courage to expose a massive high level conspiracy, but they whine like pre-schoolers when anyone attacks their ideas. Some courage. They can play these games because they know perfectly well that nobody is really going to do anything to them no matter how much they blather about conspiracies. It's all play acting. How else can you call bull$*** what it is without being pejorative?
The amazing thing is this guy can slander people he's never met and who have done him no harm, and somehow he thinks that is acceptable professional behavior. You can't have a meaningful conversation about professionalism with this guy any more than you can play chess with a duck.
Created 27 February, 2006; Last Update 15 April, 2011
Not an official UW Green Bay site | <urn:uuid:3721049a-966b-4302-a37e-d7f7646ddfb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/911NutPhysics.HTM | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963793 | 7,723 | 1.6875 | 2 |
LOWVILLE Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Lewis County next week will begin offering a series of parenting classes for those with children from birth to 10 years old.
Its super interesting with lots of practical information, said Michele E. Ledoux, executive director at the Lowville Extension office. Its timely and relevant.
The Magic Years class is a program for families of children from birth through 4 years, while the Middle Years class is for families of children 5 to 10 years old.
Both of the six-week classes will be held Wednesdays in February and March, beginning next Wednesday, at the Lowville Extension office on outer Stowe Street.
The Magic Years classes will run from 9 to 11 a.m., while the Middle Years classes will take place from 1 to 3 p.m.
The cost for each of the courses is $50, but participants may receive a fee waiver based on income guidelines.
The class for parents of younger children will help them learn about their role in the development of their child, according to a release. Topics will include identifying developmental milestones, nurturing routines, parenting styles, positive discipline, stress management, nutrition and caregiver responsibility.
Meanwhile, the course for parents of older children encourages positive family interactions and offers parenting strategies that work, the release said. Topics in that class will include child development, positive communication, setting family rules, positive discipline, building self-esteem in children, nutrition, stress management and parenting styles.
Class certificates will be available at the end of the six-week programs.
Similar courses are held periodically in Jefferson County by that countys Extension office.
At the request of Lewis County Department of Social Services officials, a parenting program has been started here as a cooperative effort between the Extension offices here and in Watertown, which boasts a large parenting program, Mrs. Ledoux said.
While that referral-based program has gone well thus far, the upcoming courses will allow any interested county residents to gain more parenting and nutritional skills and share their experiences with other parents, she said.
The Extension office here has offered some parenting courses in the past but hasnt done so in many years, Mrs. Ledoux said.
To enroll in either or both classes, call the Lowville Extension office at 376-5270.
More information is available by calling Jessica Hall, parent educator, or sending her an email at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:71acee09-c2d7-4820-b149-b20a49b8e083> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ogd.com/article/20130130/NEWS04/701309902/1044 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941021 | 493 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Glimmer of hope in US debt talks buoys markets
LONDON (AP) — Hopes that U.S. politicians will be able to reach a deal on raising the government's debt limit, avoiding the risk of a disastrous default, supported global markets on Monday, when Wall Street will remain closed for a holiday.
Congress must agree by the end of February to increase the limit on how much the U.S. can borrow so the government can service its debt. If it doesn't, the country could default, which would deal a heavy blow to global financial markets and undermine confidence in the world's largest economy.
The Republicans appear ready to raise the debt ceiling temporarily and have also backed away from their insistence on deep spending concessions in exchange for a deal. The signs of compromise encouraged investors to buy into stock indexes, many of which are near multi-year highs.
"Although this again could be seen as another round of political battle, any progress to avoid immediate dangers will likely be seen as positive by the market," said Gary Yau, analyst at Credit Agricole CIB, in a report to investors.
Britain's FTSE 100 closed Monday up 0.43 percent to 6,180.98 while Germany's DAX had advanced 0.36 percent to 7,729.80. France's CAC-40 ended the day up 0.2 percent to 3,749.79.
U.S. stock and bond markets are closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Securities in Hong Kong, said he was optimistic that an agreement on the U.S. debt ceiling would be reached because of the high price tag attached to failing to do so.
"Both parties will find some kind of solution because they all know that the debt ceiling will have to be increased," Wong said. "At the very last minute, they will sort it out."
Earlier in Asia, markets were more cautious, with Japanese shares hit hard by a rise in the yen. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.5 percent to close at 10,747.74.
The Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting and has been under pressure from the new government to take more aggressive steps to fight the long deflationary slump in the world's third largest economy. Some analysts expect the bank to expand its asset-purchasing program and set an inflation target.
South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.1 percent to 1,986.86. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.1 percent to 23,590.91. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1 percent to 4,777.50.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 2,328.22 while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.7 percent to 942.50.
In commodity markets, the benchmark oil contract for February delivery was down 50 cents to $95.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 7 cents to finish at $95.56 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3301 from $1.3320 late Friday in New York. The dollar fell to 89.49 yen from 90.03 yen.
Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:c1a34c38-1f6d-4c3c-b0a4-0633783bde75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alaskajournal.com/Alaska-Journal-of-Commerce/January-Issue-3-2013/Glimmer-of-hope-in-US-debt-talks-buoys-markets-/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957016 | 702 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Mitsukoshi (三越) is a Japanese department store, tracing its roots back to 1673. It took the name K.K. Mitsukoshi Gofukuten (株式会社三越呉服店) in 1904, becoming K.K. Mitsukoshi (株式会社三越) in 2003. Its main shop is in Nihonbashi (Tokyo).
Mitsukoshi advertised various cameras of the Konishi range in the 1910s and 1920s. From 1935 to the early 1940s, it was the distributor of the Picny 3×4cm camera made by Miyagawa, and it also distributed the Boltax made by the same company. | <urn:uuid:574a5331-2d4b-4897-bdde-28c8a2b1f51c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Mitsukoshi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965228 | 164 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Times may be tough in the land of the long white cloud, but Kiwis are still dining out at least once a month despite the harsh economic environment, according to a new survey released today.
The nationwide poll, conducted by American Express, found that 56 per cent of New Zealanders still eat at a restaurant at least once every four weeks, although the number of people dining out once a week has dropped by 10 per cent in the last 12 months.
“Dining out is part of our social fabric – it’s a good way to bring people together, celebrate and reward ourselves,” said Marisa Bidois, from the Restaurant Association of New Zealand.
The third annual dining survey shows that 93 per cent of people still enjoy dining out but frequency has declined.
The survey also found that Aucklanders and Wellingtonians are most likely to eat out at least once a week and Wellington residents were most likely to use daily deal sites and discount promotions.
Not surprisingly, price continues to be important for some diners but quality food came out as the key factor when eating out.
“Some diners are ‘shifting down’ to a different type of restaurant,” said Ms Bidois.
“Essentially people are choosing restaurants and dining venues that are right for their current situation but still with an emphasis on quality food.” | <urn:uuid:0c8d3656-9199-4ebd-8026-9a68b47bd480> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://recipefinder.msn.co.nz/article/foodnews/8508888/survey-kiwis-still-dining-out-in-tough-times | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966925 | 281 | 1.59375 | 2 |
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Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated ( VRTX - Snapshot Report ) and its partner, Alios BioPharma, Inc. recently announced disappointing results from a viral kinetic study evaluating ALS-2158 which is being developed for the treatment of patients suffering from hepatitis C virus (HCV).
In the study, patients suffering from genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C were dosed with up to 900 mg of ALS-2158 for seven days. Though the candidate was well tolerated, antiviral activity demonstrated in the study was not enough to support further development of the candidate. As a result, Vertex decided to stop further clinical development of the candidate.
On the other hand, Vertex presented positive data from an additional cohort of another ongoing viral kinetic study evaluating ALS-2200 along with ribavirin. The study was evaluating the combination to treat patients suffering from genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus.
Data from the study revealed that ALS-2200 along with ribavirin resulted in five patients achieving HCV RNA levels below the limit of qualification after seven days of treatment. The study also showed that in two of these five patients, HCV RNA levels were below the level of detection in the same period of time. Vertex also mentioned that ALS-2200 was well tolerated with no discontinuation due to adverse events.
The company plans to initiate several oral phase II combination studies by this year. Initially, Vertex is planning to conduct phase II studies with ALS-2200, one in combination with ribavirin and another in combination with Incivek (telaprevir) for patients suffering from genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus. We note that Incivek is already approved for the treatment of genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C and is marketed globally.
Notably, in June last year, Vertex signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Alios BioPharma to gain the worldwide rights to ALS-2200.
We currently have a Neutral recommendation on Vertex. The stock carries a Zacks #4 Rank (Sell rating) in the short run.
Please login to Zacks.com or register to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:efd646da-9e63-4e3e-889e-8ca3774174a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/83650/mixed-results-from-vertex-studies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945706 | 478 | 1.546875 | 2 |
I’m always talking here on the MedicCast about helping our public to understand how EMS works. We need to give them an idea of what to expect when they call 911 and what to expect when we show up at their house. These things help make the calls go smoother and they also help us meet expectations a little more evenly. We meet them because their expectations are a little more realistic.
Getting to the Patient’s House
One of the things that we have to do is to be able to find our patients and find their homes. I know in my area it is a big challenge. Not everybody has a well marked address or driveway and it can be difficult to find people sometimes. This new item I found is a great article out of Lake Tahoe, California. It’s written by the local ambulance service about how to properly mark your driveway or your residence.
The article talks about the size of the lettering, it talks about how to use reflective lettering and contrasting colors such as white letters against a dark background or dark letters against a white background. Whatever the case may be, it explains it really easily here in the article. This is again another great example for you on how to reach out to your public in yet another way.
Reaching Our EMS Public
We’ve talked about all the different articles like this off and on over the last couple of years and this is the first one I remember talking about how we have to find the patient first before we can even treat them. We have to get there before we get to meet or exceed their expectations for our treatment. I hope you will continue to think about things like this in how you interact and deal with your communities.
Follow up on the links from this news item and all this week’s additional resources from the MedicCast — EMS Narrative Writing, Part 1 and Episode 305. | <urn:uuid:5d8ed106-634f-4149-a037-09ce90cafef8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mediccast.com/blog/2012/10/24/how-ems-finds-their-patients/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954901 | 384 | 1.8125 | 2 |
The three-day international conference Women Deliver 2010 opened in Washington, D.C., Monday morning, and the Ms. Blog was there on the scene. The conference intends to hammer home the point that maternal and reproductive health is a global priority.
Want to do something to help? You can click here to urge President Obama to keep the U.S.’s promise to ensure women everywhere universal access to reproductive-health services, family planning, and basic education by 2015.
No Woman No Cry
8:10 p.m. I am listening to Martha Wainwright’s cover of Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry as the credits roll for Christy Turlington Burns‘ documentary of the same name. The hour-long film follows several women around the world as they dealt with a striking and unfortunately common array of barriers facing women during pregnancy. Turlington Burns was inspired to make the film after her own post-partum hemorrhage.
The movie is visually compelling, and lets viewers see intimate moment,s from doctors brusquely dismissing poor pregnant women in Bangladesh to post-abortion care in Guatemala (where nobody says the word abortion). As the narrative jumps from Turlington Burn’s New York apartment to Tanzanian hospitals, we see that women from all backgrounds are affected by maternal healthcare.
Turlington Burns had been working for CARE International as a maternal advocate and said she wanted to create more interaction with these issues on a global level. She chose to include footage from the U.S. to show how close to home these issues are.
Nan Strauss, researcher for Amnesty International, USA, who worked on the film and the Amnesty report Deadly Delivery released earlier this year, mentioned that it’s not the statistics that inspire people, as much as the stories and the proof that “they are not isolated incidents, and they are not inevitable incidents.”
Suellen Miller reiterated the importance of the connecting statistics to individual experiences, and the importance of images, names and narratives in media. She said the movie was a great tool for introducing the issue of maternal healthcare to those who were completely unfamiliar with it. Turlington Burns added she financed this film personally.
When a film hits at the right moment in time, and had the ability to engage people and be an advocacy tool [she added she didn’t want to make an advocacy video, but a film that could be a tool]…and to tell an abortion story and a transportation story, and all the others, I needed ownership for that.
A Closer Look at the New Statistics on Maternal Mortality
3:25 p.m. Gathering data about maternal mortality appears to be really hard. According to Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, 42 percent of possible maternal deaths don’t get classified as maternal deaths due to a lack of data. There are 21 countries for which there is no data available at all. These countries account for about 2.2 percent of births in the world.
Dr. Ties Boerma of the World Health Organization showed several slides of the number of maternal of deaths per day in 1990 and 2005. Large orange bars mark the number of deaths by location. The south of the world is covered; the U.S. and Europe are bare.
Boerma also emphasizes the lack of data. The top 30 countries for maternal mortality account for 90 percent of deaths, and all of these are in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. However, only South Africa has a full registration system to register maternal deaths; all other data is gathered from household surveys, which are a much cruder tool. About 40 million people are born and unregistered every year, and 40 million die from unregistered causes. The issue of inadequate civil registrations is a major issue in addressing maternal mortality and morbidity. “Without this data,” noted Boerma, “we may be shooting in the dark.”
When asked if it was possible to meet Millenium Development Goal 5, both Murray and Boerma said no, emphasizing the ambitious number of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters (compared to 1990) by 2015. Moderator Sharon Camp, President of the Guttmacher Institute ended by saying “That is the last word,” and then added, “I hope that both of you are wrong.”
Condoms and Climate Change: Can Family Planning Save the World?
3:23 p.m. Laurie Mazur, Director of Population Justice and moderator of this panel, frames the discussion within the context of the past marriages between the women’s movement and population programs: Population policies tended to trump feminist progress. Now that there’s a growing concern with global warming and population growth, environmentalists, reproductive rights advocates and population-justice workers seek to redefine and restructure demographic goals within a human rights framework.
According to Scott Moreland, principal investigator for the MEASURE Evaluation Project of the Futures Group, the cost savings of investing in the unmet family planning needs can be huge: In countries like India, an investment of $1.41 billion in family planning could lead to a savings of over $15 billion dollars. Moreland concludes that moving the dialogue of family planning and reproductive health into non-health related forms of intervention would offer additional benefits, such as reduced resource depletion, reduced costs of providing public services (education, clean water, housing and health) and reduced carbon emissions.
“Feminists scared them off!” says Frances Kissling, visiting scholar for the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. She was speaking frankly of the historical partnership among reproductive health advocates, environmentalists and population-justice workers. She added,
“Our social movements are in transition … We went from new social movements to defunct movements… But with climate change there’s an opportunity for environmentalists, population and family-planning advocates to redefine [themselves] in order to meet the unmet family-planning needs.
Katie Chau, consultant on advocacy and young people for International Planned Parenthood Federation spoke, on the sexual and reproductive health and rights-based (SRHR) approach to climate change:
“We have to look at consumption, technology, rural/urban areas in mitigating climate change and we can’t assume that fewer people will reduce climate change. We also have to look at the ethical nuance where countries that have fewer fertility rates produce greatest amounts of carbon emissions and countries with higher fertility rates have limited ability to impact the reduction of climate change.”
Chau also went on to stress the significant role young women play in uniting advocacy efforts around climate change and SRHR. “We will inherit this problem and young people make up the largest percentages in many countries around the world. We have to be at the forefront of climate change.”
CARE collaborates with UNFPA
3:10 p.m. CARE International, one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid agencies and UNFPA have signed a joint agreement to strengthen collaboration. Executive director of the UNFPA, Thoraya Obaid, and Helene D. Gayle, president and CEO of CARE International announced the partnership, highlighting CARE’s expertise working with local communities and UNFPA’s experience working with national governments. Lots of pictures, and happy people greeted the announcement. By the way, this took place at the conference’s Speaker’s Corner, which has an oversized soapbox as the speaking platform.
Combination HIV Prevention for Girls and Women
3 p.m. “Combination prevention [scientifically proven risk-reduction strategies such as one-on-one counseling, small-group programs and community education to encourage people to adopt safer sexual behaviors and avoid risky drug use] is more of a fantasy than a reality, and we need to do more work on making HIV prevention more holistic,” said Gertrude Khumalo-Sakutukwa from the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at UC San Francisco. She addressed the need for more heightened awareness about male circumcision and its impact on reducing women’s vulnerability to HIV.
Women & Power Session
1:45 p.m. I am sitting front row at the Chairman’s Women and Power Session! Arianna Huffington opens by explaining her accent, audience erupts in laughter. With her on stage are Ashley Judd, Valerie Jarrett and Michele Bachalet. Huffington says:
Our job as women is to deal with power not like men, but to do it with wisdom! There have been a lot of men with high IQs, but not with wisdom. If Lehman Brothers was called Lehman Brothers & Sisters, they would still be standing!
Her humor warms up the audience and creates a very relaxed atmosphere, despite the fact that the women on the stage are so accomplished.
She recalls a story of passing out from exhaustion and breaking her chin, almost losing her right eye. The drive for success, Huffington says, is driving us to the ground and giving us heart attacks. She says she wants us to talk about sleep–her new obsession–and now makes appointments with it and never breaks them! Huffington says women, especially young women, are terrified of failure, but failure is a key part of success. She recalls how her first book was rejected by 36 publishers and she was convinced she was not a writer. Wow. There could have been a world without the Huffington Post?
Huffington introduces the first panelist, actor Ashley Judd, and asks her to talk about the difference between formal and informal power. Judd says she is an example of informal power: “For some reason, people pay attention to me even though I have never headed an organization or state.” Judd talks about the significance of listening to your emotions: “Listen to your rage, and with some tools you can do a lot with it!”
Helen Clark, head of the UNDP and former prime minister of New Zealand, is asked by Huffington what one can do with formal power? Clark recalls getting legislation passed in New Zealand which allowed midwives to practice without being supervised by a doctor. The crowd erupts in applause. Huffington recalls story how she lost her first child, had her second child with a midwife at age 40. She says she is a big proponent of midwifery and that women should not be in bed to give birth–”It’s the wrong place to be!” The audience is very warm and laughs a lot.
Panelist Michele Bachelet, the former president of Chile, is asked to tell us about her delivery experiences. She had her first child in Germany with no anesthesia, as she did with her other children. Said Bachelet:
I believe women can make a difference in politics. Power for what? I wanted to use power to make people’s lives better, happier. How can we not burn out and not have anxiety about failure? It is not easy. You can not do it wrong because you will make it harder for other women. People will say, ‘Look at this woman, she is not doing very good.
Bachelet spoke at length about how women serve as important role models for other women and for the credibility of all women. To play many roles, you need to take care of yourself, she said, and Bachelet added that she has not slept in so long she does not remember the word! Bachelet says we are great women, but not superwomen. She tells us to prioritize, because the world is not ready to give us all the support that we need.
White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett is introduced next as someone who is in the midst of power and “exemplifies power.” Jarrett tells audience that you can do it all–just not at the same time. She says women are great at listening and nurturing others, but not themselves. She recalled her first job after law school at a large, fancy firm in Chicago, looking out over her lake view and thinking how miserable she was. Jarrett now makes a point to make room for herself, even if it’s just a quick lunch with friends. She advises the audience “to find your inner circle, find your balance…You have to demand what you need. No one is going to give it to you.”
Judd talks about how men have always built alliances and women are just starting: “Female to female alliances are essential,” Judd says.
Jarrett tells us how she was afraid of asking for a promotion even though she had been working so hard for so long. She believed her boss would give it to her when he was ready to. A colleague told her that that would not happen, and pushed her to ask for the promotion. As nervous as she was to do so, she did and got the promotion right away. Jarrett said if she hadn’t asked for that promotion, she still would be in her cubicle: “If you do not demand respect, no one will give it to you. Be resilient!”
Judd gets off from her chair and does a dance to positive energy slogans (“I can do anything!” I love my thighs!”) to inspire women to let criticism roll off their backs. Jarrett interjects, “Just like men do.”
Huffington recalls a devastating review of of the Huffington Post from the LA Weekly that she memorized. Later, the reviwer wrote her saying he was wrong and asking if he could write for her. “Don’t hold grudges,” she advises. She tells us to be more childlike–children go from crying to not even remembering what made them upset.
Huffington asks Jarrett about the White House Council on Women and Girls. Jarrett says it’s about thinking every day how to improve lives of women and girls in the U.S. and around the world. Every U.S. agency now has to give a report on what programs they have that do this. How can we make the Treasury department or the corporate world more appealing to women? Women need to be more financially literate, how can we do that? It’s all about figuring out what we can do.
Melinda Gates speaks
1:15 p.m. Melinda Gates just spoke to a room of hungry conference attendees. As we ate box lunches, she focused on what are developing as conference themes: the connection between family planning and empowerment, how to “scale up” successful models to improve maternal mortality, the importance of large-scale coordination and how to navigate the social and cultural intricacies of global development. Gates emphasized that the statistics often referenced refer to human beings, asking the audience to “design our work around women and children, not around our areas of expertise.”
She went on to note that access to family planning could reduce maternal deaths by 30 percent. With the modern contraception available, she said, “Quite simply, it’s reckless to prevent women from using them.”
Gates also noted that the medical health community is not often comfortable with treating childbirth as a rite of passage or a cultural ritual instead of a medical procedure. She advocated the science of behavioral change, noting success stories where maternal mortality rates were reduced by 51 percent not because of any technology developed in a lab, but from the success of promoting skin-to-skin care (when a mother puts the baby on her chest right after delivery), exclusive breastfeeding and education about drying the umbilical cord (using knowledge based in the culture of the community). Looking at these regional successes, Gates asked how these successful models can be used globally.
She ended her speech with the announcement that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is committing $1.5 billion dollars over the next 5 years to the cause of women and children’s health. She also said she would take the issue as her personal priority, promising to continue the conversation and bring attention to maternal health. This announcement was met with loud applause, and the commendation from Dr. Fred Sai that Gates was an example of those who “give their all.”
Breakout Session: Maintaining the Momentum: Five Countries Share Experiences Reducing Unmet Need for Family Planning
12:18 a.m. Bocar Duff, Director of Reproductive Health at the Ministry of Health in Senegal highlights one of its greatest successes in combating maternal mortality: a Presidential initiative to (a) involve more Senegalese women leaders in addressing these issues and (b) promote investments in maternal health via private-public partnerships. A theme in three presentations has been the need for more funding.
11:55 a.m. In contrast to Indonesia, Ethiopia faces a very grim reality, with extreme high rates of pregnancy-related injuries such as fistula and a stagnantly high rate of maternal mortality, says Kesete Admassu, Director General for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Ethiopia. However, the national government has worked to institute programs like the Health Extension Program (HEP), which trains over 33,000 community health workers (98 percent women) to serve as health liaisons who provide primary care services to families in various parts of the country. HEP workers are trained to bring injectible contraception and implants to women and adolescents. (So far there’s been no mention of health, safety and hygiene concerns with regards to injectibles.)
11:39 a.m. Sugiri Syarif, Chairman of Indonesia’s national family planning board, shares a remarkable success story: Indonesia has increased contraceptive and family planning access to 81 percent. Abandoning pro-natalist policies, Indonesia mandated municipal and district governments to carry out family planning programs. This has helped to normalize small family sizes. Where would the U.S. be in terms of maternal health if we took bold steps like Indonesia to mandate, for example, comprehensive sexual education for American youth?
11:13 a.m. It was just announced that presenter Stella Simela-Chiriva, executive director of Zimbabwe’s National Family Planning Council has suddenly passed away in route to this conference. The women of Zimbabwe have lost a warrior in the fight for empowerment of women and families. Our thoughts are with her family and the communities she has served. A moment of silence was observed.
10:00 a.m. Senior government officials from five countries–Indonesia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Senegal, and Zimbabwe–share insights into their efforts to reduce unmet contraceptive need in their settings.
Surprisingly, all the presenters on this panel are men. Though I am proud to see men engaged and working on family planning and maternal health issues, it is ironic that in these countries where maternal mortality rates are so high, no women are here to describe what the greatest challenges and successes are–particularly when it is known these countries experience huge barriers to women’s empowerment.
Opening Plenary – Christiane Amanpour
9:30 a.m. The first plenary panel begins, with Christiane Amanpour taking the stage. She says all she can think about are are the women in Afghanistan and Africa who have to travel for days on horseback or in carts just to deliver their babies. Amanpour says that the finances exist to change the situation but that there are political challenges and “gross double-standards.”
The first question to panelists is about the state of maternal mortality today, citing the recent study in the Lancet that maternal mortality rates are declining. The panel agrees that it is positive and encouraging sign but that we still need to create and maintain urgency around the issue.
Welcome Address: Celebrate Progress and Sustain Momentum – Ban Ki-Moon, Hillary Clinton
9:20 a.m. “Mother of Women Deliver” Jill Sheffield of Family Care International acknowledges how the election of Barack Obama heralded a new era for women and women’s health by reinstating funding for UNFPA, creating the first-ever White House Council for Women and Girls, naming an ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Affairs and making Hillary Clinton Secretary of State.
9:25 a.m. And here’s Hillary Clinton, via satellite! She congratulates the U.N. Secretary-General for promoting women and children’s health reiterates the theme that “women deliver for the world; now the world needs to deliver for women.”
9:10 a.m. Ki-Moon says that “an isolated approach does not work. When we work together we succeed.” Governments, businesses and NGOs should all be part of the picture of maternal health. He announces a new commitment from the U.N. and renews a pledge by the U.N. Joint Action Plan to accelerate programs for women and children. He also addresses the issue of violence against women:
Gender inequality is a danger to women’s health. Women cannot fulfill their potential when they live in fear, fear of rape, domestic violence and being trafficked. … Empowering women starts at home.
Ki-Moon is on a roll: He also acknowledges that women are still outnumbered by men at the U.N. at every level–and this must change! He ends his speech by recalling his own home-birth in Korea. He later asked his mother why women looked so scared before going into a room to give birth. She told him it was because they did not know if they would come out of the room alive. Concludes Ki-Moon:
No woman should have to pay for giving life with her own life. Let us change this world by helping women deliver.
9 a.m. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon takes the stage amidst thousands of flashing lightbulbs. Goosebumps! The significance of his presence is tangible; you can feel the power he is bringing to Women Deliver. He tells Michelle Bachelet that even though she is no longer president of her country, the world still needs her leadership. Then he introduces all five U.N. agency heads who are also present here today, sitting in the front row, and he acknowledges that women’s rights are central to all U.N. policies and declares that “delivering for women and children is men’s work, too.” Massive applause from the standing-room-only audience.
8:55 a.m. The “Godfather of the Women’s Health Movement” and co-chair of the conference, Ghana’s Fred Sai, takes the stage and declares he would rather be called a “master midwife” than a godfather so that we can get “women really delivering.” He says that despite research showing that maternal mortality rates are declining globally, he has not been seeing enough progress in the field of maternal health. What’s missing? Action, education and leadership.
8:50 a.m. Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile–did you know she is also a physician?–says …
A health system that delivers for women delvers for everyone else also. My government delivered for women and women delivered for my country.
8:30 a.m. There’s an electric atmosphere in the massive ballroom of Washington’s Convention Center as 3,000 world leaders, doctors and activists gather here for the opening plenary. We watch an inspirational photo essay by Lindsay Orario and hear these words:
When women are healthy, they deliver for their families, communities and for their nations. It’s a virtuous cycle. We know what to do to save their lives. It’s time to deliver for women. Invest in women. It pays.
–Anushay Hossain (Originally posted on Ms. magazine Blog)
Above image courtesy of Women Deliver. | <urn:uuid:12563407-4353-4d10-ad9e-35ea9dd9f9f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://majorityspeaks.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/day-one-of-women-deliver-melinda-gates-ban-ki-moon-hillary-clinton/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962371 | 4,969 | 1.617188 | 2 |
4 more ways to cut the cost of your car insurance
Published: 12 April 2008
By Sotiris Leave a Comment
Updated: 3 November 2009
The cost of motor insurance can vary hugely. There are many factors that can influence the premium you have to pay. Some you will have little or no influence on such as your age and experience or previous motoring offences. Others you can work on to reduce premiums. Your excess, the type of car you drive, its security system and how it’s used for example.
The type of vehicle you drive
The more powerful the engine, the more expensive the car is to repair, and the more likely it is to be broken into or stolen will all affect the premium you have to pay.
The insurance industry has some standard car ratings, from one to twenty. However, many insurers now use their own systems. The rating of a new or used car depends mostly on the engine size and weight of the car as well as the cost of replacement parts and the probability it of theft.
You might be the safest driver in the world, have an unblemished record on the road, never have been caught speeding, or been the victim of car crime, but if you live in the ‘wrong’ area your insurance premium can suffer. If you live in an inner city where you are more likely to be involved in an accident or have your car stolen, you will likely pay substantially more than someone who lives in a country village or leafy suburbia. Whether or not your car is kept in a garage can also make a difference.
Parking on a drive is also regarded as safer than private parking. Also, using a carport is generally considered as no better than parking on the street.
Ideally keep your car parked in a locked garage overnight. More than 50% of vehicle thefts occur during the night so if your car is safely locked away your insurance costs will come down.
Higher premiums also apply if you use your car for work especially if you happen to be employed in one of the professions regarded as higher risk – journalism, the licensed trade, HM Forces, professional entertainment, sport, music journalist, music, the media.
Including cover for drivers under the age of 25 will also affect the premium. Consider who to put as the main insured driver – If you have more penalty points than your spouse, putting him/her down as the main driver with you as a named driver on the policy could also cut the premium.
Car security – A car alarm, immobiliser or tracker will protect your vehicle from theft and should reduce the premium. All improvements to security should help to lower your car insurance costs.
If you are considering fitting such security devices it’s best check that they are approved by your insurer also which ones will cut your car insurance quote the most.
Opt to up the excess you are prepared to pay on any claim to reduce the premium. The more you are willing to cover yourself in the event of a claim the lower your premium.
Most policies have a compulsory excess and a voluntary excess which you can vary. Increasing the excess will reduce your premium as you are in effect taking some of the policy risk by paying a higher percentage of any claim. For example if you are sure that you won’t make a claim for less than £500 then have an excess of this level and you will see your premium fall significantly.
Finally, one of the easiest ways to cut the cost of your insurance is to shop around. Finding competitive quotes is easier than ever with hundreds of websites available to find and compare quotes. Big players in the comparison market include Moneysupermarket.com and Confused.com where you can see quotes from different providers compared side by side. | <urn:uuid:b1e2accb-5b32-47bf-a1f1-f74ed68f22b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moneyhighstreet.com/feature/4-more-ways-to-cut-the-cost-of-your-car-insurance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969416 | 767 | 1.773438 | 2 |
REVIEW OF THE LAWS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NAVY.
COMMUNICATED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE, APRIL 1, 1818.
Mr. Pleasants, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom were referred a resolution instructing them to inquire whether any, and, if any, what, alterations are necessary and proper to be made in the several laws relating to the government of the navy; also the proceedings of certain courts martial lately held in the Mediterranean for the trials of Captain Oliver H. Perry, Captain John Heath, and Captain John O. Creighton; also the memorial of certain midshipmen, belonging to the Mediterranean squadron, addressed to the President of the United States, reported:
The committee have examined the several subjects referred to them, and are of opinion that the general regulations for the government of the navy do not require to be changed. With a view of ascertaining whether the circumstances which lately transpired in the Mediterranean have grown out of a defect in the law, or the administration of the law; the committee, after an attentive consideration of the law, and of the several cases determined under it, think the defect is not in the law. Their attention has been particularly drawn to the third, fourteenth, and thirtieth sections of the act "for the better government of the navy of the United States." The third section of said act is in the following words: "Any officer, or other person in the navy, who shall be guilty of oppression, cruelty, &c. shall, if an officer, be cashiered, or suffer such other punishment as a court martial shall adjudge," &c. The fourteenth section of said act is in the following words: "No officer or private in the navy shall disobey the lawful orders of his superior officer, or strike him, or draw, or offer to draw or raise, any weapon against him, while in the execution of the duties of his office, on pain of death; or such other punishment as a court martial shall inflict." The 30th section of said act is in the following words: "No commanding officer shall, of his own authority, discharge a commission or warrant officer, nor strike, nor punish him, otherwise than by suspension or confinement, &c; any commanding officer offending herein, shall be punished at the discretion of a court martial." It will be observed, that the punishment denounced against an inferior officer for striking, &c. his superior, may be death, or such other punishment as a court martial may adjudge; whilst for a similar offence committed by a superior officer
against an inferior, the punishment is such as the discretion of a court martial may award. In these two articles, such an inequality of punishment is supposed by many to exist as to call for a change of the law. This impression did not escape the attention of the committee; but, on mature reflection, they were led to doubt the propriety of the opinion. Striking, drawing weapons, &c. on the part of inferiors against superiors, in military bodies, carries along with it the idea of insubordination and mutiny. Under such circumstances no military body can exist; or, if it exist at all, it must be to purposes worse than useless. It is believed that at all times, and in all nations who have had correct ideas of military discipline, the power to punish mutiny with death has been vested in their military tribunals; nor do they think it could be dispensed with in this Government; for they believe the principle to be correct, that in free Governments the rigor of military discipline is as necessary, perhaps more so, as under Governments of a different character: and it is a circumstance well understood, that persons going into military service part, for the time, with a portion of their civil rights. The committee are of opinion that it would be inexpedient to change this part of the naval regulations.
Their attention was next drawn to the opposite view of the question. Oppression, and striking inferiors by superiors, are punishable, the first by cashiering, or such other punishment as a court martial shall adjudge; the second, at the discretion of a court martial. This part of the subject having given rise to the late occurrences among the officers in the Mediterranean, claimed and received the undivided attention of the committee. They examined the propriety of fixing some definite punishment in these cases; such as suspension for a certain length of time, below which no court martial should be at liberty to go, in adjudging the penalty to be awarded for a commission of the offence. But, on mature consideration, difficulties, which the committee considered as great, if not insuperable, were believed to attend such a provision. Let us suppose that such is the law: when the case comes to be examined, it is found that a number of circumstances exist which reduce the offence to almost nothing; or, on the other hand, circumstances are discovered of a character so aggravated as to give it a very different complexion. Let us take, by way of illustration, the two cases of Captain Perry and Captain Creighton, both now under the consideration of the committee. In the former, the committee see circumstances of a character which, in their opinion, would have justified a much more rigorous sentence of the court martial towards that officer, as high and deserved a favorite of his country as he was; and it is with no small regret that the committee feel it their duty to express the opinion. On the other hand, for a charge, in part, of a similar character, the charge of striking Midshipman Mars-ton by Captain Creighton, they see nothing of sufficient importance to have attracted attention. Thus situated, numberless shades of difference attending almost every case which can be supposed to occur, the committee believe that fixing by law a minimum punishment, if it were of sufficient magnitude to have any effect, would be improper. The committee think a reference to our civil trials will illustrate this part of the subject. Thus, in the trial by jury, that body exercise an entire discretion in all actions of assault and battery, &c. and graduate the penalty to the offence, according to the circumstances of each case. It is also in accordance with the mild character of the criminal codes of most of the States composing this Union, in which a scale of punishments is graduated according to the degree of the offence. The committee know that where the law can be defined with propriety, the discretion of no tribunal, whatever ought to be as much relied on as proper legal definitions. They have stated the difficulties which presented themselves, and which they find of such a character as to induce them to consider a change unadvisable. The committee also state, that it would be with much reluctance they would relinquish their confidence in courts martial, composed of those officers whose conduct has so justly merited the confidence of their country.
The committee are aware, that, in examining the conduct of the courts martial referred to them, the path of their duty led over delicate ground. They know that no law which they could recommend would operate otherwise than prospectively; and, also, that they have no power to reverse or unsettle the decisions; but these proceedings having been referred to them, as connected with the subject of the inquiry, that inquiry having in fact grown out of them, they have thought it right to express the opinion they have done. Indeed, the body to which the committee belongs, and who have charged them with the inquiry, constitute the grand inquest of the nation, whose duty it is, on proper occasions, to inquire into the conduct of the highest officers in the Government.
The committee, then, taking into consideration all the circumstances of the cases referred to them, trusting that the officers of the navy, to whom are confided the important duties entrusted to courts martial, with a due regard to the laws of their country, ever to be held sacred by those entrusted with their execution, and constituting the only criterion between free and despotic Governments, will exert themselves to heal the wounds with which the discipline of the navy has been at least threatened—a discipline so admirable in itself, and which was not known to exist till its effects were witnessed by the world, and which once lost, the navy itself would be a useless burden on the community; the committee trusting that these highly important considerations will have their due and proper weight, conclude by recommending to the House the adoption of the following resolution: Resolved, That the committee be discharged from further consideration of the several subjects referred to them.
After the foregoing report was read, Mr. Johnson, of Virginia, moved to recommit it to the Committee on Naval Affairs, with instructions "so to amend the act, entitled 'An act for the better government of the navy of the United States,' (approved April 23, 1800,) as to subject the superior officer who shall strike, or draw, or offer to draw or raise, any weapon against his inferior officer, to a forfeiture of his commission, and dismission from the service."
The said report and amendment were then ordered to lie on the table. | <urn:uuid:c2669f21-4990-4d81-9bb4-ded1ddf3ab39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/USN/1818/18180401Laws.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978013 | 1,870 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:
This is a great time for engineering workstations. The new generation is really flooding in on us: multi-core, parallel processing, and so on. And now your ability to visualize what's going on is just about to take another leap forward.
NVIDIA just announced a new series of its Quadro graphics processing units (GPUs) based on its Fermi architecture. NVIDIA says that these new Quadro GPUs deliver performance that is up to five times faster for 3D applications and up to eight times faster for computational simulation, and they have benchmarks supporting that claim.
For you techno-roids, I've put a link at then end of today's Pick of the Week write-up to all things Fermi. But here are a few hits of it. The Fermi architecture is intended to use dramatically less power than current technology to deliver supercomputing features and performance less expensively. NVIDIA says that its new Quadro GPUs are the first professional-level graphics solution to offer ECC memory and IEEE double-precision floating-point performance. One model, the Quadro 6000, is rated at 1.3 billion triangles per second in raw performance, which is pretty fast IMHO.
What that means is that these GPUs are for high-accuracy, compute-insane applications like CFD, FEA, and medical imaging. And, of course, the new Quadro series is engineered with NVIDIA's CUDA parallel processing architecture and supports the company's various application development toolkits. And what all that means is that the programming jocks will be able to design the software your career counts on that can handle more complex processing for ray tracing, physics, and so on. Or more bluntly, things are about to change quickly.
As is SOP with these announcements, HP announced that its EliteBook 8740w Mobile Workstation will support the mobile version of the new series, the Quadro 5000M. You'll find a blurb and a link in todays Pick of the Week write-up about that too, although the new Quadros did not seem to be listed there as of the time I wrote this. Dell is also expected to announce something soon.
Anyway, the point is hit the link at the end of the write-up and go to the NVIDIA announcement. You'll find videos and a pile of PDFs on the new Quadro GPUs from NVIDIA. These things are going to up the ante when it comes to what you will be able to do and visualize.
Visualization is vital to your job whether you're a designer or analyst, and what you know about and expect from it is about to change for the better. Take the time to see what's coming your way with the next generation of graphics processing. It's exciting stuff.
Thanks, Pal. — Lockwood
Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering
Read today's Pick of the Week write-up. | <urn:uuid:06077458-bd1a-4ee6-bfe9-e207d1ef5139> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deskeng.com/articles/aaaxwz.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959963 | 600 | 1.765625 | 2 |
RSI getting you down? You could use voice recognition software, but that usually still involves a mouse, which can suck if your wrists and fingers are in terrible pain. Enter the orbiTouch keyboard, an ergonomic keyboard that lets you type and control your mouse without having to hit a single button.
It's controlled two round "domes," each of which you can slide into eight positions. It's nothing like QWERTY: each quadrant on the right side has five letters, numbers, or symbols, each in one of eight colors. Slide the dome to one of the quadrants, and then slide the dome on the left to the segment of the color that corresponds to the letter you want. There, you've typed one letter! Mouse mode is more intuitive: slide the right dome around to point the cursor, then move the left dome to the right or left to right or left click.
The idea hasn't exactly caught on so far, and it's pretty easy to see why. But someday something will replace QWERTY, right? Please? You can purchase an orbiTouch for $400 from the company's website, or from retailers like Amazon. | <urn:uuid:be766386-b182-487a-8c78-154201343964> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dvice.com/archives/2007/11/orbitouch-keyboard-lets-you-ty.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932076 | 239 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Born On: December 24, 1924
Born In: Kotla Sultan Singh, Punjab, British India
Died On: July 31, 1980
Career: Hindi Playback Singer
Whether it was Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Johnny Walker, Sunil Dutt, Shashi Kapoor, Dharmendra, or Raaj Kumar, he had the magic and power in his voice to flawlessly suit every actor's song. Right from classical to swinging, from soulful to comic, and from philosophical to frivolous, he was blessed with a range that could sing in three octaves without veering out of control. The legendary Mohd. Rafi, as he is known to the music world, is undeniably one of the best singers India ever gave birth to. He is regarded as the most popular male singer and the second most popular singer, after the eminent Lata Mangeshkar. A singer par excellence, Rafi could surpass all the playback singers with his outstanding singing ability of getting into the soul of the song. Apart from the extraordinary armory that Rafi possessed, he was a very down-to-earth person on the personal level. With an attitude of a commoner even at the pinnacle of glory, Rafi managed to win the hearts of every individual who listened to his songs, just once. Till date, he is remembered for his astonishing capabilities of wining audiences with his melodious and miraculous voice.
This great singer was born at Kotla Sultan Singh, Amritsar (British India), as the fifth of six sons, to Hajji Ali Mohammed. Fondly called as Pheeko, Rafi began singing as a child by imitating the chants of a faqir in his village. In the 1920s, when his father shifted to Lahore and opened up a men's salon in Noor Mohalla, Bhatti Gate, Rafi's voice was recognized by Ahmed Hameed, his elder brother's friend, who advised him to move to Bombay to explore his singing career. Later, Hameed became his brother-in-law. His firth public performance was held when he was just 13, at a concert in Lahore under K.L. Saigal. Later in 1941, he made his singing debut in the Punjabi film 'Gul Baloch' with the duet song 'Soniye nee, Heeriye nee', along with Zeenat Begum, but the movie released only in 1944. The same year, he was invited by All India Radio Lahore to sing for them. Although Rafi's family was reluctant to send him to Bombay, Hameed managed to convince them and accompanied Rafi to Bombay in 1944. It was here that Rafi learnt classical music from music maestros Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwanlal Matto, and Firoze Nizami.
Mumbai proved to be a turning point for Rafi's singing career, which gave India its biggest singing sensation of all times. Here in Bombay, his future brother-in-laws helped him find a rented room on the busy streets of Bhendi Bazar. He was introduced to film producers, like Adbur Rashid Kardar, Mehboob Khan, and actor-director Nazeer. He recorded his first song with the legendary Naushad for the 1944 film 'Pehle Aap' - 'Hindustan ke hum hain', along with Shyam Kumar, Alauddin, and others. As part of the chorus, Rafi gave several songs for Naushad, including 'Mere sapno ki rani, Roohi Roohi' for the 1946 film 'Shahjahan'. He even sang a duet with Noor Jehan in 1947 'Jugnu', but she migrated to Pakistan during the partition of India in the same year and paired with Ahmed Rushdi.
Since Shyam Sunder had already offered him a song in his previous film 'Gul Baloch', he offered him another number 'Aji dil ho qaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi' with GM Durrani in 'Gaon ki Gori' in 1945, which turned out to be the first Hindi song for Rafi. Guided by Husanlal Bhagatram and Rajendra Krishan, Rafi created the song 'Suno suno ae duniya walon, Bapuji ki amar kahani' overnight after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, for which he was invited at the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru to sing at his residence. The same year, he was even awarded a silver medal by Nehru on Independence Day. Rafi's solo singing career began in 1949 with offers from Naushad for 'Chandni Raat', 'Dillagi', and 'Dulari'; Shyam Sunder for 'Bazaar'; and Husanlal Bhagatram for 'Meena Bazaar'.
Rafi & Naushad
Although Rafi's first song with the notable Naushad was for the film 'Pehle Aap' in 1944, but his solo soundtrack with the music director was for the movie 'Anmol Ghadi' in 1946. Although Talat Mahmood was Naushad's favorite singer previously, but on spotting him smoking during recording, he asked Rafi to record all the songs for 'Baiju Bawra'. It was his association with Naushad that Rafi got immense recognition and went on to become one of the greatest Bollywood singers. At the end, Rafi had recorded a total of 149 songs for Naushad, including 81 solos.
Rafi & SD Burman
Rafi was considered as the voice of Dev Anand and Guru Dutt under the music directorship of SD Burman. Along with him, Rafi gave hits, like 'Pyaasa' (1957), 'Guide' (1965), 'Aradhana' (1969), and 'Abhimaan' (1973), others being 'Kaaghaz ke Phool' (1959) and 'Tere Ghar kay Saamnay' (1962).
Rafi & Shankar-Jaikishan
It was under Shankar-Jaikishan that Rafi delivered chirpy and cheesy numbers, especially for actors like Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar. The song 'Yahoo! Chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe' was a Shankar-Jaikishan composition. He even won 3 of the 6 Filmfare Awards for this musical-duo. 'Basant Bahar', 'Professor', 'Junglee', 'Brahmachari', 'Suraj', 'An Evening in Paris', 'Prince', 'Love in Tokyo', and 'Yaqeen' are some films recorded by this combination. Rafi sang a total of 341 songs for Shankar-Jaikishan, of which 216 were solo.
Rafi & Ravi
Rafi's hard work and long-desired singing career reached its peak when he won his first Filmfare Award for the title song of 'Chaudhvin ka Chand' in 1960, composed by Ravi. The National Award that he was honored with was for the song 'Babul ki duaen leti ja' from 'Neel Kamal' (1968), which again was Ravi's composition. Other memorable songs recorded by Rafi-Ravi duo include for the movies 'China Town' (1962), 'Kaajal' (1965), and 'Do Badan' (1966).
Rafi & Madan Mohan
While Rafi had been recording duets and chorus with several music directors, his first solo was offered to him by Madan Mohan for the film 'Aankhen' in 1950 for the song 'Hum ishq mein barbad hain barbad rahenge'. Eventually, the two paired together for numerous popular songs, some being 'Teri aankhon kay siva', 'Yeh duniya yeh mehfil', and 'Tum jo mil gaye ho'.
Rafi & O.P. Nayyar
Once quoted by OP Nayyar as "If there had been no Mohammad Rafi, there would have been no O. P. Nayyar", Rafi worked for this eminent music composer during the 1950s and 1960s. It was under Nayyar that Rafi got a chance to sing for Kishore Kumar's 'Raagini' for the song 'Man mora baawara'. Later, he went on to sing several more songs for this singer-actor, like 'Baaghi', 'Shehzaada', and 'Shararat'. Nayyar paired Rafi and Asha Bhosle for most of his songs, who went on to sing golden hits for 'Naya Daur' (1957), 'Tumsa Nahi Dekha' (1957), and 'Kashmir ki Kali' (1964). A total of 157 songs were sung for OP Nayyar by Rafi, of which 56 were solo.
Rafi & Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Right from his very first film 'Parasmani' (1963) for Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Rafi was patronized by the composer duo. The team's song 'Chahoonga main tujhe saanjh savere' from 'Dosti' (1963) won a Filmfare Award. 369 numbers, including 186 solo, were sung by Rafi for this distinguished composer duo.
After an initial struggle, Rafi managed to create a niche for himself in the Indian cinema. He lent his voice for a number of actors in Bollywood and was one of the most sough-after singers between 1950s and 1970s. For his contribution to the Indian fraternity, he was bestowed upon with the Padma Shri Award by the Government of India in 1965. With the beginning of the 1970s era, Rafi fell ill and confined himself to fewer recordings. During his absence from Bollywood during Hajj pilgrimage in 1969, Kishore Kumar's popularity increased as he bagged the remaining two songs for the film 'Aradhana', recorded by R.D. Burman, son of S.D. Burman, with Kishore Kumar. Eventually, Rafi's output in terms of songs reduced, but he did continue to sing some prominent hits. His signature song 'Tum mujhe yun bhula na paoge' from 'Pagla Kahin Ka' in 1971 was recorded during this period. Others include 'Yeh duniya yeh mehfil', 'Heer Ranjha' (1970); 'Jhilmil sitaron ka', 'Jeevan Mrityu' (1970); 'Gulabi aankhen', 'The Train' (1970); 'Chalo dildar chalo', 'Pakeezah' (1972); 'Chura liya hain tumne', 'Yaadon Ki Baarat' (1973); 'Teri bindiya re', 'Abhimaan' (1973); and 'Aaj mausam bada beimaan hai', Loafer (1973).
After giving Bollywood a blink-n-miss during the early 1970s, he made a comeback as the leading playback singer in mid-1970s, which conferred him with the Best Singer Award by the Film World magazine for the song 'Teree Galiyon Mein Na Rakhenge Qadam Aaj Ke Baad' from 'Hawas' (1974). His qawwali 'Pardah hai pardah' picturized on Rishi Kapoor from 'Amar Akbar Anthony' in 1977 was an instant hit. His movies from the late 1970s and early 1980s include 'Laila Majnu' (1976), 'Qurbani' (1980), 'Dostana' (1980), 'Naseeb' (1981), 'Shaan' (1980), and 'The Burning Train' (1980).
Rafi was previously married to his cousin at an early age, but post-independence, the marriage was called off, since his in-laws and wife migrated to Lahore, Pakistan. He had a son from the marriage. Later in Mumbai, Rafi and Abdul Hameed married two sisters in the late 1940s. He married Bilquis and gave birth to three sons and three daughters. He was a very religious and humble person, and kept away from filmy parties, smoking, and drinking. Amongst his leisurely hobbies, he only indulged in carom, badminton, and flying kites.
Mohd. Rafi suffered a major heart attack and died on July 31, 1980. With over 10,000 people attending his funeral, it was one of the biggest funeral processions Mumbai had ever witnessed. He was buried at the Juhu Muslim cemetery. Although his tomb was destroyed in 2010 to create space for other bodies, his fans visit his tomb, marked by a coconut tree close to his grave, twice a year, on 24 December and 31 July, to observe his birth and death anniversary.
A two day public holiday was announced on his death by the Government of India to pay him a tribute. His song 'Jaan Pehchan Ho' (Gumnaam) was used for the soundtrack of the movie 'Ghost World' (2001). In 2001, his song 'Aaj Mausam Bada Beiman Hai' was included in the movie 'Monsoon Wedding'. Seven Hindi movies, like 'Allah Rakha', 'Coolie', 'Mard', 'Naseeb', 'Aas-Paas', 'Desh Premee', and 'Heeralal-Pannalal' were dedicated to Rafi.
Awards and Accolades
Filmfare Award for 'Chaudhvin ka chand ho' (Chaudhvin ka Chand), 1960
Filmfare Award for 'Teri pyaari pyaari surat ko' (Sasural), 1961
Filmfare Award for 'Chahunga main tujhe' (Dosti), 1964
Filmfare Award for 'Baharo phool barsao' (Suraj), 1966
Padma Shri by the Government of India, 1967
Filmfare Award for 'Dil ke jharoke mein' (Brahmachari), 1968
National Award for 'Kya hua tera wada' (Hum Kisise Kum Nahi), 1977
Filmfare Award for 'Kya hua tera wada' (Hum Kisise Kum Nahi), 1977
"Best Singer of the Millennium" by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine, 2001
1924: Born in Kotla Sultan Singh, Punjab, British India
1941: Debuted as a playback singer in the Punjabi film 'Gul Baloch'
1944: Came to Mumbai, along with Abdul Hameed
1944: Recorded first Hindi song 'Aji dil ho qaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi' for 'Pehle Aap'
1948: Received a silver medal for 'Suno suno ae duniya walo, Bapuji ki amar kahani' from Jawaharlal Nehru
1967: Honored with the Padam Shri Award by the Indian Government
1974: Received the Best Singer Award from Film World magazine for the song 'Teri Galiyon Mein Na Rakhenge Qadam' (Hawas)
1977: Received Filmfare Award and the National Award for the song 'Kya hua tera wada' (Hum kisise kum nahi)
1980: Died of a heart attack on July 31st in Mumbai. | <urn:uuid:0d903e39-b5eb-40b5-bcdb-b165884b09fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://music.indobase.com/composers-playback-singers/mohammed-rafi.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971023 | 3,343 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Researchers are investigating islet-cell transplantation as a way to help patients to come off insulin or reduce their use of it. Most research in recent years has focused on an islet-transplantation procedure called the Edmonton protocol.
This procedure has only been used in clinical trials, but it has helped some patients with severe type 1 diabetes to become free of insulin injections. However, many of these insulin-independent patients...Read more
Why is it that we realize we take life for granted only after it's almost lost? After my stroke in 2001, that's how I felt. When I... Read more »
An Italian study has shown that people who have both Migraines and hypertension have a higher probability of cerebrovascular events than... Read more » | <urn:uuid:a6b84944-e221-4a8b-ac58-b66a9ff4754d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/h/why-do-type-2-diabetics-have-hypertension.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96062 | 156 | 1.828125 | 2 |
When I was a kid, I worked on a small golf course my family owned (we no longer do). One of my tasks was to mow the ditch out in front of the parking lot. The parking lot was about 20 ft above the highway and therefore the ditch had a fairly step slope to it. Mowing it was a challenge. The only mower we had that was up to the task was one called Yazoo. They don’t make this model anymore, but it was a rear-steer three wheeled mower with wide wheelbase, a large mowing deck out front and a fairly low center of gravity. It was the only machine we had that could do the job.
However, doing the job was a bit of an art. The mower’s transmission was a bit old, and unless you kept your hand on the lever, forcing it into gear, it liked to slip into neutral. On top of that, the slope of the hill forced you to sit on the very edge of the uphill side of the seat or you risked sliding off. Finally, the real trick was managing the weight of the mower deck. At the steepest part, enough of the weight came off the high-side wheel. It would slip, lose traction, and cause the mower to turn uphill until you were stuck with no other option but to back down the hill and start over. The only way around this was to carefully transfer the weight off the mower-deck by lifting it slightly with the lever used to raise the deck for transport. Then, and only then, could you successfully mow the steepest part of the hill. Also, keep in mind that any wheel spinout left a nasty scar in very public view of all that drove by the golf course (and the ensuing “discussions” about my lack of mowing talents with my father).
To recap, the trick was – sit on the very edge of the seat leaning heavily to the hillside, with one hand hold the mower in gear, with the other hand hold the steering wheel, with the right foot, push carefully down on the “deck lift lever” and with the left foot balance yourself (100% OSHA approved! ).
So what does all this have to do with software?
The other day I was working through some issues with the system we’re building. The system is a replacement for a semi-manual data entry process.
In it, there’s a lot of “if use sets flag X and Y then set flag Z to true” and a lot of “the users are trained to know that they need to add B when they see A”, etc. All of these rules the users need to remember make getting the system to work sound a lot like describing mowing the ditch with the Yazoo.
The system feels like someone observed me mowing and build a new mower to make my life easier, but missed the point. They put a button the steering wheel that as long as I push it, will hold the mower in gear – “Now you can keep both hands on the wheel”, they made the seat twice as wide – “Now you can just slide over instead of leaning on the edge”, they made the “deck lift lever” foot operated instead of hand – “Now you’ve got a pedal to push”.
If only someone had asked “why?” and kept asking “why?” instead of just observing and asking “what do you do?”. If they had, the designers would have built a mower that stayed in gear, had much better weight over the powered wheels, and… maybe an iPod holder (every project needs a little gold plating!!)
Far too often analysis seems to end at asking “What do you do?” with out asking enough about “why?” is it done. I recommend following the “5 whys” to get the root cause. This is really important! Only with that kind of questioning do business systems really deliver the productivity gains and competitive advantages that justify their costs.
There is a danger in all of this though. Its easy to copy the existing process – broken as it may be at least its known to work. As you start to build the system that strives to solve the root cause, there is the real chance that you may deviate too far from their old process and miss the mark – creating clever software that doesn’t solve the real problem. Mistakes during the analysis at this level can be disastrous.
The key to avoiding it? Agile Methods.
Get the software with the new process in front of the users ASAP – short, focused iterations. Have the users use it to do their jobs (not just “play” with it) and get their feedback… and continue to ask why. | <urn:uuid:abd9b6f3-8a4f-4b34-9a71-cefb91c197ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rjohnshields.com/blog/?cat=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977912 | 1,021 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Israel is deeply concerned that Syrian chemical weapons could end up falling into the hands of the Lebanese group Hizbullah should Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapse, according to current and former Israeli officials.
The scenario is one of several that Israel’s security establishment has gamed out in internal deliberations recently, in trying to assess the wider impact of Syria’s spiraling protest movement. Under another scenario, Assad might resort to desperate measures should his grip on power slip, such as firing chemically tipped rockets at Israel.
Although it’s not unusual for Israeli security officials to prepare for a range of possibilities on its tense borders, the deliberations in this case reflect the deep anxiety Israel feels over uprisings across the Arab world that have already overturned three regimes.
“The danger is that the situation in Syria will deteriorate to a point where there will be an absence of an orderly transfer of authority from one power base to another,” says former Mossad intelligence chief Efraim Halevy.
“In this kind of situation, the immediate danger is that concentrations of weaponry, including chemical weapons, will fall into Hizbullah’s hands,” he tells The Daily Beast, echoing the remarks of officials who did not want to be quoted referring to sensitive discussions.
Halevy says another concern is that Syria would break up as a state, creating a power vacuum that could be filled by “nonstate actors”—a reference to groups like Hizbullah and Hamas.
Israel has fought three all-out wars with Syria and remains adversarial with the Assad regime over the fate of the Golan Heights, which Israeli forces captured in 1967. Though the border between the two countries has been mostly quiet for years, in neighboring Lebanon, Syria is widely believed to be arming Hizbullah, which regularly threatens to strike at Israel.
The Islamic group fired thousands of rockets at Israel during a monthlong war in 2006. Having chemical weapons at its disposal would allow Hizbullah to project significantly more power in the region and likely raise the prospects of a new war.
It also would mark the first time a nonstate actor—in this case, a group classified by the United States as a terrorist organization—gets its hands on weapons of mass destruction in large quantities.
Syria has never acknowledged possessing weapons of mass destruction, but experts say its arsenal includes thousands of chemical-laden artillery shells and missile warheads.
Leonard Spector, who directs the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington, D.C., says Western intelligence agencies probably have only a vague idea of where the arsenal is stored and who guards it, making it difficult to prevent leakage.
“We don’t know where everything is, and there’s no obvious way to destroy these things or parachute teams in to intercept them,” he says. “It would be a very big enterprise.”
A large-scale attempt to move the weapons would likely be visible to Western satellites, he says. But the theft of a few hundred shells or warheads would be much harder to detect.
“It’s not clear if the soldiers protecting these sites … would see responsible stewardship as their mission or would flee, fearing they would be condemned [by the protesters] along with the rest of the regime,” Spector says.
In the best-case scenario, he says, Assad’s regime would give way peacefully to an elected government that would voluntarily dismantle the weapons.
But Itamar Rabinovich, who served in the 1990s as Israel’s lead negotiator in peace talks with Syria and is the former president of Tel Aviv University, says Assad should not be counted on to go quietly.
“My advice to Israeli policymakers would be to take these scenarios seriously,” he tells The Daily Beast. “Suppose that Assad knows he has a few hours left. He may decide to go down in a blaze of glory and fire the missiles in all directions, including at Israel.”
Rabinovich says Israel must communicate “strong messages” to Assad that would reduce his incentive to lash out.
“Suppose that Assad knows he has a few hours left. He may decide to go down in a blaze of glory and fire the missiles in all directions, including at Israel.”
Asked if that means making clear to Assad he would personally be targeted if he orders an attack on Israel, Rabinovich says: “Exactly.”
Israeli officials are divided over whether Assad can survive the uprising, in which regime forces have so far killed at least 5,000 civilians.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said last week that the Syrian ruler had just weeks left in power. But others believe that without the kind of Western military support that helped end Muammar Gaddafi’s reign in Libya, Assad could survive for months or even years. | <urn:uuid:c08ba2a2-7850-49ac-a58c-367cf7091eee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/25/will-hezbollah-get-syria-s-wmd-if-assad-goes-down.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966032 | 1,019 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Mayor’s Book Club
Kids, join the club!
The Mayor and the Grand Rapids Public Library have picked out 12 great books. You can read right along with the Mayor. Sign up today to receive an email from the Mayor each month.
Pick up a booklet at your favorite Grand Rapids Public Library location or print one out. After you read each book, get a stamp at the Library. When your booklet is full you’ll get to pick out an official Mayor’s Book Club button! You can also download your very own Mayor’s Book Club poster.
June’s book: Ready for Anything by Keiko Kasza
Teachers, join the club!
Every K-3 classroom within the city of Grand Rapids will receive their very own Mayor’s Book Club poster. Every K-3 student will also receive a bookmark.
Request a Visit from the Mayor
If you are interested in having the Mayor read in your classroom, please submit the information below and we will get in touch with you soon. Mayor Heartwell only visits one school per month on a pre-determined schedule, therefore openings are limited. We are trying to visit each elementary school once before we visit again. | <urn:uuid:5468b574-3327-4543-be6d-a4bdcb54ab0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grpl.org/mayorsbookclub/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947896 | 251 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Hattip to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. Courage and Faith. Abstractions to many, meaningless phrases to some, to others they are a way of life. Shahbaz Bhatti was in the last category. His faith was obvious to all. As a Roman Catholic in overwhelmingly Islamic Pakistan he was tireless in spreading the Truth of Christ, and in standing up for the rights of Christians in Pakistan. Appointed Minister of Defense of Minorities in the Pakistan government, he took on the position, knowing full well that he was signing his death warrant. Death threats against him were constant. As constant was his speaking out for the rights of Christians and other minorities in Pakistan. After leaving his government office each day, he would head over to the offices of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, working late into the night to continue aiding Pakistan’s embattled minorities.
He never married, thinking it unfair to put a wife and children in the cross-hairs in which he lived. On March 2, 2011 he was visiting his mother. After he left his car was sprayed with bullets and he was killed. The murderers of Al Qaeda and the Taliban have claimed responsibility. Continue reading
[Updates at the bottom]
Egypt has sent out the army to the streets of Cairo with reports of gun-battles and deaths everywhere. Media sources are reporting 870 wounded, but this can’t be confirmed as of now.
How important are the events occurring in Egypt today in reference to the United States? Very important.
Any person of history understands that in the 20th and 21st century, how Egypt goes, goes the Middle East. The most distinguished Islamic university is located in Cairo and militant Islamic organizations such as Al-Qaeda are off-shoots from the Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist Muslim organization based in Egypt seeking to return to the days of Muhammad.
I would like to continue our conversation regarding The Ground Zero Mosque, Religious Freedom, and Interfaith Dialog with Islam. Earlier posts on this topic can be found here (Part One, Part Two, & Part Three).
Johan Bonny has written what I consider to be a very helpful article entitled “Christian Witness and Ecumenism in a Society with a Muslim Majority“. (HT Stephen Hand ~ Time Out of Joint) I especially appreciate how he deals with the issue of violence and how he refers folks to the life of Brother Charles de Foucauld. I encourage everyone to read the entire article, but here are some highlights for your reference.
Christian and ecumenical witness is first of all related to the heart of the Gospel, to the example and the commandment of Jesus Christ. How can Christians live and profess together the essence of Christian faith: this is the key question in any ecumenical reflection. This question, however, leads to a deeper one: what is then the essence, the very heart of Christian faith? What is the specific genius of Christianity among the three monotheistic religions, that has Abraham as their common father in faith: Judaism, Christianity and Islam?
…The dialogue between Christianity and Islam will certainly become a major challenge of the new millennium. No dialogue, however, has a chance, unless it is based on friendship and mutual trust. How can personal trust and friendship be improved, where Christians and Muslims are living together, day after day?
As The September 11 Anniversary Nears, A Review Of Al Qaeda's Little Reported-On War Against The Catholic Church
While most of the world mourns the nearly three thousand who were brutally murdered by Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, many assume all of Al Qaeda attacks stem from a warped political motive. Most may not be aware that since the day of its inception many of Al Qaeda’s targets have involved the Catholic Church and her holy sites.
Less than one year before the September 11, 2001 attacks Al Qaeda was planning a spectacular Christmas attack at the large and historic Strasbourg Cathedral in France. While this attack was foiled, an attack on the Catholic cathedral in Jakarta, Indonesia was not thwarted, resulting in the deaths of several churchgoers and those on a nearby street.
Yet, five years before this brazen plan, an even more sinister plan was nearly carried out by the chief planner of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheik Muhammad, which he coordinated to coincide with the visit of Pope John Paul II to Manila for World Youth Day in January of 1995. The plan called for the pontiff to be killed along with countless of the faithful who was planning to see him in Manila that day. Incidentally, some speculate that the crowd that came to see the Polish pontiff that day was nearly the same size that came to see his funeral some ten years later. Some speculate it may have been the largest religious gathering at one place in our known history, some five to seven million strong.
The debate over the so-called Ground Zero mosque near the former site of the World Trade Center in New York has raised public interest in, and opposition to, other proposed or recently built mosques and Islamic centers throughout the country.
In areas where Muslim migration or immigration has been significant, some citizens have attempted to discourage construction of new mosques. Few come right out and cite the threat of terrorism; more often they seem to resort to time-honored NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) tactics such as creative interpretation of zoning ordinances, claims of decreased property values, or claims of real or potential problems with traffic, noise, etc.
Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I understand the need to be vigilant regarding the potential for violent subversion, as well as the dangers of taking such a politically correct approach to militant Islam that people hesitate to report obvious suspicious activity for fear of being labeled bigots (as seems to have happened in the Fort Hood massacre case).
I’ve been trying to think of a good way to discuss a serious problem, which is the ongoing conflict between libertarians and conservatives in the United States over the proper response to the challenges as well as the threats posed by the Islamification of the West, which is well underway in Europe, has made inroads in Canada and Australia, and has not yet impacted the United States – at least until this ground-zero mosque controversy.
I follow the Campaign for Liberty’s updates on Facebook, and it is here that I witness some of the most troubling political conflict. There are many liberty-minded conservatives who follow C4L, who agree with its perspectives on many issues, but who become irate at the manner in which some C4L contributors address the issue of radical Islam (as well as illegal immigration, and the topics are not entirely unrelated). Conservatives are concerned, almost by definition, with cultural preservation and national security. Libertarians are quite naturally concerned with preserving liberty and treating everyone equally before the law. These concerns sometimes overlap, and sometimes diverge.
Though I agree with Ron Paul and other prominent libertarians on a number of issues, and even take their side on issues over which they typically disagree with conservatives, such as the war on drugs or even the “war on terror” – if by that is meant the occupation of foreign countries by American troops and the formation of an domestic police state – when it comes to the challenges posed to the West by radical Islam, many of them are, to use the most accurate and charitable word possible, naive.
I figure it’s time for me to finally put down in a sort of structured way what I think about this “ground zero mosque” controversy, beginning with the admission that I know it isn’t “only” a mosque, but a mosque is a part of what will hereafter be referred to as that “construction project.”
Next, I might simply wrap it up by saying I think that Charles Krauthammer, a man with whom I typically find little to agree with, is absolutely right in his assessment of the entire situation, while Ron Paul, a man with whom I typically find much to agree with, is almost entirely wrong in his own assessment, which makes repeated appeals to property rights.
Let me give you Krauthammer’s thesis, which is also a reply to this sort of argument, and which has been my own since the first day I heard about this:
No one disputes the right to build; the whole debate is about the propriety, the decency of doing so.
In my own readings and heated debates, the refrain I hear from the defenders of this construction project is the same as Obama’s: they have a right. What this argument boils down to is this: “we are doing this because we can, because you have no legal standing to stop us, and all of your complaints are irrelevant.”
Rank and File Conservatives & The Conservative Intelligentsia United In Outrage Over Mosque Near Ground Zero, Not So With Same-Sex Marriage
The proposed mosque set to be built near Ground Zero, site of the September 11, 2001 attacks has brought a sweeping condemnation from both rank and file conservatives and the Conservative Intelligentsia. Now that President Barack Obama has weighed in the matter, seemingly supporting the effort, one can only imagine how this will be used in the fall elections. However, a rift has appeared to have been opened concerning the views of the rank and file conservatives and the Conservative Intelligentsia following the ruling of Judge Vaughn Walker over same-sex marriage. Many of the conservative intelligentsia, along with the establishment wing of the Republican Party has either been silent or voiced the view that the wished the whole gay marriage issue would simply go away. This has led to bewilderment from some conservative voices.
The best Catholic tie in with the efforts to build a mosque on Ground Zero came from the famed conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who is Jewish. In his opposition to the mosque being built near Ground Zero, he correctly pointed out that Pope John Paul II ordered Carmelite nuns, who were living right next to Auschwitz, to move closer to a nearby town, since the site had become a rallying point for Jewish identity. Krauthammer correctly pointed out that Christians had been murdered there too and the nuns were doing the heroic deed of praying for the souls of those who were viciously murdered. However, Krauthammer pointed out that the late Polish pontiff felt that it created the wrong perception.
One of the interesting (by which I mean dull, predictable and repetitive) aspects of the 24 hour news cycle is that all forms of media have incentives to magnify and actively seek out controversy. Not only does this increase ratings/page views/newspaper sales, it provides media outlets with something – anything in a slow news month – to talk about. I can’t help but feel that the recent outburst of commentary about the construction of a mosque near the site of the 9/11 attacks is the type of story designed to increase media consumption and accomplish little else. The First Amendment is not in dispute here; freedom of religion is well established and protected by settled case law. Furthermore, the proposed mosque is to be constructed on private property, and there is no legal reason to challenge its construction. And so most of the discussion revolves (and frequently devolves) around taste and symbolism. | <urn:uuid:89d6162e-1392-4662-96fd-813ecbe0cdf9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://the-american-catholic.com/tag/islam/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973882 | 2,314 | 1.554688 | 2 |
[Report] Workshop “Brain Science and Ethics”
At Florey Neuroscience Institutes in Melbourne, 6 UTCP members and Prof. Neil Levy had talks at Workshop “Brain Science and Ethics” held on March 23, 2010. This workshop was the final event of the UTCP Program in Brain Sciences and Ethics.
The workshop was organized by UTCP and Prof. Neil Levy (Florey Neuroscience Institutes in Melbourne). We thank him for his efforts to organize it, and we also hope to continue research cooperation with him.
Yukihiro Nobuhara (UTCP)
Is it possible to read the mind from the brain?
Eisuke Nakazawa (UTCP)
Memory manipulating technologies and the idea of authenticity
Kei Yoshida (UTCP)
A neuroeconomic approach to pathological gambling
Mineki Oguchi (UTCP)
Ethical considerations for neuromarketing: The problems of pseudoscience and consumer autonomy
Boku Sutetsu (UTCP)
The concept of mental disorder: The DSM and ICD's concept and current debates
Haruka Tsutsui (UTCP)
Neuroethics of sex/gender: The "male/female brain" discourse and sex/gender in our society
Neil Levy (Florey Neuroscience Institutes)
Consciousness and Moral Responsibility
[Reports by UTCP members]
NAKAZAWA Eisuke (UTCP)
I examined the relationship between memory erasure technologies and authenticity. The idea of authenticity is often used as the last trump card against enhancement technologies. But it is not clear what authenticity is and how it is defined as an ethical criterion. From the viewpoint of memory manipulating technologies, I separated personal numerical identity from authenticity and defined the latter as an ethical criterion.
YOSHIDA Kei (UTCP)
My talk, “A neuroeconomic approach to pathological gambling,” is based on my paper written in Japanese and published in Ethics and Society in the Age of Neuroscience (UTCP Booklet 15); however, I have added some details about Japanese pathological gambling and gambling industries which are unfamiliar to those who do not live in Japan. After my talk, a lot of questions were raised, which were helpful to me.
This workshop was the finale of our program “Brain Sciences and Ethics.” I feel deeply moved by that, because our program was started by reading Prof. Levy’s book, Neuroethics and my first job at UTCP was to write blogs about it (http://utcp.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/blog/___brain_sciences_and_ethics/0010_seminar_1_reading_levy/index_en.php). In this regard, our program started with and ended with him. We shall continue our studies in neuroethics and collaborations with him in a new program, “Science, Technology, and Society.”
OGUCHI Mineki (UTCP)
My presentation was based on my recent paper “Ethical considerations of neuromarketing: the problems of pseudoscience and consumer autonomy” which was published in Ethics and Society in the Age of Neuroscience (UTCP booklet 15). In my presentation, I first explained the background, recent trends and characteristics of neuromarketing, then analyzed social and ethical concerns about neuromarketing in terms of the problems of pseudoscience and consumer autonomy.
After my presentation, I was asked several questions, for instance, about the validity of applying the problem of pseudoscience to neuromarketing and about a recent research on the subliminal effect that I mentioned in my presentation. I was repeatedly asked the former question, which indicates that I need to revise my argument to make the problem situation more plausible. This requires a further effort.
The last talk of Professor Levy was about the relation between consciousness and moral responsibility. It was full of stimulating ideas. His view that a value can be treated as a set of dispositions is highly suggestive to me. I would like to express my deepest gratitude for Professor Levy to organize this workshop.
What is mental disorder? This concept is involved in practical problems such as insanity defense or stigmatization, and hence, should be clarified. In my presentation, the definitions of mental disorder in general that are embraced by DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10 are criticized. In these manuals, the presence of “dysfunction” is thought to be necessary for a condition to be qualified as a mental disorder. I tried to determine the meaning of dysfunction in terms of three alternative concepts of (biological) function. Whichever concept of function we assume, however, the definition of mental disorder involves some difficulties. Thus the definitions of mental disorder that rely on the concept of dysfunction cannot be used as a criterion according to which we decide to add or remove a diagnostic category.
I really thank participants for their suggestions. After the discussion, I came to think that harmfulness which is also a necessary component for mental disorder in the diagnostic systems also needs to be clarified. Then I would like to study more specific problems such as relationships between individual mental disorders (e.g. autism) and insanity defense.
On March 23rd, 2010, I made a presentation at the workshop “Brain Science and Ethics”, held at Florey Neuroscience Institutes, University of Melbourne. The title of my presentation was “Neuroethics of sex/gender: The "male/female brain" discourse and sex/gender in our society”.
Since 2009, I have been working on neuroethical problems of sex/gender. This presentation is based on my paper in Ethics and Society in the Age of Neuroscience (UTCP Booklet 15), with some addition and revision.
In neuroethics, there are few works that directly address problems of sex/gender differences. On the other hand, sex/gender is one of the themes that everyone can face in some way in one’s life. Perhaps because of that, my work on this theme often receives responses with a keen interest. In the workshop, the following topics were discussed: political interests in a popular discourse on sex differences in the brain, advantages and disadvantages of differentiation according to sex/gender differences between men and women, and so on.
Neuroethics of sex/gender differences is just beginning. I would like to carefully develop discussions about it. | <urn:uuid:a263cac9-bcd2-4f77-964b-7085ac3332c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://utcp.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/blog/2010/05/report-workshop-brain-science/index_en.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957631 | 1,326 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Alicia Lozano, wtop.com
WASHINGTON - The national debate over admitting openly gay members and leaders into the Boy Scouts is hitting closer to home as local residents weigh in on the issue. Some welcome the organization's announcement that it will delay making a decision until May, while others lament the postponement.
"To exclude a whole group of potential members from participation based on sexual orientation is unfair," says 29-year-old D.C. resident John Dewar. "It reflects poorly on the organization."
But others welcome the opportunity to study the issue further.
"I hope the ban stays in place because it's a private organization," says Maryland Eagle Scout and assistant scoutmaster Jimmy Williams. "We have the Supreme Court on our side, and we would like to maintain morality."
For Dewar, defining that morality as inclusive exemplifies the best of the Boy Scouts, he says.
"I've heard a lot of parents who don't want their kids to be in that type of environment because of the ban," he says. "Even if their kids aren't gay, they don't feel the values are in sync with what they would like their kids to be grown up with. "
Dewar was one of those kids who spent his childhood in the Boy Scouts. He joined around the age of six and climbed through the ranks to eventually become an Eagle Scout at the age of 18. As he was transitioning into an elevated role within the BSA, he was also coming to terms with his own homosexuality.
Despite the ban on gays, Dewar says he never felt uncomfortable.
"My values as a person were shaped by the Boy Scouts and being gay had absolutely nothing to do with my experience there," he says.
"Gay kids are everywhere and the more accepting we are of that, the less damage [we will see] with suicides and other issues."
Williams disagrees. For him, the issue is more about a private organization's right to set its own rules and policies.
"I feel like a lot of the pressure is coming from minority interests trying to assert themselves onto the majority," he says.
Williams has been outspoken about his support of the ban. He signed an online petition and sent a letter to the national council urging them to not change the current policy.
He is worried that his own unit, Troop 617 in Columbia, Md., could lose sponsorship from the Christ Episcopal Church, which currently provides them with a place to meet and store their equipment.
"If they drop us, then yes we have a program that lets gay members in, but then we don't have a sponsor ... and then we don't have a group," he says.
Now that the Boy Scouts of America has postponed making a decision until its May meeting, the University of Maryland student plans to make phone calls and continue lobbying the organization to maintain its current policy.
© 2013 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.
The Nickelodeon star's antics continue in New York City.
"Sulu" weighs in on the actor filling his shoes in the new "Star Trek."
Snooki awkwardly meets "Jersey Shore" nemesis Chris Christie.
Star-studded event raises millions for AIDS research. (Photos) | <urn:uuid:6b589715-2a4e-4da7-a711-586b52d4ed3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wtop.com/41/3219721/Gay-Eagle-Scout-I-never-felt-uncomfortable | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981436 | 668 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Problem with your car? See what our experts say or submit your own.
1992 Jaguar XJS Problems
The upper bushings on the front shock absorbers are prone to failure and may produce a rattling/jingling noise as the car is driven over bumps.
Although a high rate of engine-related fires have been reported with this engine, most can be attributed to neglected maintenance. The fuel hoses in the engine compartment should be inspected periodically. | <urn:uuid:795637b0-69a7-414e-963d-39d4feff9b49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://repairpal.com/jaguar-xjs-1992/problems | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937595 | 92 | 1.679688 | 2 |
I am in the middle of a huge project and all of a sudden have a major concern.
When I am using layers and the background is a photo of the colour blue (rectangular shape).
Now as a new layer, I am pasting another photo (a smaller rectangular shape) on top,
with say a car in the middle.
Then saving this 'montage' as one jpeg.
Now, when printing this image, would the blue colour that is physically under the smaller
car photo shine through underneath?
Or would it only print and use what is physically shown, despite me knowing that underneath there is another
Thank you for clarifying.
(As the end result should just show the smaller rectangular photo with the car and that one being surrounded by a blue border.)
N.B. Please note I am asking, rather than just testing it by printing, as I am not using a printer,
and would need to drive somewhere to test this, which I like to avoid.
Thanks for your help to clarify this. It's possibly quite obvious but with not knowing it's a major concern for my project.
Edited by nicephotos, 21 June 2012 - 04:55 PM. | <urn:uuid:d471f09f-1a13-49ea-ad19-8341aadcabf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/24929-do-colours-show-through-when-using-layers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95575 | 249 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented bond buying pushed the Fed’s balance sheet to a record $3 trillion as he shows no sign of softening his effort to bring down 7.8 percent unemployment.
The Fed is purchasing $85 billion of securities every month, using the full force of its balance sheet to stoke the economic recovery. The central bank began $40 billion in monthly purchases of mortgage-backed securities in September and added $45 billion in Treasury securities to that pace this month.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” said Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas SA in New York, and a former Fed economist. Even as “the easy money will flow through financial markets and into the real economy at some point and lift us to a better growth trajectory,” the U.S. faces “a lot of risks,” she said.
The Fed’s total assets climbed by $48 billion in the past week to $3.01 trillion as of Jan. 23, according to a release from the central bank yesterday in Washington. The announcement came as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed at the highest level since December 2007.
Fed policy makers have voiced increasing concern that record-low interest rates are overheating markets for assets from farmland to junk bonds, which could heighten risks when they reverse their unprecedented bond purchases.
Yet with unemployment still high almost three-and-a-half years since the economy began its recovery, Fed officials are expected to affirm their accommodation when they meet in Washington to discuss policy on Jan. 29-30.
“You’re hard pressed to find another example in history where the Fed pulled out all the stops to help a recovery along,” said Michael Hanson, senior U.S. economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York, and a former Fed economist. “It’s at least as revolutionary as Paul Volcker coming in and saying we’re going to hike rates until inflation” declines.
The Fed has a dual mandate from Congress to achieve stable prices and maximum employment. Volcker, Fed chairman from 1979 to 1987, pushed interest rates to as high as 22 percent to rein in annual price acceleration approaching 15 percent. Now Bernanke is focusing Fed policy on the other mandate, aiming to reduce the ranks of the nation’s 12.2 million unemployed workers.
Fed officials have said their $85 billion pace of purchases will continue until the labor market improves “substantially.” Still, they disagree on how long they should press on with the buying.
The minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s Dec. 11-12 meeting show participants were “approximately evenly divided” between those who said it would be appropriate to end the purchases around mid-2013 and those who said they should continue beyond that date. A number of policy makers are concerned the size of the Fed’s holdings “could complicate the Committee’s efforts to eventually withdraw monetary policy accommodation,” according to the minutes.
The central bank’s balance sheet has provided record windfalls to the U.S. Treasury. The Fed uses interest income from its bond holdings to cover its own expenses and sends the rest to the Treasury. In 2012, that dividend to taxpayers was $88.9 billion.
One risk from a large balance sheet is the possibility that the Fed’s interest income could evaporate in coming years as interest rates rise, according to a paper written by Fed researchers and released last week.
The five economists and assistants in the central bank’s monetary affairs division describe in their paper the impact of rising interest rates on the Fed’s portfolio. After reviewing various scenarios they conclude that the Fed’s payments to Treasury “will likely decline for a time, and in some cases fall to zero.”
If interest rates rise more quickly than expected, the central bank may go years without remitting money to Treasury, according to the researchers.
The S&P 500, the benchmark for U.S. equities, climbed for the eighth day in a row, giving the index its longest winning streak since 2004. The S&P 500 added 0.3 percent to 1,498.80 at 11:12 a.m. in New York.
“We’re going to boldly go where no central bank has gone before,” said Brian Jacobsen, who helps oversee $210 billion as chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Advantage Funds in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “So it’s full speed ahead.”
The central bank’s balance sheet is now more than triple its size before the financial crisis. Fed assets stood at $924 billion on Sept. 10, 2008, the week before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. helped spark a global financial crisis.
The Fed responded to the financial crisis first with emergency credit programs, and then with bond purchases known as QE or quantitative easing. In the first round of purchases, the Fed bought $1.7 trillion of securities. In a second round of QE, begun in November 2010, the central bank added an additional $600 billion of Treasuries to its holdings. | <urn:uuid:2f4560aa-a10b-4598-ab75-d3e91c1b9b5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.futuresmag.com/2013/01/25/fed-enters-uncharted-territory-as-assets-hit-3-tri?t=educationtoptionstfinancials | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952143 | 1,100 | 1.6875 | 2 |
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Name: Kay Alexander
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NEW YORK (Associated Press) -- Like any fitness program, it works only if you pay attention to it.
A new study on New York City's effort to encoura...
Has obesity been reduced since complex food labels with calorie and nutrient counts have been imposed on the majority of the foods we buy?
Advice to 'eat less' tends to go over like the proverbial lead balloon. But trading foods that let us eat until full, but that make us full on fewer calories, is another matter entirely.
Of the decision, Adobe remarked, "The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross-browser, platform and device development... This is the exact opposite of what Apple wants."
Counting calories as part of health care reform--who knew? But apparently it's there on page 455. There will now be a national effort at posting calorie counts in chain restaurants.
WASHINGTON -- A requirement tucked into the massive U.S health care bill will make calorie counts impossible for thousands of restaurants to hide and ...
Concerned consumers have been screaming that U.S. labeling laws are full of loopholes and in need of serious revision. The FDA says they're going to do something about it. But will it be enough?
Get top stories and blogs posts emailed to you each day. | <urn:uuid:de7d0b7e-4144-494f-bca5-95ac097af6cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/calorie-count | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947271 | 307 | 1.8125 | 2 |
The problematics of migration and integration have come together in contemporary Ireland creating a field of political and intellectual intervention in which the future of social transformation in Ireland is hanging in the balance. Translocations will address this emerging problematic from the perspective of independent critical thinking where the only given is a commitment to progressive social transformation.
Translocations refers to an intersecting set of perspectives that create the terrain on which we choose to situate ourselves. We will be trans-disciplinary taking in the social sciences, cultural studies, the arts, law and the broad humanities. We are also engaged with a trans-national process, namely migratory flows and trans-border insofar as Ireland is divided by one.
We are also very firmly trans-sectoral insofar as our audience is not just an academic one but also the world of the NGO's and progressive policy makers. Some of us might also think of ourselves as trans-gressors of established power-knowledge paradigms!
While it is a 'trans' journal, Translocations is not another global studies journal disembodied and non-grounded. We are a trans locational journal in the belief that global processes can only take shape in particular locations. Our chosen location - where we are grounded - is Ireland in all its divided and conflictual complexity and not the anodyne 'island of Ireland ' of the tourist brochures. We are located also in relation to the new migrant communities that we do not 'speak for' but whose democratic aspirations we support. We are trans-locational too in the sense that the members of the editorial board are located socially and spatially in a diversity of subject locations. | <urn:uuid:641af81f-7d44-4d13-a9ed-9a794724d7f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imrstr.dcu.ie/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948599 | 335 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Earlier this month, SLU medical students and physicians volunteered at the Mini-National African American Youth Initiative (NAAYI) medical scholars program for high school students who are considering a career in medicine, an event hosted on SLU's campus. The two day program for tenth and eleventh graders is designed to increase the pool of African-American health care professionals.
|Michael Railey, M.D.|
The weekend included field trips to Saint Louis University and Washington University's medical schools and talks from health care professionals. The program was sponsored by the Auxiliary to the Mound City Medical Forum (AMCMF) and the Auxiliary to the National Medical Association (ANMA) and coordinated by East Central Missouri Area Health Education Center (ECMO AHEC).
SLU first year medical student, Tiffany Adams volunteered for the program because she valued the support she herself received as she prepared for medical school.
"I decided to volunteer with NAAYI because I think that it is very important for high school students who have an interest in the field of science and medicine to receive early exposure to the discipline," Adams said. "When I was growing up on the south side of Chicago, there were not many opportunities like the NAAYI medical scholars program."
"Personally, I believe that it is important to pay forward all of the support and dedication that I have received from family, friends and mentors throughout the years in my journey to become a physician. I want to extend a helping hand for those generations behind me."
Michael Railey, M.D., associate dean of multicultural affairs and associate professor of family and community medicine at SLU, saw the weekend as a good opportunity for high school juniors and seniors to interact with and be mentored by SLU faculty and medical students, as well as with doctors, pharmacists and physical and occupational therapists from the St. Louis community.
"I hope that high school students who participated in the medical scholars program left with a motivation to stick with health care," Railey said. "And, I hope we dispelled myths like ‘it's too hard,' ‘there's too much blood' or ‘it will take too long.'"
"Some students worry about the length of time it takes to earn an M.D. But, I try to help them understand that they'll still be in their 20s when they finish."
Having a mentor can make all the difference, Railey believes.
"One of the biggest obstacles for some students is the lack of mentoring and encouragement," Railey said. "Many high schoolers do not know people in a health care field to encourage them. This program is a chance to come together with encouragement and knowledge from people sharing the truth with them.
"It's great to welcome these future doctors here on campus."
In addition to helping high school students navigate the path to medical school, Adams found that the experience was a good reminder about why she chose medicine in the first place.
"From the volunteer experience, I was able to see how passionate some of the students were about medicine at such a young age," Adams said. "Although I was there to be a volunteer for the students and to answer any questions that they had, the NAAYI medical scholars program weekend was also a motivational experience for me.
"To see all of the successful physicians living out their life dreams of serving the community helped to reinforce my reasons for wanting to become a physician and helped me to keep my eyes on the dream."
Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first medical degree west of the Mississippi River. The school educates physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health care on a local, national and international level. Research at the school seeks new cures and treatments in five key areas: cancer, liver disease, heart/lung disease, aging and brain disease, and infectious disease. | <urn:uuid:ba3851d5-bd6c-4698-8be0-0cc7a3cb27d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://slu.edu/x54170.xml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975782 | 810 | 1.625 | 2 |
Oman Real Estate
Oman sits on the Arabian peninsula on the Tropic of Cancer, lapped by the waters of the Arabian sea to the southeast and the Gulf of Oman to the northwest. It enjoys strong relationships with both the United States and United Kingdom, and was listed by the United Nations Development Programme as being the most-improved nation over the last 40 years. Today, Oman enjoys a reputation as one of the most developed and stable countries of the region.
Most of central Oman is covered by a desert plain. Along the northern and southeastern coasts there are large mountain ranges giving the country two very different climates; hot and dry in the centre and humid along the coasts. Much Oman real estate can be found in the main cities and tourist destinations of the coast. The country as a whole enjoys a great many sunny days each year, with some areas having little or no rain at all. Average rainfall in Muscat averages 10 cm, mostly in January.
Oman has been settled since the late stone age, with archaeological artefacts found at Dereaze dating to 7000 BC. The country is believed to be named after Arab tribes who migrated from the Uman region of Yemen. Today, Oman covers 309,500 square kilometres, home to varied and affordable Oman real estate. There are also two exclaves called Musandam, which is separated from other areas by the United Arab Emirates, and Madha which is inside UAE territory. There is also the large island of Masirah off the eastern coast which can be accessed by a small car ferry. Most Oman real estate can be found along the more verdant coasts.
Whilst the official language of Oman is Arabic, the country has adopted English as a second language and almost all signs appear in both Arabic and English, making it easy for those buying Oman real estate to explore the landscape.
What is there to do in Oman?
The country has a wealth of popular visitor attractions.
Its 1700km coastline boasts dozens of stunning, clean beaches, few of which are privately-owned, giving owners of Oman real estate easy access for a day's relaxation. Many coves are perfect for snorkelling, with gentle shelving sands that are safe for youngsters. Qurum beach near Muscat is ideal for visitors, with picnic areas, lush palm trees for shade and is a haven for all manner of water-sports.
The clean, clear waters of the Arabian sea are perfect for scuba diving some of the most biologically productive seas in the world. The warm waters are home to 22 species of whale and dolphin, and attract sea turtles which breed on Omani beaches. Furthermore, it is probably the most important breeding site for loggerhead turtles in the world.
Away from the coasts, there is ample opportunity for anyone buying Oman real estate to try rock climbing and trekking in the mountains, a popular route for experience walkers being the 'Jebel Shams Rim Walk', which is the highest mountain in Oman at 3075m. Along this route are stunning panoramic views of Wadi Nakhr and Wadi Ghul. There are also caves to explore, the most famous being the 'Majils al Jinn' - the second largest chamber in the world - which should only be attempted with professional guidance.
There are also numerous verdant parks and gardens that astound visitors. What better way to enjoy the sights, sounds and sweet smells than from Oman real estate? Qurum Natural Park, the largest of the parks in Muscat, opened in 1993 and incorporates beautiful floral displays as well as a large boating lake.
Thanks to its long history, there are also many cultural sites to visit such as over 500 forts, castles and towers. The most famous forts of Jalali and Mirani stand at the entrance to Muscat bay, built in the 16th century.
Perhaps surprisingly, Oman has a varied wildlife population, thanks in part to strict laws banning hunting of endangered species such as the Arabian leopard and Arabian Oryx. Those who wish to buy Oman real estate can enjoy nature treks to see rare and exotic bird and animal species.
For those who like to shop, Oman’s many towns are often the home of ‘souqs’, a permanent marketplace for all manner of items and oddities, from gold and silver jewellery, ornaments, household goods, carvings and spices. While Mutrah, just outside Muscat, has one of the oldest preserved souqs, the Qurum and Al Khuwair suburbs of Muscat boast shopping malls for those who seek top Western brands. The largest mall, however, is in Muscat city centre.More
Oman Real Estate
Villa in Salalah Beach
With impeccable plots of land overlooking Salalah’s magnificent beaches or the vast golf course with greenery as far as eyes can see, villas offering choices like no other. Choose the plot that is r...
Villa in Salalah Beach
299 sqm (3217.24 sq ft) floor size
Salalah is renowned for its frankincense, camels, touristic sights and the annual “Khareef” festival during the monsoon. The destination is a goldmine for visitors and offers a unique combination of l...
Villa in Near Muscat
PRICE REDUCED - Situated around 30km from downtown Muscat, Jebel Sifah appeals to affluent residents of the country's capital with its combination of hotels, restaurants, golf course, marina and reta...
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Our company and properties regularly appear in publications around the world. Click here to view some recent articles. | <urn:uuid:872280b4-e2f1-45c4-a009-7fc2c80372d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prestigeproperty.co.uk/OmanRealEstate/Properties.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947407 | 1,186 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has issued an Intellectual Property Advisory, advising scholars to retain their copyright, and providing advice as to how, including use of the SPARC Canadian Authors Addendum!
The purpose of this advisory is to assist academic staff in retaining copyright ownership in the articles they publish in journals. Without copyright ownership, academic staff can lose control of their own work and may no longer be entitled to email it to students and colleagues, post it on a personal or course web page, place it in an institutional repository, publish it in an open access journal or include it in a subsequent compilation.
Thanks to Kenneth D. Gariepy for the tip, Paul Jones, CAUT, SPARC an CARL!
This post is part of the Canadian Leadership in the Open Access Movement series | <urn:uuid:e1a39316-bf87-488e-8b6a-1bbec96857b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2008/08/canadian-association-of-university.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943484 | 164 | 1.75 | 2 |
Team India has never been a big fan of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) and they now have more reasons for their continuing displeasure.
The UDRS has been implemented by the International Cricket Council [ Images ] for most of the matches in the 2011 World Cup with a view to reducing umpiring errors.
However, one was witness to a strange incident involving the review system during the Group B match between India and England [ Images ] in Bengaluru on Sunday that ended in a tie.
The review, which was also shown on the giant screen, made it clear that Bell was struck right in front of the stumps and since the ball was going to hit the stumps he was out as is the case with all UDRS referrals.
Having seen the replays, Bell also promptly started walking back to the pavilion, believing like all others watching on television or in the stadium that he would be given out by the television umpire.
But then a strange thing happened. A controversial ruling was taken into account, which even both captains admitted they were not aware of.
The third umpire referred the decision back to the on-field umpire, in this case Bowden, since the rules says that if the distance between point of impact and the stumps is more than 2.5 metres then it is the on-field umpire's call.
Since the on-field umpire Bowden had already ruled Bell not out, he stuck with the decision, which left the Indian team an angry lot.
An angry Mahendra Singh Dhoni [ Images ] minced no words in lashing out at the UDRS.
"Well, adulteration is quite bad, whether it is natural or technological. I think the adulteration of the technology with the human thinking that was the reason why we didn't get that wicket. I hope next time it will be technology or human intentions," the India captain said after the match.
Dhoni said a few years ago he was struck on the pads a long way down the wickets after he charged a few steps down, but the on-field umpire ruled him out thinking that the ball would hit the stumps.
"If Hawkeye says it is going to hit the middle stump then there is no reason why the distance really matters. I was given out once in the Champions Trophy [ Images ] when the UDRS was not there. I stepped down the wicket and was hit in the middle of the shin, but he (the umpire) gave me out. So if I can be given out, why not any other batsmen?" he reasoned.
Dhoni said he is still finding it difficult to digest the fact that the review system went against his team, despite it showing that the ball was going to hit the stumps.
"It was very difficult for me because what I saw was that the ball was hitting the stumps. After that the rest of the rulebook is with the third and fourth umpire and whatever they decided we said ok and got on with the game."
England Captain Andrew Strauss [ Images ], who saw the incident from the non-striker's end, admitted that he was unaware of this strange ruling.
"Apparently if you are that far down the wicket it needs to hit the middle stump to be given out. I didn't know that was part of the rules and Bell was lucky to get away with it," Strauss said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India along with a few top cricketers barring Virender Sehwag [ Images ] are not convinced with the UDRS.
"I personally feel it's not cent per cent thing," Dhoni had said last November. "I don't think it gives a cent percent result. It's not always correct. If I am going to buy a life jacket which does not come with a warranty, that's a bit of a hassle for me especially with the huge amount of money you have to spend for the UDRS system coming into the game."
"I would prefer some kind of warranty behind it. (The) moment it comes, I would be happy for it," Dhoni had then added. | <urn:uuid:0c968abf-0b98-4ea5-9e86-c2dbd41bd120> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rediff.com/cricket/report/world-cup-india-upset-with-udrs/20110228.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987484 | 859 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Notice the wear on the caliper....
Notice the wear on the caliper. This is from a tire coming loose and grinding on it. John Gibson
After An Accident
This is a worst-case scenario: You're 48 laps into a 50-lap feature and your brake pedal has already gone soft; it's to the point where you have to pump up your brakes to get any type of brake pedal. Out of nowhere, you get turned and slam the outside wall with the driver's side door and left front fender. Once you get back to the shop you notice that all that is really hurt is the body. But at the next race you barrel into a corner, hit the brakes, and all of a sudden you have a major vibration in the steering wheel. What happened?
A few things could have caused this. One, you could have a cracked rotor, but more than likely you have a warped rotor. When you hit the wall, your brakes were already overheating, as shown by the soft pedal. The overheated rotor took a hard hit, and now it's bent or warped.
It is vital to check brake rotors after an accident because of this situation. A lot of times you're not able to see anything. If you suspect a rotor is warped, take it to your local mechanic or machine shop and have it checked out. If it's not too bad, they'll be able to fix it. Also, don't always expect that the other side is fine as well. I took a shot last year on the driver-side door that actually broke the rotor in two on the left front. I replaced it and didn't think anything about the other one. The very next race the car had a vibration. And the right-front rotor was also warped from the accident.
Inspect brake rotors every...
Inspect brake rotors every week, even if you weren't involved in an accident. Something like this could be overlooked and cause bigger problems down the road. John Gibson
Keep 'Em Cool!
Want to extend the life of your brakes and rotors? Then buy a small motorized fan and fasten it to a bracket on the front end of the car. Then position hoses to direct air to the caliper and pads. This will greatly help your chances of not overheating brakes. Even if you don't have carbon-fiber air ducts like the ones shown here, it will still help extend the life of the brakes.
Rotors tend to warp when they overheat. If rotors are warped, new pads will likely have a vibration, leaving you scratching your head. With time, the pads will form to the warped rotors. But this will take a lot of time. If you run the fans on the pads, it'll help prevent warping of the rotor.
Watch Out For Glaze
Another thing that the heat cycles will cause is the glazing over of the brake pads, which will create a loss in stopping efficiency. This will require more brake pedal pressure to stop the car. This is another way that the brakes can overheat.
A simple motorized fan is...
A simple motorized fan is a great way to keep your brakes cool. John Gibson
What you should do is knock the brake pad out of the cylinder. (Note: Make sure you mark the outside and inside brake pad; if you don't and get them mixed up this will cause a vibration.) See if the pad has a shiny, almost smooth, glaze. If it does, use coarse sandpaper to sand down the glaze. Doing this will extend the life of the brake pads and help them wear more evenly.
The drivers who finish up front on a consistent basis do so because everything on the car is working toward a common goal-finishing as close to the front as possible. Your brakes have to be looked at and maintained every race to have a chance to use them when you pull into victory lane. | <urn:uuid:6b841345-68f5-4c76-bdce-7e8248a6c57e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stockcarracing.com/techarticles/general/scrp_0810_routine_brake_maintenance/brake_pedal.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958572 | 813 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Last month I had the opportunity to attend two amazing conferences: one on farm-to-school education and another on hunger and obsesity. I don’t know about you, but the amount of scary statistics out there overwhelms me. 52% of fourth graders in the United States now qualify for subsidized lunch?! 1 in 3 children in the United States is obese?! In United States over the last 30 years, the prices for vegetables and fruit have increased 120% while soda has only increased 20 – 40%?! The U.S. is now raising the first generation expected to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents due to diet-related diseases?! All I can say is Holy. Crap.
If this bums you out as much as it does me, I think it’s time to make a change. There are a lot of messages out there about how to fix our food system and I think it’s natural for us to feel overwhelmed. But, the reality is that change starts with us. I was inspired by one of the speakers at the conference, Ellen Gustafson, founder of The 30 Project and Change Dinner. I appreciated her message that we can make an impact each and every day and the place to start is our dinner table.
In her speech, Ellen talked about using dinner as a time to reconnect with loved ones over a homemade meal. How many of us enjoy this each night? I can say for myself that I don’t even own a dinner table and although I do make the majority of our meals from scratch, most of our dinners are eaten in front of the computer, or worse, on-the-go. By bringing our focus back to dinner and eating together with ones we love, we can make a change in our family and social structure. We can use dinner time as a place to have meaningful conversations – whether that is about our food system or simply daily life. It all makes a difference. The more we bring people together around food and create these connections, the more we create a pathway for social change.
Ellen also talked about the importance of buying locally. I strongly support buying locally as much as possible so this point really resonated with me. Her suggestion is to make sure there is one local item on your dinner plate every evening. I really like this idea because I think it is a great starting place for people that are new to shopping at the farmers market or those who might not have as much access to local products. It also seems like a great solution to the argument that shopping at the farmers market is too expensive. If this is something that you are passionate about and want to do, it might not be possible to buy every single item in your household locally, but starting small is doable.
It also got me thinking. As much as I love shopping at the farmers market, to be honest, spring is my least favorite season to buy locally. In Washington, there isn’t much available this time of year except for some baby greens and teeny-tiny leeks. And with the constant drizzle the market experience isn’t always enjoyable.
When I went to the market this past weekend, I made it my goal to buy something that I had never purchased before. I thought it might be fun to try an artisan bread or maybe even some sauerkraut. To my surprise, I ended up buying beans. I don’t know why I had never previously thought to buy beans from the farmers market, but these were beautiful as well as delicious. The farmer said this bean mix is called “the kitchen sink.” Love it.
I have been thinking about this idea of changing dinner more and more and I feel really inspired. Even though I know there are a lot of problems with our current food system and legislation, it is helpful to remember that I can do one small thing each day to make an impact. It might be as simple as sharing food with those I love or sharing food that I love here with you. Or it might be as simple as buying beans from the farmers market.
How you can help change our food system
- Start in your own home- at dinner, with your family, and with your community.
- Buy local and support organizations and companies who are working to create an alternative food system.
- Stay up-to-date on policies that impact our food system.
- Be patient. It took us 30 years to get our food system into this mess and it will probably take another 30 years to get out. Don’t give up hope and don’t give up.
1 strip kombu (optional; great for adding trace minerals and making the beans easier to digest).
Soak the beans overnight. Drain the soaking water. Add the kombu and beans to a large stock pot. Cover with double the amount of water. (This doesn’t have to be an exact science because any extra water will be drained at the end.) Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a very slow simmer. Simmer for 1.5 – 2 hours until beans are cooked. The beans are done when they are chewable, but not mushy. If there is any extra water, drain from the pot and remove your kombu. | <urn:uuid:bee5f714-cb7f-4e37-827f-ac7a722e080a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fortheloveoffoodblog.com/farmers-market-beans-and-social-change/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975326 | 1,086 | 1.640625 | 2 |
CAIRO — Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the rebel council poised to lead Libya once Moammar Gadhafi is toppled, said Monday that rebel forces are still not in control of Tripoli and that pro-Gadhafi forces were still in charge of the loyalist stronghold of Bab al Aziziyah, where Gadhafi's compound is located.
He said restoring order is the interim government's top priority.
The news channel Al Jazeera reported that Gadhafi loyalists were still fighting pitched battles in some parts of the city and that mortar rounds also landed in the capital. An Al Jazeera reporter with rebel forces attempting to advance toward the capital from the city of Zlitan east of Tripoli reported they were meeting fierce resistance.
In a news conference in Benghazi, the rebel's eastern capital, Abdul Jalil said even Libyans whod previously withheld their support for the uprising would be welcomed as partners — he urged holdouts to join the rebels side, saying it was better late than never.
He also warned rebels against carrying out revenge attacks and said hed resign if the opposition didnt follow the rule of law as they attempt to rebuild Libya after Gadhafis four-decade stranglehold on the oil-rich North African nation.
We are on the threshold of a new era, Abdul-Jalil said. We are on the threshold of a new stage where well work to establish the principles of the revolution: freedom, democracy, justice, equality and transparency.
Abdul-Jalil said Gadhafis captured sons were in rebel hands and that they were safe and would be treated in accordance with all international human rights laws. He also said he hoped that Gadhafi would be captured alive and given a fair trial.
Gadhafis whereabouts were unknown, but a U.S. official on Sunday had said, We have no reason to believe (he) has left the country.
Late Sunday Gadhafi made a brief audio statement on Libyan TV, sounding desperate as he called on individual tribes and cities to take weapons and defend beautiful Tripoli."
"All the tribes, you must all march to Tripoli in order to defend and purify it, he said, calling the rebels agents of Western powers. Otherwise you will have no dignity; You will become slaves and servants in the hands of the imperialists.
But the mercurial leader was nowhere to be seen, and for many Libyans, the regimes death blow had come anyway with the rebels arrest of Saif al Islam, Gadhafis feared and powerful son and one-time heir apparent, whod vowed after the uprising against his father began earlier this year that the regime would fight its opponents until the last bullet." | <urn:uuid:d91ddd87-060b-4adf-aeb2-b7597647e863> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/08/22/121526/libya-rebel-leader-warns-tripoli.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975786 | 559 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Friday , Feb 24th
Scripture: Genesis 9:8-17
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.* 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ 12God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ 17God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’
Growing up, rainbows enchanted me. In fact, my mother still teases about how all my childhood drawings featured rainbows. While I imagine that most five-year-old girls have a liking for rainbows, they held a sort of mystery for me. I went through a period where if anyone asked for my favorite color I would respond with- white! But that isn’t a color! I would hear in return. I had learned that sunlight is white light composed of all the colors in the spectrum. The rainbow is proof of that idea. Atmospheric conditions at the end of a rainstorm bend the existent light rays and create what the eye perceives as a rainbow. In science class, we would demonstrate this idea using a prism, which similarly bends light splitting the light into seeable colors. As a child, I could not pick a favorite color so I picked all of them! The color white in my mind had great potential.
I think that there is a similar potential in the covenant that God makes with Noah and by extension all of the earth in this passage. There is a strong tradition of covenants in the Old Testament. We see God continually renewing his covnant, his promise to his chosen people, to everything on earth through Abraham, Noah, Jacob and others. What does this covenant mean? What is God promising?
God reminds us that we are covenant people, people graced with potential, people claimed and called into a unique relationship. Through history, God ceaselessly pursues us, reminding us of the covenant, calling us into friendship and mutual desire- back into a right relationship with God. We are reminded of the special relationship we have with the creator of the universe. How do we respond to this compassion, this love from a God who proclaims through a rainbow a covenant with creation? That colorful bow in the sky has great potential. All of creation has potential and best of all we each have been formed with great potential. Let us use our potential this season of Lent to come closer to God, closer in relationship with the Divine Love of the universe. Potential is everywhere. What are we going to do with it?
God, sender of the rain, and source of all true light, we thank you for the covenant with which you have claimed us. Thank you for the rainbow after the storm a reminder of your grace and everlasting love. Help us during this time of Lent to respond to your covenant and come into a deeper relationship with you. Help us see the potential in the world around us and show us how to claim our potential as your creation. Amen
By Brenda Kostner | <urn:uuid:a77f548f-3050-462b-b1d2-ff5ad656e2ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.holycovenantumc.org/lenten-devotional-22412/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966129 | 838 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Click on each image for a larger one.
This review is about the 1960 film The Time Machine starring Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux.
I’ll admit right now I am a great fan of this movie. It only pays lip service to the Wells book (zipped binary) in the main. It glosses over Wells’ socialist leanings and theories which formed the background behind the novel and instead, takes aim at the pure scientific romance and adventure aspects.
It opens pretty much the same way the book does; the Time Traveller and a group of his friends are gathered in the Time Traveller’s house one English evening at the end of the 19th Century. The Time Traveller demonstrates his model of the machine to his incredulous friends and states his intentions to go travelling. Quite logically, his friends consider him to be a fruitcake and bid him a good evening. All except Filby, who pleads with the Traveller not to use his machine.
The film deviates from the book from about this point onward. I read The Time Machine when I was 16 and I haven’t yet been as moved or stirred by a book since. It actually inspired me to take up fiction writing.
The film was hailed as a technological marvel with its portrayal of the nuclear destruction of London and resultant lava flows. There’s no such event in the book. The film-makers had the advantage of a 1960 hindsight that Wells in 1895 didn’t have. It grossly simplified the reasons why people went underground and why the split between the Eloi and the Morlocks happened. In post-McCarthy 1960, it probably wouldn’t found an audience if it had’ve discussed Wells’ socialist theories in any great depth.
Rod Taylor plays the Time Traveller with aplomb. I have to admit to a certain patriotism here as Taylor is a fellow Australian that made it fairly big in Hollywood. He lives in Beverly Hills now, a 70-something contented gentleman.
The Morlocks are distilled down to a nocturnal bad guy. In the book, they are the result of the blue-collar worker forced to go underground. They aren’t baneful as such, just a product of their heritage.
The Eloi are a diminutive people, probably no taller than 5 or 6 year old children and they cannot speak English. Considering the English of 1000 AD is barely comprehensible to us today, logic would dictate that the language of 802701 AD would be entirely something else. Wells knew this, and the Time Traveller had to learn bits and pieces of a new language.
Rather, the film version stops off in the middle of World War 1, World War 2, and a putative World War 3. The futility of war is well illustrated. The Time Traveller’s momentary fixation with a mannequin in a store window is an amusing aside too.
Missing from the book is the Time Traveller’s voyage to the end of the world, his expedition to the Palace of Green Porcelain, the green metal chair and a few other minor details.
One of the more off-putting things about the film is Weena’s question about how women do their hair in 1899 or whether the Time Traveller has a woman. Since the Eloi live in a custom-built utopia where the only things to worry about are being caught outside in the dark, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and in fact, it was probably added to the script to give the story a more human feel and satisfy 1960′s sentiments. | <urn:uuid:d6d5abc9-3151-4ae4-ac1c-0df6b81b75db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ulujain.org/film/tm.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956956 | 752 | 1.78125 | 2 |
James Thomas knows how clinical trials work.
During his five years overseeing them at Ohio State University's cancer center, the number of trials conducted there soared.
On Sept. 1, Thomas brought his know-how to a similar job at the Medical College of Wisconsin's cancer center.
The move gives the Medical College a doctor who knows how to maneuver the regulatory thickets involved in getting drugs to market. That kind of expertise will bolster the school's efforts to help commercialize more research and earn a designation as a comprehensive cancer center from the National Cancer Institute.
It will also keep Thomas' start-up company, Perscitus Biosciences LLC, in Wisconsin.
Thomas started Perscitus - Latin for "clever" - in 2006. The Madison company is developing two technologies: a kit to help researchers test proteins for desirable qualities, and a compound that would protect healthy cells from the harmful effects of radiation and chemotherapy - which could allow for more aggressive use of those treatments.
"It's great that he's entrepreneurial," said Jonathan I. Ravdin, the Medical College's dean. "This is about translating therapies into clinical practice, and the most difficult part is going from discoveries to application."
Thomas is one of six faculty members whom Ming You, the Medical College's new cancer center director, has hired in the last two months, Ravdin said.
Thomas is chairman of the American Association of Cancer Institutes Clinical Research Group, a national group that helps cancer centers share best practices for performing clinical trials, and he is one of the "most accomplished" clinical trial office leaders in the country, Ravdin said.
In his new job, Thomas will oversee cancer research and try to bring new medicines and treatments from the lab into the clinic.
A Union Grove native who got a medical degree and PhD from the Medical College, Thomas joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty in 1998. He took a job directing clinical trial activity at Ohio State's cancer center in 2005. During his tenure, the center doubled the number of patients enrolled in therapeutic clinical trials to more than 1,400. That was during a time when the number of trials being done at many other institutions was slowing.
Clinical trials are important for testing new therapies in patients, and an institution's ability to do them well is a key factor in getting designated as a comprehensive cancer center.
Having someone like Thomas, who can deal with the difficult regulatory processes required to get drugs to market, will help accelerate the Medical College's technology transfer efforts, said Kathy Collins, business development director for BioForward, an industry trade group.
"They strategically hired somebody who's not just an academic or a researcher. He's got the business development, economic development and technology transfer background," Collins said. "He's a whole different breed."
Thomas said he was attracted to the cancer center because it houses several world-class research efforts, has a strong young faculty and is run by You, a prolific researcher with an international reputation.
Also factoring prominently in Thomas returning to Wisconsin were important achievements in proving the potential of Perscitus' compounds, he said.
Perscitus already has done some animal testing on its radiation and chemotherapy protection compound, said BioForward's Collins, who evaluated the company as part of her previous job at the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.
Perscitus received $160,000 from two federal innovation grants and a $250,000 low-interest loan from the state Commerce Department, Thomas said. The company has raised $140,000 of angel funding and is seeking to raise another $2 million in a second round, he said. | <urn:uuid:f88098d7-56e8-44b8-9c9f-3e2079b139b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jsonline.com/business/103249174.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965497 | 737 | 1.570313 | 2 |
South Fork of the Snake in June?
I never touch the South Fork in May or June, and I live here! I just do not like to try floating with high water and it is too murky anyway. HOWEVER, this year is completely different. No runoff! The river is flowing just below 10,000. I would expect it to be 16,000 if not 18k. But the most surprising part of it is the clarity. The water is not off color at all. I have never seen anything like it. Were it not for the cold water temps, it is what the river would look like July 25th or so. It will be interesting to see what this does to the Pteronarcys hatch. They usually hatch during peak high water and the lowest clarity of the year, but there is none this year.
06-02-2012 08:21 PM
I am strictly a fisherman with a hyde pro series boat. I noticed how low the water looked in your video. I usually fish this water after August. I am hoping to see pmds or blue winged olives during my float. It has been 2 years since I floated Henerys fork or the Warm river near Ashton. Tough decision that I will have to make soon.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2
I would be very surprised to see any considerable PMD hatch in mid June even this year. That is early. BWO are out now and if you are lucky enough to be there on an overcast day you will see them. I did see a few caddis, but very few. | <urn:uuid:01b6d94e-e331-4653-bc72-0291e059275c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?63720-South-Fork-of-the-Snake-in-June&p=499818 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975525 | 338 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Mwanza, the country’s second largest city, has been split into two independent councils. This follows the upgrading of Ilemela into fully-flagged municipal council effective August this year.
The decision was endorsed yesterday at the extraordinary full council meeting held at the City Council conference hall.
Mwanza City director Wilson Kabwe tabled the report of splitting Mwanza City Council at the full council, which also endorsed the Ilemela municipal’s emblem.
He told the full council that the government had agreed to split the council into Nyamagana City Council and Ilemela Municipal Council.
According to Kabwe, the decision to split the council follows the recommendations made by the full council and forwarded to the Prime Minister’s Office (Local Government and Regional Administration).
The city director said a series of consultations will be made on how to set the boundaries and to allocate the manpower and resources available in the two councils.
The councillors commended the government for its decision to split Mwanza city, saying the arrangement would benefit the peopld directly.
The councillors called on the government to ensure that manpower and resources are allocated equally to benefit both councils. | <urn:uuid:4f8faec2-662c-4d2e-a45c-e23b4025f703> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php/article-39index.php/?l=44071 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961167 | 245 | 1.554688 | 2 |
You’ve likely seen Jeff Bethke’s YouTube video that juxtaposes Jesus and religion in a poem/rap. If somehow you’re not one of the nearly 20 million people to watch it, check it out above. Certainly it exploded across my Facebook feed this winter, and the reactions raised from undying adoration to dismissive antipathy.
I confess that after I watched it, I felt more of the latter than the former. My objection, like many others, centered on Bethke’s seemingly poor understanding and/or lazy use of the word “religion” and its cliched juxtaposition with Jesus. “Jesus came to abolish religion,” Bethke stated, and it’s the curse of the journalist-academician to want to correct the sentence to add: “some forms of”.
Further, though I enjoyed the poem – the first half of it especially – the end felt weak. Richard Beck probably gave the best analysis of why Bethke’s closing lines failed to support the strength of his opening ones. After tapping into a stream of commentary as old as the Bible itself, what with its condemnation of religious festivals in Amos and dismissal of the pharisaical legalism in Matthew, Bethke ends with discussion of Jesus’ act on the cross – “Salvation is freely mine, and forgiveness is my own. … He absorbed all your sin and buried it in the tomb.”
What is really weird, theologically speaking, about the conclusion of the video is that Bethke doesn’t end up where the prophets and Jesus end up, with a cry for more mercy and justice. No, Bethke ends up with penal substitutionary atonement. … Bethke’s argument seems to be this: What makes religion bad is that it’s a form of works-based righteousness, churchy things we do to earn our way into heaven. And that’s fine, but this isn’t the biblical criticism of religion. The prophetic criticism is how religion has become separated from care for our neighbors. It’s the point Jesus is making in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. And the Parable of the Good Samaritan isn’t a parable about works-based righteousness. Far from it. The parable is placing a behavioral demand upon us.
All emphasis mine.
All that to say, the poem has some flaws. It raises good points, generates healthy and needed discussion, but doesn’t seem to have totally hit the mark. And my tendency, at least – please understand I’m not trying to tar Richard with my own thoughts and opinions – is to simply dismiss it as a nice, but ultimately failed, attempt. Try again next time, Jeff.
Then along comes Bo Sanders at Homebrewed Christianity with a smack upside the head:
I now hang out with mainline folks and people who read books on theology. They are quick to say
- that shows a poor understanding of religion
- that is a silly/stupid/shallow definition of religion
- that shows little historical perspective on the role that religion has played
Like it or not – this is the definition that many young people are using for religion. When they say (increasingly) that they are spiritual-but-not-religious, this is what they mean.
All emphasis his.
It’s easy when you hang around academia all day every day to dismiss the thoughts of the unenlightened. Sanders’ post is a good reminder that the purpose of academia is to teach, and teaching cannot occur without respectful conversation. | <urn:uuid:38052f8b-55a4-47ee-b4e9-361c8c2f689f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://disorientedtheology.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/hating-religion-loving-jesus-accepting-imperfection/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95236 | 756 | 1.726563 | 2 |
"Goodreads is the largest social network for readers in the world. We have more than 3,200,000 members who have added more than 84,000,000 books to their shelves. A place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more."
"LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth."
Open Library's goal is to create a page of information for every book ever published. Visitors to the site can find information on over 20 million books, use resources for finding books online, browse the books on a variety of subjects, and more! | <urn:uuid:ed618811-02e6-4297-b77a-65bf15df7e74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mymcpl.org/online-resources/web-resources/382?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968122 | 197 | 1.789063 | 2 |
https://twitter.com/BlogsofWar/status/346994284404289537 https://twitter.com/BlogsofWar/status/346995125462900737 https://twitter.com/BlogsofWar/status/346995387040669696 Read the entire archive.
This sort of attack, requiring little more than light weapons, relatively small amounts of explosives, and pretty basic coordination, is what worries me most as we head into the holidays. They’re relatively easy to stage and quite effective:
Several people have been killed in a series of coordinated attacks targeting sites popular with tourists and business people, according to police and CNN’s sister network in India.
Ongoing battles between police and gunmen were reported at two five-star hotels by CNN-IBN.
Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked targets including the hotels, a cafe, and a train station, police say.
Police confirmed two deaths but IBN said at least 18 people were killed in the coordinated strikes, according to IBN.
The attacks included five shootouts and two grenade attacks, said a police officer who answered Mumbai’s police control room line.
IBN reported an ongoing battle at the five-star Oberoi Hotel where gunmen have reportedly taken hostages after searching out people with U.S. or British passports.
Up to 80 may have been killed and 200 injured but these numbers are in flux:
There have been multiple attacks in India’s city of Mumbai and breaking reports have just revealed that up to 80people may be dead.
It appears that new attacks are occurring and that Americans are being targeted. It’s difficult to tell in the chaos. More as the story develops.
Follow the global conversation about these attacks on Twitter.
Indian bloggers are pulling together at Mumbai Help.
Now following updates from Mumbai by Twitter user Kaushal.
More on the terrorists effort to identify foreigners in their attacks:
Shootings were reported in the lobby of the five-star Taj Mahal Palace hotel in the Colaba area of south Bombay and at the nearby Leopolds bar, a popular destination with western backpackers. Witnesses described pools of blood and bullet scarred walls at both locations.
A witness at the hotel told a local television station: “They wanted anyone with British or American passports.
“They wanted foreigners.”
It’s still difficult to tell if this round of attacks is coming to an end or if it will continue:
The attacks began about 2230 local time (1700 GMT) and more than two hours later witnesses were reporting new explosions and gunfire.
The targets include businesses frequented by international visitors.
CNN correspondent Andrew Stevens said: “We are getting reports of ongoing incidents at the railway station and the Oberoi Hotel.
“We do not know if this has reached its peak or if more attacks to come.”
A local journalist told CNN he had seen evidence of an attack at the city’s domestic airport, which is on the outskirts of the Mumbai.
IBN reported explosions at a gas station and inside a taxi on a dockside road. | <urn:uuid:b5443042-8c5a-4322-97ec-c3815ee080d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogsofwar.com/2008/11/26/chaos-in-mumbai-india-terrorist-swarm-attack-dozens-dead-western-hostages-including-americans-reportedly-held/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963812 | 660 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Comics are universal. In countries like France and Japan, comic books are considered a great art form. Manga from Japan is used to illustrate everything from novels to recipe instructions. The painted panel is considered the ninth art in France. While comic books and graphic novels are a growing and more recognizable form of art in the United States, ComicsVerse sincerely believes comics are a rare and beautiful form of art that deserves inspection and admiration not only in the United States, but all over the world, an end which we vigorously work towards.
ComicsVerse is committed to the serious study of comic books as an art form and relishes in comic book theory. We analyze not only comic books from publishers like: Marvel Comics, D.C. Comics, IDW, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, and more, but we will focus on the independent comic book/graphic novel publisher and the artists and writer that work to bring us original material. ComicsVerse is a place for deep introspection about ourselves as human beings and how we express our nature through the art of the graphic novel. We are a home for the sophisticated reader. Feel free to express yourself by customizing your profile, in the comment section available for each article as well as in the many forums. Your opinion is greatly valued here.
Anatole, Justin, and Kathy | <urn:uuid:6fd2d956-1360-487b-b249-3e0343a02d90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://comicsverse.com/articles/latest-articles/exclusive-interview-with-mike-carey-writer-of-x-men-legacy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95384 | 272 | 1.515625 | 2 |
On December 30, 2010, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a foreign corporation could be taxed on revenues received from the state of Iowa even though the company had no physical presence within the state of Iowa but rather received royalty revenues resulting from intangible property (i.e. the use of trademarks and licenses to franchisees) within the state.
KFC Corporation does not own stores within the state of Iowa. Alll stores are owned by independent franchisees. Further, the corporation has no employees within the state. But that didn't matter to the state as a "physical presence" is not required and the state may impose a tax when:
Such part of the income of a non-resident is fairly attributable either to property located in the state or to events or transactions which, occuring there, are within the protection of the state and entitled to the numerous other benefits which it confers.
An interesting post on the decision from the BlueMauMau blog is available here.
The full Iowa Supreme Court opinion can be read here. | <urn:uuid:334442df-ba2f-420a-9d3c-046e57eeba53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rushonbusiness.com/2011/10/articles/franchise-law/us-supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-kfc-appeal-of-iowa-taxes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969665 | 210 | 1.820313 | 2 |
I appreciate every comment that I receive and every now and then, one of your comments gives me new fodder for a blog entry. A long time friend (we were teachers together and left the high school where we taught in the same year) left a comment that reflects how well he knows me.
He blogs under the pen name jack-of-all-thumbs (Jack). I began responding to his comment via email but then I got carried away and my email became longer and longer, and I thought, why waste my wisdom on an email when I have the makings of a blog entry!
I think that there are inherent limitations in communicating without the benefit of vocal expression, body language, and tone of voice. I am not engulfed in anger, I still love a good laugh. I haven't buried my off kilter sense of humor but I am grateful for the concern that some of you have expressed for my emotional well being.
I simply wanted to express that I have accepted that anger is a normal response to racism and that I don't apologize for being pissed off royally at times. I actually think that this is much healthier than feeling guilty after the fact because I may have offended someone who expressed some variation of bigotry and I chastised them for it.
Jack and I have had some pretty deep conversations over the years, so I always take his observations seriously. In a discussion that we had about racism many years ago, I do recall stating that I didn't believe that black people could be labeled as racists. However, I don't think that I clearly explained that it isn't because I think that we are genetically incapable of racism. I really was speaking specifically in terms of black and white interactions in the United States, and my comments never reflected any belief in the moral superiority of black people.
During the civil rights movement, leaders of the movement worked to define the issues. I don't recall who proposed it first, but racism became defined as being not only about prejudice or bigotry, but about power. I still believe that racism has a power element that's missing from bigotry or prejudice.
Definitions of racism vary somewhat, but when I checked online, all the definitions had as a common element that racism involves classifying people based on physical characteristics such as skin color and believing in the superiority of one's own racial group over other groups.
They rarely mention power, but I would argue that in this country, black people responded to racism with anger and sometimes prejudice, but that it has never been a common thread of thought among black people to think that white people were inferior. Indeed, the focus of civil rights has been about attaining equality. There is no logic in demanding equality from a group that you believe to be inferior to yourself.
I also think that the subtext to a demand for equality is that the group with whom you desire equality holds the power to block you from achieving that equality. To me this is more than semantics, but I do take full responsibility for never fully explaining why I made the distinction in the first place. I still think that racism is about power and goes beyond prejudice in its ability to impact the lives of victims of racism.
No matter how prejudiced or bigoted an ethnic or racial minority group in this country may be, their ability to impact the majority group is negligible. We cannot block their access to jobs, to economic security or anything of significance. Traditionally, black Americans have been without power to affect the political, social, or economic structure of the US. That's why I make a distinction between racism and prejudice. I know that all people are capable of prejudice, it is certainly not limited to any one group. I also accept as valid that racism is not a uniquely American practice. I think that some of the power struggles in Africa can be ascribed to racism. Racism was a powerful force in the civil war in Bosnia.
I dislike prejudice but I don't waste my time addressing prejudice. I have no desire to interact with people who don't want to interact with me. I address racism because of the power element. If I move into your neighborhood, you don't have to like it. You can complain about it to your neighbors and refuse to speak to me; I'll survive. But when you have the ability to implement and maintain laws and/or policies that prevent me from moving into that neighborhood or the power to drive me out after I move in, then it becomes my concern. The first behavior is prejudice; the second is racism.
I've never intended to suggest that only white people are prejudiced or bigots. When I say that black people have played the cards that we were dealt I mean quite simply that we have reacted to the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow laws that ushered in racism as an acceptable part of the laws of this country.
My analysis is that the birth of modern racism happened after the civil war. I think that before the war, during slavery, the focus was on maintaining an economical work force. I think that records support that while slaves were regarded as lesser persons than whites, that just as a sensible farmer wouldn't abuse his livestock, that for the most part, the focus wasn't on abuse of black people, but on maintaining control of the large population of slaves in the South. Punishment was used as a method of maintaining control.
Prior to the civil war, the southern states had various laws referred to as Black Codes that were designed to maintain control over the slave population through fear and intimidation. I'm not suggesting that they were benign or not that bad, but their primary purpose was not about denying rights to black people; it was about controlling the slaves to maintain a free labor force. The structure of the society was based on the notion that slaves had no rights; there was no need to deny them what they did not have. (Note that when the civil war ended, the defeated southern states passed a new crop of Black Codes designed to deny rights of citizenship to the freed slave population. )
Reconstruction spurred a growing concern among whites that the newly freed slaves might prove a threat to the social order. Blacks were seeking to become landowners, vote and run for political office, and demanding full citizenship rights. Towards the end of the 19th century, the response was the start of the passage of Jim Crow laws designed to specifically corral us into lives of second class citizenship. The racial prejudice that was the foundation of slavery, that made bondage of other human beings acceptable to the majority, morphed into racism--the systematic, legalized oppression of a people based on skin color. The case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 marked recognition by the highest court of the land of the ultimate in Jim Crow law, that segregation was legal and acceptable; separate but equal remained the cornerstone of legalized discrimination until Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education overturned Plessy in 1954. Jim Crow laws were the original race card, and we've been playing with that deck ever since.
I thank my old friend for his thoughtful comment and for making me take the time to think about the basis for my beliefs. I think that I'm done with writing about race for a bit. I take to heart Jack's advice that I shouldn't loose touch with my fun side. I think that I shall indulge in a bit of frivolity in my next post and write about my love life. | <urn:uuid:45a03ea5-7af1-4ce7-852b-f29a635273f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theexaminedlife-sheria.blogspot.jp/2009/09/racism-prejudice-two-sides-of-same-coin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983234 | 1,498 | 1.617188 | 2 |
PECK and others.·
(Di8flrict Court, 8. D. NetD York. November 29, 1886.)
WHARVES-INJURY TO VESSEL-LIABILITY OF LESSEE Oll' WHARlI'.
Defendants occupied the wharf at the foot of One Hundred and Twentyeighth street, Harlem river, under a lease which reserved to grantor wharfage rights. These rights defendants' grantor subsequently conveyed to the ConsUIDers' Coal Company, on whose invitation libelant brought his boat to the wharf. The boat being injured while at the wharf, held, that there was suf· ficient privity between libelant and defendants to entitle the former to relief dir.ectlyagainst the latter.
BAlIIE-'-LEASEHOLD PRElIIISEs-COVENANT TO REpAm-LIABILITY-NOTICE OF DANGER.
Defendants, in their lease, covenanted to "make such alterations and repairs to the dock and bulk-head as they required. It Libelant's boat, the day after her arrival at the wharf, was sunk, owing to the dangerous character of the river bottom, of which libelant was not notified. Held, that the covenant meant such repairs as the dock and bulk-head required, and that the defendants were liable for the loss, for neither making the necessary repairs, nor giving notice of danger to the libelant's boat.
In Admiralty. E. D. McOarthy, for libelant. George 8. Hamlin, for defendants.
BROWN,J. The libelant's coal-boat was sunk during the night of June 19, 1884, while at the end of the bulk-liead at One Hundred and Twenty-eighth street, Harlem river. The evidence leaves no doubt that she rolled over and outwards, as the tide went down, in consequence of settling upon the bottom along the end of the bulk-head, where tlle bottom was uneven and dangerous for boats to lie during the ebb-tide, unless fended off. The boat was sent there to the Consumers' Coal Company, had arrived the afternoon before, and had no notice of the dangerous character of the bottom. The defendants had occupied the wharf and premises for upwards of two years, under a lease dated February 28, 1882, which reserved to the grantors rights of wharfage, and to use the bulk-head for the purpose of loading and unloading coal and other boats, and to carry coal on the elevated rail or tram way situated on the property. The grantor, a few days afterwards, granted the rights reserved to the Consumers' Coal Company. The defendants in their lease covenauted, among other things, "to make such alterations and repairs to the dock and bulk·head as they required. " The wharf was not devoted to the uses of the public. It was used only for the business of the defendants and of the Consumers' Coal Company. Though strangers tying up at the dock without notice could probably not be treated as trespassers, (Heeney v. Heeney, 2 Denio, 625,) still I can hardly deem the defendants liable as occulReported by Edward G. Benedict, Esq., of the New York bar.
pants merely; since neither the public, nor the libelant, came to the dock upon any implied invitation by the defendants. They are liable, I think, upon the terms of the lease only, if liable at all. Onderdonk v. Smith, 27 Fed. Rep. 874. The regulations of the dock department were neither pleaded, nor put in evidence. My conclusions are as follows: 1. There is no 'such am1?iguity in the terms of the lease as permits the natural import of its language, as to the obligation to repair, to be contradicted by parol evidence. The plain meaning of the clause, as regards repairs, is that the defendants would make "such alterations and repairs to the dock and bulk-head" as they, thi dock and hulk-head, "required." 2. The above covenant, in connection with the reservation to the grantor of the rights of wharfage and of use for the coal business, clearly imports d.n agreement by the defendants to repair for the use and benefit of the grantor, as well as for their own use; and hence for the use of the grantor's privies, under the further lease by the grantor of the premises and rights reserved, and of those also who should make use of the wharf in the coal business, as expressly reserved and provided for in the defendants' lease. There is sufficient privity, therefore, with the libelant, who came there upon the invitation of the Consumers' Coal Company, in the ordinary course of this coal business, to entitle the libelant to relief directly against the defendants. 3. The unsafe character of the ridge on the bottom along the bulkhead, whether arising from gradual accumulations, or dejections from the dock, must, upon the evidence, be deemed sufficiently known to the defendants to require the dock, and the adjacent bottom, to be put in a safe condition. It was plainly a condition l'equiring "altetation or repair," and hence within the terms of the defendants' covenant. So long as the defendants neglected to or repair" the bottom, so as to make it safe, they were bound to give notice of its condition to strangers having a right to come there in the business of the Consumers' Coal Company. I find, therefore, though not without hesitation, that the libelant is entitled to a decree. A reference may be taken to compute the damages, if not agreed upon.
ELGIN NAT. WATCH CO.' V. MEYER.
and others. t
(C'irlJuit Oourt, E. D. Mi88ouri. November 8, 1886.)
ESTOPPEL-JUDGMENT-FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES-GENERAL AsSIGNMENT.
A judgment creditor, who has been defeated in a suH to have conveyances made in payment of indebtedness by an insolvent debtor declared fraudulent and void, is not estopped from subsequently bringing another suit to have such conveyances declared part of a general assignment. 1I
In Equity. Plea in abatement. Dyer, Lee It Ellis, for complainant. Krum & Jonas, for defendants.
BREWER, J., (orally.) In the case of Elgin Nat. Watch 00. v. Meyer these facts appear: The Eisenstadts, being insolvent, executed conveyances in payment of certain indebtedness. In a few days thereafter they made a general assignment. This plaintiff, in connection with other creditors, brought suits in attachment. These attachments were sustained. This plaintiff then filed its bill to subject that property covered by those conveyances to the payment of its judgment, claiming that the debts were fraudulent. and the conveyances V'oid: Upon hearing, the issues were found in favor of the defendants, and a decree entered dismissing the bills. Thereafter this plaintiff filed this bill, alleging that those conveyances, though made in payment and satisfaction of conceded indebtedness, should be treated as merely a part of the general assignment; and invoking in its aid that series of decisions of the federal courts of this state, by which all conveyances made at the same or nearly the same time by an insolvent, of all of his property, are adjudged as parts and parcels of one general assignment. To this bill a plea of abatement is filed, setting forth the former suit and adjudication in behalf of the defendants. I think that the plea in abatement must be overruled. Generally speaking, a party who mistakes as to his right a"nd remedy is not thereby estopped from thereafter asserting his real rights, and pursuing his true remedy. The only penalty that falls upon him is the payment of the costs and expenses of the suit in which he fails, and it would oftentimes be very harsh if the plaintiff's mistake-a mistake perhaps founded on ignorance of all the facts-should work a. denial of all rights and every remedy. I am aware that the supreme court of this state haR held that, where there is a general assignment, the creditor who attacks its va1 Edited by Benj. F. Rex, Esq., of the St. Louis bar. lAs to when a judgment is not an estoppel, see Bigley v. Jones, (Pa.) 7 At!. Rep. 54; Dicken v. Hays, Id. 58; Riverside Co. v. Townsend, (Ill.) 9 N. E. Rep. 65, and note: Weiss v. Guermean, (Ind.) 9 N. E. Rep. 399; Richardson v. Richards, (Minn.) 30 N. W. "Rep. 457. | <urn:uuid:8e0f6104-25a0-4d62-b5b6-88dbb531a737> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://openjurist.org/29/f1d/223 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962568 | 1,862 | 1.5 | 2 |
Democracy worked at gun discussion
Democracy was working at its best on Jan. 16 at the Medford Library when a discussion was convened of pro- and anti-gun control Rogue Valley residents.
Because it has been such an emotional and difficult conversation, it has been hard to engage people with differing opinions. This forum was different. It was facilitated by two skillful mediators who guided the conversation to the level of underlying concerns on both sides. I learned so much new information and about the deep concerns held by both sides.
I left knowing democracy is very much alive and well when people are guided to have real conversations rather than shouting matches that do not allow for honest exchange of ideas and respectful listening. I wish there had been some members of Congress in the group.
In conclusion, we were asked, "What's next?" The majority of people present want to have more conversations where facts and concerns can be heard and explored and for more people to have these opportunities. It is such a relief to know civil discourse is still possible in this verbally violent culture we often see.
This conversation was sponsored by a nonprofit organization called Re-uniting America. For more information about future plans and conversations, email email@example.com.
Winters is a poor boss
Regarding Sheriff Mike Winters and his Second Amendment rights: Has it yet been mentioned that he obviously has absolutely no regard for the people working for him? Who does he think would be the most likely folks to "face down" an assault weapon? Law enforcement, of course!
I sure wouldn't want to work for a guy like this, and I wouldn't blame all of his deputies for seeking out new and better opportunities elsewhere.
Sheriff's stance distorts meaning
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters has sadly joined many who distort the meaning of the Second Amendment, the "right to bear arms."
He would have us believe that the amendment allows for anarchy in gun ownership; anyone can own any gun they choose. He says he will not help enforce any new federal law that may restrict the ownership or ammunition capacity of semiautomatic firearms.
The Second Amendment consists of 27 words. The lead-in words are, "A well regulated militia ..." The founders clearly signaled that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," but would be regulated.
That is why ownership of automatic firearms, such as machine guns, is prohibited, a federal regulatory restriction that Sheriff Winters probably supports. The sheriff cannot have it both ways; to choose the firearms regulations he favors and ignore the rest. He is sworn to uphold the law and if, after the Newtown tragedy, gun regulations are tightened, he must serve the entire community.
Sheriffs should do their jobs
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it a sheriff's job to enforce the law of the land? The Linn and Josephine County sheriffs have taken it upon themselves to refuse to enforce the proposed possible new gun control laws that would eliminate 30-cartridge magazines, ban assault weapons and close the gun show loophole.
If these folks wanted to be judges rather than sheriffs, then they took the wrong career path. We hired them to enforce sane laws, not to pick and choose what they perceive is "constitutionally correct."
Privatization means higher rates
In 2012 Ashland residents had a garbage rate increase over 7.5 percent, and then an 8 percent rate increase in January 2013. When will we ever learn? We have been running an experiment with privatization and deregulation for over 30 years.
The results have always been the same. When a public service is turned over to a corporation, whether a hospital, electric power or garbage pickup, rates go up, workers lose jobs and the top brass give themselves a hefty raise. Simply, the CEOs get millions of dollars for doing what civil service employees do for less.
Recology is a privately held company so we won't even know what the "compensation" is for the people at the top. | <urn:uuid:4e9cd958-5c3b-41ca-ad26-aed141585a28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130123/OPINION04/301230301/-1/VARSITY0209 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972019 | 826 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Who Violated International Law in the Chen Case: The U.S. or China?
The Chen Guangcheng saga is not yet completed, and indeed, as the NYT puts it, “what briefly looked like a deft diplomatic achievement for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton [has] turned into a potential debacle.” I do hope Mr. Chen will find safety and justice soon, but I am not optimistic.
Until we discover his final fate, I thought I’d comment on one of the most curious parts of the Chen saga, especially to many average Chinese citizens. Here we have the government of the United States bargaining round-the-clock with the Chinese government to guarantee the protection and rights of a Chinese national who lives in China and, who further, has no connection whatsoever to the United States. In the eyes of many Chinese citizens, this is almost unbelievable (so unbelievable that some suspect a CIA conspiracy). And for traditional international law, this is exactly the opposite of how things are supposed to work. The human rights revolution has certainly had an impact in this respect, by focusing countries on the rights of non-citizens in their home countries.
But the human rights revolution has some serious institutional weaknesses. One notices that Mr. Chen did not sneak into the U.N. mission in Beijing or call upon protection from a still abstract “international community.” He went to the United States, which is considered one of the few powers that would not be cowed by the Chinese government, and which is committed enough to human rights that it would not simply sell him out for their national interests (whether this is still true about the U.S. remains to be seen).
Here’s another strange thought: China is now accusing the U.S. of breaking international law. According to this account, State Department Legal Advisor Harold Koh personally approved the admission of Mr. Chen on “humanitarian grounds” and a U.S. embassy car actually was chased through Beijing by Chinese security before it made it to the safety of U.S. marine barracks at the U.S. Embassy. China considers this a violation of international law (probably Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations), and it is even demanding an apology from the United States.
It seems strange than to conclude that the U.S. may have violated international law, while China has not technically done so. But this is a greater indictment of the existing international legal system, than of the U.S. actions here. International human rights law may have inspired Mr. Chen, but in the end, it took another nation, acting in technical violation of international law, to protect him. | <urn:uuid:c10cf9b5-1cd4-4c5a-a3cb-3becb52f0f7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://opiniojuris.org/2012/05/03/who-violated-international-law-in-the-chen-case-the-u-s-or-china/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965677 | 548 | 1.835938 | 2 |
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis comes into office riding a wave of good will but facing a host of challenges both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Whether he can tackle them, however, may depend on his ability to tame the Roman Curia, the dysfunctional papal bureaucracy that was uppermost in the minds of the cardinals when they elected him on Wednesday.
Yes, the electors wanted a pastoral figure after eight years of the astringent rule of Benedict XVI, an introverted scholar who struggled to connect with the flock. And in Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio they got one -- a humble Argentine Jesuit who champions the poor, lives simply, cooks his own meals and takes mass transit around Buenos Aires.
Yet naming yourself after St. Francis of Assisi is one thing. Running the Vatican is another.
It's not something the new pope wanted to do even back in the conclave of 2005, when he reportedly ran second to Benedict, at one point signaling to his fellow cardinals to stop voting for him.
"In the Curia I would die," he said in an interview after that conclave. "My life is in Buenos Aires. Without the people of my diocese, without their problems, I feel something lacking every day."
If that sounds like hyperbole, consider that many believe the intrigue and isolation that John Paul I encountered in the Vatican after his 1978 election contributed to his death of a heart attack only 33 days later. Just this week, the elderly mother of Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn expressed fears that her son, if elected, "would not be up to the bitchiness in the Vatican."
'An unreformed Renaissance monarchy'
So how do you go about fixing it? There are any number of proposals, promoted by critics across the Catholic spectrum, and they focus on the things that good government advocates usually propose: hiring better personnel, term limits for department heads, and altering the management structure, which is a particular challenge in the Curia.
"An institution with 1.2 billion members all over the globe cannot be run by what is essentially an unreformed Renaissance monarchy and its elderly cosseted courtiers," The Tablet of London, a leading Catholic weekly, wrote in a tart editorial ahead of the conclave.
The Vatican administration is made up of dozens of congregations, councils and commissions, as well as a bank with a troubled history, all run by (mostly Italian) bishops and cardinals. Each department acts like its own fiefdom, and curial officials are not above undermining their opponents with the kind of unseemly court intrigue that became public in the "Vatileaks" document dump that dominated the final year of Benedict's papacy.
But it is also a question of who can undertake this reform.
"There are two general views," Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley told reporters before going into the conclave. "The first one maintains that, since the current church's problem comes from the Curia, we should elect someone outside the Curia; the second contests that there is a need for an internal leader, since the first commitment of the new pope should be the Curia reform."
The cardinals delivered their answer Wednesday night when they elected Bergoglio, a man with no experience in the Curia, nor much regard for it either; he reportedly called for the Curia's reform in a brief but potent speech to the cardinals in the pre-conclave meetings.
In an interview last year, Bergoglio also railed against the preening and clericalism of many in the hierarchy -- peacocks, he called them, displaying a "self-absorbed vanity" that is "the worst sin that could be committed in the church."
"He comes across as shy and reserved," New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said of the new pope, but "he's a man of confidence and poise."
In fact, church sources who know Francis and Buenos Aires say that the archdiocese was a well-run shop, and that he has the administrative chops that his predecessor never did.
"He has always carefully kept his distance from the Roman Curia. It is certain that he will want it to be lean, clean and loyal," Vatican expert Sandro Magister wrote on his blog on Wednesday.
Early clues to Francis' management style as pope probably won't emerge for a few weeks or even months. By tradition, he is likely to quickly reconfirm the heads of all the major Vatican departments who by church law had to resign when Benedict did. But he will also begin to replace them. How quickly he does that, and who he chooses to take over, will give a better sense of how successful he will be.
A declaration of independence
Much more is at stake in this reform project than just "fixing" the Vatican to work more efficiently. A pope is, above all, the church's chief evangelist, and he has to rely on his managers to keep the headquarters running smoothly so that he is free to do his real job. They have to support the pope's mission, not hinder it.
That kind of support will be especially critical for someone like Francis, whose charism is that of a simple priest rather than a Roman monarch ruling over his court.
The new pope has won hosannas at the start of his papacy precisely because he has so far shunned the trappings of power and glory. In the ritualized world of Rome, that's already a powerful declaration of independence -- and a source of moral authority that he will have to preserve to be an effective messenger.
Benedict, on the other hand, came to the papacy straight from decades in the Curia, and happily wrapped himself in the pomp and traditions of the Holy See until one day the pope found himself so bound up that he could not make a move, except, in the end, to resign.
As Benedict reportedly lamented to a visitor who came to beseech him for a favor, "My authority ends at that door."
By David Gibson and Alessandro Speciale, Religion News Serice | <urn:uuid:c9c683ac-a2d0-4a6d-bc53-68fedbdbd979> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2013/03/pope_francis_has_a_long_to-do.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973297 | 1,248 | 1.632813 | 2 |
"It is always easier to deal with things than with men"
"We begged and pleaded for time to complete our regulatory process and it appears that's what they're giving us."
Testimony given more than one year ago to CIRM included historically inaccurate statements about the Wright Brothers and about the aviation patent pool. Look at IPBiz posts of May 28 and of July 1.
For further historical background, I include some text from the book by James Tobin, To Conquer the Air, Free Press, 2003.
page 332: "Curtiss weighed his options. The Wrights already had invented a practical aeroplane and patented it. If he wished to sell his own aeroplanes without paying the Wrights for the privilege, he had three choices. He could use the Wrights' system and instantly incur a lawsuit for violating their patent rights. He could adapt or improve the Wrights' system--this was what the AEA claimed to have done, but with no assurance of escaping patent problems. Or he could find some wholly new system of controlling an aeroplane. This was what Bell hoped to do with tetrahedrals, and what Herring said he could do with gyroscopes. Only this option offered an escape from the shadow of the Wrights."
Strangely presaging certain contemporary statements about the Bush veto on stem cells, Tobin quoted Bishop about the aviation matter of nearly 100 years ago on page 333:
"America has taken the lead in the development of aviation. (...) If Congress will offer no incentive to inventors to remain in their own country, the next best thing is to keep them here by private enterprise. This has now been done...."
IPBiz notes, at that time, financing of research by states was not even considered.
At page 339, Tobin notes that Bleriot flew across the English Channel in 1909 in a monoplane.
At page 353, Tobin notes that Judge John R. Hazel ordered the Herring-Curtiss Company and Glenn Curtiss to stop making aeroplanes on grounds that they infringed upon patents owned by Wilbur and Orville Wright.
At pages 360-1, Tobin notes that Alexander Graham Bell, in presenting the first Langley Award to the Wrights, congratulated the Wrights for bringing the aerodrome to the commercial and practical stage. But it was Langley himself, Bell declared, who must be recognized as "the great pioneer of aerial flight." Langley had constructed "a perfectly good flying machine" that failed to fly only because of a faulty launcher. IPBiz notes that comments such as these of Bell presaged the Curtiss attack on the the Wright patent based on the re-constructed Langley Aerodrome.
On page 361, Tobin notes "The whole aim of Will's [Wilbur Wright's] efforts from 1905 to 1909 had been to avoid "business cares and vexatious law suits.""
There is an important quote of Wilbur Wright on page 361: "We had hoped in 1906 to sell our invention to governments for enough money to satisfy our needs and then devote our time to science, but the jealously of certain persons blocked this plan, and compelled us to rely on our patents and commercial exploitation... When we think what we might have accomplished if we had been able to devote this time to experiments, we feel very sad, but it is always easier to deal with things than with men, and no one can direct his life entirely as he would chose." [This was written in January 1912. Four month later, Wilbur became ill in Boston. He died on May 30, 1912.]
Also of note in the Tobin book is the discussion of Amos Ives Root. On page 220, Tobin notes that an account written by Root for his readers of Gleanings in Bee Culture was rejected for publication in Scientific American. | <urn:uuid:9ac9d54f-76c8-4c8b-83a2-dc291fcd6e53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/06/it-is-always-easier-to-deal-with-things.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972516 | 797 | 1.804688 | 2 |
At around 1pm on July 10, 1964almost exactly 45 years agopercussionist Sunny Murray, bassist Gary Peacock, and saxophonist Albert Ayler met at the Variety Arts Recording Studio just off of Times Square to record what would become the first jazz release for Benard Stollman's ESP-Disk. The studio was tiny and cramped and its walls were covered with Latin album covers and its doors were open so that the musicians could breathe. Can you imagine how hot it must have been?
The label began as Esperanto Disk; it was Bernard Stollman's vision to create a label devoted to music based in Esperanto, that universal language meant to foster peace and international understanding. The very first release (ESP 1001) was Ni Kantu en Esperanto, an album of acoustic folk songs, with lyrics sung in what sort of sounds like a mix of Portuguese and Polish. But Stollman was destined to promote and distribute the music of free-jazz groundbreakers. Though he knew very little about jazz, as an artist's rights lawyer, Stollman found himself working more and more with African-American musicians involved with improvisational music. In a 2005 interview with Clifford Allen of All About Jazz, Stollman explained:
The word got out among the most desperate of the musicians' community that I would help them with their problems if I could. A young woman came to me who was a choreographer, a very lovely woman, and she said "I understand you're helping musicians." I said yes, I am sympathetic to their struggles, and she said "why aren't you helping Ornette and Cecil?" I remember I said "Ornette and Cecil who?" She was aghast, "they're the princes of modern music and you don't know them? That's just terrible. Look, I've talked to them about you, and they both want you to manage them."
Stollman learned quickly, fell in love with the music, and grew into a champion for artist's rights. Printed on every ESP-Disk was the simple declaration: "The artists alone decide what you will hear on their ESP-Disk." The result was some of the most beautiful and adventurous music of the time, with albums from Ornette Coleman, Lowell Davidson, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Marion Brown, Paul Bley, Gato Barbieri, Milford Graves, and of course Albert Ayler.
By 1968, however, ESP-Disk was nearly defeated. After suffering through mass bootlegging and ill-fated licensing agreements, Stollman and his label trudged on until 1974, when the money ran out. Fortunately, ESP's master tapes were stored in safe deposit boxes, where they waited quietly for the next 17 years. Meanwhile, Stollman had become New York's Assistant Attorney General. After his retirement in 1991, ESP's catalog was licensed to ZYX, a German dance label. The relationship had a successful start, but, according to Stollman, it later fell apart with ZYX failing to pay royalties. In 2005, Stollman resumed full control of the ESP catalog and began reissuing old titles in addition to releasing new work from exciting bands like Brooklyn's Talibam and Providence's Barnacled.
Spiritual Unity is the most recent of ESP's vinyl reissues. It begins with "Ghosts," and "Ghosts" begins with a clearing of the throat which blooms into a soulful, jubilant, and unforgettable melody, a melody like a nursery rhyme, like a morning alarm, a carefree fluttering met by searching vibrations along Gary Peacock's upright bass and scurrying cymbal work shot from Sunny Murray's lightning fingertips. Beats are replaced by the finest and most relentless raindrops on tin cans, raindrops like pins, like tacks falling on a sheet of glass, while Ayler and Peacock tie each other in gold and silver ribbons.
The hand-numbered, limited-edition reissue is pressed in the United States, on 180gm virgin vinyl. It features the original album art and liner notes, and includes a free download of 320kbps MP3s. It is pulsing with the fire and passion of a New York City summer. | <urn:uuid:efa3f187-35df-4cfb-a795-d9ec918c08c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/spiritual_unity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973876 | 879 | 1.757813 | 2 |
On July 6, 1996, at about 1600 eastern daylight time, a Boeing Stearman E75N1, N55PR, operated by the registered owner/private pilot, touched down short of the runway and impacted a ditch, while attempting to land at a private airstrip near Goshen, Ohio. The pilot and the one passenger reported no injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight, and no flight plan was filed. The pleasure flight was operated under 14 CFR Part 91, and originated from Goshen, Ohio, at approximately 1550. Use your browsers 'back' function to return to synopsisReturn to Query Page
The pilot reported that she was giving a friend a ride in the airplane, and that they were coming in for a landing on runway 24. She stated: "It was a hot day [and] I could feel the plane settle over the corn field. I was a little low so I added power coming over the field." The pilot indicated that when she thought that she had cleared the field, she reduced the power. She stated that "...as soon as I reduced power the plane settled and clipped the edge of the ditch instead of gliding on to touch down on the numbers. I heard a thud but there was no big jolt." The pilot stated the she continued to land the airplane as usual, and that the landing was "...smooth, straight ahead, [a] soft landing - except the [landing] gear was gone."
The pilot stated that "...on hot summer days, the heat generated from the corn field [and] ditch tends to make the airplane settle much quicker. It is important to shorten the base to final pattern [and] make a slightly steeper approach knowing it will sink quickly." The pilot reported that the temperature at the time of the accident was 88 degrees Fahrenheit (F.)
There was no evidence or claim of preimpact aircraft anomaly. | <urn:uuid:72bc4b72-199b-4735-8e07-35b88657da88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001208X06258&ntsbno=IAD96LA113&akey=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973282 | 393 | 1.8125 | 2 |
A widely accepted coaxial cable termination, in CCTV, is the BNC termination. There are three type of BNC connectors: screwing, soldering and crimping. Crimping BNCs are proven to be the most reliable of all. There are different types of BNC connector available in the market, the most common used and to be found would be the male BNC connector, other BNC connector are also available, such as female BNC plugs, and BNC to BNC barrels. BNC connectors could be found in silver-plated and gold-plated materail. This plated material provides the protection against the rusting of the connectors in the moist surroundings. | <urn:uuid:677b32df-e3b1-4b9e-a9e7-43b344ab1bb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surveillance-video.com/bbcon.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96379 | 140 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Established in 2003, the Victoria Falls Solidarity Fund allows to support the attendance at ICOMOS events of colleagues facing financial difficulties, in particular General Assemblies. It complements the external support received, for example through the Getty Foundation.
The Fund is mainly financed through voluntary contributions by members, but it can also accept public or private donations. Each year, National Committees are encouraged to fundraise for the Fund when invoicing members for their annual dues, and so far Australia, Belgium, Finland, France and Luxembourg have made contributions. In 2011, many colleagues who provided expert reviews in the context of ICOMOS’ consultancy work for WMF’s 2012 World Monument Watch List donated their review fees to the Fund and other members made a donation when registering for the 17th General Assembly. Using 14 300 Euros from the Fund, ICOMOS was thus able to partially support 36 members to attend the General Assembly. The fund currently holds around 9800 Euros. Please help ICOMOS achieve its fundraising objective to double the number of colleagues supported at the next General Assembly in 2014.
The Fund is managed by the International Secretariat so as to ensure its neutral and equitable use, under the supervision of the Executive Committee, and according to established criteria. The International Secretariat keeps detailed administrative and audited financial records of the use of the Fund and reports annually to the Executive Committee and the donor Committees.
- Created on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 14:49
Individuals, institutions and companies are encouraged to join ICOMOS as Sustaining Members or to support
1. ICOMOS is recognized in the World Heritage Convention as one of the professional advisers to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. As such, it is responsible for the evaluation of cultural properties to the World Heritage List. It also participates in the work of reporting on the state of conservation and management of properties already inscribed on the List. This involves both systematic reporting, at the request of the World Heritage Committee and of the governments of countries that are States Parties to the Convention, and reactive reporting, where the cultural values for which properties are inscribed on the List are threatened by natural phenomena or human activities.
2. It should be stressed, however, that it is the States Parties themselves who have the primary responsibility for the maintenance of their sites and monuments and for reporting on their state of conservation. The role of ICOMOS is to mobilize opinion and expertise in order to make proposals for appropriate action.
3. With more than eight hundred cultural properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, the formal process of reporting on state of conservation and management is complex and cumbersome. There is, moreover, no central database for the cultural heritage comparable with that for the natural heritage provided by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge (UK). Whilst ICOMOS does not possess the resources to enable it to create a formal structure of this kind, it does have certain unrivalled resources that would permit the creation of an informal “intelligence” system related to the cultural heritage.
4. One of these is its National Committees, many of which already inform the International Secretariat in Paris when World Heritage properties in their countries are under threat. A second source, which has already proved to be of great value in isolated cases, is that of the individual members of ICOMOS, to whom the present form is directed.
5. ICOMOS members are all professionals in one or more of the disciplines concerned with the protection and conservation of the cultural heritage. Most of them travel a great deal within their own countries and abroad, both on business and for pleasure, and these visits frequently take them to towns, monuments, and sites that are inscribed on the World Heritage List. The object of the present simple form is to enable them to provide short, informal reports on their observations, as professionals, on what they see during such visits.
6. The reports will be used primarily to build up a database, to assist the work of ICOMOS in its World Heritage work. Where attention is drawn to serious threats to the conservation and integrity of properties on the List, the Secretariat may make use of the reports to initiate corrective action through the World Heritage Committee and UNESCO. It should be stressed that these reports will be treated in strict confidence by the International Secretariat. The identity of those responsible for them will not be disclosed without permission.
7. It is hoped that all members will cooperate in this work, which will further strengthen the standing of ICOMOS as the premier international cultural conservation organization. | <urn:uuid:2ce44c1b-5baf-4e0f-bc7a-9b74419078c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icomos.org/en/about-the-centre/icomos-mission/documentation-centre/169-english-categories/support-us | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945896 | 918 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Jeffrey Rosen appears in the following:
Friday, May 03, 2013
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: 45-square-miles of complex legal questions, where the Constitution may (or may not) apply, and where, as of Wednesday, May 1st, 100 of the 166 detainees are on hunger strike. Jeffrey Rosen, law professor at George Washington University and legal affairs editor at The New Republic, describes the legal complexities embodied in the detention and treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The most important court in Washington, D.C. may just be the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The D.C. Circuit, as it's known, hears some of the most important federal cases. The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin hearings today on the nomination of Sri Srinivasan to the D.C. Circuit.
Monday, October 01, 2012
The Supreme Court begins its 2012-2012 term today, just months after announcing its decision on the Affordable Care Act. While the Court has announced only half of the cases it will hear over the next nine months, Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at George Washington University, explains that the Justices already have a number of contentious issues on the calendar.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Jeffrey Rosen is a professor of law at The George Washington University, legal affairs editor of The New Republic, and author of The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America. As the Supreme Court's session nears completion, Rosen looks at the decisions to be decided, including the Affordable Care Act and the Arizona immigration case.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Fresh off hearing oral arguments for and against President Obama’s health care overhaul, the Supreme Court is stepping back into the political spotlight. Today, the high court will consider the legality of Arizona’s tough crackdown on illegal immigrants. Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at George Washington University, talks about the major legal implications of SCOTUS' coming ruling.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Public broadcasting doesn't have commercials. It has underwriting announcements — and few of them at that. But that's about to change, now that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC violated the First Amendment when it blocked public broadcasters from airing political advertisements. Jeffrey Rosen, professor of Law at George Washington University, describes how the ruling could change the face of public radio and TV.
Friday, April 06, 2012
Yesterday Attorney General Eric Holder issued a memo, assuring the Supreme Court that President Obama respects the authority of the court to overturn federal laws they find unconstitutional. This memo came after Republican challengers to the Affordable Care Act accused the President of pressuring the Court during deliberations. We discuss the controversy with Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law at George Washington University, and Todd Zwillich, Takeaway Washington correspondent.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Yesterday was the second of three days of hearings in the Supreme Court's review of Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The session was devoted to one key question: Is Congress overstepping its Constitutional power by requiring nearly all Americans to carry health insurance? Jeffrey Rosen is back to break it all down for us, and to give us a preview of what will happen in today’s third and final day of hearings. Rosen is professor of law at George Washington University, and he’s been following the arguments closely. He joins us from Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the Affordable Care Act Monday through Wednesday this week. But to your average, non-legal-scholar, the arguments can be hard to follow, and the specifics of the Act itself can very confusing. A lot of Takeaway listeners have been writing in with their questions about the Act. Todd Zwillich, the Takeaway’s Washington correspondent, is here to answer some of them.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Taxes, penalties, and tax penalties. That sums up much of what was discussed at yesterday's Supreme Court hearing on the 2010 health care overhaul bill, also known as the Affordable Care Act. Today's hearing, in which the court will focus on the constitutionality of the health overhaul, promises to be much more exciting. We speak with Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at George Washington University, and Monica Haymond, a legal assistant originally from California who's been sleeping outside the Supreme Court Building since Friday night, hoping to get into today’s hearing.
Monday, March 26, 2012
The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law today, kicking off a three-day proceeding. The Affordable Care Act mandates an expansion of health insurance to 30 million more Americans within a decade, as well as for the ire it has roused in Republican lawmakers and citizens, alike. To look ahead to next three days of health care debate and discussion, Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at George Washington University, joins us.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Using the 14th amendment as their basis, many courts have treated corporations as people. Usually these rulings are beneficial to corporations and their larger interests, such as in the Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to endorse candidates like individuals. However, a new case will determine whether or not a corporation can be convicted as an accomplice to a crime against humanity. In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Royal Dutch Petroleum and its subsidiary, Shell, are accused of aiding an autocratic regime that brutalized minorities in an oil-rich region of Nigeria.
Monday, February 20, 2012
People go to great lengths to fabricate military service. For every real Navy SEAL the FBI estimates there are hundreds of impostors. Xavier Alvarez, for example is an impostor. Alvarez, once a member of a California water-district board, lied at a public meeting about being a war hero specifically that he was awarded the Medal of Honor. But his lies did more than make him an outcast. They made him a criminal.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
On Monday the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that police violated the 4th amendment when they placed a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking device on a suspect’s car and monitored its movements for 28 days. In his opinion on the case, Justice Anthony Scalia wrote that the use of GPS constituted a "search" and therefore requires a warrant. This ruling may have an impact on other cases where GPS was used, as well as other types of surveillance mechanisms.
Friday, January 13, 2012
In a unanimous decision on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that churches and religious organizations are exempt from employee discrimination laws when hiring or firing their own employees and leaders. Many are heralding this decision as key in reinforcing the separation between church and state, while others worry that this will allow these organizations far too much power. The initial complaint that motivated Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stemmed from a teacher at an elementary school who felt she was being fired for pursuing a disability claim.
Friday, January 06, 2012
On Friday, the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear Bluman v. the Federal Election Commission. This case specifically challenges the Federal Election Campaign Act, which "prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly." The law is broad enough to disallow those lawfully living in the U.S. from distributing re-election materials. Using a First Amendment challenge, the case raises questions about the rights and opinions of non-citizens who lawfully reside here.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The Supreme Court has announced that it will rule on Arizona’s tough immigration law. The case is making its way to the highest court after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco blocked parts of the law in April. One of the parts of the law in question is a provision that requires state law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in a case that could have broad implications for how modern surveillance technology is used to track criminals. The question at stake in The United States v. Antoine Jones is whether Fourth Amendment protections from "unreasonable searches and seizures" extends to GPS tracking and where the boundaries between public and private space lies in an era when many people are increasingly trackable through smart phones and other digital devices.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Does the right to protest include the right to set up camp in downtown Manhattan? When it comes to Occupy Wall Street and protesters in Zuccotti Park, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't think so. "The Constitution doesn’t protect tents," he said at a news conference earlier this week in Queens. "It protects speech and assembly." Mayor Bloomberg also suggested that those exercising a "right to be silent" might be having their rights trampled by the constant noise coming from the demonstrations in their tent city.
Monday, October 03, 2011
The Supreme Court begins a new term on Monday. Rather than ruling on the rights of corporations, as it has done in recent terms, the Court has criminal justice, free speech, and religion cases on the docket. Cases that are likely to grab headlines include when police can track cars with GPS devices, and whether sexual content may air on television at times when children may be watching. But one case may overshadow all of the others: President Obama's health care policy, which requires that most people buy health insurance by 2014. | <urn:uuid:8f992f65-dfe0-4919-bdfb-94163e5e6a19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnyc.org/people/jeff-rosen/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957885 | 1,980 | 1.507813 | 2 |
What are your thoughts on people with mental illness using drugs? I'm referring primarily to Axis I illnesses such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, MDD, PTSD, etc... I know some people will just say "crazies shouldn't do drugs" but given that many people with mental illness self-medicate and/or are experienced with psych meds I think it deserves a more in depth discussion. What drugs could be beneficial (perhaps beyond a clinical setting) and what drugs should certain people just avoid? What are your thoughts on how symptoms of mental illness can mimic the effects of drugs (and vice-versa)? MDMA is quite similar to hypomania. Hallucinogens are sometimes quite psychotic in nature. Also anyone with mental illness (or if you know someone with mental illness) and you would like to share your experience regarding specific drugs feel free to. | <urn:uuid:63224f23-3279-42e9-8da1-f4911ff339ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reddit.com/r/Drugs/comments/14io8x/mental_illness_and_drugs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9599 | 181 | 1.726563 | 2 |
KUWAIT - Kuwait’s government will ask the parliament in its October session to forgive Iraq’s multi-billion debt to the Persian Gulf country.
The state has said that it would not allow the repayment of the estimated $15 billion to $16 billion debt to become a burden on Iraq, but only parliament can cancel it.
The government initiative follows the United Arab Emirates waiving Iraq’s debts. Saudi Arabia has also pledged to follow suit according to the daily newspaper Seyassah quoting a senior Kuwaiti official.
The debt represents loans Kuwait made to Baghdad in the Saddam Hussein era, mostly during the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war.
Local media on Thursday also carried statements from an Iraqi politician stating that Kuwait could cancel the debt.
“Our brothers in Kuwait told us that they are not demanding any debt and that there is no need to discuss this issue,” the head of the Iraqi parliamentary foreign relations committee Humam Hamoudi was quoted as saying by the Al-Qabas newspaper.
Several Kuwaiti deputies oppose debt forgiveness as many in Kuwait are still bitter about Saddam’s 1990 invasion of their country. – Agencies | <urn:uuid:556960a9-6b1e-40fe-af1c-d6d44036b15d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=2008083015837 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96973 | 243 | 1.65625 | 2 |
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LOVE is spelled ALOHA
I am on the airplane on my way to Mainland. As I wonder thought me memories and look into the numerous photos I have taken during my stay in Hawaii and I couldn’t but get caught into a lot of emotions: Happiness and sadness, excitement and anxiety, a sense of accomplishment but at the same time desertion. But above all I realize I have learned to be grateful and a bit more aware. Learned to Breathe, learned to Feel, learned Acceptance and E ho mai – To let it come and let it flow- I learned the meaning of Aloha, and with it I learned about a better way to live.
How can one live without Aloha once we’ve felt it? …How can one get through the days without all the smiles and the hugs? …How can one may manage to step on a continent full of walking snakes who have given tears the connotation of sorrow and loss? … How can one may manage to get through the nights without seeing the moon and the stars and where people avoid and shelter from the wind and the rain? …How did I do it before and how would I be able to do it now?
This reminds me of the greatest love of my life: how we all learn to live on our own until one day we cannot live without that we once didn’t have before. It becomes indispensable, it changes us forever, it advances us, it becomes part of our energy, it pumps our lungs. LOVE is spelled ALOHA. And I am happy to have shed some tears, wipe my eyes, smile and look up again.
Happiness and Joy do float in tears. I fear no sadness for it will bring me a bigger joy at its end, just as the rainbow often appears after the rain. No Rain, no Rainbow. I will sorrow and day dream of my new corner of Heaven in Earth and remember that it remains there, hidden in the clouds, a gentle slope washed by the ocean full of plumerias and ginger flowers, warmed by Pele and the Sun, and enjoyed by many who like me are surrendering to Earth and its wisdom so to become a better part of Heaven.
A Hui Ho, | <urn:uuid:6195dfa2-1833-484a-b1e3-6538d5c4a787> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kalani.com/blog/2009/09/love-spelled-aloha | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948607 | 468 | 1.523438 | 2 |
No canard photos on file for you today. (I locked myself out of my "photos on file"... when my computer crashed last March.) I hope this "Croatian Door" will satisfy your appetite for a slice of Mediterranean life. Don't miss a dozen more slices in this Saturday's Cinema Verite photo gallery!
canard (kah-narh) noun, masculine
faire un canard = to hit a false note
faire le canard = to keep quiet
mon petit canard = (term of endearment) my pet
le canard laqué = Peking duck
le canard boiteux = lame duck
le canard froid/vilain = (pejorative for) newspaper
Le Canard enchaîné (French: The Chained Duck or The Chained Paper) is a satirical newspaper published weekly in France. Founded in 1915, it features investigative journalism and leaks from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as a large number of jokes and humorous cartoons. It is one of the most respected and oldest French newspapers, despite its often humoristic tone. You can subscribe to this journal. --Wikipedia
...know of any other "canard" terms or expressions? Please share them with us in the comments section.
Audio File: Listen to Jean-Marc pronounce these French words: Download PM3 file
Au lieu de discuter, l'employée du restaurant aurait du faire le canard!
The Ultimate French Verb Review and Practice : Master the essential building blocks of French-language fluency
A Day in a French Life...
by Kristin Espinasse
On our way to Croatia we took the exit near Antibes, so that our kids might have a break from the long car ride, in time to cool down at a popular water park. As we approached the ticket line, we were met by an unusual scalper: a woman, in a bikini, carrying a toddler on her hip. A few more children were in tow of the bikinied scalper, who explained that her friend hadn't shown up and now she was stuck with an extra ticket. We could have her ticket, she explained, for a sizable discount.
Even though we were dealing with a mom -- I was still suspicious. Turns out the ticket was legitimate and, on seeing the price menu to get into the water park, I realized the favor she had done us and immediately felt ashamed for having jumped to conclusions, yet again.
Bon,* we were supposed to be in vacation mode--and not guilt mode--and so I eventually turned my attention to Max and Jackie, who, soon enough, were barreling down the slippery water-park slides, building up an appetite.
At noon, Jean-Marc and I left our chaises-longues* and headed for the snack bar to get some sandwiches. Once again I was surprised to see the price menu. I'm afraid I must be like those people who are still stuck in the last century, still expecting a Coke to cost under a Euro and a sandwich, under 5. En tout cas,* it is interesting how the water-amusement park prices are similar to airport prices: once they trap you "inside" the park, where you are stuck with your stomach, you have no other option but to pay the price!
While I kept my complaints to myself, the man in line next to me was becoming increasingly vocal about his récriminations*; although price wasn't the issue for him: time was.
"Ça fait une demi-heure depuis que j'ai commandé des frîtes!* What's so difficult about making fries?" he wanted to know. "You dump some frozen potatoes into hot oil. How hard is that?"
Unlike the employees back home, in the States, the woman behind the counter argued back. By now, my husband was commiserating with the disgruntled, hungry man. On hearing the employee respond defensively, Jean-Marc, feeling the customer was in the right, remarked "the least she could do is 'faire le canard'."
"Oui," the disgruntled man agreed, "Elle pouvait faire le canard!"*
Meantime, my mind began drawing up colorful images of what it might mean to faire le canard or "do the duck". I pictured so many quacking canards, in chorus, but this didn't seem to be the right translation, for why would Jean-Marc suggest that the manager do something she was already doing (quacking)?
Jean-Marc explained that "faire le canard" meant the opposite: it means to "se taire". The woman, instead of arguing back, ought to have "shut her beak".
It was clear the manager was no duck. With two commiserating Frenchmen on either side of me and one self-righteous employee (who had just stomped off to see about those fries), the atmosphere was tense. I turned to "Monsieur Frîte":
"Maybe the employees are being trained?" I said, offering an explanation for the 30-minute wait.
"Trained in America!" he remarked, sourly.
Did I hear him correctly? Wasn't that an insult? I thought about getting my own feathers ruffled. It seemed odd that Mr Fry would say that to me, l'américaine (surely he had heard my strong accent?), especially after my husband had stood up for him.
Besides, he was wrong about American culinary training: if those short-order cooks had been prepped in America, wouldn't Mr. Fussy Fry be seated, eating his frîtes by now?! I also had a mind to share with him a famous American service adage: The customer is always right. All the more evidence that the équipe* was not trained in America!
In the end, I decided not to get ruffled feathers--for, in the years that I have lived in France, I have never (or rarely) been intentionally dissed by a Frenchman. I told myself that his comment was not to be taken personally, that Mr French Fry was peeved, not prejudiced. In any case, I didn't want to jump to any more conclusions. Therefore, instead of trying to reason any further, with French Fry, I opted to take my husband's advice and "faire le canard." (Something I might have done, too, back at the ticket line, when the mama-scalper had offered us the discounted ticket.) When in doubt, do the duck!
bon = right (conviction)
la chaise-longue = deck chair
en tout cas = in any case
la récrimination = gripe, grumbling
Ça fait une demi-heure depuis que j'ai commandé des frîtes! =
It's been a half-hour since I ordered fries!
elle pouvait faire le canard = she might shut her beak!
l'équipe (f) = (lunch) crew
Les portes tordues (The Twisted Doors): The Scariest Way in the World to Learn and Listen to French! Check it out (if you dare).
In music: French Kiss: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
A special summer treat for the skin, from France: Caudalie Beauty Elixir : refreshing moisture mist
Film: The Chorus
When he takes a job teaching music at a school for troubled boys, Clément Mathieu is unprepared for its harsh discipline and depressing atmosphere. But with passion and unconventional teaching methods, he's able to spark his students' interest in music and bring them a newfound joy! It also puts him at odds with the school's overbearing headmaster, however, locking Mathieu in a battle between politics and the determination to change his pupils' lives!
Sign up to Cinéma Verite -- and I'll send you the link to my personal photo site right away :-) You'll see over a dozen past issues, including hundreds of photos taken in the neighboring villages -- as well as photos taken from neighboring countries (this weekend we'll see photos from the Mediterranean Island of Cres, where the above photo was taken). Sign up, here. | <urn:uuid:6761ee59-0ca6-42bd-8985-ebc941690963> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/motdujour/2009/08/canard.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957434 | 1,749 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Lt. Joe Klinker / US Coast Guard via AP
In this photo taken Monday July 30, 2012, an Alaska SeaLife Center employee prepares a walrus calf for transport aboard a U.S. Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane in Barrow, Alaska. The Coast Guard crew assisted Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Alaska SeaLife Center personnel transporting three malnourished walrus calves to Anchorage for care.
KTUU-TV reports -- A Pacific walrus calf has been taken in by the Alaska SeaLife Center after apparently becoming separated from its herd earlier this month near Barrow.
Center staff say the male calf, estimated to be four to six weeks old, was spotted by fishermen Saturday in North Salt Lagoon, after a large group of walrus passed Barrow on floating ice July 17. The calf was rescued by members of the North Slope Borough's Department of Wildlife Management after observation and approval by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, then placed under the care of a veterinarian.
David Mosely / U.S. Coast Guard via AP
In this photo take Monday July 30, 2012, two U.S. Coast Guard crew members aboard a HC-130 Hercules airplane transfer a baby walrus from the plane to an Air Force truck at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska. | <urn:uuid:613bc35f-f330-46db-a8e5-31b71516571d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/anchorage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93677 | 275 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Sportsman Lake Trail and Electric Peak
The land west of Mammoth is some of the most rugged in Yellowstone, with several peaks topping 10,000 feet. Several trails cut westward across this country, one of the most interesting being the 24-mile-long Sportsman Lake Trail. The route begins at Glen Creek Trailhead five miles south of Mammoth and follows Glen Creek (a good place to see elk in autumn) for four miles before crossing into the Gardner River drainage.
Along the way, a short spur trail leads to pretty Cache Lake. Considerably more challenging is a second side trip, the climb up 10,992-foot Electric Peak, the tallest mountain in this corner of Yellowstone.
Many folks camp near Electric Peak and spend a day climbing. It’s eight miles round-trip and you gain 3,000 feet on the way up, but the trail becomes harder to follow the higher you climb.
See a park trail guidebook for details and precautions on this hike. It is possible to day hike to the top of Electric Peak from the Glen Creek Trailhead, but it’s not recommended unless you have a masochistic streak, have done a lot of hiking, and are in great shape.
Beyond the side trail to Electric Peak, Sportsman Lake Trail crosses the Gardner River twice, and there are no bridges. The water can be dangerously deep early in the summer, so this hike is generally done in August or September. After you ford the river, the trail climbs to Electric Divide (watch for bighorn sheep) and then drops steeply to Sportsman Lake and down along pretty Fan Creek to the Fawn Pass Trailhead on U.S. Highway 191.
Because this is a one-way hike you will need to set up some sort of vehicle shuttle. Another problem is bears. This country overflows with grizzly activity, and a party size of four or more is recommended for travel here. Off-trail travel is prohibited in some areas; see the Park Service for details.
© Don Pitcher from Moon Yellowstone & Grand Teton, 5th Edition | <urn:uuid:60f1046e-0d14-4d92-99a3-4b90e5f02c6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moon.com/destinations/yellowstone-grand-teton/yellowstone-national-park/hiking-yellowstone/backcountry-hiking/sportsman-lake-trail-and-el | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935725 | 433 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Duke Energy's residential customers in this state can expect a 6.5 percent discount on their power bills starting next month.
The change will be a welcome surprise for recession-weary residents who have watched their power bills go up dramatically in recent years.
State regulators approved three rate adjustments this month for the Charlotte-based electric utility. The combined effect of the changes will reduce the monthly bill of a typical customer from $95.72 to $89.52.
The bill will rise to $90.11 a month on Jan. 1 when another adjustment is made to account for the company's costs for energy efficiency incentives and other energy conservation programs.
A typical customer uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month, though actual usage varies by the size of a home, its energy-efficiency and thermostat settings.
The main cause for the rate drop is the plummeting cost of coal and other fuels used by Duke's power plants. Duke is slightly increasing its costs for energy efficiency and renewable resources, such as solar energy, but those increases are not nearly big enough to offset the falling price of fuels.
Duke Energy has 1.8 million customers in North Carolina, including more than 160,000 in Durham, Chapel Hill and western parts of the Triangle. | <urn:uuid:4136b49e-c675-45e0-ad50-86bc74fb5588> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.newsobserver.com/business/duke-energy-to-reduce-power-bills | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940489 | 262 | 1.679688 | 2 |
(Reprinted from article written by Cheryl McKay for the History in Advance website)
I wrote the screen adaptation of The Ultimate Gift, which shows a grandfather leaving behind legacy videos for his grandson. Each one is an assignment designed to teach him something, with the hope that this spoiled kid, Jason, will become a better person. A person who could then get outside of himself and help others in the world.
The grandfather, Red Stevens (played by James Garner in the film) knew he didn’t have enough time left to help this young man change while he was alive. So he recorded the videos in one day, knowing they’d be watched over time. It was time he personally didn’t have; he was dying.
During the writing process, as getting into the grandson’s head to write his journey, I was struck by how frustrated I felt in penning his dilemma. I’d feel a range of emotions, of a kid who was on such a big journey with a person he’d been at odds with, who wasn’t even alive anymore to confront, to talk to, to challenge, to ask questions.
When writing the script, I got into character like an actor would do. I went to a cemetery, pretended to be Jason and visited Red’s grave, only to feel that frustration that I had so much I wanted to say, so much I wanted to ask, but Red was no longer there to hear it. Feeling that frustration showed me how important it is to stay current with the people in our lives. Tomorrow is not a guarantee. When Jason finally comes around to wanting to forgive his grandfather for past mistakes, he can’t tell him personally. But there is no question that Red and his videos have had a positive affect on changing this young man forever. Jason goes through this amazing journey with his grandfather, feels closer to him by the end after having been changed for the better by the legacy Red left behind on video.
One of my favorite quotes is by William James:
“The best use of a life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.”
We do not have an unlimited amount of time to make our mark on this world. As a writer of movies, books and articles, I have a terrific outlet to make sure I am producing content that can affect others, content that will hopefully outlast me. I find the more challenges I go through in life, the more messages I feel burning inside me to share with the world (and the more I want to help people either learn from my mistakes or my successes).
I love how in the structure of The Ultimate Gift, Red Stevens left his legacy behind on video. What people can learn from him doesn’t have to stop with just one viewing or just with the memories of what he spoke out loud when he was alive. The wisdom he recorded can be shared for generations to come. The twelve values (called gifts, such as love, giving, friendship, and family) that he felt were most important can be taught over and over again by his recordings.
I think it’s really important for people to capture their life’s messages, in written form or on video, as life progresses. We never know how long we have. We shouldn’t wait until we’re on our deathbed to share our wisdom. Every one of us has something unique to share. Every one of our lives is different and can uniquely make an impact on our family, friends, the community, and the world. The video Red Stevens left behind has the chance to have a large ripple effect on many others as he affects his grandson first, who then passes along those gifts and values to others. It doesn’t have to stop with the end of his life.
And neither do the special gifts, talents, and messages we have to share from our own lives. Find a way to capture your life and its messages, starting today. | <urn:uuid:1787f894-d26c-43de-9600-29cea7325c32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://purplepenworks.com/2012/04/19/the-ultimate-gift-whats-your-legacy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983587 | 821 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Jesus teaches the Nephites the Lord’s Prayer—They are to lay up treasures in heaven—The twelve disciples in their ministry are commanded to take no thought for temporal things—Compare Matthew 6. About A.D. 34.
1 aVerily, verily, I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor; but take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father who is in heaven.
2 Therefore, when ye shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have aglory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
5 And when thou aprayest thou shalt not do as the bhypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
12 And alead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
14 For, if ye aforgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and awash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, who is in asecret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where amoth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal;
20 But lay up for yourselves atreasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
25 And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he looked upon the atwelve whom he had chosen, and said unto them: Remember the words which I have spoken. For behold, ye are they whom I have chosen to bminister unto this people. Therefore I say unto you, ctake no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than draiment?
26 Behold the afowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the alilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. aSufficient is the day unto the evil thereof. | <urn:uuid:31aceacd-5736-4c3c-9f84-903a5fb7749a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/13.26?lang=eng | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937216 | 592 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Ernst Zundel is more dangerous than you realize By MARVIN KURZ The Globe & Mail Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - Page A15 The recent barrage of publicity about Ernst Zundel and his ludicrous claim for refugee status calls to mind an old joke. Two elderly Jewish men were sitting on a park bench, discussing current events. The first man, Sidney, sighed and said: "I don't listen to the news any more. It's too depressing. All I hear is news about war, death and terrorism. Worst of all, Israel is blamed for everything." His friend, Harry, shakes his head. "I read the papers all the time," he says. "The Arabic newspapers from the Middle East. Every day, there are stories about how the Jews control the banks and the newspapers. We even secretly rule the world. When I read that, I don't feel so bad." This little tale illustrates the most profound irony in Ernst Zundel's return to the news. Forget the fact that his application for refugee status makes a mockery of Canadian sanctuary for the persecuted. Forget that he previously renounced his Canadian home. The real irony is far sadder. His latest brush with fame coincides with the first anniversary of the horrific murder of journalist Daniel Pearl, a Jew. Mr. Zundel did not kill Daniel Pearl. But Mr. Pearl's murder was caused by a hatred of Jews that Mr. Zundel and his ilk have eagerly spread throughout the Muslim and Arab world for decades. Mr. Zundel is notorious for denying the Holocaust, but what is not so well known is that he was originally tried in 1985 on two separate charges of spreading false news. The better-known charge concerned the publication of a Holocaust-denial booklet. The lesser-known charge was for his pamphlet titled "The West, War and Islam!" Mr. Zundel distributed this tract widely, from Morocco to Pakistan. It alleged a Jewish conspiracy "against the Islamic peoples" and called for Islamic nations to mount a campaign against "Zionist disinformation and hate propaganda." He has luridly described Jews as "a rather paranoid, shrill, whining group of shysters, common racketeers, distorters of history, falsifiers of documents who created a gangster enclave in the Middle East called Israel." Sadly, Mr. Zundel's Islamic project has succeeded far beyond his deluded dreams. In the past decade, Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have become part of mainstream thought in many Muslim and Arab countries. Mr. Zundel's relentless pamphleteering and Internet propagandizing have powerfully abetted this process. A look at the anti-Semitic Web site, Radio Islam, is instructive. It displays several quotes from Mr. Zundel, links to Mr. Zundel's "The West, War and Islam" pamphlet, and proudly shows photographs of the works of Mr. Zundel and French anti-Semite Roger Garaudy, on sale in prominent Cairo bookstores. On his own Web site, Mr. Zundel attests to the authenticity of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the most dangerous hate-propaganda tract of the past century. Its fabricated allegations of an international Jewish conspiracy inspired Hitler to write Mein Kampf and call for the extermination of the Jews. The Protocols were available in Egypt in the 1950s, but eventually fell out of favour. However, new editions have been published since the 1990s. After the events of Sept. 11, The Protocols has taken on a life of its own in the Muslim and Arab worlds. This past Ramadan, a 41-part miniseries based on The Protocols was shown on Egyptian television. It described the founding of Israel as part of an international Jewish conspiracy. Newspapers in Pakistan, where Daniel Pearl was murdered, and throughout the Middle East, recalled the conspiracy theories of The Protocols when they blamed the Israelis for the events of Sept. 11. There can be no doubt that a corrosively anti-Semitic ideology motivated the fanatics who murdered Daniel Pearl. With no interest in a ransom, they singled out their Jewish victim for kidnaping and murder. In the year that has passed since Daniel Pearl's murder, Mr. Zundel has remained unrepentant. He continues to operate his Web site in defiance of the cease-and-desist order of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The hatred that he has spent decades spreading continues to flourish. On the other hand, Daniel Pearl's family has created a foundation in his memory. Its mission is to "promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications." Remarkably, Mr. Pearl's father has emerged as a voice of reason and reconciliation. Perhaps the final irony is that the Pearl family understands the need to move beyond hate, while Mr. Zundel remains obsessed with disseminating it. While Canada does not need the likes of Ernst Zundel, neither does the Middle East nor the Muslim world. Better that Harry has nothing good to read about, than more of Mr. Zundel's lies. Marvin Kurz is national legal counsel of the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada.
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Home · Site Map · What's New? · Search Nizkor | <urn:uuid:0f8d11e2-e293-47a9-8a54-d31915a71bcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/z/ftp.py?people/z/zundel.ernst/press/Globe_and_Mail.030226 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959893 | 1,095 | 1.710938 | 2 |
David J. Lewis - "Opportunistic Architecture: Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis"
David J. Lewis is a founding partner and principal of Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis, or LTL. Started in 1997 by Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki and David J. Lewis, Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis is an innovative, award-winning architecture partnership that pursues a diverse range of work, from large scale academic and cultural buildings to interior architecture to competitions. LTL's approach is to realize inventive solutions that turn the very constraints of each project into the design trajectory, exploring overlaps between space, program, form, budget and materials.
The firm's work has been extensively published and exhibited internationally. LTL Architects received the 2007 National Design Award for Interior Architecture from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and was selected as one of six American architectural firms featured in the U.S. Pavilion at the 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale. In addition, LTL was included in the 2000 National Design Triennial at the Cooper-Hewitt and was selected in December 2000 by Architectural Record as one of ten firms representing a Vanguard in Contemporary Architecture.
Lewis, Tsurumaki and Lewis are co-authors of two books, the monograph "Opportunistic Architecture," published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2008 and "Situation Normal ... Pamphlet Architecture #21," published by Princeton Architectural Press in 1998. | <urn:uuid:702a7a28-f9e2-46d6-bab0-a70bb432417e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uanews.org/calendar/david-j-lewis-opportunistic-architecture-lewistsurumakilewis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95717 | 300 | 1.570313 | 2 |
A friend sent me this link to a company selling these strange, multicolored “happy roses.” They’re presumably made by dye absorption, which you may have tried in a lower school science experiment with a couple of carnations and a few drops of blue food dye. (If you’re so inclined, directions are here.) The company says,
The Happy Rose is unique due to its rich and exuberant colour combination and the special colouring technique that lies hidden behind this. One look at this cheerful rose and you will feel happy.
Is it happy? Or just tacky?
On the one hand, bright color is associated with joy, so perhaps it’s as simple as: more color = more joy. And the “coloring process” is certainly magical, illuminating a normally hidden aspect of plant construction. But at the same time there’s something unappealing about the artifice of it.
Aesthetics of joy has an odd tension here. The brightest colors are rare in nature, so when we find them, they’re often in synthetic materials like paints and plastics. But joy also embraces the aesthetics of unfettered nature: the exuberant wildness and wonderful mystery of nature’s accidental creative process. Sometimes our interventions in nature produce great joy. I’m thinking of Samuel Francois’s charming tree art or Carol Hummel’s whimsical knits. You could also look at earthwork, like Jim Denevan’s sand paintings or Maya Lin’s Wave Field, as this type of joyful intervention.
I wonder if it has something to do with proportion. All of the artists I just mentioned seem to work with a great reverence for nature. Nature is their canvas and regardless of the scale of their efforts, it is the dominant element in their compositions. If anything, their work serves to call our attention to nature’s beauty, not to mask it. These “happy roses” walk the line for me. Some of those colors are deliciously intense, but I think their frenetic application obscures the natural form of the flower too much. I lose the beauty of the circular gesture and the bouquet becomes a collection of random ruffles.
All of this is an attempt to parse rationally what is a reflexive, visceral response for me. I vote eyesore. What do you think?
Thank you @_MattMorris for the link and inspiration for this post | <urn:uuid:948ec275-d43b-4caf-98b9-55086581bd8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aestheticsofjoy.com/2009/09/aesthetics-of-joy-or-eyesore-happy-roses/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944278 | 517 | 1.796875 | 2 |
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally published in the March 2010 issue of Kiplinger's Retirement Report. To subscribe, click here.
Doting grandparents, take heed: If you have a grandchild or two headed for college, it could be time to lavish a little extra attention -- and cash. The double whammy of tuition increases and unemployment among parents means that many college kids are in a financial squeeze. In 2009, the percentage of students taking out loans was at its highest in nine years, at 53%, according to a UCLA survey of students entering four-year colleges and universities.
If you want to help a grandchild pay for college, you have various options, each with pros and cons. Before you make a move, coordinate with the parents. Otherwise, you could hurt your grandchild's eligibility for financial aid.
For grandchildren who are years away from college, consider a state-sponsored 529 college-savings plan. This is a good route "for people who have money they're not going to need, and a desire to help educate their grandchild," says Joseph Hurley, founder of SavingforCollege.com. The money grows free of federal income taxes, and it's generally not taxed when withdrawn to pay for college expenses.
Joan Richman of New York City opened 529 accounts for each of her five grandchildren when they were born. "Whatever I can accumulate for my grandchildren, even if it's a small amount, it will help," says Richman, 66.
Thirty-four states offer state income-tax deductions or credits for at least part of 529 contributions. There's also an estate-planning benefit. Each grandparent can contribute $13,000 a year for each grandchild without filing a gift-tax return or make a single contribution of $65,000, which the IRS treats as if it were paid out in $13,000 segments over five years. "It's a way they can get the money out of an estate," says Valerie Adelman, a certified financial planner with Financial Asset Management, in New York City.
If the grandchild doesn't go to college, you can switch the beneficiary to any family member. You can always liquidate the account, but if the money is withdrawn for a noneducation expense, "you would owe income tax and a 10% penalty on the earnings," says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org.
Because the grandparent is the account owner, the 529 is not counted during the financial-aid application process. But when the money is withdrawn, some schools may reduce aid. "You'd have to ask the college what the policy is toward 529 plans," says Rick Darvis, a certified public accountant in Medicine Lake, Mont.
Hand Over the Cash
An alternative to a 529 is a custodial account at a bank or brokerage firm. The money is held under the grandchild's name. But the account could affect financial aid more than a 529 because the federal formula assumes that 20% of assets in a child's name can be used for tuition. And once the child turns 18 or 21 (depending on the state), it's the grandkid's money. "The grandchild could say, 'Thanks, Grandma,' and use the money for a trip abroad," says Adelman.
You can write a check to your kids to help pay the costs. The $13,000 gift can be multiplied by four if you and your spouse give to your son and daughter-in-law. There is no gift-tax limit if you send a payment directly to the university. But, "a check to the college would typically reduce financial aid dollar for dollar," says Deborah Fox, founder of Fox College Funding, in San Diego.
If you'd like to make a loan to your grandkid, treat it as a business transaction. The interest rate must be high enough so that the IRS won't consider the transfer a taxable gift. Draw up a promissory note, or consider using VirginMoney (www.virginmoneyus.com), which sets up loans between family members for a fee.
Also, if you want to give or lend money, it could be best to hand over the cash to the parent rather than the student. The financial-aid formula counts up to 5.6% of a parent's assets -- but 20% of a student's assets -- in determining resources available for college. To maximize aid, make the loans or gifts during the student's junior year of college after the final financial aid forms have been submitted for senior year. | <urn:uuid:a82cd6cd-5ba4-4ac2-8e2d-0b28a44a200d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kiplinger.com/article/retirement/T062-C000-S001-help-grandkids-pay-the-college-tab.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95976 | 933 | 1.828125 | 2 |
On Monday at the Republic, MO school board meeting, four Republic School Board members reviewed a year-old complaint that three books are inappropriate reading material for high school children. In a 4-0 vote, the members decided to ax two of the three books from the high school curriculum and the library shelves: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was spared. The resident who filed the original complaint targeted these three books because “they teach principles contrary to the Bible“:
Wesley Scroggins, a Republic resident, challenged the use of the books and lesson plans in Republic schools, arguing they teach principles contrary to the Bible.
“I congratulate them for doing what’s right and removing the two books,” said Scroggins, who didn’t attend the board meeting. “It’s unfortunate they chose to keep the other book.”
Speak is an award-winning novel that describes a high school date rape victim’s personal struggles. This novel was approved because, as school superintendent Vern Minor said, only one page is used to “tastefully, not graphically” describe the rape and there were only three instances of profanity. But Twenty Boy Summer, a book about a young girl who struggles with loving another after her boyfriend suddenly dies, apparently focused too much on “sensationalizing sexual promiscuity” and featured “questionable language, drunkenness, lying to parents and a lack of remorse.” “If the book had ended on a different note, I might have though differently,” said Minor.
As for the modern classic Slaughterhouse Five, the book is no stranger to censorship. One of the first literary acknowledgments that homosexual men, or “fairies” in the novel, were victims in the Holocaust, school classrooms and libraries frequently ban the book for its use of profanity and depictions of sex. The Supreme Court actually considered the First Amendment implications of the removal of this book, among others, from libraries in the 1982 case Island Tree School District v. Pico. The Court’s plurality concluded that “local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to ‘prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.’” Minor’s reason for removing the novel? “The language is just really, really intense…I don’t think it has any place in high school…I’m not saying it’s a bad book.”
While the books will be removed from the curriculum and the library, students desiring to read these books can get parent permission to use them for a school project. “If the parent thinks ‘For Johnny, it is age-appropriate,’ then we’ll let the parent make the call,” Minor said. It is important to note that, out of the four School Board Members, only one has actually read all three books. | <urn:uuid:1bf95c4f-1c9d-4a31-a65d-8d6fb76b716b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/27/280691/missouri-school-district-bans-books/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962012 | 657 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Last week’s announcement by GM that is has fully repaid the loans it received from the U.S., Canadian, and Ontario governments (years ahead of schedule, and with interest) was greeted in most circles as another positive sign of the auto industry’s modest recovery. Since the dark days of last June (when Chrysler was shut down entirely), the Canadian auto assembly sector has clawed back 5000 jobs — and another 4000 have been added in the even-harder-hit parts industry. (Dont forget, though: That still leaves us 40,000 auto jobs below where we were 3 years ago … so we can’t possibly conclude that the crisis is over.) Real GDP in assembly has rebounded by $4 billion (at annual rates) since June, and by $2 billion in parts. Add in the spin-off jobs (7-to-1 for assembly, including the parts jobs), and this rebound constitutes a major portion of the gains in Canadian GDP that have been recorded in recent months. Indeed, these two sectors directly account (not counting spin-off linkages) for about one-fifth of the growth in business sector GDP in all of Canada since June.
Derek DeCloet in the Globe and Mail was an exception to this positive response: there’s nothing the auto industry could possibly do to make Derek happy (except perhaps pack up and move away). He grumbled that the government is still subsidizing this company, and ridiculed GM’s TV ads as a publicity stunt. (Of course they were a publicity stunt, Derek. That’s what advertizing is, you silly.) Please stick henceforth to covering the government-subsidized state-protected financial sector, Derek, and spare us your Bay-Street-centric rants on the real economy (that is, the part of the economy that actually produces goods and services — rather than buying and selling pieces of paper).
On one hand, however, DeCloet is right, and we shouldn’t get too carried away with optimism about the repayment. The loans represented only about a fifth of the total assistance GM received from the three governments (U.S., Canada, and Ontario). The rest was in the form of equity, and it will take a lot longer before that ever gets “repaid” to the governments. Nevertheless, who would have dreamed a year ago (when GM was on death’s door) that it could generate $8 billion (U.S.) in free cash flow to repay the loans. And if the repayment generates a bit more confidence among GM consumers about the company’s long-run viability, that will have a reinforcing effect on its sales (and hence on jobs) – all the better.
More good news came when GM announced $850 million (U.S.) in new capital spending in its engine plants, including a big swack in St. Catharines Ontario. That new equipment will help GM fulfil the far-reaching Canadian content commitments it made in the powertrain area, as part of the rescue effort last year. Canadian negotiators squeezed GM hard to increase their proportional commitments to Canadian production (of both assembled vehicles and powertrain) as the quid pro quo for the proportional Canada-Ontario commitment to the rescue effort.
The main man in this regard was Mr. Paul Boothe, an unassuming, consummate federal civil servant who proved in the heat of battle that he could negotiate with the best of them. If only all our public officials were as determined and skilful in their efforts to pro-actively win real investment and real opportunities for our industries. The St. Catharines announcement is in large part the fruition of the efforts by Boothe (and all the other stakeholders in last year’s rescue, including the provincial government and the CAW) to negotiate a package that was much more than a bailout. Rather, it was a recipe for a reaffirmed Canadian presence by these two lynchpin manufacturers (GM and Chrysler).
There are a couple of more dimensions to this fascinating story that are worth exploring:
1. The federal and Ontario governments have already recouped over $2 billion of their contribution to GM, and there is clearly more coming (though we don’t know when). The Harper government’s decision last year to write off every penny of the auto aid and thus build it all into last year’s deficit calculation (which I questioned at the time as curious and even misleading) has already been proven wrong. Since the money was already “written off” by Ottawa as a loss (on grounds that they had little confidence it would be repaid – contradicting their own assurances at the same time that it was an “investment,” not a bail-out), any repayment will come as a gain that can be recorded in the budget on the revenue side. Jim Flaherty has learned from past Finance Ministers (especially Paul Martin) that it’s always politically better to make the budget situation look worse than it is (even when the bottom has fallen out of the balance), thus positioning yourself to triumphantly announce “surprising good news” (due, no doubt, to “careful fiscal management”) down the road. The auto package could thus generate as much as $10 billion in “surprising good news” for Ottawa in the years to come (depending on the ultimate worth of the public equity share). It should never have been written off as a “deficit” in the first place (it really is an investment, I would argue).
2. Likewise, calling the auto aid “stimulus” was also misleading. Remember the government’s fishy claim that their total stimulus effort amounted to $40 billion or more (over two years)? Almost a quarter of that was the auto aid. It was important for preserving jobs, for sure. But does it count as “stimulus,” in the sense of stimulating expenditure? I don’t think so. It was more in the realm of a balance sheet transfer that kept an important company going. If the auto aid was “stimulus,” then so too was the much larger line of credit which Ottawa advanced to the banks (they could have tapped $200 billion under Mr. Flaherty’s EFF mechanism) – all of which was also repaid. In that case, Ottawa’s “stimulus” was more like a quarter-trillion dollars … far outpacing everyone else in the OECD as a share of GDP! Of course that’s nonsense. This was just one of many ways that Ottawa inflated the true value of its stimulus effort last year (including counting as “stimulus” the increase in EI payouts that automatically accompanied last year’s mass layoffs).
3. The loans that GM repaid came from the Export Development Corporation, which runs a usually low-profile business assisting Canadian exporters with lines of credit, payment insurance, and other financial intermediation. Amidst the crisis last year, the federal government gave EDC a much broader mandate (including investment banking to support key Canadian exporters), backed by modest contributions of new share capital (which, again, count as an investment, not a current “expenditure,” and hence don’t count in the deficit). EDC, like any other bank, is then allowed to leverage its capital into multiplied amounts of lending to businesses. That’s what private banks do all the time. The only difference is that private banks do this to maximize their own profits (hence generating the bankers’ cycle, through which the volume of credit created for the economy fluctuates wildly and destructively, depending on the collective mood swings of the bankers). EDC, in contrast, is mandated to create credit it in the public interest.
This proves the value of something that Canadian lefties (including me, Andrew Jackson, and various incarnations of the Alternative Federal Budget have been advocating for years): the creation of a National Industrial Investment Bank to channel steady, attractively-priced capital into strategic Canadian industries in the real economy. Utilizing public vehicles of credit creation (rather than relying solely on private banks and other private channels, like the stock market) would be a very valuable tool to support real industrial development in Canada. And this lending is NOT government “spending.” Rather, it’s using the power of credit creation for the public good, rather than private greed. In my view, the EDC should keep the money repaid by GM and reinvest it in further industrial lending to support other key export-oriented businesses. In essence it would thus become the public investment bank we have been advocating. Derek DeCloet and his ilk would go bananas about the intrusion of politicized government into a realm that they assume should be the exclusive preserve of rational, private bean-counters. I think that after the last two years, we can all come up with about a dozen counter-arguments to the assumption that “private is best,” when it comes to lending and finance.
4. Finally, GM’s quick repayment of the loans has whetted the appetite of some commentators (including DeCloet) for the ultimate repayment of the full government contribution. That would occur through the issuance of public equity by GM and Chrysler, creating a market for those stocks into which the government would presumably sell its shares. There is even some nefarious language in the rescue packages requiring the government to sell off its shares within specified, relatively aggressive timelines. The more I think about it, the less this makes sense – neither for the auto industry, nor for taxpayers. Why not hang onto the equity stake? If the companies recover and the equity gains market value, then the government will be able to claim that on its balance sheet (hence officially recouping the cost of its written-off contributions and creating a budgetary gain). That could well generate better value for the government than a quick, premature sale. More importantly, the government’s continuing equity participation would help to maintain the company’s focus on the public interest (not just the private interest) that the Canadian footprint succeeded in introducing. There are other highly successful automakers in the world where host governments maintain an important minority stake (including Volkswagen and Renault). The Canadian and U.S. governments should investigate doing the same thing, before rushing to dump an asset which could, ironically, turn out to be one of the best investments they’ve made in decades. | <urn:uuid:4f7650bc-0c54-4799-b3df-81a372662ab7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2010/05/04/digging-deeper-on-the-gm-loan-repayment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967347 | 2,176 | 1.507813 | 2 |
From Rev. James Coucouzes to Archbishop Iakovos
Editor’s note: The following article was written by Christopher Tripoulas of The National Herald, the leading Greek-American newspaper. It was originally published on The National Herald‘s blog on October 27. (Click here to view the original.) Many thanks to Mr. Tripoulas for allowing us to reprint the article.
During an age when the “what have you done for me lately” mentality reigns supreme, the Annunciation Cathedral of New England is undertaking a very auspicious project that pays tribute to one of its greatest ever memorable benefactors and stands as a very positive example within the Greek-American community. The Cathedral’s decision to adopt a proposal by its dean, V. Rev. Cleopas Strongylis, to: a) compile its history during Archbishop Iakovos’ deanship, b) create a digital archive of the Cathedral’s historical files, and c) establish a Research Center in the Cathedral Mansion for the promotion and preservation of the Cathedral’s history, is an initiative that definitely deserves to be commended. Like the old Greek saying goes, if you don’t praise your home, it will fall and crash down upon you… and what better way to praise and celebrate the history of this 100-year-plus-old community than to commemorate its most celebrated period: Iakovos’ tenure – then known by most as Archimandrite James A. Coucouzes – as its dean.
This historical study is particularly poignant today, and not just because it coincides with the 70th anniversary of Iakovos’ appointment to the Cathedral or his centennial of birth, but also because it comes at a time when there is an apparent leadership crisis plaguing society in general. The late archbishop has sometimes been characterized as “larger than life.” His decisions, like those of every great leader, sometimes sparked controversy and remained under the historical microscope for years to come. But whether you agree with of all his decisions or not, there’s no debating Iakovos’ leadership qualities and ability to inspire.
What makes this particular work all the more interesting is that it provides a closer look at one of the most significant ecclesiastical figures of the Twentieth Century, before he put on the Archbishop’s miter. It will provide information that will help to reveal the qualities, passion, and mentality that played a key part in transforming this dynamic Boston area priest, Archimandrite James Coucouzes, into national Church and ethnic leader: Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America.
The early years and priestly ministry of the man who went on to lead the Church in America for four decades naturally never gets as much attention as does his high-profile career as archbishop and particularly his storied trips to the White House. But the humble confines of his office on Parker & Ruggles Streets in Boston have just as much to do with the making of this legendary leader, because it was there that he first laid the foundations for his later work and came of age.
There is a real potential for this study to provide a wonderful inspiration and serve as a great resource for clergymen and laypersons alike, possibly even encouraging them to explore the histories of their own communities or organizations. By researching precisely what it was about Coucouzes’ tenure that helped to lay the groundwork for the Boston Cathedral’s “Golden Era” and its dean’s subsequent astronomic rise in the Church’s ranks, it might be possible to redefine our own expectations for what we envision our future “golden era” to be.
Coucouzes’ deanship simply was prolific. He worked endless hours dedicating his attention to every aspect of the community life – spiritual, educational, and social. In addition, he showed particular interest in Hellenic national issues and care for the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Those are just some of the aspects that the study promises to bring to the forefront, thus better acquainting us with the iconic figure that would go on to leave an indelible mark in the Greek Diaspora.
But the Cathedral’s initiative is also important because in addition to enriching history, it will use this work to enhance and beautify its facilities and services in a rather ingenious way. This project hopefully will speak to the minds and hearts of prospective donors to relive history while renovating the community as well. And in doing so, it will provide readers with a look at how some of the pioneering Greeks and their ever-memorable spiritual leader chased progress, while helping inspire today’s generation of church and lay leaders to recapture some of that all important ingenuity.
This work was made possible thanks to the commendable efforts of Nikie Calles, Director of Archives at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Anyone who has ever visited the Archives can plainly see what a superb job Calles has done capturing and organizing the history of not just the Church, but of the entire Greek-American community. In addition, the generous support of noble contributors like Stephen and Catherine Pappas and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation should also be recognized, as their financial assistance was essential in helping Calles to apply her many talents and compile this tremendous didactic and informational resource.
And so, whether based on donations from philanthropists like the Pappases or the Foundation, Calles’ invaluable work, or the “philotimo” shown by the Boston Cathedral, the encouraging sign is that the Greek-American Community still loves its history, and as long as there is genuine love for the past, there is all the reason to hope for a brighter tomorrow. Because in a true community of persons, the dreams of the previous generation are perpetually being realized by its successors.
This article was written by Christopher Tripoulas of The National Herald and has been reprinted with permission from the author. To view the original article, click here.
- Early stages of the Bulgarian schism from Constantinople
- The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 6
- The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 5
- The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 4
- The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 3
- The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 2
- The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 1
- Freemasonry in American Orthodox history
- Two Greek youths come to America in 1823
- Photo of the week: the monument to Fr. Methodios Kourkoulis | <urn:uuid:3115ba92-ba82-47b1-963d-b911d62efca6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://orthodoxhistory.org/2011/11/03/from-rev-james-coucouzes-to-archbishop-iakovos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957573 | 1,426 | 1.71875 | 2 |
KTR: Good evening, welcome to Kyrgyzstan. On February 20, 2012, the 20th Anniversary of the United States embassy in Bishkek was celebrated which was the first foreign embassy opened in Bishkek. What is reached within this 20 years and why Kyrgyzstan is interesting to the United States?
Assistant Secretary Blake: First of all, it’s a real pleasure to be back here in Kyrgyzstan and to the lovely city of Bishkek. I’m very happy to be here on the 20th Anniversary of our relations, and I believe that the United States and Kyrgyzstan have accomplished a great deal in our 20 years of cooperation.
We’re very proud of the assistance program that the U.S. Agency for International Development has pursued here for those 20 years. We’ve provided more than a billion dollars in assistance in areas such as health, education, agriculture, economic development, and we look to continue that program for the foreseeable future.
We’re also very pleased with the tremendous progress that Kyrgyzstan has made on its democratic transition. I was very happy to be here for the inauguration of President Atambayev and again we see Kyrgyzstan as a real model for the region in terms of its parliamentary democracy.
Lastly, we greatly appreciate the role that Kyrgyzstan is helping to play in the stabilization of Afghanistan and helping all of these important transitions that are taking place now in Afghanistan.
So altogether, we’re very satisfied with the progress in our relations and we look forward to continued very strong cooperation between our countries.
KTR: In U.S. you already know the Transit Center in Manas International Airport is under a spotlight lately, and the Kyrgyz side emphasizes several times the presence of military troops on territory civil airport is unacceptable. What do you expect from upcoming negotiations in the Transit Center’s future status?
Assistant Secretary Blake: Let me begin by expressing the appreciation of the United States for the strong support that President Atambayev has provided for the Transit Center. We appreciate the fact that he has reaffirmed that the existing contract will be honored through the middle of 2014. We are also prepared to enter into discussions with President Atambayev and his team at their earliest convenience to discuss their ideas about the future of the Manas Transit Center. Again, I’m very confident we will have a very positive discussion to exchange views on how Manas might be used in the future.
From our perspective, I think after the NATO Summit in Chicago in May we will have a better idea of some of the needs that we will have in Afghanistan after 2014, so we’ll be in a better position to have that inform our discussions with Kyrgyzstan.
KTR: As you already may know, by 2014 there will be a withdrawal of coalition forces from Afghanistan as planned. How it may affect the security of the Kyrgyz Republic in particular and Central Asian region in general?
Assistant Secretary Blake: Let me first say that the year 2014 will not mark the end of the international community’s commitment to Afghanistan. On the contrary, we expect to have a very long term development partnership with Afghanistan. We’re now in the process of encouraging countries to participate in the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan in July to talk about ways that the international community can support the process of economic development inside of Afghanistan but also the process of regional integration that will help Afghanistan.
Secondly, we expect there will be some sort of residual military presence in Afghanistan to help continue to train the Afghan National Security Forces so that they can provide for their own security. Again, I think a lot of that will be discussed at the NATO Summit in May.
So I think the international community will remain very engaged in Afghanistan, and of course Kyrgyzstan will have a continuing important role to play.
KTR: According to some military experts Iran may attack the Transit Center through rockets, even more stuffs starting between the West and Iran. According to you is such threat exists? And what are the plans for salvation of Iran issue?
Assistant Secretary Blake: Let me reassure the people of Kyrgyzstan that the mission of the Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan is to help support the important stabilization process inside Afghanistan and to support the NATO presence in Afghanistan. And the main uses of the Manas Transit Center are for the transit of troops that are going into Afghanistan, but also the provision of fuel and other supplies for coalition forces inside Afghanistan. So I would foresee no role of any kind for the transit center in any sort of potential conflict with Iran or any other country, and again, the United States is very much committed to trying to find a diplomatic solution with the P5+1 partners to the problems inside Iran. But as President Obama and Secretary Clinton have said, time is very short, so it’s very very important now that we make progress on this diplomatic solution and that all of our partners in the region encourage and indeed pressure Iran to come to the negotiating table and negotiate in good faith.
KTR: In the mind of Kyrgyzstan the United States is associated with your military base that is here. Why don’t you, in order to overcome the stereotypes, why don’t you realize large economical projects such as CASA-1000 and not only in order to overcome above-mentioned stereotype?
Assistant Secretary Blake: First of all let me say that we’ve just concluded a very important conference in Dushanbe that talked a great deal about the future of Afghanistan and the importance of integrating Afghanistan into its regional neighborhood including Kyrgyzstan. The RECCA conference, as it was called, endorsed a broad plan of regional integration projects, including the CASA 1000 project, because all of the countries of the region and the United States see such projects as critical to helping build up a private sector and private sector opportunities not only in Afghanistan but also in Kyrgyzstan. But as in every part of the world it’s important for the governments, including your government, to make sure that there is a very welcoming environment for foreign investment, that impediments such as corruption and bureaucratic controls and all other things that might inhibit foreign investment are removed. And that a very open and encouraging investment environment is created.
So we’re working with our government to encourage such things and certainly we encourage American companies to come and invest here, and we ourselves are doing our own little share. We’re building a new embassy here and we will be spending $145 million for that, so there will be a lot of new contracts for Kyrgyz companies and Kyrgyz workers that will come from that.
Again, we are very much committed to the economic future of Kyrgyzstan.
KTR: Thank you very much.
Assistant Secretary Blake: Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be with you again and to see you again and to have a chance to speak to you and all of our friends in Kyrgyzstan. | <urn:uuid:ff2b0519-4e2c-4933-8cba-a7d2de0b32ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.state.gov/p/sca/rls/rmks/2012/187399.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959686 | 1,460 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Late in the evening July 17, after the Costa Mesa City Council voluntarily handcuffed the community to an unconscionable contract with Newport Banning Ranch LLC, the council quietly tightened its grip by purposeful inaction.
This time, the council majority chose not to put on November's ballot a proposal to adjust the city's business license tax. This inaction effectively prevented the community from voting on an opportunity to increase the city's revenue. The result is that we will not get to consider this issue again for at least two more years, in the 2014 general election.
Costa Mesa's business license tax has not changed since 1985; not surprisingly, it's the lowest among Orange County cities. Generally based on a sliding scale tied to gross receipts, Costa Mesa businesses pay between zero and $200 (the maximum for businesses grossing more than $500,000).
This tax applies to about 9,000 general businesses, and the city collects about $800,000 annually. That's less than $90 per business. In fact, almost 65% of these businesses gross less than $200,000 annually and pay only $65 each year.
By comparison, Newport Beach and Santa Ana, which have different methods of calculating taxes, annually collect about $4 million and $9 million, respectively.
So what's wrong with adjusting the tax, so it reflects today's economics, not those of 1985?
At first, it appeared that the council recognized the importance of making an adjustment and bringing Costa Mesa into the 21st century. The council had directed staff and its consultant to review best-practices locally, and recommended a handful of options to modify the business license tax and increase the city's revenue. The recommendations included different tax structures that would provide annual net revenues from $1.4 million to $3.4 million.
But that's as far as it went. On July 17, we heard from our councilmen — businessmen by trade — that increasing the tax would be an undue burden on existing businesses and stifle our community's economic growth. That's totally bogus.
New businesses certainly do not choose to locate in Costa Mesa simply because of the business tax. It may be a small factor in the decision-making process, but it's not the determinative one. More importantly, existing businesses do not consider locating elsewhere because the tax may be marginally higher.
Are tenants going to leave South Coast Plaza simply because the business tax is increased? No. South Coast Plaza is a premier shopping destination, and businesses pay a premium — higher rents, top quality tenant improvements, well-trained staff — to be there. I highly doubt Nordstrom is going to clear out because its $200 business license increases to $10,000 (the proposed maximum for businesses with more than $25 million in gross receipts).
Many businesses, like Nordstrom, Volcom, or even Skosh Monahan's, have made a considerable investment in Costa Mesa because we are, for the most part, a community of value. Businesses choose to locate here because Costa Mesa offers critical ingredients to their success. For retailers, in particular, this means having a large customer base, available skilled labor, and locations that are safe, attractive and accessible.
But being the cheapest place to do business — as suggested by our current business license tax — is a race to the bottom, not a sound economic development strategy. The practical reality for Costa Mesa is that we have to look seriously at increasing our revenues; that's a vital component of economic development.
Why, then, would our councilmen object to raising more revenue? Clearly we need it to pay for all of their proposed infrastructure improvements, nuisance motel purchases and unnecessary and growing legal fees. Or maybe we actually need more general funds to pay for what is immediately valuable to both residents and businesses — namely, our public safety.
Two years ago, the council begrudgingly voted to put an increase of the city's transient occupancy tax, another severely low tax that hadn't been changed in decades, on the ballot for the community's consideration. Why is this situation any different? Why are these councilmen so afraid to put this one on the ballot?
If it's such a bad idea, surely the informed citizens of Costa Mesa will recognize it has no merit and vote it down. Why not give us the opportunity to exercise our local control and determine what is best for Costa Mesa? Isn't this the promise of the council majority's proposed charter scheme?
I don't know what would be the right adjustment to the business license tax — that's the tough policy question the council is charged with determining.
I'm sure, though, that our council, able staff, and the business community could sit down and discuss a reasonable way to collectively improve our city's fiscal health and continue to add value to the Costa Mesa community.
But we can't wait until 2014.
JEFFREY HARLAN is an urban planner who lives on the Eastside of Costa Mesa. | <urn:uuid:781ee047-fe90-4cbe-9098-8134500d3960> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktuu.com/topic/tn-dpt-0805-harlan-20120804,0,7708708.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96189 | 1,011 | 1.625 | 2 |
Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy & Immunologic Diseases
The Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy & Immunologic Diseases Section provides education at all levels of medical training: didactic education and clinical training for medical students, residents, fellows, physician assistant students, pharmacy students and residents, and many levels of community CME. Our faculty are leaders in the education arena, with many receiving nominations as “Teacher of the Year” by the internal medicine residents. We are proud that the Teacher of the Year for the past five years has been one of our faculty members.
Education is a priority within our Section. All faculty members participate in educational experiences, and three faculty members have a significant commitment to each specific level of training:
- Dr. Haponik is the MS II Pulmonary Block Director
- Dr. Chatterjee is MS III/ MS IV Pulmonary/Critical Care Course Director, and is also a member of the IM House Staff Executive Committee
- Dr. Chatterjee is coordinating the clinical immersion course for the MBA school
- Pascual is coordinating Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine Fellow conferences and board review
- Dr. Mark Dykewicz, Director of Allergy and Immunology, is director of the fellowship program in Allergy and Immunology, and the director of resident rotations in Allergy and Immunology. | <urn:uuid:c0dec587-b870-4a31-a22a-5eb3575e28a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wakehealth.edu/School/Pulmonary,-Critical-Care,-Allergy---Immunoglogic-Diseases.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942736 | 279 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Author: Hawthorne, Julian, 1846-1934
Title: The Golden Fleece, a romance
Publisher: Project Gutenberg
Tag(s): kamaiakan; freeman; miriam; semitzin; meschines; don miguel; miguel; senor; general trednoke; harvey freeman; golden fleece
Contributor(s): Bright, Mynors, 1818-1883 [Translator]
Versions: original; local mirror; HTML (this file); printable
Services: find in a library; evaluate using concordance
Rights: GNU General Public License
Size: 32,246 words (really short) Grade range: 8-11 (high school) Readability score: 63 (easy)
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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* Scanned by Charles Keller with OmniPage Professional OCR software donated by Caere Corporation. THE GOLDEN FLEECE A Romance by JULIAN HAWTHORNE CHAPTER I. The professor crossed one long, lean leg over the other, and punched down the ashes in his pipe-bowl with the square tip of his middle finger. The thermometer on the shady veranda marked eighty-seven degrees of heat, and nature wooed the soul to languor and revery; but nothing could abate the energy of this bony sage. "They talk about their Atlantises,--their submerged continents!" he exclaimed, with a sniff through his wide, hairy nostrils. "Why, Trednoke, do you realize that we are living literally at the bottom of a Mesozoic--at any rate, Cenozoic--sea?" The gentleman thus indignantly addressed contemplated his questioner with the serenity of one conscious of freedom from geologic responsibility. He was a man of about the professor's age,--say, sixty years,--but not like him in appearance. His figure was stately and massive,--that of one who in his youth must have possessed vast physical strength, rigidly developed and disciplined. Well set upon his broad shoulders was a noble head, crowned with gray, wavy hair; the eyes and eyebrows were black and powerful, but the expression was kindly and humorous. His moustache and the Roman convexity of his chin would have confirmed your conviction that he was a retired warrior; in which you would have been correct, for General Trednoke always appeared what he was, both outwardly and inwardly. His great frame, clad in white linen, was comfortably disposed in a Japanese straw arm- chair; yet there was a soldierly poise in his attitude. He was smoking a large and excellent cigar; and a cup of coffee, with a tiny glass of cognac beside it, stood on a mahogany stand at his elbow. "Do you remember, Meschines, the time I licked you at school?" he inquired, in a tone of pleasant reminiscence. "I can't say I do. What's more, I venture to challenge your statement. And though you are a hundred pounds the better of me in weight, and a West Point graduate, I will wager my pipe (which is worth its weight in diamonds) against that old woollen shirt of Montezuma's that you showed me yesterday, that I can lick you to-day, and forget all about it before bedtime!" "Well, I guess you could," returned the general, with a little chuckle, "even if I hadn't that Mexican bullet in my leg. But you couldn't, forty-five years ago, though you tried, and though I was a year younger than you, and weighed five pounds less. Come, now: you don't mean to say you've forgotten Susan Brown!" "Oh--ah--hah! Susan Brown! Well, I declare! And what brought her into your head, I should like to know?" "Why, after breaking your heart first, and then mine, I lost sight of her, and I don't think I have seen her since. But it appears she was married to a fellow named Parsloe." "Don't fancy that name!" observed the professor, wagging his head and frowning. "Has a mean sound to it. But what of it?" "Well, she died,--rest her soul!--and Parsloe too. But they had a daughter, and she survives them." "And resembles her mother, eh?--No, Trednoke, the time for that sort of thing has gone by with me. Susan might have had me, five-and-forty years ago; but I can't undertake to revive my passion for the benefit of Mrs. Parsloe's daughter. Besides, I'm too busy to think of marriage, and not--not old enough!" At this tour de force, the general laughed softly, and finished his coffee. An old Indian, somewhat remarkable in appearance, with shaggy white hair hanging down on his shoulders, stepped forward from the room where he had been waiting, and removed the cup. "No letters yet, Kamaiakan?" asked the general, in Spanish. "In a few minutes, general," the other replied. "Pablo has just come in sight over the hill. There were several errands." "Muy buen!--I was going to say, Meschines, her father and mother left the girl poor, and she, being, apparently, clever and energetic, took to----" "I know!" the professor interrupted. "They all do it, when they are clever and energetic, and that's the end of them!-- School-teaching!" "Not at all," returned General Trednoke. "She entered a dry-goods store." "Entered a dry-goods store! Well, there's nothing so extraordinary in that. I've seen quantities of women do it, of all ages, colors, and degrees. What did she buy there?" "Oh, a fiddlestick!" exclaimed the general. "Why don't you keep quiet and listen to my story? I say, she went into a great dry-goods store in New York, as sales- woman." "Bless my soul! You don't mean a shop-girl?" "That's what I said, isn't it? And why not?" "Oh, well!--but, shade of Susan Brown! Ichabod!--what is the feminine of Ichabod, by the way, Trednoke? But, seriously, it's too bad. Susan may have been fickle, but she was always aristocratic. And now her daughter is a shop-girl. You and I are avenged!" "You are just as ridiculous, Meschines, as you were thirty or fifty years ago," said the general, tranquilly. "You declaim for the sake of hearing your own voice. Besides, what you say is un-American. Grace Parsloe, as I was saying, got a place as shop- girl in one of the great New York stores. I don't say she mightn't have done worse: what I say is, I doubt whether she could have done better. That house--I know one of its founders, and I know what I'm talking about--is like an enormous family, where children are born, year after year, grow up, and take their places in life according to their quality and merit. What I mean is, that the boy who drives a wagon for them to-day, at three dollars a week, may control one of their chief departments, or even become a partner, before they're done with him; and, mutatis mutandis, the same with the girls. When these girls marry, it's apt to be into a higher rank of life than they were born in; and that fact, I take it, is a good indication that their shop-girl experience has been an education and an improvement. They are given work to do, suited to their capacity, be it small or great; they are in the way of learning something of the great economic laws; they learn self- restraint, courtesy, and----" "And human nature! Yes, poor things: they see the American buying-woman, and that is a discipline more trying than any you West Pointers know about! Oh, yes, I see your point. If the fathers of the big family ARE fathers, and the children ARE children to them . . . All the same, I fancy the young ladies, when they marry into the higher social circles, as you say they do, don't, as a rule, make their shop girl days a topic of conversation at five-o'clock teas, or put 'Ex-shop-girl to So-and-so' at the bottom of their visiting-cards." "I believe, after all, you're a snob, Meschines," said the general, pensively. "But, as I was about to say, when you interrupted me ten minutes ago, Grace Parsloe is coming on here to make us a visit. She fell ill, and her employers, after doing what could be done for her in the way of medical attendance, made up their minds to give her a change of climate. Now, you know, as she had originally gone to them with a letter from me, and as I live out here, on the borders of the Southern desert, in a climate that has no equal, they naturally thought of writing to me about it. And of course I said I'd be delighted to have her here, for a month, or a year, or whatever time it may be. She will be a pleasure to me, and a friend for Miriam, and she may find a husband somewhere up or down the coast, who will give her a fortune, and think all the better of her because she, like him, had the ability and the pluck to make her own way in the world." "Humph! When do you expect her?" "She may turn up any day. She is coming round by way of the Isthmus. From what I hear, she is really a very fine, clever girl. She held a responsible position in the shop, and----" "Well, let us sink the shop, and get back to the rational and instructive conversation that we--or, to be more accurate, that I was engaged in when this digression began. I presume you are aware that all the indications are lacustrine?" Hereupon, a hammock, suspended near the talkers, and filled with what appeared to be a bundle of lace and silken shawls, became agitated, and developed at one end a slender arched foot in an open-work silk stocking and sandal-slipper, and at the other end a dark, youthful, oval face, with glorious eyes and dull black hair. A voice of music asked,-- "What is lacustrine, papa?" "Oh, so you are awake again, Senorita Miriam?" "I haven't been asleep. What is lacustrine?" "Ask the professor." "Lacus, you know, my dear," said the latter, "means fresh-water indications as against salt." "Then how does Great Salt Lake----" "Oh, for that matter, the whole ocean was fresh originally. Moisture, evaporation, precipitation. Water is a great solvent: earthquakes break the crust, and there you are!" "Then, before the earthquakes, the Salt Lakes were fresh?" rejoined the hammock. "There was fresh water west of the Rockies and south of---- Why," cried the professor, interrupting himself, "when I was in Wyoming and around there, this spring, in what they call the Bad Lands,-- cliffs and buttes of indurated yellow clay and sandstone, worn and carved out by floods long before the Aztecs started to move out of Canada,--I saw fossil bones sticking out of the cliffs, the least of which would make the fortune of a museum. That was between the Rockies and the Wahsatch." "People's bones?" asked the hammock, agitating itself again, and showing a glimpse of a smooth throat and a slender ankle. "Bless my soul! If there were people in those days they must have had an anxious time of it!" returned the sage. "No, no, my dear. There was brontosaurus, and atlantosaurus, and hydrosaurus, and iguanodon, --lizards, you know, not like these little black fellows that run about in the pulverized feldspar here, but chaps eighty or a hundred feet long, and twenty or thirty high; and turtles, as big as a house." "How did they get there?" "Got mired while they were feeding, perhaps; or the water drained off and left them high and dry." "But where did the water go to?" The general chuckled at this juncture, and lit another cigar. "She knows more questions than you do the answers to them," quoth he. "But I wouldn't mind hearing where the water went to, myself. I should like to see some of it back again." "Ask the earthquakes, and the sun. There's a hundred and thirty degrees of heat in some of these valleys,--abysses, rather, three or four hundred feet below sea- level. The earth is very thin-skinned in this region, too, and whatever water wasn't evaporated from above would be likely to come to grief underneath." "But, professor," said the musical voice, "I thought there was a law that water always seeks its own level. So how can there be empty places below sea-level?" "It's the fault of the aneroid barometer, my dear. We were very comfortable and commonplace until that came along and revealed anomalies. The secret lies, I suppose, in the trend of the strata, which is generally north and south. You see the ridges cropping out all through the desert; and there's a good deal of lava oozing over them, too. They probably act as walls, to prevent the sea getting in from the west, or the Colorado leaking in from the east." "In that case," remarked the general, "a little more seismic disturbance might produce a change." "It would have to be more than a little, I suspect," returned Meschines. "Kamaiakan told me that the Indians have a prophecy that a great lake will come back and make the desert fruitful, and that there are some who know the very place where the water will begin to flow." And here the hammock, with a final convulsion, gave birth to a beautiful young woman, in a diaphanous silk dress and a white lace mantilla. She crossed the veranda, and seated herself on the broad arm of her father's chair. "Why, that's important!" said the general, arching his brows. "I wonder if Kamaiakan is one of those who know the place? If so, it might be worth his while to let me into the secret." "Oh, you couldn't go there! It's enchanted, and people who go near it die. There are bones all about there, now." "This Kamaiakan appears to be a remarkable personage: where did you pick him up?" inquired the professor. "It was rather the other way," Trednoke replied, taking one of his daughter's hands in his, and caressing it. "We are appendages to Kamaiakan. You look so natural, sitting there, Meschines, that I forget it's thirty years since we met, and that all the significant events of my life have happened in that time,--the Mexican war, my marriage, and the rest of it! I have been a widower ten years." "And I've been a bachelor for over sixty!" said Meschines, with a queer expression. "Your wife was Spanish, was she not?" "Her father was a Mexican of Andalusian descent. But her mother was descended from the race of Azatlan: there are records and relics indicating that her ancestors were princes in Tenochtitlan before Cortez made trouble there." "And I've been losing my heart to a princess, and never realized my audacity!" exclaimed the professor, laying his hand on his waistcoat and making an obeisance to Miriam. She tossed her free foot, and played with the fringe of her reboso. "I will tell my maid to look for it," she said; "but I think you must have left it in papa's curiosity-room." "No: I'm an Aztec sacrifice!" cried the professor; and they all laughed. "One would hardly have anticipated," he resumed after a pause, addressing Trednoke, "that you would have made a double conquest,-- first of the men, and then of the woman!" "The woman conquered me, without trying or wishing to, and then, because she was a woman, took compassion on me. Whether my country has benefited much by the Mexican annexation, I can't say; but I know Inez--made a heaven on earth for me," concluded the general, in a low voice. His countenance, at this moment, wore a solemn and humble expression, beautiful to see; and Miriam bent and laid her cheek against his. Meschines knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and sighed. "No woman ever took compassion on me," he remarked, "and you see the result, --ashes!" "Ashes,--with their wonted fires living in them," said Trednoke. "We were talking about this Indian of yours," said Meschines. "Ay, to be sure. Well, he was attached to Inez's family when I first knew them. It was a peculiar relation; not like that of a servant. One finds such things in Mexico. The conquered race were of as good strain as their conquerors; the blood of Montezuma was as blue as the best of the Castilian. There were many intermarriages; and there are many instances of the survival of traditions and records; though the records are often symbolic, and would have no meaning to persons not initiated. But they have been sufficient to perpetuate ties of a personal nature through generation after generation; and the alliance between Kamaiakan and Inez was of this kind. His forefathers, I imagine, were priests, and priests were a mighty power in Tenochtitlan. For aught I know, indeed Kamaiakan may be an original priest of Montezuma's; no one knows his age, but he does not look an hour older, to-day, than when I first saw him, over twenty years ago." "He must be!" said Miriam, with some positiveness. "He has told me of seeing and doing things hundreds of years ago. And he says----" She paused. "What does he say, Nina adorada?" asked her father. "It was about the treasure, you know." "Let us hear. The professor is one of us." "It's one of our traditions that my mother's ancestors, at the time of Cortez, were very rich people," continued Miriam, glancing at Meschines, and then letting her eyes wander across the garden, blooming with roses and fragrant with orange-trees, and so across the trellised vines towards the soft outline of the mountains eastward. "A great part of their wealth was in the form of jewels and precious stones. When Cortez took the city, one of the priests, who was a relative of our family, put the jewels in a box, and hid them in a certain place in the desert." "And does Kamaiakan know where the place is?" asked the general. "He can know, when the time comes." "Which will be, perhaps, when you are ready for your dowry," observed the professor, genially. "A spell was put upon the spot," Miriam went on, with a certain imaginative seriousness; for she loved romance and mystery so well, and was of a temperament so poetical, that the wildest fairy-tales had a sort of reality for her. "No one can find the treasure while the spell remains. But Kamaiakan understands the spell, and the conjuration which dissolves it; and when he dissolves it, the treasure will be found." "And, between ourselves," added the general, "Kamaiakan is himself the priestly relative by whom the spell was wrought. He bears an enchanted life, which cannot cease until he has restored the jewels to Miriam's hands." "There might be something in it, you know," said Meschines, after a pause. "The treasures of Montezuma have never been found. Is there no old chart or writing, in your collection of curiosities and relics, that might throw light on it?" "The scriptures of Anahuac were of the hieroglyphic type,--picture-writing," replied the other. "No, I fear there is nothing to the purpose; and if there were, I shouldn't know how to decipher it." "But, papa, the tunic!" exclaimed Miriam. "Oh! has the tunic anything to do with it?" "Is that the queer woollen garment with the gold embroidery?" inquired the professor, becoming more interested. "I took a fancy to that, you remember. Has it a story?" "Well, it is a kind of an anomaly, I believe," the general answered, looking up at his daughter with a smile. "The Aztecs, you are aware, dressed chiefly in cotton. Even their defensive armor was of cotton, thickly quilted. Their ornaments were feathers, and embroidery of gold and precious stones. But wool, for some reason, they didn't wear; and yet this garment, as you can see for yourself, is pure wool; and that it is also pure Aztecan is beyond question." "Admitting that, what clue does it give to the treasure?" "You must ask Kamaiakan," said Miriam: "only, he wouldn't tell you." "Possibly," the professor suggested, "the place where the treasure is hidden is the place whence the water is to flow out; and the water is the treasure." "Seriously, do you suppose that such a phenomenon as the return of an inland sea is physically practicable?" asked Trednoke. "No phenomenon, in this part of the world, would surprise me," returned Meschines. "The Colorado might break its barriers; or it is conceivable that some huge stream, taking its rise in the heights hundreds of miles north and east of us, may be flowing through subterranean passages into the sea, emerging from the sea-bottom hundreds of miles to the westward. Now, if a rattling good earthquake were to happen along, you might awake in the morning to find yourself on an island, or even under water." "A moderate Mediterranean would satisfy me," the general said. "I wouldn't exchange the certainty of it for the treasures of Montezuma." "The thirst for gold and for water are synonymous in your case?" "Give this section a moist climate, and I needn't tell you that the Great American Desert would literally blossom as the rose. Even as it is, I expect a great deal of it will be redeemed by scientific irrigation. The soil only needs water to become inexhaustibly productive. Our desert, as you know, is not sand, like parts of the Sahara; it has all the ingredients that go to nourish plants, only their present powdery condition makes them unavailable. Now, I can, to-day, buy a hundred square miles of desert for a few dollars. You see the point, don't you?" "And all you want is expert opinion as to the likelihood of finding water?" "The man who solves that question for me in the affirmative is welcome to half my share of the results that would ensue from it." "Why don't you engage some expert to investigate?" "One can't always trust an expert. I don't mean as to his expertness only, but as to his good faith. He might prefer to sell the idea to somebody who could pay cash, --which I cannot." "Why, you seem to have given this thing a good deal of thought, Trednoke." "Well, yes: it has been my hobby for a year past; and I have made some investigations myself. But this is the first time I have spoken of it to any one." "I understand. And what of the investigations?" "I can say that I found enough to interest me. I'll tell you about it some time. I should be glad to leave Miriam something to make her independent." "I should say that her Creator had already done that!" said Meschines. "By the way, I know a young fellow--if he were only here--who is just the man you want, and can be trusted. He's a civil engineer, --Harvey Freeman: the Lord only knows in what part of the world he is at this speaking. He has made a special study of these subterranean matters." "Don't you remember, papa, Coleridge's poem of Kubla Khan?-- "Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea!" "Our sacred river, when we find it, shall be named Miriam." "It ought to be Kamaiakan," she rejoined; "for, if anybody finds it, it will be he." "I think I hear the wings of the angel of whom we have been speaking," said the general. "Yes, here he is; and he has got the letters. Let us see! One for you Meschines. And this, I see, is from our friend Miss Parsloe, postmarked Santa Barbara. Why, she'll be here to-morrow, at that rate." "Here's a queer coincidence!" exclaimed the professor, who had meanwhile opened his envelope and glanced through the contents. "The very man I was speaking of, --Harvey Freeman! Says he is in this neighborhood, has heard I'm here, and is coming down to pay me a visit. Methinks I hear the rolling of the sacred river!" "But you won't mention it to him, until----" "Bless me! Of course not. I'll bring him over here, in the course of human events, and you can take a look at him, and act on your own intuitions. I won't say on Princess Miriam's, for Harvey is a very fine- looking fellow, and her intuitions might get confused." "A civil engineer!" said Miriam, with an intonation worthy of the daughter of a West-Pointer and the descendant of an Aztec prince. Kamaiakan (who spoke only Spanish) had been gathering up some cushions that had fallen out of the hammock. Having replaced them, and cast a quick glance at Meschines, he withdrew. CHAPTER II. The Southern Pacific Railway passes, today, not far from the site of General Trednoke's ranch. But the events now to be narrated occurred some years before the era of transcontinental railroads: they were in the air, but not yet bolted down to the earth. The general, therefore, was a pioneer, and was by no means overrun with friends from the East in search of an agreeable winter climate. The easiest way to reach him--if you were not pressed for time --was round the cape which forms the southernmost point of South America and sticks its sharp snout inquiringly into the Antarctic solitudes, as if it scented something questionable there. The speediest route, though open to strange discomforts, was by way of the Isthmus; and then there were always the saddle, the wagon, and the stage, with the accompaniments of road- agents, tornadoes, deserts, and starvation. Miss Grace Parsloe came via the Isthmus; and the latter part of her journey had been alleviated by the society of a young gentleman from New York, Freeman by name. There were other passengers on the vessel; but these two discovered sympathies of origin and education which made companionship natural. They sat together at table, leaned side by side over the taffrail, discussed their fellow-travellers, and investigated each other. As he lolled on the bench with folded arms and straw hat tilted back from his forehead she, glancing side- long, as her manner was, saw a sunburnt aquiline nose, a moustache of a lighter brown than the visage which it decorated, a lean, strong jaw, and a muscular neck. His forehead, square and impending, was as white as ivory in comparison with the face below; his hair, in accordance with the fashion introduced by the late war, was cropped close. But what especially moved Miss Grace were those long, lazy blue eyes, which seemed to tolerate everything, but to be interested in nothing,--hardly even in her. Now, Grace could not help knowing she was a pretty girl, and it was somewhat of a novelty to her that Freeman should appear so indifferent. It would have been difficult to devise a better opportunity than this to monopolize masculine admiration, and she fell to speculating as to what sort of an experience Mr. Freeman must have had, so to panoply him against her magic. On the other hand, she was the recipient of whatever attentions he could bring himself to detach from the horizon-line, or from his own thoughts (which appeared to amount, practically, to about the same thing). She had no other rivals; and a woman will submit amiably to a good deal of indifference, provided she be assured that no other woman is enjoying what she lacks. Freeman, for his part, had nothing to complain of. Grace Parsloe was a singularly pretty girl. Singular properly qualifies her. She was not like the others,--by which phrase he epitomized the numerous comely young women whom he had, at various times and in several countries, attended, teased, and kissed. Both physically and mentally, she was very fine-wrought. Her bones were small; her body and limbs were slender, but beautifully fashioned. She was supple and vigorous. Grace is a product of brain as well as an effect of bodily symmetry: Grace had the quality on both counts. She answered to one's conception of Mahomet's houris, assuming that the conception is not of a fat person. Her head was small, but well proportioned,--compact as to the forehead, rather broad across the cheek-bones, thence tapering to the chin. Her eyes were blue, but of an Eastern strangeness of shape and setting; they were subject to great and sudden changes of expression, depending, apparently, on the varying state of her emotions, and betraying an intensity more akin to the Oriental temperament than to ours. There was in her something subtle and fierce; yet overlaying it, like a smooth and silken skin, were the conventional polish and bearing of an American school graduate. She was, in deed, noticeably artificial and self-conscious in manner and in the intonations of her speech; though it was an aesthetic delight to see her move or pose, and the quality of her voice was music's self. But Freeman, after due meditation, came to the conclusion that this was the outcome of her recognition of her own singularity: in trying to be like other people, she fell into caricature. Freeman, somehow, liked her the better for it. Like most men of brain and pith, who have seen and thought much, he was thankful for a new thing, because, so far as it went, it renewed him. It pleased him to imagine that he could, with a word or a look, cause this veil of artifice to be thrown aside, and the primitive passion and fierceness behind it to start forth. He allowed himself to imagine, with a certain satisfaction, that were he to make this young woman jealous she would think nothing of thrusting a dagger between his ribs. Reality,--what a delight it is! The actual touch and feeling of the spontaneous natural creature have been so buried beneath centuries of hypocrisy and humbug that we have ceased to believe in them save as a metaphysical abstraction. But even as water, long depressed under-ground in perverse channels, surges up to the surface, and above it, at last, in a fountain of relief, so Nature, after enduring ages of outrage and banishment, leaps back to her rightful domain in some individual whom we call extraordinary because he or she is natural. Grace Parsloe did not seem (regarded as to her temperament and quality) to belong where she was: therefore she was a delightful incident there. Had she been met with in the days of the Old Testament, or in the depths of Persia or India at the present time, even, she might have appeared commonplace. But here she was in conventional costume, with conventional manners. And, just as the nautch-girls, and other Oriental dancers and posturers, wear a costume which suggests nature more effectively than does nature itself, so did Grace's conventionality suggest to Freeman the essential absence of conventionality more forcibly than if he had seen her clad in a turban and translucent caftan, dancing off John the Baptist's head, or driving a nail into that of Sisera. Grace certainly owed much of her importance to her situation, which rendered her foreign and piquante. But, then, everything, in this world, is relative. Racial types seem to be a failure: when they become very marked, the race deteriorates or vanishes. In the counties of England, after only a thousand years, the women you meet in the rural districts and country towns all look like sisters. The Asiatics, of course, are much more sunk in type than the Anglo- Saxons; and they show us the way we would be going. Only, there is hope in rapid transit and the cosmopolitan spirit, and especially in these United States, which bring together the ends of the earth, and place side by side a descendant of the Puritans like Freeman, and a daughter of Irak-Ajemi. "What are you coming to California for, Mr. Freeman?" Freeman had already told her what he had been in the Isthmus for,--to paddle in miasmatic swamps with a view to the possibility of a canal in the remote, speculative future. He had given her a graphic and entertaining picture of the hideous and inconceivable life he had led there for six months, from which he had emerged the only member of a party of nineteen (whites, blacks, and yellows) who was not either dead by disease, by violence, or by misadventure, or had barely escaped with life and a shattered constitution. Freeman, after emerging from the miasmatic hell and lake of Gehenna, had taken a succession of baths, with soap and friction, had been attended by a barber and a tailor, and had himself attended the best table to be found for love or money in the charming town of Panama. He had also spent more than half of the week of his sojourn there in sleep; and he was now in the best possible condition, physical and mental, --though not, he admitted, pecuniary. As to morals, they had not reached that discussion yet. But, in all that he did say, Freeman exhibited perfect unreserve and frankness, answering without hesitation or embarrassment any question she chose to ask (and she asked some curious ones). But when she asked him such an innocent thing as what he was after in California--an inquiry, by the way, put more in idleness than out of curiosity--Freeman stroked his yellow moustache with the thumb of the hand that held his Cuban cigarette, gazed with narrowed eyelids at the horizon, and for some time made no reply at all. Finally he said that California was a place he had never visited, and that it would be a pity to have been so near it and yet not have improved the opportunity of taking a look at it. Grace instantly scented a mystery, and was not less promptly resolved to fathom it. And what must be the nature of a mystery attaching to a handsome man, unmarried, and evidently no stranger to the gentler sex? Of course there must be a woman in it! Her eyes glowed with azure fire. "You have some acquaintances in California, I suppose?" she said, with an air of laborious indifference. "Well,--yes; I believe I have," Freeman admitted. "Have they lived there long?" "No; not over a few months. I accidentally heard from a person in Panama. I dropped a line to say I might turn up." "She----you haven't had time to get an answer, then?" Freeman inhaled a deep breath through his cigarette, tilted his head back, and allowed the smoke to escape slowly through his nostrils. In this manner, familiar to his deep-designing sex, he concealed a smile. Grace was, in some respects, as transparent as she was subtle. So long as the matter in hand did not touch her emotions, she had no difficulty in maintaining a deceptive surface; but emotion she could not disguise, though she was probably not aware of the fact; for emotion has a tendency to shut one's own eyes and open what they can no longer see in one's self to the gaze of outsiders. "No," he said, when he had recovered his composure. "But that won't make any difference. We are on rather intimate terms, you see." "Oh! Is it long since you have met?" "Pretty long; at least it seems so to me." Grace turned, and looked full at her companion. He did not meet her glance, but kept his profile steadily opposed, and went on smoking with a dreamy air, as if lost in memories and anticipations, sad, yet sweet. "Really, Mr. Freeman, I hardly thought --you have always seemed to care so little about anything--I didn't suspect you of so much sentiment." "I am like other men," he returned, with a sigh. "My affections are not given indiscriminately; but when they are given,--you understand,--I----" "Oh, I understand: pray don't think it necessary to explain. I'm sure I'm very far from wishing to listen to confidences about another,--to----" "Yes, but I like to talk about it," interposed Freeman, earnestly. "I haven't had a chance to open my heart, you know, for at least six months. And though you and I haven't known each other long, I believe you to be capable of appreciating what a man feels when he is on his way to meet some one who----" "Thank you! You are most considerate! But I shall be additionally obliged if you would tell me in what respect I can have so far forgotten myself as to lead you to think me likely to appreciate anything of the kind. I assure you, Mr. Freeman, I have never cared for any one; and nothing I have seen since I left home makes it probable that I shall begin now." "I am sorry to hear that," said Freeman, slowly drawing another cigarette out of his bundle, and beginning to re-roll it with a dejected air. "Indeed!" "Yes: the fact is, I had hoped that you had begun to have a little friendly feeling for me. I am more than ready to reciprocate." "I hope you will spare me any insults, sir. I have no one to protect me, but----" "I assure you, I mean no insult. You cannot help knowing that I think you as beautiful and fascinating a woman as I have ever met; but of course you can't help being beautiful and fascinating. Do I insult you by having eyes? If so, I am sorry, but you will have to make the best of it." With this, he turned in his seat, and calmly confronted her. Beautiful she certainly was, at that moment; but it was the beauty of an angry serpent. She had a pencil in her hand, with which, a little while before, she had been sketching heads of some of the passengers in her little notebook. She was now handling this inoffensive object in such a way as to justify the fancy that, had it been charged with a deadly poison in its point, instead of with a bit of plumbago of the HH quality, she would have driven it into Freeman's heart then and there. "Is it no insult," said she, in a sibilant voice, "to talk to me as you are doing, when you have just told me that you love another woman, and are going to meet her?" Freeman's brows gradually knitted themselves in a frown of apparent perplexity. "I must say I don't understand you," he observed, at length. "I am quite sure I have said nothing of the sort. How could I?" "If you wish to quibble about words, perhaps not. But was not that your meaning?" "No, it wasn't. You are the only woman who has been in my thoughts to-day." "Mr. Freeman!" "Well?" "You have intimated very clearly that you are engaged--married, for aught I know --to a woman whom you are now on your way to meet----" At this point she stopped. Freeman had interrupted her with a shout of laughter. She had been very pale. She now flushed all over her face, and jumped to her feet. "Sit down," he said, laying a hand on her dress and (aided by a lurch of the vessel) pulling her into her seat again, "and listen to me. And then I shall insist upon an apology. This is too much!" "I shall ask the captain----" "You will not, I promise you. Look here! When I was in Panama, I met there a fellow I used to know in New York. He told me that he had recently crossed the continent with Professor Meschines, who used to teach geology and botany at Yale College, when he and I were students there. The professor had come over partly for the fun of the thing, and partly to look for specimens in the line of his profession. My friend parted from him at San Francisco: the professor was going farther south." "What has all this to do with the woman who----" "It has this to do with it,--that the professor is the woman! He is over sixty years old, and has always been a good friend of mine; but I am not going to marry him. I am not engaged to him, he is not beautiful, nor even fascinating, except in the way of an elderly man of science. And he is the only human being, besides yourself, that I know or have ever heard of on the Pacific coast. Now for your apology!" Grace emitted a long breath, and sank back in her seat, with her hands clasped in her lap. She raised her hands and covered her face with them. She removed them, sat erect, and bent an open-eyed, intent gaze upon her companion. After this pantomime, she exclaimed, in the lowest and most musical of tones, "Oh! how hateful you are!" Then she cried out with animation, "I believe you did it on purpose!" Finally, she sank back again, with a soft laugh and sparkling eyes, at the same time stretching out her right arm towards him and placing her hand on his, with a whispered, "There, then!" Freeman, accepting the hand for the apology, kissed it, and continued to hold it afterwards. "Am I not a little goose?" she murmured. "You certainly are," replied Freeman. "You mustn't hold my hand any more." "Do you mean to withdraw your apology?" "N--no; but it doesn't follow that----" "Oh, yes, it does. Besides, when a man receives such a delicate, refined, graceful, exquisite apology as this,"--here he lifted the hand, looked at it critically, and bestowed another kiss upon it,--"he would be a fool not to make the most of it." "Ah, I'm afraid you're dangerous. You are well named--Freeman!" "My name is Harvey: won't you call me by it?" "Oh, I can't!" "Try! Would it make it easier if I were to call you by yours?" "Mine is Miss Parsloe." "Pooh! How can that be your name which you are going to change so soon? When I look at you, I see your name; when I think of you, I say it to myself,--Grace!" "How do you know I am going to change my name soon--or ever?" "Whom are you talking to?" "To you,--Harvey! Oh!" She snatched her hand away and pressed it over her lips. "How do I know you are beautiful, Grace, and--irresistible?" "But I'm not! You're making fun of me! Besides, I'm twenty." "How many times have you been engaged?" "Never. Nobody wants to be engaged to a poor girl. Oh me!" "Do you know what you are made of, Grace? Fire and flowers! Few men in the world are men enough to be a match for you. But what have you been doing with yourself all this time? Why do you come to a place like this?" "Maybe I had a presentiment that . . . What nonsense we are talking! But what you said reminds me. It's the strangest coincidence!" "What is it?" "Your Professor Meschines----" "On the contrary, he is a most matter- of-fact old gentleman." "Do be quiet, and listen to me! When my mamma was a girl in school, there were two boys there,--it was a boy-and-girls' school,--and they were great friends. But they both fell in love with my mamma----" "I can understand that," put in Freeman. "How do you know I am like my mamma? Well, as I was saying, they both fell in love with her, and quarrelled with each other, and had a fight. The boy that won the fight is the man to whose house I am going." "Then he didn't marry your mamma?" "Oh, no; that was only a childish affair, and she married another man." "The one who got thrashed?" "Of course not. But the one who got thrashed is your Professor Meschines." "I see! The poor old professor! And he has remained a bachelor all his life." "Mamma has often told me the story, and that the Trednoke boy went to West Point, and distinguished himself in the Mexican war, and married a Mexican woman, and the Meschines boy became a professor in Yale College. And now I am going to see one of them, and you to see the other. Isn't that a coincidence?" "The first of a long series, I trust. Is this West-Pointer a permanent settler here?" "Yes, for ever so long,--twenty years. He's a widower, but he has a daughter---- Oh, I know you'll fall in love with her!" "Is she like you?" "I don't know. I've never seen her, or General Trednoke either." "Come to think of it, though, nobody is like you, Grace. Now, will you be so good as to apologize again?" "Don't you think you're rather exacting, Harvey?" However, the apology was finally repeated, and continued, more or less, during the rest of the voyage; and Grace quite forgot that she had never made Harvey tell what was really the cause of his coming to California. But she, on her side, had a secret. She never allowed him to suspect that the past eighteen months of her life had been passed as employee in a New York dry- goods store. CHAPTER III. General Trednoke's house was built by Spanish missionaries in the sixteenth century; and in its main features it was little altered in three hundred years. In a climate where there is no frost, walls of adobe last as long as granite. The house consisted, practically, of but one story; for although there were rooms under the roof, they were used only for storage; no one slept in them. The plan of the building was not unlike that of a train of railway-cars,-- or, it might be more appropriate to say, of emigrant-wagons. There was a series of rooms, ranged in a line, access to them being had from a narrow corridor, which opened on the rear veranda. Several of the rooms also communicated directly with each other, and, through low windows, gave on the veranda in front; for the house was merely a comparatively narrow array of apartments between two broad verandas, where most of the living, including much of the sleeping, was done. Logically, there can be nothing uglier than a Spanish-American dwelling of this type. But, as a matter of fact, they appear seductively beautiful. The thick white walls acquire a certain softness of tone; the surface scales off here and there, and cracks and crevices appear. In a damp country, like England, they would soon become covered with moss; but moss is not to be had in this region, though one were to offer for it the price of the silk velvet, triple ply, which so much resembles it. Nevertheless, there are compensations. The soil is inexhaustibly fertile, and its fertility expresses itself in the most inveterate beauty. Such colors and varieties of flowers exist nowhere else, and they continue all the year round. Climbing vines storm the walls, and toss their green ladders all over it, for beauty to walk up and down. Huge jars, standing on the verandas, emit volcanoes of lovely blossoms; and vases swung from the roof drip and overflow with others, as if water had turned to flowers. In the garden, which extends over several acres at the front of the house, and, as it were, makes it an island in a gorgeous sea of petals, there are roses, almonds, oranges, vines, pomegranates, and a hundred rivals whose names are unknown to the present historian, marching joyfully and triumphantly through the seasons, as the symphony moves through changes along its central theme. Everything that is not an animal or a mineral seems to be a flower. There are too many flowers,--or, rather, there is not enough of anything else. The faculty of appreciation wearies, and at last ceases to take note. It is like conversing with a person whose every word is an epigram. The senses have their limitations, and imagination and expectation are half of beauty and delight, and the better half; otherwise we should have no souls. A single violet, discovered by chance in the by-ways of an April forest in New England, gives a pleasure as poignant as, and more spiritual than, the miles upon miles of Californian splendors. Monotony is the ruling characteristic,-- monotony of beauty, monotony of desolation, monotony even of variety. The glorious blue overhead is monotonous: as for the thermometer, it paces up and down within the narrowest limits, like a prisoner in his cell, or a meadow-lark hopping to and fro in a seven-inch cage. The plan and aspect of the buildings are monotonous, and so is the way of life of those who inhabit them. Fortunately, the sun does rise and set in Southern California: otherwise life there would be at an absolute stand-still, with no past and no future. But, as it is, one can look forward to morning, and remember the evening. Then, there are the not infrequent but seldom very destructive earthquakes; the occasional cloud-bursts and tornadoes, sudden and violent as a gunpowder-explosion; and, finally, the astounding contrast between the fertile regions and the desert. There are places where you can stand with one foot planted in everlasting sterility and the other in immortal verdure. In the midst of an arid and hopeless waste, you come suddenly upon the brink of a narrow ravine, sharply defined as if cut out with an axe, and packed to the brim with enchanting and voluptuous fertility. Or you will come upon mountains which sweep upward out of burning death into sumptuous life. When the monotony of life meets the monotony of death, Southern California becomes a land of contrasts; and the contrasts themselves become monotonous. General Trednoke's ranch was very near the borders of these two mighty forces. An hour's easy ride would carry him to a region as barren and apparently as irreclaimable as that through which Childe Roland journeyed in quest of the Dark Tower; lying, too, in a temperature so fiery that it coagulated the blood in the veins, and stopped the beating of the heart. Underfoot were fine dust, and whitened bones; the air was prismatic and magical, ever conjuring up phantom pictures, whose characteristic was that they were at the farthest remove from any possible reality. The azure sky descended and became a lake; the pulsations of the atmosphere translated themselves into the rhythmic lapse of waves; spikes of sage- brush and blades of cactus became sylvan glades, and hamlets cheerful with inhabitants. Only, all was silent; and as you drew near, the scene trembled, altered, and was gone! Hideous black lizards and horned toads crawl and hop amid this desolation; and the deadly little sidewinder rattlesnake lies basking in the blaze of sunshine, which it distils into venom. Sometimes the level plain is broken up into savage ridges and awful canons, along whose arid bottoms no water streams. As you stagger through their chaotic bottoms, you see vast boulders poised overhead, tottering to a fall; a shiver of earthquake, a breath of hurricane, and they come crashing and splintering in destruction down. Along the sides of these acclivities extend long, level lines and furrows, marks of where the ocean flowed ages ago. But sometimes the hills are but accumulations of desert dust, which shift slowly from place to place under the action of the wind, melting away here to be re-erected yonder; mounding themselves, perhaps, above a living and struggling human being, to move forward, anon, leaving where he was a little heap of withered bones. A fearful place is this broad abyss, where once murmured the waters of a prehistoric sea. Let us return to the cool and fragrant security of the general's ranch. At right angles to the main body of the house extend two wings, thus forming three sides of a square, the interior of which is the court-yard. Here the business of the establishment is conducted. It is the liveliest spot on the premises; though it is liveliness of a very indolent sort. The veranda built around these sides is twenty feet in breadth, paved with tiles that have been worn into hollows by innumerable lazy footsteps, mostly shoeless, for this side of the house is frequented chiefly by the servants of the place, who are Mexican Indians. Ancient wooden settles are bolted to the walls; from hooks hang Indian baskets of bright colors; in one corner are stretched raw hides, which serve as beds. Small brown children, half naked, trot, clamber, and crawl about. Black-haired, swarthy women squat on the tiled floor, pursuing their vocations, or, often, doing nothing at all beyond continuing a placid organic existence. Boys and men saunter in and out of the court-yard, chatting or calling in their musical patois; once in a while there is a thud and clatter of hoofs, a rider arriving or departing. It is an entertaining scene, charming in its monotony of small changes and evolutions; you can sit watching it in a half-doze for twenty years at a stretch, and it may seem only as many minutes, or vice versa. Most of the rooms in the wings are used for the kitchens and other servants' quarters; but one large chamber is devoted to a special purpose of the general's own: it is a museum; the Curiosity-Room, he calls it. It is lighted by two windows opening on opposite sides, one on the court-yard, the other on an orange grove at the south end of the house. Besides being, in itself, a cool and pleasant spot, it is full of interest to any one who cares about the relics and antiquities of an ancient and vanishing race, concerning whom little is or ever will be known. There are two students in it at this moment; though whether they are studying antiquities is another matter. Let us give ear to their discourse and be instructed. "But this was made for you to wear, Miss Trednoke. Try it. It fits you perfectly, you see. There can be no doubt about your being a princess, now!" "I sometimes feel it,--here!" she said, putting her hand on her bosom. She was looking at him as she said it, but her eyes, instead of any longer meeting his, seemed to turn their regard inward, and to traverse strange regions, not of this world. "I see some one who is myself, though I can never have been she: she is surrounded with brightness, and people not like ours; she thinks of things that I have never known. It is the memory of a dream, I suppose," she added, in another tone. "Heredity is a queer thing. You may be Aztecan over again, in mind and temperament; and every one knows how impressions are transmitted. If features and traits of character, why not particular thoughts and feelings?" "I think it is better not to try to explain these things," said she, with the unconscious haughtiness which maidens acquire who have not seen the world and are adored by their family. "They are great mysteries,--or else nothing." She now removed from her head the curious cap or helmet, ornamented with gold and with the green feathers of the humming-bird, which her companion had crowned her with, and hung it on its nail in the cabinet. "Perhaps the thoughts came with the cap," she remarked, smiling slightly. "I don't feel that way any more. I ought not to have spoken of it." "I hope the time will come when you will feel that you may trust me." "You seem easy to know, Mr. Freeman," she replied, looking at him contemplatively as she spoke, "and yet you are not. There is one of you that thinks, and another that speaks. And you are not the same to my father, or to Professor Meschines, that you are to me." "What is the use of human beings except to take one out of one's self?" "But it is not your real self that comes out," said Miriam, after a little pause. She never spoke hurriedly, or until after the coming speech had passed into her face. Freeman laughed. "Well," he said, "if I'm a hypocrite, I'm one of those who are made and not born. As a boy, I was frank enough. But a good part of my life has been spent with people who couldn't be trusted; and perhaps the habit of protecting myself against them has grown upon me. If I could only live here for a while it would be different.--Here's an odd-looking thing. What do you call that?" "We call it the Golden Fleece." "The Golden Fleece! I can imagine a Medea; but where is the Dragon?" "If Jason came, the Dragon might appear." "I remember reading somewhere that the Dragon was less to be feared than Medea's eyes. But this fleece seems to have lost most of its gold. There is only a little gold embroidery." "It shows where the gold is hidden." "It's you that are concealing something now, Miss Trednoke. How can a woollen garment be a talisman?" "The secret might be woven into it, perhaps," replied Miriam, passing her fingers caressingly over the soft tunic. "Then, when the right person puts it on, it would----But you don't believe in these things." "I don't know: you don't give me a chance. But who is the right person? The thing seems rather small. I'm sure I couldn't get it on." "It can fit only the one it was made for," said Miriam, gravely. "And if you wanted to find the gold, you would trust to your science, rather than to this." "Well, gold-hunting is not in my line, at present. Every nugget has been paid for more than once, before it is found. Besides, there is something better than gold in Southern California,--something worth any labor to get." "What is it?" asked Miriam, turning her tranquil regard upon him. Harvey Freeman had never been deficient in audacity. But, standing in the dark radiance of this maiden's eyes, his self- assurance dwindled, and he could not bring himself to say to her what he would have said to any other pretty woman he had ever met. For he felt that great pride and passion were concealed beneath that tranquil surface: it was a nature that might give everything to love, and would never pardon any frivolous parody thereof. Freeman had been acquainted with Miriam scarcely two days, but he had already begun to perceive the main indications of a character which a lifetime might not be long enough wholly to explore. Marriage had never been among the enterprises he had, in the course of his career, proposed to himself: he did not propose it now: yet he dared not risk the utterance of a word that would lead Miriam to look at him with an offended or contemptuous glance. It was not that she was, from the merely physical point of view, transcendently beautiful. His first impression of her, indeed, had been that she was merely an unusually good example of a type by no means rare in that region. But ere long he became sensible of a spiritual quality in her which lifted her to a level far above that which can be attained by mere harmony of features and proportions. Beneath the outward aspect lay a profound depth of being, glimpses of which were occasionally discernible through her eyes, in the tones of her voice, in her smile, in unconscious movements of her hands and limbs. Demonstrative she could never be; but she could, at will, feel with tropical intensity, and act with the swiftness and energy of a fanatic. In Miriam's company, Freeman forgot every one save her,--even himself,--though she certainly made no effort to attract him or (beyond the commonplaces of courtesy) to interest him. Consequently he had become entirely oblivious of the existence of such a person as Grace Parsloe, when, much to his irritation, he heard the voice of that young lady, mingled with others, approaching along the veranda. At the same moment he experienced acute regret at the whim of fortune which had made himself and that sprightly young lady fellow- passengers from Panama, and at the idle impulse which had prompted him to flirt with her. But the past was beyond remedy: it was his concern to deal with the present. In a few seconds, Grace entered the curiosity- room, followed by Professor Meschines, and by a dashing young Mexican senor, whom Freeman had met the previous evening, and who was called Don Miguel de Mendoza. The senor, to judge from his manner, had already fallen violently in love with Grace, and was almost dislocating his organs of speech in the effort to pay her romantic compliments in English. Freeman observed this with unalloyed satisfaction. But the look which Grace bent upon him and Miriam, on entering, and the ominous change which passed over her mobile countenance, went far to counteract this agreeable impression. One story is good until another is told. Freeman had really thought Grace a fascinating girl, until he saw Miriam. There was no harm in that: the trouble was, he had allowed Grace to perceive his admiration. He had already remarked that she was a creature of violent extremes, tempered, but not improved, by a thin polish of subtlety. She was now about to give an illustration of the passion of jealousy. But it was not her jealousy that Freeman minded: it was the prospect of Miriam's scorn when she should surmise that he had given Grace cause to be jealous. Miriam was not the sort of character to enter into a competition with any other woman about a lover. He would lose her before he had a chance to try to win her. But fortune proved rather more favorable than Freeman expected, or, perhaps, than he deserved. Grace's attack was too impetuous. She stopped just inside the threshold, and said, in an imperious tone, "Come here, Mr. Freeman: I wish to speak to you." "Thank you," he replied, resolving at once to widen the breach to the utmost extent possible, "I am otherwise engaged." "Upon my word," observed the professor, with a chuckle, "you're no diplomatist, Harvey! What are you two about here? Investigating antiquities?" "The remains of ancient Mexico are more interesting than some of her recent products," returned Freeman, who wished to quarrel with somebody, and had promptly decided that Senor Don Miguel de Mendoza was the most available person. He bowed to the latter as he spoke. "You--a--spoken to me?" said the senor, stepping forward with a polite grimace. "I no to quite comprehend----" "Pray don't exert yourself to converse with me out of your own language, senor," interrupted Freeman, in Spanish. "I was just remarking that the Spaniards seem to have degenerated greatly since they colonized Mexico." "Senor!" exclaimed Don Miguel, stiffening and staring. "Of course," added Freeman, smiling benevolently upon him, "I judge only from such specimens of the modern Mexican as I happen to meet with." Don Miguel's sallow countenance turned greenish white. But, before he could make a reply, Meschines, who scented mischief in the air, and divined that the gentler sex must somehow be at the bottom of it, struck in. "You may consider yourself lucky, Harvey, in making the acquaintance of a gentleman like Senor de Mendoza, who exemplifies the undimmed virtues of Cortez and Torquemada. For my part, I brought him here in the hope that he might be able to throw some light on the mystery of this embroidered garment, which I see you've been examining. What do you say, Don Miguel? Have these designs any significance beyond mere ornament? Anything in the nature of hieroglyphics?" The senor was obliged to examine, and to enter into a discussion, though, of course, his ignorance of the subject in dispute was as the depths of that abyss which has no bottom. Miriam, who was not fond of Don Miguel, but who felt constrained to exceptional courtesy in view of Freeman's unwarrantable attack upon him, stood beside him and the Professor; and Freeman and Grace were thus left to fight it out with each other. But Grace had drawn her own conclusions from what had passed. Freeman had insulted Don Miguel. Wherefore? Obviously, it could only be because he thought that she was flirting with him. In other words, Freeman was jealous; and to be jealous is to love. Now, Grace was so constituted that, though she did not like to play second fiddle herself, yet she had no objection to monopolizing all the members of the male species who might happen, at a given moment, to be in sight. She had, consequently, already forgiven Freeman for his apparent unfaithfulness to her, by reason of his manifest jealousy of Don Miguel. As a matter of fact, he was not jealous, and he was unfaithful; but fate had decreed that there should be, for the moment, a game of cross-purposes; and the decrees of fate are incorrigible. "I had no idea you were so savage," she said, softly. "I'm not savage," replied Freeman. "I am bored." "Well, I don't know as I can blame you," said Grace, still more softly: she fancied he was referring to Miriam. "I don't much like Spanish mixtures myself." "One has to take what one can get," said Freeman, referring to Don Miguel. "But it's all right now," rejoined she, meaning that Freeman and herself were reconciled after their quarrel. "If you are satisfied, I am," observed Freeman, too indifferent to care what she meant. "Only, you mustn't take that poor young man too seriously," she went on: "these Mexicans are absurdly demonstrative, but they don't mean anything." "He won't, if he values his skin," said Freeman, meaning that if Don Miguel attempted to interfere between himself and Miriam he would wring his neck. "He won't, I promise you," said Grace, sparkling with pleasure. "I don't quite see how you can help it," returned Freeman. "I should hope I could manage a creature like that!" murmured she, smiling. "Well," said Freeman, after a pause,-- for Grace's seeming change of attitude puzzled him a little,--"I'm glad you look at it that way. I don't wish to be meddled with; that's all." "You shan't be," she whispered; and then, just when they were approaching the point where their eyes might have been opened, in came General Trednoke. The group round the Golden Fleece broke up. The general wore his riding-dress, and his bearing was animated, though he was covered with dust. "I was wondering what had become of you all," he said, as the others gathered about him. "I have been taking a canter to the eastward. Kamaiakan said this morning that one of the boys had brought news of a cloud-burst in that direction. I rode far enough to ascertain that there has really been something of the kind, and I think it has affected the arroyo on the farther side of the little sierra. Now, I don't know how you gentlemen feel, but it occurred to me that it might be interesting to make up a little party of exploration to-morrow. Would you like to try it, Meschines?" "To be sure I should!" the professor replied. "I imagine I can stand as much of the desert as you can! And I want to catch a sidewinder." "Good! And you, Mr. Freeman?" "It would suit me exactly," said the latter. "In fact, I had been intending to gratify my curiosity by making some such expedition on my own account." "Ah!" said the general, eying him with some intentness. "Well, we may be able to show you something more curious than you anticipate.--And now, Senor de Mendoza, there is only you left. May we count on your company into the desert?" But the Mexican, with a bow and a grimace, excused himself. Scientific curiosity was an unknown emotion to him; but he foresaw an opportunity to have Grace all to himself, and he meant to improve it. He also wished leisure to think over some plan for getting rid of Senor Freeman, in whom he scented a rival, and who, whether a rival or not, had behaved to him with a lack of consideration in the presence of ladies. CHAPTER IV. General Trednoke's household went early to bed. As there was more accommodation in the old house than sufficed for its present inhabitants, it followed that each of them had a regal allowance of rooms. And when Grace Parsloe became one of the occupants, she was allotted two commodious apartments at the extremity of the left wing. They communicated, through long windows, with the veranda in front, and by means of doors with the passage, or hall, traversing the house from end to end. If, therefore, she happened to be sleepless, she might issue forth into the garden, and wander about there without let or hinderance until she was ready to accept the wooing of the god of dreams; or, if supernatural terrors daunted her, she could in a few seconds transfer herself and her fears to Miriam's chamber, which occupied the same position in the right wing that hers did in the left. The night, as is customary in that climate, where the atmosphere is pure and evaporation rapid, was cool and still. By ten o'clock there was no sound to indicate that any person was awake; though, to an acute ear, the rise and fall of regular breathing, or even an occasional snore, might have given evidence of slumber. At the back of the house, the Indian retainers were lapped in silence. They were a harmless people,-- somewhat disposed, perhaps, to small pilferings, in an amiable and loyal way, but incapable of anything seriously criminal. There were no locks on the doors, and most of them stood ajar. Tramps and burglars were unknown. Miriam, having put on her night-dress, stood a few minutes at her window, gazing out on the soft darkness of the garden. All there was peacefulness and fragrance. The leaves of the plants hung motionless; the blossoms seemed to hush themselves to the enjoyment of their own sweetness. The sky was clear, but there was no moon. A beautiful planet, however, bright enough to cast a shadow, hung in the southwestern sky, and its mysterious light touched Miriam's face, and cast a dim rectangle of radiance on the white matting that carpeted the floor of her room. It was the planet Venus,--the star of love. Miriam thought it would be a pleasant place to live in. But one need not journey to Venus to find a world where love is the ruling passion. Circumstances over which she has no control may cause such a world to come into existence in a girl's heart. She left the window at last, and got into bed, where she soon presented an image of perfect repose. Meanwhile, in a dark corner of the court-yard at the rear, a dark, pyramidal object abode without motion. It might have been taken for a heap of blankets piled up there. But if you examined it more narrowly you would have detected in it the vague outlines of a human figure, squatting on its haunches, with its head resting on its knees, and its arms clasped round them,--somewhat as figures sit in Egyptian hieroglyphics, or like Aztecan mummies in the tomb. So still was it, it might itself have been a mummy. But ever and anon a blinking of the narrow eyes in the bronze countenance told that it was no mummy, but a living creature. In fact, it was none other than the aged and austere Kamaiakan, who, for reasons best known to himself, chose to spend the hours usually devoted to rest in an attitude that no European or white American could have maintained with comfort longer than five minutes. An hour--two hours--passed away. Then Kamaiakan noiselessly arose, peered about him cautiously for a few moments, and passed out of the court-yard through the open gate. He turned to the left, and, stealing beneath Miriam's windows, paused there for an instant and made certain gestures with his arms. Anon he continued his way to the garden, and was soon concealed by the thick shrubbery. History requires us to follow him. The garden extended westward, and was quite a spacious enclosure: one not familiar with its winding paths might easily lose himself there on a dark night. But Kamaiakan knew where he was going, and the way thither. He now stalked along more swiftly, taking one turn after another, brushing aside the low-hanging boughs, and passing the loveliest flowers without a glance. He was as one preoccupied with momentous business. Presently he arrived at a small open space, remote and secluded. It was completely surrounded by tall shrubbery. In the centre was a basin of stone, evidently very ancient, filled to the brim with the clear water of a spring, which bubbled up from the bottom, and, overflowing by way of a gap in the edge, became a small rivulet, which stole away in the direction of the sea. Across the slightly undulating surface of the basin trembled the radiance of the star. Kamaiakan knelt down beside it, and, bending over, gazed intently into the water. Presently he dipped his hands in it, and sprinkled shining drops over his own gaunt person, and over the ground in the vicinity of the spring. He made strange movements with his arms, bowed his head and erected it again, and traced curious figures on the ground with his finger. It appeared as if the venerable Indian had solemnly lost his senses and had sought out this lonely spot to indulge the vagaries of his insanity. If so, his silence and deliberation afforded an example worthy of consideration by other lunatics. Suddenly he ceased his performance, and held himself in a listening attitude. A light, measured sound was audible, accompanied by the rustling of leaves. It came nearer. There was a glimpse of whiteness through the interstices of the surrounding foliage, and then a slender figure, clad in close-fitting raiment, entered the little circle. It wore a sort of tunic, reaching half-way to the knees, and leggings of the same soft, grayish-white material. The head was covered with a sort of hood, which left only the face exposed; and this too might be covered by a species of veil or mask, which, however, was now fastened back on the headpiece, after the manner of a visor. The front of the tunic was embroidered with fantastic devices in gold thread, brightened here and there with precious stones; and other devices appeared on the hood. The face of this figure was pale and calm, with great dark eyes beneath black brows. The stature was no greater than that of a lad of fifteen, but the bearing was composed and dignified. The contours of the figure, however, even as seen by that dim light, were those of neither a boy nor a man. The wearer of the tunic was a girl, just rounding into womanhood, and the face was the face of Miriam. Yet it was not by this name that Kamaiakan addressed her. After making a deep obeisance, touching his hand to her foot and then to his own forehead and breast, he said, in a language that was neither Spanish nor such as the modern Indians of Mexico use,-- "Welcome, Semitzin! May this night be the beginning of high things!" "I am ready," replied the other, in a soft and low voice, but with a certain stateliness of utterance unlike the usual manner of General Trednoke's daughter: "I was glad to hear you call, and to see again the stars and the earth. Have you anything to tell?" "There are events which may turn to our harm, most revered princess. The master of this house----" "Why do you not call him my father, Kamaiakan?" interposed the other. "He is indeed the father of this mortal body which I wear, which (as you tell me) bears the name of Miriam. Besides, are not Miriam and I united by the thread of descent?" "Something of the spirit that is you dwells in her also," said the Indian. "And does she know of it?" "At times, my princess; but only as one remembers a dream." "I wish I might converse with her and instruct her in the truth," said the princess. "And she, in turn, might speak to me of things that perplex me. I live and move in this mortal world, and yet (you tell me) three centuries have passed since what is called my death. To me it seems as if I had but slept through a night, and were awake again. Nor can I tell what has happened--what my life and thoughts have been--during this long lapse of time. Yet it must be that I live another life: I cannot rest in extinction. Three times you have called me forth; yet whence I come hither, or whither I return, is unknown to me." "There is a memory of the spirit," replied Kamaiakan, "and a memory of the body. They are separate, and cannot communicate with each other. Such is the law." "Yet I remember, as if it were yesterday, the things that were done when Montezuma was king. And well do I remember you, Kamaiakan!" "It is true I live again, princess, though not in the flesh and bones that died with you in the past. But in the old days I was acquainted with mysteries, and learned the secrets of the world of spirits; and this science still remained with me after the change, so that I was able to know that I was I, and that you could be recalled to speak with me through the tongue of Miriam. But there are some things that I do not know; and it is for that I have been bold to summon you." "What can I tell you that can be of use to you in this present life, Kamaiakan, when all whom we knew and loved are gone?" "To you only, Semitzin, is known the place of concealment of the treasure which, in the old times, you and I hid in the desert. I indeed remember the event, and somewhat of the region of the hiding; but I cannot put my hand upon the very spot. I have tried to discover it; but when I approach it my mind becomes confused between the present and the past, and I am lost." "I remember it well," said Semitzin. "We rode across the desert, carrying the treasure on mules. The air was still, and the heat very heavy. The desert descended in a great hollow: you told me it was where, in former days, the ocean had been. At last there were rocky hills before us; we rode towards a great rock shaped like the pyramid on which the sacrifices were held in Tenochtitlan. We passed round its base, and entered a deep and narrow valley, that seemed to have been ploughed out of the heart of the earth and to descend into it. Then---- But what is it you wish to do with this treasure, Kamaiakan?" "It belongs to your race, princess, and was hidden that the murderers of Montezuma might not seize it. I was bound by an oath, after the peril was past, to restore it to the rightful owners. But our country remained under the rule of the conquerors; and my life went out. But now the conquerors have been conquered in their turn, and Miriam is the last inheritor of your blood. When I have delivered to her this trust, my work will be done, and I can return to the world which you inhabit. The time is come; and only by your help can the restitution be made." "Was there, then, a time fixed?" "The stars tell me so. And other events make it certain that there must be no delay. The general has it in mind to discover the gates through which the waters under-ground may arise and again form the sea which flowed hereabouts in the ancient times. Now, this sea will fill the ravine in which the treasure lies, and make it forever unattainable. A youth has also come here who is skilled in the sciences, and whom the general will ask to help him in the thing he is to attempt." "Who is this youth?" asked Semitzin. "He is of the new people who inherit this land: his name is Freeman." "There is something in me--I know not what--that seems to tell me I have been near such a one. Can it be so?" "The other self, who now sleeps, knows of him," replied the ancient Indian. "He is a well-looking youth, and I think he has a desire towards her we call Miriam." "And does she love him?" inquired the princess. "A maiden's heart is a riddle, even to herself," said Kamaiakan. "But there is a sympathy that makes me feel her heart in my own," rejoined Semitzin. "Love is a thing that pierces through time, and through barriers which separate the mind and memory of the past from the present. I--as you know, Kamaiakan--was never wedded; the fate of our people, and my early end, kept that from me. But the thought of that youth is here,"--she put her hand on her bosom,--"and it seems to me that, were we to meet, I should know him. Perhaps, were that to be, Miriam and I might thus come to be aware of each other, and live henceforth one life." "Such matters are beyond my knowledge," said the Indian, shaking his head. "The gods know what will be. It is for us, now, to regain the treasure. Are you willing, my princess, to accompany me thither?" "I am ready. Shall it be now?" "Not now, but soon. I will call you when the moment comes. The place is but a ride of two or three hours from here. None must know of our departure, for there are some here whom I do not trust. We must go by night. You will wear the garments you now have on, without which all might miscarry." "How can the garments affect the result, Kamaiakan?" "A powerful spell is laid upon them, princess. Moreover, the characters wrought upon them, with gold thread and jewels, are mystical, and the substance of the garment itself has a virtue to preserve the wearer from evil. It is the same that was worn by you when the treasure was hidden; and it may be, Semitzin, that without its magic aid your spirit could not know itself in this world as now it can." As he spoke the last words, a low sound, wandering and muttering with an inward note, came palpitating on their ears through the night air. It seemed to approach from no direction that could be identified, yet it was at first remote, and then came nearer, and in a moment trembled around them, and shivered in the solid earth beneath their feet; and in another instant it had passed on, and was subdued slowly into silence in the shadowy distance. No one who has once heard that sound can mistake it for any other, or ever can forget it. The air had suddenly become close and tense; and now a long breeze swept like a sigh through the garden, dying away in a long-drawn wail; and out of the west came a hollow murmur, like that of a mighty wave breaking upon the shore of the ocean. "The earthquake!" whispered Kamaiakan, rising to his feet. And then he pointed to the stone basin. "Look! the spring!" "It is gone!" exclaimed Semitzin. And, in truth, the water, with a strange, sucking noise, disappeared through the bottom of the basin, leaving the glistening cavity which had held it, green with slimy water-weed, empty. "The time is near, indeed!" muttered the Indian. "The second shock may cause the waters from which this spring came to rise as no living man has seen them rise, and make the sea return, and the treasure be lost. In a few days all may be over. But you, princess, must vanish: though the shock was but slight, some one might be awakened; and were you to be discovered, our plans might go wrong." "Must I depart so soon?" said Semitzin, regretfully. "The earth is beautiful, Kamaiakan: the smell of the flowers is sweet, and the stars in the sky are bright. To feel myself alive, to breathe, to walk, to see, are sweet. Perhaps I have no other conscious life than this. I would like to remain as I am: I would like to see the sun shine, and to hear the birds sing, and to see the men and women who live in this age. Is there no way of keeping me here?" "I cannot tell; it may be,--but it must not be now, Semitzin," the old man replied, with a troubled look. "The ways of the gods are not our ways. She whose body you inhabit--she has her life to live." "But is that girl more worthy to live than I? You have called me into being again: you have made me know how pleasant this world is. Miriam sleeps: she need never know; she need never awake again. You were faithful to me in the old time: have you more care for her than for me? I feel all the power and thirst of youth in me: the gods did not let me live out my life: may they not intend that I shall take it up again now? Besides, I wear Miriam's body: could I not seem to others to be Miriam indeed? How could they guess the truth?" "I will think of what you say, princess," said Kamaiakan. "Something may perhaps be done; but it must be done gradually: you would need much instruction in the ways of the new world before you could safely enter into its life. Leave that to me. I am loyal as ever: is it not to fulfil the oath made to you that I am here? and what would Miriam be to me, were she not your inheritor? Be satisfied for the present: in a few days we will meet and speak again." "The power is yours, Kamaiakan: it is well to argue, when with a word you can banish me forever! Yet what if I were to say that, unless you consent to the thing I desire, I will not show you where the treasure lies?" "Princess Semitzin!" exclaimed the Indian, "remember that it is not against me, but against the gods, that you would contend. The gods know that I have no care for treasure. But they will not forgive a broken oath; and they will not hold that one guiltless through whom it is brought to naught?" "Well, we shall meet again," answered Semitzin, after a pause. "But do you remember that you, too, are not free from responsibility in this matter. You have called me back: see to it that you do me justice." She waved her hands with a gesture of adieu, turned, and left the enclosure. Kamaiakan sank down again beside the empty bowl of the fountain. Semitzin returned along the path by which she had come, towards the house. As she turned round one of the corners, she saw a man's figure before her, strolling slowly along in the same direction in which she was going. In a few moments he heard her light footfall, and, facing about, confronted her. She continued to advance until she was within arm's reach of him: then she paused, and gazed steadfastly in his face. He was the first human being, save Kamaiakan, that she had seen since her eyes closed upon the world of Tenochtitlan, three hundred years before. The young man looked upon her with manifest surprise. It was too dark to distinguish anything clearly, but it did not take him long to surmise that the figure was that of a woman, and her countenance, though changed in aspect by the head-dress she were, yet had features which, he knew, he had seen before. But could it be Miriam Trednoke who was abroad at such an hour and in such a costume? He did not recognize the Golden Fleece, but it was evident enough that she was clad as women are not. Before he could think of anything to say to her, she smiled, and uttered some words in a soft, flowing language with which he was entirely unacquainted. The next moment she had glided past him, and was out of sight round the curve of the path, leaving him in a state of perplexity not altogether gratifying. "What the deuce can it mean?" he muttered to himself. "I can't be mistaken about its being Miriam. And yet she didn't look at me as if she recognized me. What can she be doing out here at midnight? I suppose it's none of my business: in fact, she might very reasonably ask the same question of me. And if I were to tell her that I had only ridden over to spend a sentimental hour beneath her window, what would she say? If she answered in the same lingo she used just now, I should be as wise as before. After all, it may have been somebody else. The image in my mind projected itself on her countenance. I certainly must be in love! I almost wish I'd never come here. This complication about the general's irrigating scheme makes it awkward. I'm bound not to explain things to him; and yet, if I don't, and he discovers (as he can't help doing) what I am here for, nothing will persuade him that I haven't been playing a double game; and that would not be a promising preliminary towards becoming a member of his family. If Miriam were only Grace, now, it would be plain sailing. Hello! who's this? Senor Don Miguel, as I'm a sinner! What is he up to, pray? Can this be the explanation of Miriam's escapade? I have a strong desire to blow a hole through that fellow! --Buenas noches, Senor de Mendoza! I am enchanted to have the unexpected honor of meeting you." Senor de Mendoza turned round, disagreeably startled. It is only fair to explain that he had not come hither with any lover- like designs towards Miriam. Grace was the magnet that had drawn his steps to the Trednokes' garden, and the truth is that that enterprising young lady was not without a suspicion that he might turn up. Could this information have been imparted to Freeman, it would have saved much trouble; but, as it was, not only did he jump to the conclusion that Don Miguel was his rival (and, seemingly, a not unsuccessful one), but a similar misgiving as to Freeman's purposes towards Grace found its way into the heart of the Spaniard. It was a most perverse trick of fate. The two men contemplated each other, each after his own fashion: Don Miguel pale, glaring, bristling; Freeman smiling, insolent, hectoring. "Why are you here, senor?" demanded the former, at length. "Partly, senor, because such is my pleasure. Partly, to inform you that your presence here offends me, and to humbly request you to be off." "Senor, this is an impertinence." "Senor, one is not impertinent to prowling greasers. One admonishes them, and, if they do not obey, one chastises them." "Do you talk of chastising Don Miguel de Mendoza? Senor, I will wash out that insult with your blood!" "Excellent! It is at your service for the taking. But, lest we disturb the repose of our friends yonder, let us seek a more convenient spot. I noticed a very pretty little glade on the right as I rode over here. You are armed? Good! we will have this little affair adjusted within half an hour. Yonder star--the planet of love, senor--shall see fair play. Andamos!" CHAPTER V. Having mounted their steeds, the two sanguinary young gentlemen rode onwards, side by side, but in silence; for the souls of those who have resolved to slay each other find small delight in vain conversation. Moreover, there is that in the conscious proximity of death which stimulates to thought much more than to speech. But Freeman preserved an outward demeanor of complacent calm, as one who doubts not, nor dreads, the issue; and, indeed, this was not the first time by many that he had taken his life in his hand and brought it unscathed through dangers. Don Miguel, on the other hand, was troubled in spirit, and uneasy in the flesh. He was one soon hot and soon cold; and this long ride to the decisive event went much against his stomach. If the conflict had taken place there in the garden, while the fire of the insult was yet scorching him, he could have fought it out with good will; but now the night air seemed chiller and chiller, and its frigidity crept into his nerves: he doubted of the steadiness of his aim, bethought himself that the darkness was detrimental to accurate shooting, and wondered whether Senor Freeman would think it necessary to fight across a handkerchief. He could not help regretting, too, that the quarrel had not been occasioned by some more definite and satisfactory provocation,--something which merely to think of would steel the heart to irrevocable murderousness. But no blow had passed; even the words, though bitter to swallow, had been wrapt in the phrases of courtesy; and perhaps the whole affair was the result of some misapprehension. He stole a look at the face of his companion; and the latter's air of confident and cheerful serenity made him feel worse than ever. Was he being brought out here to be butchered for nothing,--he, Don Miguel de Mendoza, who had looked forward to many pleasures in this life? It was too bad. It was true, the fortune of war might turn the other way; but Don Miguel was aware of a sensation in his bones which made this hope weak. At length Freeman drew rein and glanced around him. They were in a lonely and-- Don Miguel thought--a most desolate and unattractive spot. An open space of about half an acre was bounded on one side by a growth of wild mustard, whose slender stalks rose to more than the height of a man's head. On the other side was a grove of live-oak; and in front, the ground fell away in a rugged, bush-grown declivity. "It strikes me that this is just about what we want," remarked Freeman, in his full, cheerful tones. "We are half a mile from the road; the ground is fairly level; and there's no possibility of our being disturbed. I was thinking, this afternoon, as I passed through here, what an ideal spot it was for just such a little affair as you and I are bent on. But I didn't venture to anticipate such speedy good fortune as your obliging condescension has brought to pass, Don Miguel." "Caramba!" muttered the senor, shivering. He might have said more, but was unwilling to trust his voice, or to waste nervous energy. Meanwhile, Freeman had dismounted, and was tethering his horse. It occurred to the senor that it would be easy to pull his gun, send a bullet through his companion, and gallop away. He did not yield to this temptation, partly from traditional feeling that it would not be suitable conduct for a De Mendoza, partly because he might miss the shot or only inflict a wound, and partly because such deeds demand a nerve which, at that moment, was not altogether at his command. Instead, he slowly dismounted himself, and wondered whether it would ever be vouchsafed him to sit in that saddle again. Freeman now produced his revolver, a handsome, silver-mounted weapon, that looked business-like. "What sort of a machine is yours?" he inquired, pleasantly. "You can take your choice. I'm not particular, but I can recommend this as a sure thing, if you would like to try it. It never misses at twenty paces." "Twenty paces?" repeated Don Miguel, with a faint gleam of hope. "Of course we won't have any twenty paces to-night, "added Freeman, with a laugh. "I thought it might be a good plan to start at, say, fifteen, and advance firing. In that way, one or other of us will be certain to do something sooner or later. Would that arrangement be agreeable to Senor de Mendoza?" "Valga me Dios! I am content," said the latter, fetching a deep breath, and setting his teeth. "I will keep my weapon." "Muy buen," returned the American. "So now let us take our ground: that is, if you are quite ready?" Accordingly they selected their stations, facing respectively about north and south, with the planet of love between them, as it were. "Oblige me by giving the word, senor," said Freeman, cocking his weapon. But Don Miguel was staring with perturbed visage at something behind his antagonist. "Santa Maria!" he faltered, "what is yonder? It is a spirit!" Freeman had his wits about him, and perhaps entertained a not too high opinion of Mexican fair play. So, before turning round, he advanced till he was alongside his companion. Then he looked, and saw something which was certainly enigmatic. Among the wild-mustard plants there appeared a moving luminosity, having an irregular, dancing motion, as of a will-o'-the- wisp singularly agitated. Sometimes it uplifted itself on high, then plunged downwards, and again jerked itself from side to side; occasionally it would quite vanish for an instant. Accompanying this manifestation there was a clawing and reaching of shadowy arms: altogether, it was as if some titanic spectral grasshopper, with a heart of fire, were writhing and kicking in convulsions of phantom agony. Such an apparition, in an hour and a place so lonely, might stagger a less superstitious soul than that of Don Miguel de Mendoza. Freeman gazed at it for a moment in silence. It mystified him, and then irritated him. When one is bent heart and soul upon an important enterprise, any interruption is an annoyance. Perhaps there was in the young American's nature just enough remains of belief in witches and hobgoblins to make him feel warranted in resorting to extreme measures. At any rate, he lifted his revolver, and fired. It was a long shot for a revolver: nevertheless it took effect. The luminous object disappeared with a faint explosive sound, followed by a shout unmistakably human. The long stems of the wild mustard swayed and parted, and out sprang a figure, which ran straight towards the two young men. Hereupon, Don Miguel, hissing out an appeal to the Virgin and the saints, turned and fled. Meanwhile, the mysterious figure continued its onward career; and Freeman once more levelled his weapon,--when a voice, which gave him such a start of surprise as well-nigh caused him to pull the trigger for sheer lack of self-command, called out, "Why, you abominable young villain! What the mischief do you mean? Do you want to be hanged?" "Professor Meschines!" faltered Freeman. It was indeed that worthy personage, and he was on fire with wrath. He held in one hand a shattered lantern mounted on the end of a pole, and in the other a long- handled net of gauze, such as entomologists use to catch moths withal. Under his left arm was slung a brown japanned case, in which he presumably deposited the spoils of his skill. Freeman's shot had not only smashed and extinguished the lantern which served as bait for the game, but had also given the professor a disagreeable reminder that the tenure of human life is as precarious as that of the silly moth which allows itself to be lured to destruction by shining promises of bliss. "Upon my soul, professor, I am very sorry," said Freeman. "You have no idea how formidable you looked; and you could hardly expect me to imagine that you would be abroad at such an hour----" "And why not, I should like to know?" shouted the professor, towering with indignation. "Was I doing anything to be ashamed of? And what are you doing here, pray, with loaded revolvers in your hands? --Hallo! who's this?" he exclaimed, as Don Miguel advanced doubtfully out of the gloom. "Senor de Mendoza, as I'm a sinner! and armed, too! Well, really! Are you two out on a murdering expedition? --Oho!" he went on, in a changed tone, glancing keenly from one to another: "methinks I see the bottom of this mystery. You have ridden forth, like the champions of romance, to do doughty deeds upon each other!--Is it not so, Don Miguel?" he demanded, turning his fierce spectacles suddenly on that young man. Don Miguel, ignoring a secret gesture from Freeman, admitted that he had been on the point of expunging the latter from this mortal sphere. The professor chuckled sarcastically. "I see! Blood! Wounded honor! The code! --But, by the way, I don't see your seconds! Where are your seconds?" "My dear sir," said Freeman, "I assure you it's all a mistake. We just happened to meet at the gen--er--happened to meet, and were riding home together----" "Now, listen to me, Harvey," the professor interrupted, holding up an expository finger. "You have known me since some ten years, I think; and I have known you. You were a clever boy in your studies; but it was your foible to fancy yourself cleverer than you were. Acting under that delusion, you pitted yourself against me on one or two occasions; and I leave it to your candid recollection whether you or I had the best of the encounter. You call yourself a man, now; but I make bold to say that the-- discrepancy, let us call it--between you and me remains as conspicuous as ever it was. I see through you, sir, much more clearly than, by this light, I can see you. I am fond of you, Harvey; but I feel nothing but contempt for your present attitude. In the first place, conscious as you are of your skill with that weapon, you know that this affair--even had seconds been present--would have been, not a duel, but an assassination. You acted like a coward!--I say it, sir, like a coward!-- and I hope you may live to be as much ashamed of yourself as I am now ashamed for you. Secondly, your conduct, considered in its relations to--to certain persons whom I will not name, is that of a boor and a blackguard. Suppose you had accomplished the cowardly murder--the cowardly murder, I said, sir--that you were bent upon to-night. Do you think that would be a grateful and acceptable return for the courtesy and confidence that have been shown you in that house?--a house, sir, to which I myself introduced you, under the mistaken belief that you were a gentleman, or, at least, could feign gentlemanly behavior! But I won't--my feelings won't allow me to enlarge further upon this point. But allow me to add, in the third place, that you have shown yourself a purblind donkey. Actually, you haven't sense enough to know the difference between those who pull with you and those who pull against you. Now, I happen to know--to know, do you hear?--that had you succeeded in what you were just about to attempt, you would have removed your surest ally,--the surest, because his interests prompt him to favor yours. You pick out the one man who was doing his best to clear the obstacle out of your path, and what do you do?--Thank him?--Not you! You plot to kill him! But even had he been, as you in your stupidity imagined, your rival, do you think the course you adopted would have promoted your advantage? Let me tell you, sir, that you don't know the kind of people you are dealing with. You would never have been permitted to cross their threshold again. And you may take my word for it, if ever you venture to recur to any such folly, I will see to it that you receive your deserts.--Well, I think we understand each other, now?" Freeman's emotions had undergone several variations during the course of the mighty professor's harangue. But he had ended by admitting the force of the argument; and the reminiscences of college lecturings aroused by the incident had tickled his sense of humor and quenched his anger. He looked at the professor with a sparkle of laughter in his eyes. "I have done very wrong, sir," he said, "and I'm very sorry for it. If you won't give me any bad marks this time, I'll promise to be good in future." "Ah! very smooth! To begin with, suppose you ask pardon of Senor Don Miguel de Mendoza for the affront you have put upon him." To a soul really fearless, even an apology has no terrors. Moreover, Freeman's night ride with Don Miguel, though brief in time, had sufficed to give him the measure of the Mexican's character; and he respected it so little that he could no longer take the man seriously, or be sincerely angry with him. The professor's assurance as to Don Miguel's inoffensiveness had also its weight; and it was therefore with a quite royal gesture of amicable condescension that Freeman turned upon his late antagonist and held out his hand. "Senor Don Miguel de Mendoza," said he, "I humbly tender you my apologies and crave your pardon. My conduct has been inexcusable; I beg you to excuse it. I deserve your reprobation; I entreat the favor of your friendship. Senor, between men of honor, a misunderstanding is a misunderstanding, and an apology is an apology. I lament the existence of the first; the professor, here, is witness that I lay the second at your feet. May I hope to receive your hand as a pledge that you restore me to the privilege of your good will?" Now, Don Miguel's soul had been grievously exercised that night: he had been insulted, he had shivered beneath the shadow of death, he had been a prey to superstitious terrors, and he had been utterly perplexed by the professor's eloquent address, whereof (as it was delivered in good American, and with a rapidity of utterance born of strong feeling) he had comprehended not a word, and the unexpected effect of which upon his late adversary he was at a loss to understand. Although, therefore, he had no stomach for battle, he was oppressed by a misgiving lest the whole transaction had been in some way planned to expose him to ridicule; and for this reason he was disposed to treat Freeman's peaceful overtures with suspicion. His heart did not respond to those overtures, but neither was it stout enough to enable him to reject them explicitly. Accordingly, he adopted that middle course which, in spite of the proverb, is not seldom the least expedient. He disregarded the proffered hand, bowed very stiffly, and, saying, "Senor, I am satisfied," stalked off with all the rigidity of one in whose veins flows the sangre azul of Old Castile. Freeman smiled superior upon his retreat, and then, producing a cigar-case, proceeded to light up with the professor. In this fragrant and friendly cloud we will leave them, and return for a few minutes to the house of General Trednoke. It will be remembered that something was said of Grace being privy to the nocturnal advances of Senor de Mendoza. We are not to suppose that this implies in her anything worse than an aptness to indulge in romantic adventure: the young lady enjoyed the mystery of romance, and knew that serenades, and whisperings over star-lit balconies, were proper to this latitude. It may be open to question whether she really was much interested in De Mendoza, save as he was a type of the adoring Spaniard. That the scene required: she could imagine him (for the time-being) to be the Cid of ancient legend, and she herself would enact a role of corresponding elevation. Grace would doubtless have prospered better had she been content with one adorer at a time; but, while turning to a new love, she was by no means disposed to loosen the chains of a former one; and, though herself as jealous as is a tiger-cat of her young, she could never recognize the propriety of a similar passion on the part of her victims. She had been indignant at Freeman's apparent infidelity with Miriam; but when she had (as she imagined) discovered her mistake, she had listened with a heart at ease to the protestations of Don Miguel. She had parted from him that evening with a half expressed understanding that he was to reappear beneath her window before day- light; and she had pictured to herself a charming balcony-scene, such as she had beheld in Italian opera. Accordingly, she had attired herself in a becoming negligee, and had spent the fore part of the night somewhat restlessly, occasionally emerging on the veranda and gazing down into the perfumed gloom of the garden. At length she fancied that she heard footsteps. Whose could they be, unless Don Miguel's? Grace retreated within her window to await developments. Don Miguel did not appear; but presently she descried a phantom-like figure ascending the flight of steps to the veranda. Could that be he? If so, he was bolder in his wooing than Grace had been prepared for. But surely that was a strange costume that he wore; nor did the unconscious harmony of the gait at all resemble the senor's self-conscious strut. And whither was he going? It was but too evident that he was going straight to the room occupied by Miriam! This was too much for Grace's equanimity. She stepped out of her window, and flitted with noiseless step along the veranda. The figure that she pursued entered the door of the house, and passed into the corridor traversing the wing. Grace was in time to see it cross the threshold of Miriam's door, which stood ajar. She stole to the door, and peeped in. There was the figure; but of Miriam there was no trace. The figure slowly unfastened and threw back the hood which covered its head, at the same time turning round, so that its countenance was revealed. A torrent of black hair fell down over its shoulders. Grace uttered an involuntary exclamation. It was Miriam herself! The two gazed at each other a moment in silence. "Goodness me, dear!" said Grace at last, in a faint voice, "how you have frightened me! I saw you go in, in that dress, and I thought you were a man! How my heart beats! What is the matter?" "This is strange!" murmured the other, after a pause. "I never heard such words; and yet I seem to understand, and even to speak them. It must be a dream. What are you?" "Why, Miriam, dear! don't you know Grace?" "Oh! you think me Miriam. No; not yet!" She raised her hands, and pressed her fingers against her temples. "But I feel her--I feel her coming! Not yet, Kamaiakan! not so soon!--Do you know him?" she suddenly asked, throwing back her hair, and fixing an eager gaze on Grace. "Know who? Kamaiakan? Why, yes----" "No, not him! The youth,--the blue- eyed,--the fair beard above his lips----" "What are you talking about? Not Harvey Freeman!" "Harvey Freeman! Ah, how sweet a name! Harvey Freeman! I shall know it now!--Tell him," she went on, laying her hand majestically upon Grace's shoulder, and speaking with an impressive earnestness, "that Semitzin loves him!" "Semitzin?" repeated Grace, puzzled, and beginning to feel scared. "Semitzin!" the other said, pointing to her own heart. "She loves him: not as the child Miriam loves, but with the heart and soul of a mighty princess. When he knows Semitzin, he will think of Miriam no more." "But who is Semitzin?" inquired Grace, with a fearful curiosity. "The Princess of Tenochtitlan, and the guardian of the great treasure, "was the reply. "Good gracious! what treasure?" "The treasure of gold and precious stones hidden in the gorge of the desert hills. None knows the place of it but I; and I will give it to none but him I love." "But you said that . . . Really, my dear, I don't understand a bit! As for Mr. Freeman, he may care for Semitzin, for aught I know; but, I must confess, I think you're mistaken in supposing he's in love with you,--if that is what you mean. I met him before you did, you know; and if I were to tell you all that we----" "What are you or Miriam to me?--Ah! she comes!--The treasure--by the turning of the white pyramid--six hundred paces-- on the right--the arch----" Her voice died away. She covered her face with her hands, and trembled violently. Slowly she let them fall, and stared around her. "Grace, is it you? Has anything happened? How came I like this? What is it?" "Well, if you don't know, I'm afraid I can't tell you. I had begun to think you had gone mad. It must be either that or somnambulism. Who is Semitzin?" "Semitzin? I never heard of him." "It isn't a man: it's a princess. And the treasure?" "Am I asleep or awake? What are you saying?" "The white pyramid, you know----" "Don't make game of me, Grace. If I have done anything----" "My dear, don't ask me! I tell you frankly, I'm nonplussed. You were somebody else a minute ago. . . . The truth is, of course, you've been dreaming awake. Has any one else seen you beside me?" "Have I been out of my room?" asked Miriam, in dismay. "You must have been, I should think, to get that costume. Well, the best plan will be, I suppose, to say nothing about it to anybody. It shall be our secret, dear. If I were you, I would have one of the women sleep in your room, in case you got restless again. It's just an attack of nervousness, probably,--having so many strangers in the house, all of a sudden. Now you must go to bed and get to sleep: it's awfully late, and there'll be ever so much going on to- morrow." Grace herself slept little that night. She could not decide what to make of this adventure. Nowadays we are provided with a name for the peculiar psychical state which Miriam was undergoing, and with abundant instances and illustrations; but we perhaps know what it is no more than we did twenty-five or thirty years ago. Grace's first idea had been that Miriam was demented; then she thought she was playing a part; then she did not know what to think; and finally she came to the conclusion that it was best to quietly await further developments. She would keep an eye on Freeman as well as on Miriam; something, too, might be gathered from Don Miguel; and then there was that talk about a treasure. Was that all the fabric of a dream, or was there truth at the bottom of it? She had heard something said about a treasure in the course of the general conversation the day before. If there really was a treasure, why might not she have a hand in the discovery of it? Miriam, in her abnormal state, had let fall some topographical hints that might prove useful. Well, she would work out the problem, sooner or later. To-morrow, when the others had gone off on their expedition, she would have ample leisure to sound Don Miguel, and, if he proved communicative and available, who could tell what might happen? But how very odd it all was! Who was Semitzin? While asking herself this question, Grace fell asleep; and by the time the summons to breakfast came, she had passed through thrilling adventures enough to occupy a new Scheherazade at least three years in the telling of them. CHAPTER VI. By nine o'clock in the morning, Professor Meschines and Harvey Freeman had ridden up to the general's ranch, equipped for the expedition. The general's preparations were not yet quite completed. A couple of mules were being loaded with the necessary outfit. It was proposed to be out two days, camping in the open during the intervening night. It was necessary to take water as well as solid provisions. Leaving their horses in the care of a couple of stable-boys, Meschines and Freeman mounted the veranda, and were there greeted by General Trednoke. "I'm afraid we'll have a hot ride of it," he observed. "The atmosphere is rather oppressive. Kamaiakan tells me there was a touch of earthquake last night." "I thought I noticed some disturbance,----" returned the professor, with a stealthy side- glance at Freeman,--"something in the nature of an explosion." "Earthquakes are common in this region, aren't they?" Freeman said. "They have made it what it is, and may unmake it again," replied the general. "The earthquake is the father of the desert, as the Indians say; and it may some day become the father of a more genial offspring. Veremos!" "How are the young ladies?" inquired Freeman. "Miriam has a little headache, I believe; and I thought Miss Parsloe was looking a trifle pale this morning. But you must see for yourself. Here they come." Grace, who was a little taller than Miriam, had thrown one arm round that young lady's waist, with a view, perhaps, to forming a picture in which she should not be the secondary figure. In fact, they were both of them very pretty; but Freeman had become blind to any beauty but Miriam's. Moreover, he was resolved to have some private conversation with her during the few minutes that were available. A conversation with the professor, and some meditations of his own, had suggested to him a line of attack upon Grace. "I'm afraid you were disturbed by the earthquake last night?" he said to her. "An earthquake? Why should you think so?" "You look as if you had passed a restless night. I saw Senor de Mendoza this morning. He seems to have had a restless time of it, too. But he is a romantic person, and probably, if an earthquake did not make him sleepless, something else might." He looked at her a moment, and then added, with a smile, "But perhaps this is not news to you?" "He didn't come--I didn't see him," returned Grace, wishing, ere the words had left her lips, that she had kept her mouth shut. Freeman continued to smile. How much did he know? She felt that it might be inexpedient to continue the conversation. Casting about for a pretext for retreat, her eyes fell upon Meschines. "Oh, there's the dear professor! I must speak to him a moment," she exclaimed, vivaciously; and she slipped her arm from Miriam's waist, and was off, leaving Freeman in possession of the field, and of the monopoly of Miriam's society. "Miss Trednoke," said he, gravely, "I have something to tell you, in order to clear myself from a possible misunderstanding. It may happen that I shall need your vindication with your father. Will you give it?" "What vindication do you need, that I can give?" asked she, opening her dark eyes upon him questioningly. "That's what I wish to explain. I am in a difficult position. Would you mind stepping down into the garden? It won't take a minute." Curiosity, if not especially feminine, is at least human. Miriam descended the steps, Freeman beside her. They strolled down the path, amidst the flowers. "You said, yesterday," he began, "that I would say one thing and be another. Now I am going to tell you what I am. And afterwards I'll tell you why I tell it. In the first place, you know, I'm a civil engineer, and that includes, in my case, a good deal of knowledge about geology and things of that sort. I have sometimes been commissioned to make geological surveys for Eastern capitalists. Lately I've been canal-digging on the Isthmus; but the other day I got a notification from some men in Boston and New York to come out here on a secret mission." "Secret, Mr. Freeman?" "Yes: you will understand directly. These men had heard enough about the desert valleys of this region to lead them to think that it might be reclaimed and so be made very valuable. Such lands can be bought now for next to nothing; but, if the theories that control these capitalists are correct, they could afterwards be sold at a profit of thousands per cent. So it's indispensable that the object of my being here should remain unknown; otherwise, other persons might step in and anticipate the designs of this company." "If those are your orders, why do you speak to me?" "There's a reason for doing it that outweighs the reasons against it. I trust you with the secret: yet I don't mean to bind you to secrecy. You will have a perfect right to tell it: the only result would be that I should be discredited with my employers; and there is nothing to warrant me in supposing that you would be deterred by that." "I don't ask to know your secret: I think you had better say no more." Freeman shook his head. "I must speak," said he. "I don't care what becomes of me, so long as I stand right in your opinion,--your father's and yours. I am here to find out whether this desert can be flooded,--irrigated,--whether it's possible, by any means, to bring water upon it. If my report is favorable, the company will purchase hundreds, or thousands, of square miles, and, incidentally, my own fortune will be made." "Why, that's the very thing----" She stopped. "The very thing your father had thought of! Yes, so I imagined, though he has not told me so in so many words. So I'm in the position of surreptitiously taking away the prospective fortune of a man whom I respect and honor, and who treats me as a friend." Miriam walked on some steps in silence. "It is no fault of yours," she said at last. "You owe us nothing. You must carry out your orders." "Yes; but what is to prevent your father from thinking that I stole his idea and then used it against him?" "You can tell him the truth: he could not complain; and why should you care if he did? I know that men separate business from--from other things." They had now come to the little enclosed space where the fountain basin was; and by tacit consent they seated themselves upon it. Miriam gave an exclamation of surprise. "The water is gone!" she said. "How strange!" "Perhaps it has gone to meet us at our rendezvous in the desert.--No: if I tell your father, I should be unfaithful to my employers. But there's another alternative: I can resign my appointment, and let my place be taken by another." "And give up your chance of a fortune? You mustn't do that." "What is it to you what becomes of me?" "I wish nothing but good to come to you," said she, in a low voice. "I have never wanted to have a fortune until now. And I must tell you the reason of that, too. A man without a fortune does very well by himself. He can knock about, and live from hand to mouth. But when he wants to live for somebody else,--even if he has only a very faint hope of getting the opportunity of doing it,--then he must have some settled means of livelihood to justify him. So I say I am in a difficult position. For if I give this up, I must go away; and if I go away, I must give up even the little hope I have." "Don't go away," said Miriam, after a pause. "Do you know what you are saying?" He hesitated a moment, looking at her as she looked down at the empty basin. "My hope was that you might love me; for I love you, to be my wife." The color slowly rose in Miriam's face: at length she hid it in her hands. "Oh, what is it?" she said, almost in a whisper. "I have known you only three days. But it seems as if I must have known you before. There is something in me that is not like myself. But it is the deepest thing in me; and it loves you: yes, I love you!" Her hands left her face, and there was a light in her eyes which made Freeman, in the midst of his rejoicing, feel humble and unworthy. He felt himself in contact with something pure and sacred. At the same moment, the recollection recurred to him of the figure he had seen the night before, with the features of Miriam. Was it she indeed? Was this she? To doubt the identity of the individual is to lose one's footing on the solid earth. For the first time it occurred to him that this doubt might affect Miriam herself. Was she obscurely conscious of two states of being in herself, and did she therefore fear to trust her own impulses? But, again, love is the master-passion; its fire fuses all things, and gives them unity. Would not this love that they confessed for each other burn away all that was abnormal and enigmatic, and leave only the unerring human heart, that knows its own and takes it? These reflections passed through Freeman's mind in an instant of time. But he was no metaphysician, and he obeyed the sane and wholesome instinct which has ever been man's surest and safest guide through the mysteries and bewilderments of existence. He took the beautiful woman in his arms and kissed her. "This is real and right, if anything is," said he. "If there are ghosts about, you and I, at any rate, are flesh and blood, and where we belong. As to the irrigation scrape, there must be some way out of it: if not, no matter! You and I love each other, and the world begins from this moment!" "My father must know to-morrow," said Miriam. "No doubt we shall all know more to- morrow than we do to-day," returned her lover, not knowing how abundantly his prophecy would be fulfilled: he was over- flowing with the fearless and enormous joy of a young man who has attained at one bound the summit of his desire. "There! they are calling for me. Good-by, my darling. Be yourself, and think of nothing but me." A short ride brought the little cavalcade to the borders of the desert. Here, by common consent, a halt was made, to draw breath, as it were, before taking the final plunge into the fiery furnace. "Before we go farther," said General Trednoke, approaching Freeman, as he was tightening his girths, "I must tell you what is the object of this expedition." "It is not necessary, general," replied the young man, straightening himself and looking the other in the face; "for from this point our paths lie apart." "Why so?" demanded the general, in surprise. "What's that?" exclaimed Meschines, coming up, and adjusting his spectacles. "I'm not at liberty, at present, to explain," Freeman answered. "All I can say is that I don't feel justified in assisting you in your affair, and I am not able to confide my own to you. I wish you to put the least uncharitable construction you can on my conduct. To-morrow, if we all live, I may say more; now, the most I can tell you is that I am not entirely a free agent. Meantime--Hasta luego." Against this unexpected resolve the general cordially protested and the professor scoffed and contended; but Freeman stayed firm. He had with him provisions enough to last him three days, and a supply of water; and in a small case he carried a compact assortment of instruments for scientific observation. "Take your departure in whatever direction you like," said he, "and I will take mine at an angle of not less than fifteen degrees from it. If I am not back in three days, you may conclude something has happened." It was certainly very hot. Freeman had been accustomed to torrid suns in the Isthmus; but this was a sun indefinitely multiplied by reflections from the dusty surface underfoot. Nor was it the fine, ethereal fire of the Sahara: the atmosphere was dead and heavy; for the rider was already far below the level of the Pacific, whose cool blue waves rolled and rippled many leagues to the westward, as, aeons ago, they had rolled and rippled here. There was not a breath of air. Freeman could hear his heart beat, and the veins in his temples and wrists throbbed. The sweat rose on the surface of his body, but without cooling it. The pony which he bestrode, a bony and sinewy beast of the toughest description, trod onwards doggedly, but with little animation. Freeman had no desire to push him. Were the little animal to overdo itself, nothing in the future could be more certain than that his master would never see the Trednoke ranch again. It seemed unusually hot, even for that region. There was little in the way of outward incident to relieve the monotony of the journey. Now and then a short, thick rattlesnake, with horns on its ugly head, wriggled out of his path. Now and then his horse's hoof almost trod upon a hideous, flat lizard, also horned. Here and there the uncouth projections of a cactus pushed upwards out of the dust; some of these the mustang nibbled at, for the sake of their juice. Freeman wondered where the juice came from. The floor of the desert seemed for the most part level, though there was a gradual dip towards the east and northeast, and occasionally mounds and ridges of wind-swept dust, sometimes upwards of fifty feet in height, broke the uniformity. The soil was largely composed of powdered feldspar; but there were also tracts of gravel shingle, of yellow loam, and of alkaline dust. In some places there appeared a salt efflorescence, sprouting up in a sort of ghastly vegetation, as if death itself had acquired a sinister life. Elsewhere, the ground quaked and yielded underfoot, and it became necessary to make detours to avoid these arid bogs. Once or twice, too, Freeman turned aside lest he should trample upon some dry bones that protruded in his path,--bones that were their own monument, and told their own story of struggle, agony, exhaustion, and despair. None of these things had any depressing effect on Freeman's spirit. His heart was singing with joy. To a mind logically disposed, there was nothing but trouble in sight, whether he succeeded or failed in his present mission. In the former case, he would find himself in a hostile position as regarded the man he most desired to conciliate; in the latter, he would remain the mere rolling stone that he was before, and love itself would forbid him to ask the woman he loved to share his uncertain existence. But Freeman was not logical: he was happy, and he could not help it. He had kissed Miriam, and she loved him. His course lay a few degrees north of east. Far across the plain, dancing and turning somersaults in the fantastic atmosphere, were the summits of a range of abrupt hills, the borders of a valley or ravine which he wished to explore. Gradually, as he rode, his shadow lengthened before him. It was his only companion; and yet he felt no sense of loneliness. Miriam was in his heart, and kept it fresh and bold. Even hunger and thirst he scarcely felt. Who can estimate the therapeutic and hygienic effects of love? The mustang could not share his rider's source of content, but he may have been conscious, through animal instincts whereof we know nothing, of an uplifting and encouraging spirit. At all events, he kept up his steady lope without faltering or apparent effort, and seemed to require nothing more than the occasional wetting which Freeman administered to his nose. There would probably be some vegetation, and perhaps water, on the hills; and that prospect may likewise have helped him along. Nevertheless, man and beast may well have welcomed the hour when the craggy acclivities of that lonely range became so near that they seemed to loom above their heads. Freeman directed his steps towards the southern extremity, where a huge, pallid mass, of almost regular pyramidal form, reared itself aloft like a monument. He skirted the base of the pyramid, and there opened on his view a narrow, winding valley, scarcely half a mile in apparent breadth, and of a very wild and savage aspect. Its general direction was nearly north and south, and it declined downwards, as if seeking the interior of the earth. In fact, it looked not unlike those imaginative pictures of the road to the infernal regions described by the ancient poets. One could picture Pluto in his chariot, with Proserpine beside him, thundering downwards behind his black horses, on the way to those sombre and magnificent regions which are hollowed out beneath the surface of the planet. Freeman, however, presently saw a sight which, if less spectacularly impressive, was far more agreeable to his eyes. On a shelf or cup of the declivity was a little clump of vegetation, and in the midst of it welled up a thin stream of water. The mustang scrambled eagerly towards it, and, before Freeman had had time to throw himself out of the saddle, he had plunged his muzzle into the rivulet. He sucked it down with such satisfaction that it was evident the water was not salt. Freeman laid himself prone upon the brink, and followed his steed's example. The draught was cool and pure. "I didn't know how much I wanted it!" said he to himself. "It must come from a good way down. If I could only bring the parent stream to the surface, my mission would be on a fair road to success." An examination of the spring revealed the fact that it could not have been long in existence. Indeed, there were no traces whatever of long continuance. The aperture in the rock through which it trickled bore the appearance of having been recently opened; fragments were lying near it that seemed to have been just broken off. The bed of the little stream was entirely free from moss or weeds; and after proceeding a short distance it dwindled and disappeared, either sucked up in vapor by the torrid air, or absorbed into the dusty soil. Manifestly, it was a recent creation. "And, to be sure, why not?" ejaculated Freeman. "There was an earthquake last night, which swallowed up the spring in the Trednokes' garden: probably that same earthquake brought this stream to light. It vanished there, to reappear here. Well, the loss is not important to them, but the gain is very important to me. It is as if Miriam had come with a cup of water to refresh her lover in the desert. God bless her! She has refreshed me indeed, soul and body!" He removed the saddle from the mustang, and turned him loose to make the best of such scanty herbage as he could find. Then he unpacked his own provisions, and made a comfortable meal; after which he rolled a cigarette and reclined on the spot most available, to rest and recuperate. The valley, or gorge, lay before him in the afternoon light. It was a strange and savage spectacle. Had it been torn asunder by some stupendous explosion, it could not have presented a rougher or more chaotic aspect. To look at it was like beholding the secret places of the earth. The rocky walls were of different colors, yellow, blue, and red, in many shades and gradations. They towered ruggedly upwards, sharply shadowed and brightly lighted, mounting in regular pinnacles, parting in black crevices; here and there vast masses hung poised on bases seemingly insufficient, ready to topple over on the unwary passer beneath. A short distance to the northward the ravine had a turn, and a projecting promontory hid its further extreme from sight. Freeman made up his mind to follow it up on foot, after the descending sun should have thrown a shadow over it. The indications, in his judgment, were not without promise that a system of judiciously-applied blastings might open up a source of water that would transform this dreadful barrenness into something quite different. The shade of the great pyramid fell upon him as he lay, but the tumultuous wall opposite was brilliantly illuminated: the sky, over it, was of a peculiar brassy hue, but entirely cloudless. The radiations from the baked surface, ascending vertically, made the rocky bastion seem to quiver, as if it were a reflection cast on undulating water. The wreaths of tobacco-smoke that emanated from Freeman's mouth also ascended, until they touched the slant of sunlight overhead. As the young man's eyes followed these, something happened that caused him to utter an exclamation and raise himself on one arm. All at once, in the vacant air diagonally above him, a sort of shadowy shimmer seemed to concentrate itself, which was rapidly resolved into color and form. It was much as if some unseen artist had swept a mass of mingled hues on a canvas and then had worked them with magical speed into a picture. There appeared a breadth of rolling country, covered with verdure, and in the midst of it the white walls and long, shadowed veranda of an adobe house. Freeman saw the vines clambering over the eaves and roof, the vases of earthenware suspended between the pillars and overflowing with flowers, the long windows, the steps descending into the garden. Now a figure clad in white emerged from the door and advanced slowly to the end of the veranda. He recognized the gait and bearing: he could almost fancy he discerned the beloved features. She stood there for a moment, gazing, as it seemed, directly at him. She raised her hands, and pressed them to her lips, then threw them outwards, with a gesture eloquent of innocent and tender passion. Freeman's heart leaped: involuntarily he stretched out his arms, and murmured, "Miriam!" The next moment, a tall, dark figure, with white hair, wrapped in a blanket, came stalking behind her, and made a beckoning movement. Miriam did not turn, but her bearing changed; her hands fell to her sides; she seemed bewildered. Freeman sprang angrily to his feet: the picture became blurred; it flowed into streaks of vague color; it was gone. There were only the brassy sky, and the painted crags quivering in the heat. "That was not a mirage: it was a miracle," muttered the young man to himself. "Forty miles at least, and it seemed scarcely three hundred yards! What does it mean?" The sun sank behind the hills, and a transparent shadow filled the gorge. Freeman, uneasy in mind, and unable to remain inactive, filled his canteen at the spring, and descended to the rugged trail at the bottom. Clambering over boulders, leaping across narrow chasms, letting himself down from ledges, his preoccupation soon left him, and physical exertion took the precedence. Half an hour's work brought him to the out- jutting promontory which had concealed the further reaches of the valley. These now lay before him, merging imperceptibly into indistinctness. "This atmosphere is unbearable," said Freeman. "I must get a little higher up." He turned to the right, and saw a natural archway, of no great height, formed in the rock. The arch itself was white; the super- incumbent stone was of a dull red hue. On the left flank of the arch were a series of inscribed characters, which might have been cut by a human hand, or might have been a mere natural freak. They looked like some rude system of hieroglyphics, and bore no meaning to Freeman's mind. A sort of crypt or deep recess was hollowed out beneath the arch, the full extent of which Freeman was unable to discern. The floor of it descended in ridges, like a rough staircase. He stood for a few moments peering into the gloom, tempted by curiosity to advance, but restrained partly by the gathering darkness, and partly by the oppressiveness of the atmosphere, which produced a sensation of giddiness. Something white gleamed on the threshold of the crypt. He picked it up. It was a human skull; but even as he lifted it it came apart in his hands and crumbled into fragments. Freeman's nerves were strong, but he shuddered slightly. The loneliness, the silence, the mystery, and the strange light-headedness that was coming over him combined to make him hesitate. "I'll come back to-morrow morning early," he said to himself. As if in answer, a deep, appalling roar broke forth apparently under his feet, and went rolling and reverberating up and down the canon. It died away, but was immediately followed by another yet more loud, and the ground shook and swayed beneath his feet. A gigantic boulder, poised high up on the other side of the canon, was unseated, and fell with a terrific crash. A hot wind swept sighing through the valley, and the air rapidly became dark. Again came the sigh, rising to a shriek, with roarings and thunderings that seemed to proceed both from the heavens and from the earth. A dazzling flash of lightning split the air, bathing it for an instant in the brightness of day: in that instant Freeman saw the bolt strike the great white pyramid and splinter its crest into fragments, while the whole surface of the gorge heaved and undulated like a stormy sea. He had been staggering as best he might to a higher part of the ravine; but now he felt a stunning blow on his head: he fell, and knew no more. CHAPTER VII. Two horsemen, one of whom led a third horse, carrying a pack-saddle, had reached the borders of the desert just as the earthquake began. When the first shock came, they were riding past a grove of live- oaks: they immediately dismounted, made fast their horses, and lay down beside some bushes that skirted the grove. Neither the earthquake nor the storm was so severe as was the case farther eastward. In an hour all was over, and they remounted and continued their journey, guiding their course by the stars. "It was thus that we rode before, Kamaiakan," remarked the younger of the two travellers. "Yonder bright star stood as it does now, and the hour of the night was the same. But this shaking of the earth makes me fear for the safety of that youth. The sands of the desert may have swept over him; or he may have perished in the hills." "The purposes of the gods cannot be altered, Semitzin," replied the old Indian, who perhaps would not have much regretted such a calamity as she suggested: it would be a simple solution of difficulties which might otherwise prove embarrassing. "It is my prayer, at all events, that the entrance to the treasure may not be closed." "I care nothing for the treasure, unless I may share it with him," she returned. "Since we spoke together beside the fountain, I have seen him. He looked upon me doubtfully, being, perhaps, perplexed because of these features of the child Miriam, which I am compelled to wear." "Truly, princess, what is he, that you should think of him?" muttered Kamaiakan. "He satisfies my heart," was the reply. "And I am resolved never again to give up this mortal habitation to her you call its rightful owner. I will never again leave this world, which I enjoy, for the unknown darkness out of which you called me." "Princess, the gods do not permit such dealings. They may, indeed, suffer you to live again; but you must return as an infant, in flesh and bones of your own." "The gods have permitted me to return as I have returned; and you well know, Kamaiakan, that, except you use your art to banish me and restore Miriam, there is nothing else that can work a change." "Murder is not lawful, Semitzin; and to do as you desire would be an act not different from murder." "On my head be it, then!" exclaimed the princess. "Would it be less a murder to send me back to nothingness than to let her remain there? Mine is the stronger spirit, and has therefore the better right to live. I ask of you only to do nothing. None need ever know that Miriam has vanished and that Semitzin lives in her place. I wear her body and her features, and I am content to wear her name also, if it must be so." Kamaiakan was silent. He may well be pardoned for feeling troubled in the presence of a situation which had perhaps never before confronted a human being. Two women, both tenants of the same body, both in love with the same man, and therefore rivals of each other, and each claiming a right to existence: it was a difficult problem. The old Indian heartily wished that a separate tenement might be provided for each of these two souls, that they might fight out their quarrel in the ordinary way. But his magic arts did not extend to the creation of flesh and blood. At the same time, he could not but feel to blame for having brought this strenuous spirit of Semitzin once more into the world, and he was fain to admit that her claim was not without justification. His motives had been excellent, but he had not foreseen the consequences in which the act was to land him. Yet he more shrank from wronging Miriam than from disappointing Semitzin. But the latter was not to be put off by silence. "There has been a change since you and I last spoke together," she said. "I am aware of it, though I know not how; but, in some manner, the things which Miriam has done are perceptible to me. When I was here before, she did but lean towards this youth; now she has given herself to him. She means to be united to him; and, if I again should vanish, I should never again find my way back. But it shall not be so; and there is a way, Kamaiakan, by which I can surely prevent it, even though you refuse to aid me." "Indeed, princess, I think you mistake regarding the love of Miriam for this young man; they have seen little of each other; and it may be, as you yourself said, that he has perished in the wilderness." "I believe he lives," she answered: "I should know it, were it otherwise. But if I cannot have him, neither shall she. I have told you already that, unless you swear to me not to put forth your power upon me to dismiss me, I will not lead you to the treasure. But that is not enough; for men deceive, and you are a man. But if at any time hereafter I feel within me those pangs that tell me you are about to separate me from this world, at that moment, Kamaiakan, I will drive this knife through the heart of Miriam! If I cannot keep her body, at least it shall be but a corpse when I leave it. You know Semitzin; and you know that she will keep her word!" She reined in her horse, as she spoke, and sat gazing upon her companion with flashing eyes. The Indian, after a pause, made a gesture of gloomy resignation. "It shall be as you say, then, Semitzin; and upon your head be it! Henceforth, Miriam is no more. But do you beware of the vengeance of the gods, whose laws you have defied." "Let the gods deal with me as they will," replied the Aztecan. "A day of happiness with the man I love is worth an age of punishment." Kamaiakan made no answer, and the two rode forward in silence. It was midnight, and a bright star, nearly in the zenith, seemed to hang precisely above the summit of the great white pyramid at the mouth of the gorge. "It was here that we stopped," observed Semitzin. "We tied our horses among the shrubbery round yonder point. Thence we must go on foot. Follow me." She struck her heels against her horse's sides, and went forward. The long ride seemed to have wearied her not a whit. The lean and wiry Indian had already betrayed symptoms of fatigue; but the young princess appeared as fresh as when she started. Not once had she even taken a draught from her canteen; and yet she was closely clad, from head to foot, in the doublet and leggings of the Golden Fleece. One might have thought it had some magic virtue to preserve its wearer's vitality; and possibly, as is sometimes seen in trance, the energy and concentration of the spirit reacted upon the body. She turned the corner of the pyramid, but had not ridden far when an object lying in her path caused her to halt and spring from the saddle. Kamaiakan also dismounted and came forward. The dead body of a mustang lay on the ground, crushed beneath the weight of a fragment of rock, which had evidently fallen upon it from a height. He had apparently been dead for some hours. He was without either saddle or bridle. "Do you know him?" demanded Semitzin. "It is Diego," replied Kamaiakan. "I know him by the white star on his muzzle. He was ridden by the Senor Freeman. They must have come here before the earthquake. And there lie the saddle and the bridle. But where is Senor Freeman?" "He can be nowhere else than in this valley," said Semitzin, confidently. "I knew that I should find him here. Through all the centuries, and across all spaces, we were destined to meet. His horse was killed, but he has escaped. I shall save him. Could Miriam have done this? Is he not mine by right?" "It is at least certain, princess," responded the old man rather dryly, "that had it not been for Miriam you would never have met the Senor Freeman at all." "I thank her for so much; and some time, perhaps, I will reward her by permitting her to have a glimpse of him for an hour,--or, at least, a minute. But not now, Kamaiakan, --not till I am well assured that no thought but of me can ever find its way into his heart. Come, let us go forward. We will find the treasure, and I will give it to my lord and lover." "Shall we bring the pack-horse with us?" asked the Indian. "Yes, if he can find his way among these rocks. The earthquake has made changes here. See how the water pours from this spring! It has already made a stream down the valley. It shall guide us whither we are going." Leaving their own horses, they advanced with the mule. But the trail, rough enough at best, was now well-nigh impassable. Masses of rock had fallen from above; large fissures and crevasses had been formed in the floor of the gorge, from some of which steaming vapors escaped, while others gave forth streams of water. The darkness added to the difficulties of the way, for, although the sky was now clear, the gloom was deceptive, and things distant seemed near. Occasionally a heavy, irregular sound would break the stillness, as some projection of a cliff became loosened and tumbled down the steep declivity. Semitzin, however, held on her way fearlessly and without hesitation, and the Indian, with the pack-horse, followed as best he might, now and then losing sight for a moment of the slight, grayish figure in front of him. At length she disappeared behind the jutting profile of a great promontory which formed a main angle of the gorge. When he came up with her, she was kneeling beside the prostrate form of a man, supporting his head upon her knee. Kamaiakan approached, and looked at the face of the man, which was pale; the eyes were closed. A streak of blood, from a wound on the head, descended over the right side of the forehead. "Is he dead?" the Indian asked. "He is not dead," replied Semitzin. "A flying stone has struck him; but his heart beats: he will be well again." She poured some water from her canteen over his face, and bent her ear over his lips. "He breathes," she said. Slipping one arm beneath his neck, she loosened the shirt at his throat and then stooped and kissed him. "Be alive for me, love," she murmured. "My life is yours." This exhortation seemed to have some effect. The man stirred slightly, and emitted a sigh. Presently he muttered, "I can-- lick him--yet!" "He will live, princess," remarked Kamaiakan. "But where is the treasure?" "My treasure is here!" was her reply; and again she bent to kiss the half-conscious man, who knew not of his good fortune. After an interval she added, "It is in the hollow beneath that archway. Go down three paces: on the wall at the left you will feel a ring. Pull it outwards, and the stone will give way. Behind it lies the chest in which the jewels are. But remember your promise!" Kamaiakan peered into the hollow, shook his head as one who loves not his errand, and stepped in. The black shadow swallowed him up. Semitzin paid no further attention to him, but was absorbed in ministering to her patient, whose strength was every moment being augmented, though he was not yet aware of his position. But all at once a choking sound came from within the cave, and in a few moments Kamaiakan staggered up out of the shadow, and sank down across the threshold of the arch. "Semitzin," he gasped, in a faint voice, "the curse of the gods is upon the spot! The air within is poisonous. It withers the limbs and stops the breath. No one may touch the treasure and live. Let us go!" "The gods do not love those who fear," replied the princess, contemptuously. "But the treasure is mine, and it may well be that no other hand may touch it. Fold that blanket, and lay it beneath his head. I will bring the jewels." "Do not attempt it: it will be death!" exclaimed the old man. "Shall a princess come to her lover empty-handed? Do you watch beside him while I go. Ah, if your Miriam were here, I would not fear to have him choose between us!" With these words, Semitzin stepped across the threshold of the crypt, and vanished in its depths. The Indian, still dizzy and faint, knelt on the rock without, bowed down by sinister forebodings. Several minutes passed. "She has perished!" muttered Kamaiakan. Freeman raised himself on one elbow, and gazed giddily about him. "What the deuce has happened?" he demanded, in a sluggish voice. "Is that you, professor?" Suddenly, a rending and rushing sound burst from the cave. Following it, Semitzin appeared at the entrance, dragging a heavy metal box, which she grasped by a handle at one end. Immediately in her steps broke forth a great volume of water, boiling up as if from a caldron. It filled the cave, and poured like a cataract into the gorge. The foundations of the great deep seemed to be let loose. Semitzin lifted from her face the woollen mask, or visor, which she had closed on entering the cave. She was panting from exertion, but neither her physical nor her mental faculties were abated. She spoke sharply and imperiously: "Bring up the mule, and help me fasten the chest upon him. We must reach higher ground before the waters overtake us. And now----" She turned to Freeman, who by this time was sitting up and regarding her with stupefaction. "Miriam!" was all he could utter. She shook her head, and smiled. "I am she who loves you, and whom you will love. I give you life, and fortune, and myself. But come: can you mount and ride?" "I can't make this out," he said, struggling, with her assistance, to his feet. "I have read fairy-tales, but this . . . Kamaiakan, too!" Semitzin, meanwhile, brought him to the mule, and half mechanically he scrambled into the saddle, the chest being made fast to the crupper. Semitzin seized the bridle, and started up the gorge, Kamaiakan bringing up the rear. The lower levels were already filling with water, which came pouring out through the archway in a full flood, seemingly inexhaustible. "I see how it is," mumbled Freeman, half to himself. "The earthquake--I remember! I got hit somehow. They came from the ranch to hunt me up. But where are the general and Professor Meschines? How long ago was it? And how came Miriam . . . Could the mirage have had anything to do with it?--Here, let me walk," he called out to her, "and you get up and ride." She turned her head, smiling again, but hurried on without speaking. The roar of the torrent followed them. Once or twice the mule came near losing his footing. Freeman, whose head was swimming, and his brains buzzing like a hive of bees, had all he could do to maintain his equilibrium in the saddle. He was excruciatingly thirsty, and the gurgling of waters round about made him wish he might dismount and plunge into them. But he lacked power to form a decided purpose, and permitted the more energetic will to control him. It might have been minutes, or it might have been hours, for all he knew: at last they halted, near the base of the white pyramid. "Here we are safe," said Semitzin, coming to his side. "Lean on me, my love, and I will lift you down." "Oh, I'm not quite so bad as that, you know," said Freeman, with a feeble laugh; and, to prove it, he blundered off the saddle, and came down on the ground with a thwack. He picked himself up, however, and recollecting that he had a flask with brandy in it, he felt for it, found it intact, and, with an inarticulate murmur of apology, raised it to his lips. It was like the veritable elixir of life: never in his life before had Freeman quaffed so deep a draught of the fiery spirit. It was just what he wanted. But he felt oddly embarrassed. He did not know what to make of Miriam. It was not her strange costume merely, but she seemed to have put on--or put off--something with it that made a difference in her. She was assertive, imperious; as loving, certainly, as lover could wish, but not in the manner of the Miriam he knew. He might have liked the new Miriam better, had he not previously fallen in love with the former one. He could not make advances to her: he had no opportunity to do so: she was making advances to him! "My love," she said, standing before him, "I have come back to the world for your sake. Before Semitzin first saw you, her heart was yours. And I come to you, not poor, but with the riches and power of the princes of Tenochtitlan. You shall see them: they are yours!--Kamaiakan, take down the chest." "What's that about Semitzin?" inquired Freeman. "I'm not aware that I knew any such person." "Kamaiakan!" repeated the other, raising her voice, and not hearing Freeman's last words. Kamaiakan was nowhere to be seen. Both Freeman and she had supposed that he was following on behind the mule; but he had either dropped behind, or had withdrawn somewhere. "O Kamaiakan!" shouted Freeman, as loud as he could. A distant hail, from the direction of the desert, seemed to reply. "That can't be he," said Freeman. "It was at least a quarter of a mile off, and the wrong direction, too. He's in the gorge, if he's anywhere." "Hark!" said Semitzin. They listened, and detected a low murmur, this time from the gorge. "He's fallen down and hurt himself," said Freeman. "Let's go after him." In a few moments they stumbled upon the old Indian, reclining with his shoulders against a rock, and gasping heavily. "My princess," he whispered, as she bent over him, "I am dying. The poisonous air in the cave was fatal to me, though the spell that is upon the Golden Fleece protected you. I have done what the gods commanded. I am absolved of my vow. The treasure is safe." "Nonsense! you're all right!" exclaimed Freeman. "Here, take a pull at this flask. It did me all the good in the world!" But the old man put it aside, with a feeble gesture of the hand. "My time is come,----" said he.--"Semitzin, I have been faithful." "Semitzin, again!" muttered Freeman. "What does it mean?" "But what is this?" cried the girl, suddenly starting to her feet. "I feel the sleep coming on me again! I feel Miriam returning! Kamaiakan, have you betrayed me at the last?" "No, no, princess, I have done nothing," said he, in a voice scarcely audible. "But, with death, the strength of my will goes from me, and I can no longer keep you in this world. The spirit of Miriam claims her rightful body, and you must struggle against her alone. The gods will not be defied: it is the law!" His voice sank away into nothing, and his beard drooped upon his breast. "He's dying, sure enough, poor old chap," said Freeman. "But what is all this about? I never heard anything like this language you two talk together." Semitzin turned towards him, and her eyes were blazing. "She shall not have you!" she cried. "I have won you--I have saved you--you are mine! What is Miriam? Can she be to you what I could be?--You shall never have him!" she continued, seeming to address some presence invisible to all eyes but hers. "If I must go, you shall go with me!" She fumbled in her belt, caught the handle of a knife there, and drew it. She lifted it against her heart; but even then there was an uncertainty in her movement, as if her mind were divided against itself, or had failed fully to retain the thread of its purpose. But Freeman, who had passed rapidly from one degree of bewilderment to another, was actually relieved to see, at last, something that he could understand. Miriam-- for some reason best known to herself--was about to do herself a mischief. He leaped forward, caught her in his arms, and snatched the knife from her grasp. For a few moments she struggled like a young tiger. And it was marvellous and appalling to hear two voices come from her, in alternation, or confusedly mingled. One said, "Let me kill her! I will not go! Keep back, you pale-faced girl!" and then a lower, troubled voice, "Do not let her come! Her face is terrible! What are those strange creatures with her? Harvey, where are you?" At last, with a fierce cry, that died away in a shuddering sigh, the form of flesh and blood, so mysteriously possessed, ceased to struggle, and sank back in Freeman's arms. His own strength was well-nigh at an end. He laid her on the ground, and, sitting beside her, drew her head on his knee. He had been in the land of spirits, contending with unknown powers, and he was faint in mind and body. Yet he was conscious of the approaching tread of horses' feet, and recollected the hail that had come from the desert. Soon loomed up the shadowy figures of mounted men, and they came so near that he was constrained to call out, "Mind where you're going! You'll be over us!" "Who are you?" said a voice, which sounded like that of General Trednoke, as they reined up. "There's Kamaiakan, who's dead; and Miriam Trednoke, who has been out of her mind, but she's got over it now, I guess; and I,--Harvey Freeman." "My daughter!" exclaimed General Trednoke. "My boy!" cried Professor Meschines. "Well, thank God we've found you, and that some of you are alive, at any rate!" CHAPTER VIII. As it was still some hours before dawn, and Freeman was too weak to travel, it was decided to encamp beside the pyramid till the following evening, and then make the trip across the desert in the comparative coolness of starlight. Meanwhile, there was something to be done, and much to be explained. The spirit of Kamaiakan had passed away, apparently at the same moment that the peculiar case of "possession" under which Miriam had suffered came to an end. They determined to bury him at the foot of the great pyramid, which would form a fitting monument of his antique character and virtues. Miriam, after her struggle, had lapsed into a state of partial lethargy, from which she was aroused gradually. It was then found that she could give no account what ever of how or why she came there. The last thing she distinctly remembered was standing on the veranda at the ranch and looking towards the east. She was under the impression that Kamaiakan had approached and spoken with her, but of that she was not certain. The next fact in her consciousness was that she was held in Freeman's arms, with a feeling that she had barely escaped from some great peril. She could recall nothing of the journey down the gorge, of the adventure at the bottom of it, or of the return. It was only by degrees that some partial light was thrown upon this matter. Freeman knew that he was at the entrance of the cave when the earthquake began, and he remembered receiving a blow on the head. Consequently it must have been at that spot that Miriam and the Indian found him. He had, too, a vague impression of seeing Miriam coming out of the cave, dragging the chest; and there, sure enough, was a metal box, strapped to the saddle of the pack-mule. But the mystery remained very dense. And although the reader is in a position to analyze events more closely than the actors themselves could do, it may be doubted whether the essential mystery is much clearer to him than it was to them. "We know that the ancient Aztecan priests were adepts in magic," observed the professor, "and it's natural that some of their learning should have descended to their posterity. We have been clever in giving names to such phenomena, but we know perhaps even less about their esoteric meaning than the Aztecans did. I should judge that Miriam would be what is called a good 'subject.' Kamaiakan discovered that fact; and as for what followed, we can only infer it from the results. I was always an admirer of Kamaiakan; but I must say I am the better resigned to his departure, from the reflection that Miriam will henceforth be undisturbed in the possession of her own individuality." "As near as I could make out, she called herself Semitzin," put in Freeman. "Semitzin?" repeated the general. "Why, if I'm not mistaken, there are accounts of an Aztecan princess of that name, an ancestress of my wife's family, in some old documents that I have in a box, at home." "That would only add the marvel of heredity to the other marvels," said Meschines. "Suppose we leave the things we can't understand, and come to those we can?" "I have something to say, General Trednoke," said Freeman. "I think I have already guessed what it may be, Mr. Freeman," returned the general, gravely. "Old people have eyes, and hearts too, as well as young ones." "Come, Trednoke," interposed the professor, with a chuckle, "your eyes might not have seen so much, if I hadn't held the lantern." "I love your daughter, and I told her so yesterday morning," went on Freeman, after a pause. "I meant to tell you on my return. I know I don't appear desirable as a son-in-law. But I came here on a commission----" "Meschines and I have talked it all over," the general said. "When an old West-Pointer and a professor of physics get together, they are sometimes able to put two and two together. And, to tell the truth, I received a letter from a member of your syndicate, who is also an acquaintance of mine, which explained your position. Under the circumstances, I consider your course to have been honorable. You and I were both in search of the same thing, and now, as it appears, nature has sent an earthquake to do our affair for us. No operations of ours could have achieved such a result as last night's disturbance did; and if that do not prove effective, nothing else will." "If it turns out well, I was promised a share in the benefits," said Freeman, "and that would put me in a rather better condition, from a worldly point of view." "After all," interrupted Meschines, "you found your way to the spot from which the waters broke forth, and may fairly be entitled to the credit of the discovery.--Eh, Trednoke? At any rate, we found nothing. --Yes, I think they'll have to admit you to partnership, Harvey: and Miriam too,-- who, by the way, seems to be the only one who actually penetrated into this cave you speak of. Maybe the removal of the chest pulled the plug out of the bung-hole, as it were: the escape of confined air through such a vent would be apt to draw water along with it. By the way, let's have a look at this same chest: it looks solid enough to hold something valuable." "I would like, in the first place, to hear what General Trednoke has to say about what I have told him," said Freeman, clearing his throat. "Miriam," said the general, "do you wish to be married to this young man?" The old soldier was sitting with her hand in his, and he turned to her as he spoke. She threw her arms round his neck, and pressed her face against his shoulder. "He is to me what you were to mamma," she said, so that only he could hear. "Then be to him what she was to me," answered the general, kissing her. "Ah me, little girl! I am old, but perhaps this is the right way for me to grow young again. Well, if you are of the same mind six months hence----" "Worse; it will be much worse, then," murmured the professor. "Better make it three." The chest was made of some alloy of steel and nickel, impervious to rust, and very hard. It resisted all gentle methods of attack, and it was finally found necessary to force the lock with a charge of powder. Within was found another case, which was pried open with the point of the general's bowie-knife. It was filled to the brim with precious stones, most of them removed from their settings. But such of the gold-work as remained showed the jewels to be of ancient Aztecan origin. There was value enough in the box to buy and stock a dozen ranches as big as the general's, and leave heirlooms enough to decorate a family larger than that of the most fruitful of the ancient patriarchs. "I call that quite a respectable dowry," remarked Meschines. "Upon my soul, Miriam, if I had known what you had up your sleeve, I should have thought twice before allowing a 'civil engineer'--do you remember?--to run off with you so easily." At dawn, they prepared the body of old Kamaiakan for its interment. In doing this, the professor noted the peculiar appearance of the corpse. "The flesh is absolutely withered," said he, "especially those parts which were uncovered. It must have been subjected to the action of some destructive vapor or gas, fatal not only to breathe, but to come in contact with. I have heard of poisonous emanations proceeding from the ground in these regions, but I never saw an instance of their effects before. That skull that you say you found, Harvey, was probably that of a victim of the same cause. But it is strange that Miriam, who must have remained some time in the very midst of it, should have escaped without a mark, or even any inconvenience." "Kamaiakan ascribed it to the magic of the Golden Fleece," said Freeman. "Well," rejoined the other, "he may have been right; but, for my part, the only magic that I can find in it lies in the fact that it is made of pure wool, which undoubtedly possesses remarkable sanative properties; or maybe the fiery soul of Semitzin was powerful enough to repel all harmful influences. The poor old fellow himself, being clad in cotton, and with no soul but his own, was destroyed. Let us wrap him in his blanket, and bid him farewell--and with him, I hope, to all that is uncanny and abnormal in the lives of you young folks!" The last rites having been paid to the dead, the party mounted their horses and rode out of the gorge on to the long levels of the desert. "Who come yonder?" said Freeman. "A couple of Mexicans, I think," said the general. "One of them is a woman," said Meschines. "They look very weary," remarked Freeman. Miriam fixed her eyes on the approaching pair for a moment, and then said, "They are Senor de Mendoza and Grace Parsloe." And so, indeed, they were; and thus, in this lonely spot, all the dramatis personae of this history found themselves united. In answer to the obvious question, how Grace and De Mendoza happened to be there, it transpired that, left to their own devices, they had undertaken no less an enterprise than to discover the hidden treasure. Grace had communicated to the Mexican such bits of information as she had picked up and such surmises as she had formed, and he had been able to supplement her knowledge to an extent that seemed to justify them in attempting the adventure,-- not to mention the fact that Don Miguel (such was the ardor of his sentiment for Grace) would, had she desired it, have gone with her into a fiery furnace or a den of lions. Grace, who was ambitious as well as romantic, and who longed for the power and independence that wealth would give, was all alight with the idea of capturing the hoard of Montezuma: her social position would be altered at a stroke, and the world would be at her feet. Whether she would then have rewarded Don Miguel for his devotion, is possibly open to doubt: the sudden acquisition of boundless wealth has been known to turn larger heads than hers. Fortunately, however, this temptation was withheld from her: so far from finding the treasure, she and Don Miguel very soon lost themselves in the desert, and had been wandering about ever since, dolely uncomfortable, and in no small danger of losing their lives. They were already at the end of their last resource when they happened to encounter the other party, as we have seen; and immeasurable was their joy at the unlooked-for deliverance. So there was another halt, to enable them to rest and recuperate; and it was not until the evening of that day that the journey was finally resumed. Meanwhile, Grace had time to think over all that happened, and to arrive at certain conclusions. She was at bottom a good girl, though liable to be led away by her imagination, her vanity, and her temperament. Don Miguel's best qualities had revealed themselves to her in the desert: he had always thought of her before himself, had done all that in him lay to save her from fatigue and suffering, and had stuck to her faithfully when he might perhaps have increased his own chances of escape by abandoning her. Did not such a man deserve to be rewarded?--especially as he was a handsome fellow, of good family, and possessed of quite a respectable income. Moreover, Harvey Freeman was now beyond her reach: he was going to marry Miriam, and she had realized that her own brief infatuation for him had had no very deep root after all. Accordingly, she smiled encouragingly upon Don Miguel, and before they set out on their homeward ride she had vouchsafed him the bliss of knowing that he might call her his. The general, as her guardian, did not withhold his approval; but when Grace drew him aside and besought him never to reveal to her intended the fact that she had once been a shop-girl, the old warrior smiled. "You can depend upon me to keep your secret, if you wish it, my dear," said he; "but I warn you that such concealments between husband and wife are not wise. He loves you and would only love you the more for your frankness in confessing what you seem to consider a discreditable episode: though I for my part am free to tell you that you will be lucky if your future life affords you the opportunity of doing anything else so much to your credit. But the chances are that he will find it out sooner or later; and that may not be so agreeable, either to him or to you. Better tell him all now." But Grace pictured to herself the aristocratic pride of an hidalgo shocked by the suggestion of the plebeianism of trade; and she would not consent to the revelation. But the general's prediction was fulfilled sooner than might have been expected. For, after they were married, Don Miguel decided to visit the Atlantic coast on the wedding journey; and one of the first notable places they reached was, of course, New York. Don Miguel was delighted, and was never weary of strolling up Fifth Avenue and down Broadway, with his beautiful wife on his arm. He marvelled at the vast white pile of the Fifth Avenue Hotel; he frowned at the Worth Monument; he stared inexhaustibly into the shop-windows; he exclaimed with admiration at the stupendous piles of masonry which contained the goods of New York's merchant princes. It seemed to be his opinion that the possessors of so much palpable wealth must be the true aristocracy of the country. And one afternoon it happened that as they were strolling along Broadway, between Twenty-third Street and Union Square, and were crossing one of the side-streets, a horse belonging to one of Lord and Taylor's delivery- wagons became frightened, and bolted round the corner. One of the hind wheels of the vehicle came in contact with Grace's shoulder, and knocked her down. The blow and the fall stunned her. Don Miguel's grief and indignation were expressed with tropical energy; and a by-stander said, "Better carry her into the store, mister; it's their wagon run her down, and they can't do less than look after her." The counsel seemed reasonable, and Don Miguel, with the assistance of a policeman, lifted his wife and bore her into the stately shop. One of the floor-walkers met them at the door; he cast a glance at their burden, and exclaimed, "Why, it's Miss Parsloe!" And immediately a number of the employees gathered round, all regarding her with interest and sympathy, all anxious to help, and--which was what mystified Don Miguel --all calling her by name! How came they to know Grace Parsloe? Nay, they even glanced at Don Miguel, as if to ask what was HIS business with the beautiful unconscious one! "This lady are my wife," he said, with dignity. "She not any more Miss Parsloe." "Oh, Grace has got married!" exclaimed the young ladies, one to another; and then an elderly man, evidently in authority, came forward and said, "I suppose you are aware, sir, that Miss Parsloe was formerly one of our girls here; and a very clever and useful girl she was. I need not say how sorry we are for this accident: I have sent for the physician: but I cannot but be glad that the misfortune has at least given me the opportunity of telling you how highly your wife was valued and respected here." At this juncture, Grace opened her eyes: she looked from one face to another, and knew that fate had brought the truth to light. But the physical shock tempered the severity of the mental one: besides, she could not help being pleased at the sight of so many well-remembered and friendly faces; and, finally, her husband did not look by any means so angry and scandalized as she had feared he would. Indeed, he appeared almost gratified. The truth probably was, he was flattered to see his wife the centre of so much interest and attention, and at the discovery that she had been in some way an honored appanage of so imposing an establishment. So, by the time Grace was well enough to be driven back to her hotel, the senor was prattling cheerfully and familiarly with all and sundry, and was promising to bring his wife back there the next day, to talk over old times with her former associates. Such was Grace's punishment: it was not very severe; but then her fault had been a venial one; and the episode was of much moral benefit to her. She liked her husband all the better for having nothing more to conceal from him; her vanity was rebuked, and her false pride chastened; and when, in after-years, her pretty daughters and black-haired sons gathered about her knees, she was wont to warn them sagely against the un-American absurdity of fearing to work for their living, or being ashamed to have it known. But the married life of Miriam and Harvey Freeman was characteristically American in its happiness. The representatives of the oldest and of the latest inhabitants of this continent, their union seemed to produce the flower of what was best in both. Their wedding is still remembered in that region, as being everything that a Southern Californian wedding should be; and the bride, as she stood at the altar, looked what she was,-- one of those women who, more than anything else in this world, are fitted to bring back to earth the gentle splendors of the Garden of Eden. In her dark eyes, as she fixed them upon Freeman, there was a mystic light, telling of fathomless depths of tenderness and intelligence: it seemed to her husband that love had expanded and uplifted her; or perhaps that other spirit in her, which had battled with her own, had now become reconciled, and therefore yielded up whatever it had of good and noble to aggrandize the gentle victory of its conqueror. Somehow, somewhere, in Miriam's nature, Semitzin lived; and, as a symbol of the peace and atonement that were the issue of her strange interior story, her husband preserves with reverence and affection the mysterious garment called the Golden Fleece. 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Click below to listen to the Rock History Report:
1969 - Led Zeppelin’s first album was reviewed by Oz magazine, who state that the band’s debut “defies immediate classification or description, simply because it’s so obviously a turning point in rock music that only time proves capable of shifting it into eventual perspective.”
1976 - The Supremes’ Florence Ballard died at the age of 32 from cardiac arrest. The singer was cut from the group in 1967 after amassing several No. 1 hits, including “Baby Love,” “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
1978 - The Police dyed their hair blonde for a Wrigley’s gum advertisement, and liked it so much that they adopted the look.
1979 - A sign of music industry models to come, Journey entered into a sponsorship deal with Budweiser.
1993 - Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson announced his exit from the band to pursue a solo career. He later rejoined the metal group in 1999.
2001 - Though the band was already long broken up, The Sunday Mirror listed The Beatles as the top earners for the 2000 calendar year, pulling in $50 million.
2002 - Little Richard received an NAACP Image Award at the age of 66, but announced that he was considering retirement.
1943 Mick Green of The Pirates
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On Friday’s anniversary of the ‘87 Crash, the WSJ put some of the articles from the days after on its website. This one in particular makes fascinating reading, and is quite enlightening for those who pine for the good old days, when markets were slow and the livin’ (and tradin’) was easy.
For even back in those lost and lamented days when trading took place face-to-face on the floors, during times of market stress things seemed to move fast. Very, very fast:
And the stock-index markets were leading the way down — fast. In a nightmarish fulfillment of some traders’ and academicians’ worst fears, the five-year-old index futures for the first time plunged into a panicky, unlimited free fall, fostering a sense of crisis throughout U.S. capital markets.
. . . .
Within seconds of the open, S&P 500-stock index futures prices sank 18 points — surpassing the nerve-racking record declines scored in an entire day on Friday. Salomon Brothers Inc. began unloading contracts at an unheard-of rate of 1,000 at a time, dumping more than $600 million in stock-index futures in the first hour of trading alone, one pit trader estimated. Salomon officials couldn’t be reached for comment on the estimate.
Note too that the big orders are not a modern phenomenon that arose only when HFT algos came on the scene.
And liquidity suppliers fleeing the market is not the monopoly of modern computerized trading where HFT is prevalent:
Then, as buyers fled the market in alarm, trading nearly dried up, temporarily preventing the markets from functioning as a hedging mechanism — their principal reason for existence.
. . . .
Yesterday, as institutions and investors scrambled to lay off at least some of their risk in futures, trading in the index markets virtually dried up at several points, threatening a liquidity crisis on the Merc’s trading floor. At mid-morning, the S&P prices were moving up two points, then back down, in less than a minute, as sellers scrambled to fill orders at any price they could get.
One difference between human and computerized market makers. Computers don’t cry:
Up the street at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, a market maker wept softly in the men’s room.
One other thing from the article caught my eye:
With trading delayed in many major New York Stock Exchange issues because of order imbalances, Chicago’s controversial “shadow markets” — the highly leveraged, liquid futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index — were, for just a few minutes, the leading indicator for the Western world’s equity markets.
Shadow markets. Really? The only market that was open for a while, the only one that was discovering prices-that’s the shadow market? An interesting comment on the WSJ’s-and Wall Street’s-attitude towards futures markets at the time. Note that now, futures markets are considered worth emulation, and the demonization has been focused on the new “shadow market”: OTC derivatives trading.
As I’ve written numerous times: things aren’t all that different now. The economics of markets and market making are pretty much the same in computerized and open outcry environments. When it hits the fan, things move very rapidly in both. There is no Golden Age of leisurely markets. | <urn:uuid:f96b4111-f057-4087-a253-54680cd3913b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wallstreetpit.com/97550-la-plus-ca-change-trading-edition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939844 | 736 | 1.640625 | 2 |
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Wild Caught Shrimp Industry Trade Action Advisory Council was originally established by executive order to create an advisory body and/or council that will consolidate its efforts to initiate a trade action to protect itself from unfair trade practices utilized by foreign countries importing shrimp into the United States;
WHEREAS, the wild caught shrimp industry is an integral part of the state of Louisiana’s history, culture, and economy and is a major component of the economy, providing employment and tax revenue for the state of Louisiana;
WHEREAS, certain foreign shrimp producing countries have utilized unfair trade practices that greatly damage the state’s wild caught shrimp industry;
WHEREAS, funding sources and mechanisms must be developed in order to support a trade action for the protection of the domestic wild caught shrimp industry;
WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana supports a trade action by
a consolidated wild caught shrimp industry in Louisiana and intends to assist
in its success; and
WHEREAS, the citizens of the State of Louisiana will best be served by the continuance of an advisory council that will assist the state in its efforts to initiate trade actions to protect itself from unfair trade practices utilized by foreign countries importing shrimp into the United States;
NOW THEREFORE I, KATHLEEN BABINEAUX BLANCO, Governor of the
state of Louisiana, by virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution and
laws of the state of Louisiana, do hereby order and direct as follows:
SECTION 1: The Louisiana Wild Caught Shrimp Trade Action Advisory Council (hereafter "Council") is established within the executive department, Office of the Governor.
SECTION 2: The duties of the Council shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
A. Supporting and assisting a trade action brought by a consolidated wild caught shrimp industry;
B. Exploring and developing funding sources and mechanisms to assist and support such trade action; and
C. Recommending proposed legislation to fund the trade action.
SECTION 3: On or before March 1, 2005, the Council shall submit a final report to the governor, and the secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, on the issues set forth in Section 2 of this Order.
SECTION 4: The Council shall be composed of a maximum of thirteen (13) members who, unless otherwise specified, shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the governor. The membership of the Council shall be selected as follows:
A. The governor, or the governor’s designee;
B. The secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, or the secretary’s designee;
C. The president of the Louisiana Senate, or the president’s designee;
D. The speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, or the speaker’s designee;
E. The chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, or the chair’s designee;
F. The chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, or the chair’s designee;
G. Two (2) members appointed by the governor from a list of four (4) Louisiana residents nominated by the Louisiana Shrimp Association;
H. Two (2) members appointed by the governor from a list of four (4) Louisiana residents nominated by the Louisiana Shrimp Industry Coalition;
I. One (1) member appointed by the governor from a list of three (3) Louisiana residents nominated by the American Shrimp Processors Association;
J. One (1) member appointed by the governor from a list of three (3) Louisiana residents nominated by the secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries who possess a current gear and boat license; and
K. One (1) at-large member.
SECTION 5: The chair of the Council shall be appointed by the governor from the membership of the Council. All other officers, if any, shall be elected from the membership of the Council.
SECTION 6: The Council shall meet at regularly scheduled intervals and at the call of the chair.
SECTION 7: A. Council members shall not receive additional compensation or a per diem from the Office of the Governor for serving on the Council.
B. Council members who are employees or an elected public officials of the state of Louisiana or a political subdivision of the state of Louisiana may seek reimbursement of travel expenses, in accordance with PPM 49, from their employing and/or elected department, agency and/or office.
C. Council members who are also members of the Louisiana Legislature may seek a per diem from the Louisiana Senate or House of Representatives, as appropriate, for their attendance.
SECTION 8: Support staff, facilities, and resources for the Office shall be provided by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
SECTION 9: All departments, commissions, boards, offices, entities, agencies, and officers of the state of Louisiana, or any political subdivision thereof, are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Office in implementing the provisions of this Order.
SECTION 10: This Order is effective upon signature and shall continue in effect until amended, modified, terminated, or rescinded by the governor, or terminated by operation of law.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand officially and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of Louisiana, at the Capitol, in the city of Baton Rouge, on this 25th day of March, 2004.
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Secretary of State | <urn:uuid:1fce8dd9-1801-4829-a3af-24592362bda7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://doa.louisiana.gov/osr/other/kkb04-05.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935697 | 1,127 | 1.617188 | 2 |
A shocking new study says being skinny is not in fact the most important factor in a healthy marriage. Nope — the wife just has to be thinner than her husband!
In what is certainly the most obnoxious lead I've seen all day, Tom Jacobs of Miller-McCune asks, "Ladies: Are you nervously watching your weight to stay attractive for your husband or boyfriend?" Well of course we are! But now we can start force-feeding our guys instead, because "a couple is more likely to experience marital bliss when the wife is at least somewhat thinner than her husband." Psychologists at the University of Tennessee studied 165 newly-married couples, most in their twenties, for four years. They found that both husbands and wives were more satisfied throughout the marriage if the wife's BMI was lower than the husband's.
The study authors think the explanation is that dudes like thinner ladies, while ladies do not care about weight but do want to please their men:
Several studies indicate that partner thinness is more important to men than to women, possibly because BMI is more strongly correlated with women's physical attractiveness than it is with men's. In contrast, because partner BMI is relatively less important to women, relative BMI may affect them only through its effect on men. [...] That is, women who have lower BMIs than their partners should maintain higher levels of satisfaction with the relationship because their partners are more satisfied.
None of this really addresses why it's the ratio of BMIs that matters, and not just the wife's BMI. I can think of a bunch of depressing, socially-conditioned reasons for this, but one sticks out: men are told that masculinity is all about being big, and so maybe being smaller than their wives harms their self-esteem. Overall, the study seems like yet more proof that our society needs to reexamine our attitudes toward weight, gender, and attractiveness. Or, you know, ladies could just "put down those salad forks" because "it turns out you don't have to starve yourself - unless he's doing so, too."
Thinner Wife, Happier Marriage [Miller-McCune] | <urn:uuid:56eaeb26-55d6-48a9-b870-1c4da0deca31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jezebel.com/5733891/the-secret-to-a-happy-marriage-be-thinner-than-your-husband | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978584 | 433 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Hospice nursing is a calling and it is a challenge like none other I have experienced in 20 years of nursing. It requires a willingness to engage with another human being and their loved ones at a time when emotions are raw and open. It also requires a willingness to listen and at times simply be present. The skills end of Hospice can be "learned" but the compassionate skills cannot and must be within the nurse from the get go. This applies to all Hospice team members. NurseAlwaysNForever your correct "seasoned" nurses or Hospice novice we are all called on to constantly improve the delivery of palliative and comfort care, improve ourselves and grow as compassionate Hospice clinicians. We must never neglect our own emotional.spiritual and physical needs as well. Hospice is a team approach to care and team members need to support one another , be available to lend an ear, provide comfort and support one another. | <urn:uuid:7e161a07-febb-431f-89d2-67414dfee377> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allnurses.com/general-articles-about/hospice-nurses-good-334501-page2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962844 | 190 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Hyalogic Social Responsibility
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE COMPANY?
At Hyalogic, we believe it takes a daily commitment to protect our employees, our business partners and last but not least, our natural resources. We continue to strive for a more positive working and social environment. How we make our products, run our business ethically and financially; and live our daily lives, says a lot about our company. We don’t take social responsibility lightly. We are in an industry which built its foundation on utilizing natural resources to promote healthy living. As a manufacturer in the natural products industry, we sell dietary supplements, personal care and animal care products to distributors, retail stores and end consumers – all with that same passion for healthy living and taking part in making the world a better place to live.
Hyalogic carries over 50 products – all focused on maintaining healthy lifestyles. We are an innovative leader in the types of products we manufacture and offer expert information about those products. We have a staff that is dedicated to educating store personnel and consumers about the history, technical information and uses of our products. We maintain a solid promise to comply with all regulatory standards when it comes to our products and do not make false medical claims regarding use, efficacy and results.
We have carried that same dedicated awareness to our packaging. The materials used in our packaging are designed to intentionally lower our carbon footprint. Our boxes are made with clean material and are recyclable after use. We chose to use soy bean inks in attempt to eliminate the toxic glues needed to assemble these boxes as well as the product information inserts, each box is made with a folded design. This allows the product information to be printed on the interior of the package, saving the need for additional materials. Our tubes, bottles and containers used are made from recyclable plastic materials. This enables the consumer to recycle the container at his/her local recycling plant upon finishing use of the product. | <urn:uuid:530c08ea-2ffb-44e2-97ce-7c93c7cd5cc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hyalogic.com/main/hyalogic_social_responsibility | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933332 | 404 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Thomas Edison was, apparently, almost completely deaf. This would help to explain the quality of music on his record label, as it was almost uniformly dreadful. There’s not a lot of interest for conisseurs of early jazz or blues. There are, however, a few old-time country chestnuts in the Edison catalog.
Case in point: this 1924 recording of Lonesome Road Blues (aka Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad) by the Blue Ridge Duo. The Duo were George Reneau and Gene Austin. Reneau recorded nearly sixty sides in 1924 and 1925, and he had already recorded this tune for Vocalion a few months earlier.
Henry Whitter appears to have made the first recording of this tune, which has since become an old-time and bluegrass standard, when he cut it in December, 1923, for the OKeh label.
Courtesy of Archive.org | <urn:uuid:1b3e48fa-10d4-4b8a-8959-59f75684ec93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tangleweed.org/blog/2008/06/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968848 | 191 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Ministry of War Introduction
Ministry of War is a realtime strategy game in which you build an almighty empire in the ancient world. By growing an epic army in your empire and overthrowing your opponents, you get closer to the ultimate destination of world domination. At Ministry of War, you must choose an ancient faction to represent, be it the Romans, the Persians, the Egyptians or the Chinese. Once your nation has been decided, you embark to loyally fight to the death for them, as you re-write the history books. Only through close alliances and unity with ally armies will you be sure to succeed in winning this war. | <urn:uuid:64bc7a41-2179-42fc-9296-c1710e01948e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mow.playsnail.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939896 | 133 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Years of government out of control spending, bankruptcy of housing projects — Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, U.S. Postal Service, and President Obama’s “pet” Acorn Project still receiving taxpayers money has put the U.S. in a financial crisis. The taxpayers cannot afford Obama-care. We can no longer even afford paying the interest on our trillion dollars national debt to China.
The U.S. Treasury cannot keep printing money that has no backing to fund all of these failed housing projects, future bailouts, HUD grants, and out of control immigration policy. U.S. is the world’s largest creditor and world’s largest debtor. We got to cut our spending because we are bankrupt.
In 2010, China, America’s largest creditor, Russia, Japan, and France met together in a secret meeting without the U.S. They plan to change the financial dealings in currencies from U.S. dollars to other currencies which include the Chinese yuan, Japanese Yen, the euro, gold, and a new unified world currency. That just took the U.S. dollar out of the World Market. Prices will go sky-high and our economy will go down the drain. Why didn’t the Media print this?
China, our banker/lender wants out of the U.S. dollar and does not want any more of our U.S. Treasury Bonds. Mexico, of all countries, their largest Bank - HSBC, will not deposit U.S. dollars in their bank. Other countries such as Holland, Germany, India, Iran, are not exchanging U.S. dollars.
It looks like we have a problem. Maybe we should get our factories back in the USA. Send all illegals back to Mexico. Get our country back in order. Vote for conservative people.
A concerned citizen, | <urn:uuid:fd380bff-8775-41c0-9d20-53c28c2d9bc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.dailyamerican.com/2011-09-27/opinion/30210576_1_currency-housing-projects-chinese-yuan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93464 | 386 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The incident didn’t get much international attention at the time: just another Predator strike on suspected jihadis in the mountains of North Waziristan. This one took place on March 16 at a compound near the town of Datta Khel. Several news services ran items, although they differed on almost every important detail.
Hafiz Hanif saw it happen. The young Afghan and other members of his Al Qaeda unit were passing through the area in two cars when they made a stop outside a big walled compound, and Hanif was sent to fetch some supplies that had been left there a few days earlier. He knocked at the front door and then politely turned away, toward the cars. In Pashtun country it’s considered rude to wait facing someone’s door, in case it happens to be answered by a woman. But as Hanif’s gaze passed over the cars, one of them exploded. Moments later the other blew up. The roaring blasts from the American Hellfire missiles knocked him down. When the dust cleared, there was only a tangled mess of smoking metal where the cars had been. Seven Al Qaeda Arabs, including a ranking Syrian and an Egyptian, had been killed instantly. But Hanif found a badly injured fighter and tried to help him. “He had serious head and chest injuries,” Hanif tells NEWSWEEK. “He died in my lap.”
Hanif (the name he asks us to use) is staying with his parents at their home near Karachi for now, and they’re doing their best to keep him there. He’s only 16, and they never approved of his running off to join the jihad. He’s a bright student, good at math and fluent in English and Arabic as well as Urdu and Pashto. Yet he also spent much of the past 18 months training and working with Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas and across the border in Afghanistan. We have checked out his account as far as it could be confirmed, and his uncle, a senior Taliban official who backs up the boy’s story, has been a reliable source to Newsweek in the past. After Hanif disappeared in February 2009, the uncle and the boy’s father traveled twice to Waziristan in search of him. The father finally found him on the second trip, after two months of looking, but the boy would not leave his Arab friends until months later, when his mother’s desperate pleading finally prevailed.
Last week President Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq. Yet nine years after 9/11, America still has 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. And while their mission is ostensibly to disrupt and dismantle Al Qaeda, most Americans still have only a fuzzy conception of who the enemy is. Osama bin Laden has become barely a shadow, with a March 2010 audiotape as the most recent evidence that he’s still alive. According to CIA figures his terror network has perhaps 100 or fewer fighters in Afghanistan, but of course that’s merely guesswork. The real war against Al Qaeda is being waged by Predator drones in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and its details emerge slowly and in tiny increments.
What hasn’t been available until now is a detailed, insider’s view of what Al Qaeda looks like today. Hanif’s account provides that view. In some ways the picture is what you might imagine—of fighters on the run, hunted by drones, diminished in numbers. Yet Al Qaeda’s allure remains intense: Hanif chose to join bin Laden’s army rather than his uncle’s Afghan Taliban because of the group’s still-elite status among jihadis. While he’s seen many of his associates killed, he’s also seen them replaced by a constant stream of recruits from the Middle East and elsewhere. And he’s seen how even the tiny number of Qaeda operatives can act as a force multiplier, making other groups more deadly in their war against America. In fact, Hanif claims to have had a small role in one of the CIA’s greatest tragedies: last December’s suicide bombing at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Afghanistan that killed seven operatives.
It has all seemed like a grand adventure to the boy, who appears blissfully oblivious to the brutality and cruelty of the jihadis: the ruthless murders of suspected spies, the acid attacks on girls, the reign of terror in areas they control. The tale as Hanif tells it is deceptively simple. But it makes clear that the challenge Al Qaeda represents remains devilishly complex.
Ever since he can remember, Hanif had dreamed of joining the jihad. He was just 7 when America invaded Afghanistan, and Taliban fighters, officials, and supporters soon became regular visitors at his family’s home near Karachi. The boy grew up steeped in stories of the holy war against the Soviets; of Mullah Mohammed Omar’s fight to overthrow corrupt Afghan warlords; of the Taliban’s years in power; of the regime’s overthrow by American bombs; and of the thriving anti-American insurgency to restore Omar’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. “The aim of my life has always been to be a shahid,” he says—a martyr. “I want to attack infidels who insult Muslim women, who occupy Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There is nothing more to be strived for in this life except joining the jihad and becoming a shahid.”
Protesters for and against the building of a Muslim community center near Ground Zero talk about their reasons for supporting or opposing the project.
One day early last year, he met a gray-bearded tribesman at a café in Karachi. The man told thrilling tales of the Pakistani Taliban’s war against government security forces in the tribal areas. Hanif, who had just turned 15, hung on every word. “He came back to meet me the next day,” the boy recalls. “Carefully I expressed my wish to join the jihad, and the man said he would see if he could help me.” In fact the man was a recruiter working for Baitullah Mehsud. The Pakistani Taliban leader (who died in a Predator strike a year ago) was notorious for recruiting and using young suicide bombers like Hanif; one of his bombers is thought to have assassinated former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Hanif counted himself lucky: here was his chance to join the fight, and perhaps even become one of the fedayeen—a suicide bomber. Within days the recruiter phoned and said, “Let’s go.” The next morning Hanif quietly packed a change of clothes and left the house as usual—but instead of going to school, he found the recruiter and they boarded a bus for the town of Bannu, gateway to jihadi-controlled North Waziristan, where the Pakistani military leaves the safety of its bases only when it must. “I was happy,” he recalls. “I was going where I wished. I could hardly wait to get there.”
But he never reached the Mehsud camp. On the journey’s last leg they visited an Al Qaeda base near the town of Datta Khel, on the Afghan border, to drop off two young Saudis who had traveled with Hanif from Karachi. On a sudden impulse Hanif decided he’d try to stay, too. “Those Arab mujahedin impressed me,” he recalls. He introduced himself in fluent Arabic, mentioning his uncle, the senior Taliban official. The man in charge, a senior Al Qaeda trainer and operations specialist from Libya known as Sheik Abdullah Saeed, looked him over. “You can stay if you want,” the man said. “I was happy,” Hanif says. “I love speaking Arabic.” The recruiter traveled on without the boy.
Hanif underwent a grueling three-month training course at a place called Khisora in South Waziristan. “I was excited to begin,” he says. “But it was very demanding.” The instructors were all Arabs, but the makeup of the class testified to how wide the appeal of Al Qaeda still remains: about 30 students of various nationalities—Chechens, Tajiks, Saudis, Syrians, and Turks, two Frenchmen of Algerian extraction, and three Germans, one of whom was European and the other two of Arabic or Turkish extraction. Hanif was the youngest, and the only Afghan. Most were in their late teens or 20s, a few were in their 30s, and one was a 50-year-old. A handful of the Turks, Uzbeks, and Chechens knew Arabic or Pashto and could translate for their countrymen.
Hanif’s training started before dawn. The recruits ran in the mountains and did calisthenics. On his laptop in Karachi he proudly shows a video clip of him and other recruits in camouflage fatigues marching and running with their Kalashnikovs. Between mandatory prayers five times a day at the mosque, he learned to ride a motorbike, to drive a car, a pickup, and a truck and to operate a manual transmission. He learned to defend himself in a one-on-one fight, using a knife and an AK-47. Arab experts taught him how to handle explosives and how to make IEDs and suicide vests. “Now I can make a suicide vest filled with five or six kilograms of explosives and ball bearings in just four hours,” he brags. “I made one for myself.” He says it’s still at the camp waiting for him.
He knows how to use it. “I learned how to make and use a jacket like I learned how to maintain and use my Kalashnikov,” he says. He was taught how to avoid looking nervous while approaching a target. Detonators are usually kept in a zippered pocket of the suicide vest, he says, so that jumpy bombers don’t push the button too soon. Make sure to get as close as possible to the target, the trainers emphasized, don’t set off your vest when you first see it in the distance. The Arab trainers studied the recruits closely, he says: “They preferred kids with smart minds, who could follow orders, read maps, stay calm, and not blow themselves up far away from the target.”
At other camps he later found some suicide trainees who weren’t even teenagers. At one Mehsud camp he saw boys who looked no older than 12. While he was there, Baitullah Mehsud made an inspection visit and noticed one very young boy, and ordered his deputy and chief instructor, Qari Hussain, to send the boy home. After Mehsud’s death in a Predator strike in August 2009, Hanif revisited the camp and saw that the orders had been ignored: more child bombers were being trained.
But Hanif thinks back happily on his own training. “They provided good food, good weapons, and explosive devices,” he says. “Everything you needed to be a powerful jihadi was available.” There were generators to provide electricity, and the recruits relaxed at the end of the day by watching jihadi videos on their laptops. But the easy times didn’t last. Around the time Hanif graduated, the Pakistani Army began a drive against militants based in South Waziristan. Mehsud’s attacks on Pakistani targets like Bhutto had become too much for Islamabad to tolerate. The trainers and recruits split up into small units and escaped as best they could to regroup under Sheik Saeed’s command in North Waziristan.
With Saeed’s permission, Hanif phoned his mother for the first time since leaving home. “She was crying,” he recalls. “I told her that I was coming home, though I didn’t want to.” He waited three more months before deciding he had to comfort her with a visit. The Arab leaders told him he could leave if he chose to, he says. “It’s American propaganda that says once you join the jihad you’re a prisoner of it,” he recalls one Arab leader telling him. “The Arabs were telling me, ‘You are free to go, but why don’t you change your mind and stay?’ These committed mujahedin think it’s a sin to talk about home and family. They focus totally on their work.” Many of them carry photos of the nice homes and fancy American cars they left behind, as evidence of the sacrifices they have made in joining the jihad, Hanif says. He went home, but he says he was determined not to stay. “I was missing my Arab friends,” he says. After three weeks in Karachi he sneaked out one night and returned to the base in North Waziristan.
But Pakistan’s military sweeps began intensifying there, too, and the American Predators became an even bigger danger. The sound of the drones in the sky is so incessant you stop noticing it, like the buzzing of insects, Hanif says. “You don’t see or hear anything before the missile’s impact.” He says the aftermath of a drone attack can be particularly hard. He recalls spending hours searching the rubble alongside other fighters after an attack that killed a Qaeda commander known as Abu Suleiman. They eventually found his head. After another drone attack, they dug for eight to nine hours in the debris of a collapsed house to try to find a Qaeda fighter, his wife, and his kids who had been killed. “We finally found parts of them,” Hanif recalls, “but not all of them.”
In the past year, he estimates, drones have killed some 80 Qaeda members, many of them senior commanders. (That figure sounds compatible with the number offered by a Pakistani intelligence source, who tells Newsweek he believes some 120 Qaeda militants have been eliminated by drones in the past two years.) Now the fighters have grown more careful even when visiting the bazaars in Miran Shah, the war-battered capital of North Waziristan. Hanif himself was picked up by Pakistani security forces there and interrogated by an intelligence agent a year ago. He says he was let go after he convinced them he was just a wannabe Afghan Taliban.
Still, Al Qaeda has been able to replace at least some of the men it has lost. New recruits are always arriving, mostly by the arduous three-month overland journey from secret Qaeda safe houses in Turkey, although Central Asian fighters take a much shorter route. Arrivals from Turkey and the Mideast tend to bring lots of money with them, sometimes satchels stuffed with $20,000 or more in cash. The group is fussy about new recruits, carefully studying their backgrounds and watching their behavior before they’re sent to the tribal area and even after they get there. “Our leaders are afraid of spies,” Hanif says. A year ago the militants became convinced that CIA proxies were tagging their cars with magnetic locator devices, to guide Hellfire missiles to their target.
Al Qaeda’s total strength in the tribal area couldn’t be more than about 130 Arabs, together with some Chechens, Uzbeks, and a few Turks, Hanif says, and roughly half of that force left Pakistan this spring to help confront the U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan. They left in groups of five or six, traveling to link up with Afghan Taliban commanders in different areas. Their mission is chiefly to make IEDs, suicide vests, and other bombs, and to train the local Taliban in bombmaking techniques, rather than to fight. He estimates there are some 65 Arabs who stayed behind and are still operating in the tribal area, taking care of the organization’s daily affairs. (In late June, CIA chief Leon Panetta publicly estimated that Al Qaeda had roughly 50 to 100 men inside Afghanistan, and Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, put the number in Pakistan’s tribal areas at “more than 300.”)
Hanif freely admits he knows nothing of Al Qaeda’s overall strategy, and says he has no idea how many other Qaeda operatives may operate in the orbit of senior leaders like bin Laden and his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In his 18 months with Al Qaeda, Hanif says, no one he met had any clue to the whereabouts of either one—and yet all fought eagerly in their names. He speaks as breathlessly as any starstruck teenager about prominent jihadis he has encountered. His list includes Baitullah Mehsud and his successor as head of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud; Al Qaeda’s reputed No. 3 leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi; and Adam Gadahn, a.k.a. Azzam al-Amriki, “Azzam the American.” In the past six months, though, high-ranking Qaeda figures have largely disappeared as a result of the worsening Predator threat. “They have all gone underground,” Hanif says. “I used to see Azzam al-Amriki, but he also has disappeared.”
He’s especially excited to have met Jordanian double agent Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the suicide bomber who killed the seven CIA operatives at a secret base near Khost last December. In fact, he says, his group tailor made Balawi’s suicide vest. “He was always joking,” Hanif recalls. “We had a nickname for him: Abu Layla.” (Layla was the older of Balawi’s two daughters.) He spoke Arabic, English, and Turkish, Hanif says, and he was a special guest of Sheik Saeed, who took particular care of him. One day late last year, Hanif and three or four other fighters were assigned to accompany Balawi on the drive to Miran Shah. “We dropped him off there,” Hanif says. “Two Pashtun-looking men picked him up.” The next day Sheik Saeed told Hanif that Balawi had been driven across the border into Afghanistan, where a U.S. helicopter was waiting to take him to the CIA base. (According to American officials, Balawi arrived at Forward Operating Base Chapman by car, not helicopter.)
Hanif runs a video on his laptop to show what he claims is the making of Balawi’s suicide vest. He was there to see it done, he says. The video shows a Qaeda operative as he painstakingly packs explosives into 13 thin fabric tubes that are joined together side by side and connected by wires. Then the man spreads hundreds of tiny ball bearings on a piece of glue-covered fabric. He sews it all together on an old-fashioned sewing machine, adding some leather straps and buckles. And finally he adds the complex electronic circuitry, installing a detonator connected by thin wires to a wristwatchlike device to activate it.
But Hanif seems happiest recalling other times. There were high-spirited volleyball matches between the Arabs and the Turks, and sometimes when security allowed they went up into the mountains to hunt rabbits, birds, and other small game they cooked and ate outdoors. And he never tired of visiting Miran Shah, a mud-brick warren of shops and homes largely controlled by various militant groups. Hanif would go at dusk to one of the Public Call Offices, shops that offer phone services and Web-connected computers. Friendly merchants would let them in, then lock up and leave them inside. To passersby the shop would appear closed for the night while Hanif and his friends talked on the phone and used the Internet for hours until the shop owner came back to let them out.
About once a month the boy was sent to buy rations for the camp. He sometimes spent more than $1,000 on food, supplies, ammunition, even gifts for friends. “I loved buying good food for everyone,” he says. There never was a shortage of money; they had enough cash to trade in their old vehicles for new Toyota pickups and Land Cruisers. They also had a fleet of new Ford Rangers that had been captured by the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan and driven out to Pakistan.
Hanif’s unit was sent to Afghanistan this April. Early one morning before dawn, he says, they shouldered their weapons and crossed into Paktika province, carrying fake Afghan ID cards. His subgroup, which included some Arab IED experts, was assigned to work with Afghan Taliban commanders in the provinces around Kabul. “I was proud to be fighting inside my country for the first time,” he says. Afghanistan was tougher than Pakistan. His unit was involved in firefights almost every day, he says: “There was much more military action.”
In Ghazni province he met a cousin of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, the bloodthirsty Al Qaeda in Iraq leader who was killed in 2006. “I told him I was thinking of going home to visit my mother,” Hanif says. “As he left our unit, he gave me a two-page letter, telling me not to return home to see my family.” The letter warned, “It will change you.” But Hanif decided to go anyway. In July he got permission from his commander and went home.
He’s been there nearly two months now. Just as his Arab friends warned, he says, he keeps encountering evils, distractions, luxuries, and temptations. “There are terrible things on the Internet and on the street that can corrupt your soul,” he says. “You have to be careful.” He had been home only 10 days when his Taliban uncle began urging him to get married and go into business. His father too is pressuring him to finish school and get married. “You’ll be a better martyr,” his father argues. Hanif doesn’t buy it. “If I get engaged, as my parents want, I know the life I love is over,” he says.
He spends hours on the computer in his bedroom surfing Taliban, Qaeda, and Iraqi jihadi Web sites and interacting with like-minded young men in militant chatrooms. He avoids any contact with women on the Web, even on Islamic sites, calling it a waste of time. He watches DVDs of jihadis ambushing U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The chatroom messages he exchanges with other young militants are often dotted with sad-face emoticons. “I’m missing Miran Shah,” he says. “I miss the mountains and my fellow mujahedin. My heart is not happy here.”
The boy wrote a last will and testament, like all Qaeda suicide bombers, and it remains on his computer, addressed to all of his male kinsmen. He urges them to join the jihad and seek martyrdom “so I will see you, my beloved brothers, in the company of virgins with me.” The document was dated Dec. 21, 2009, just as he was turning 16. | <urn:uuid:2ccaf6ba-061f-441f-9a98-25554d9b8566> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/09/04/inside-al-qaeda.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97973 | 4,956 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Hidden spots in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
Three young children fed squirrels which took the peanuts from their hands and then scurried back up a tree before descending a few minutes later for more, all eyes and bushy tails. A few yards away a middle-aged couple stood with some food on their outstretched palms as beautiful finches fluttered above them and then suddenly dipped to snatch a mouthful. A wood-pigeon got into a scuffle with a city pigeon as they patrolled the area picking up the scraps. On the nearby lake many swans and a variety of ducks, some with attendant ducklings, glided along with one eye on the look-out for tasty-bites. This was particularly pleasing because it took place in the heart of London, in Kensington Gardens.
There is no barrier between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens but basically the latter is to the west of the Italian Garden, just south of Lancaster Gate station. The land where the park now stands was acquired by Henry VIII in 1536 and he used it as his private deer park.
Incidentally the name Soho was originally a hunting cry like ‘tally-ho!’ to indicate that an animal had been spotted. In 1637 Charles I opened the park to the public. In 1851 the south-east section of Hyde Park was the site of the Great Exhibition which displayed the technological prowess of the burgeoning British Empire.
If you’re in the middle of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, you can almost feel like you’re in the country and it’s easy to become disorientated. On the south side there are a number of prominent landmarks to help you including the Albert Hall and the, in my opinion, truly horrible Albert Memorial while on the north side Lancaster Gate Hotel stands out a bit but there’s nothing so spectacular. Of course it’s a very popular place, especially in summer, but it opens early in the morning and several times I’ve taken quiet strolls there before 7 a.m.
The Elfin Oak is one of my favourite spots and it’s located at the entrance to the Lady Diana Children’s Playground in the north-west corner of Kensington Gardens. It’s the stump of a very old dead tree that has had numerous animals, pixies and the like carved into it, by the late Spike Milligan among others. Some other characters have been glued on in places and many have been brightly painted. In addition to the Elfin Oak, art lovers can enjoy the Serpentine Gallery, which is in Kensington Gardens just to the west of the bridge across the Serpentine, and there are several sculptures throughout the park but the only one I like is that of Peter Pan. This is just west of the thinner northern section of the Serpentine, known as the Long Water, and half way between Lancaster Gate and the bridge. J.M. Barrie, the creator of the boy who never wanted to grow up was inspired to write the story by children playing in Kensington Gardens and he used to live nearby at 100 Bayswater Road.
Just to the west of the Round Pond is Kensington Palace, once the home of Diana and Charles. A little north of the palace is the Orangery, which nowadays houses a very bright café. If you head directly eastwards from the Round Pond and keep going, you’ll finally reach the Serpentine or the Long Water. It’s all part of one of London’s many and largely subterranean rivers, the Westbourne. There are apparently large pike in there. I’ve enjoyed rowing a boat on the Serpentine and on one occasion I went round on a pedalo. There’s a lido on the south side but I wouldn’t fancy swimming in there myself. On Boxing Day there’s a charity dip and I definitely couldn’t handle that. Just west of the lido is the Diana Memorial Fountain, which looked very dull to me when I first saw it but it’s growing on me; it’s certainly a popular attraction.
In July 1969 The Rolling Stones played the first major pop/rock concert in the flat grassy area at the eastern end of Hyde Park and in the summer months this is host to numerous open-air extravaganzas. I’ve never been to one but on the morning of Charles and Diana’s wedding in July 1981 I strolled through this area and witnessed the huge clean-up operation after the fireworks display the night before and there were hundreds of empty champagne bottles among the mountains of rubbish. On the day of Diana’s funeral on 6th September 1997 my sister together with thousands of others sat in this same area to watch the ceremony on a large screen.
In the north-east corner of the park is the world-famous Speakers’ Corner where on Sundays for the last hundred and forty years anyone has been able to get up on a podium or even an old fruit box and spout off about a subject close to their hearts. Marx and Lenin among many other notables have frequented it. You get the same old performers there every week complete with their ‘feeds’ in the audience to keep the act going. It’s also a favourite haunt of pickpockets.
The area just north of Marble Arch was known as Tyburn and thousands of ‘criminals’ were hung from trees there, the last being in 1783. Huge crowds would gather to watch the spectacle and bodies were often snatched afterwards to be sold to doctors for medical research. Two popular drinking expressions arose from all of this as while they were being conveyed in a cart from Newgate Prison along to Tyburn the condemned were allowed to stop and have ‘one for the road’ to try to calm their nerves but once they’d finished they were ‘on the wagon’ and had supped their last.
A Guest Post by Ian Mole | <urn:uuid:4e06d90b-0059-4301-ac71-ac623706f433> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oldelondon.org/2011/07/08/hyde-park-history/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974794 | 1,247 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Our work to build healthy communities, families and individuals is at the heart of Mercy Corps' vision for social change. By partnering with a range of partners, from village health committees to government agencies, we help build the means to improve maternal, newborn and child health, ensure proper nutrition and combat infectious diseases.
All stories about Health
Indonesia: A dedication to her profession August 24, 2009
Ibu Lilis Ratnasari, a private midwife, received a 40-hour training in lactation counseling through the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF about a year ago.
Sri Lanka: A can-do spirit August 17, 2009
Nalagama Sinhala Junior School operates on something less than a shoestring. There's no library, no computers, no science lab. Recently, the older students performed a chemistry experiment involving oxygen using a plastic bucket rather than a glass beaker.
Indonesia: A world most will never see August 12, 2009
Indonesia: Taste test in North Jakarta August 7, 2009
Early this morning, I visited a couple Mercy Corps-sponsored food carts in North Jakarta and ended up being a pretty good billboard.
Indonesia: Urban fish tales August 6, 2009
Where there is water, men will fish. But I never imagined I'd see lines cast smack dab in the middle of Jakarta, a megapolitan city of at least 8.5 million people.
China: Photo of the Day: A message of hope July 8, 2009
Psychosocial programing may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Mercy Corps' work, but one look at this photo and you realize how important it is.
Indonesia: Dishing out healthy street food June 10, 2009
This photo was taken at a Mercy Corps-sponsored food cart in north Jakarta, Indonesia. The woman in the photo is the Vice Governor of Jakarta. She was in a neighboring community and heard about the Healthy Street Foods project and got so excited that she stopped by the opening event.
Pakistan: IDP crisis worsens by the day May 27, 2009
The news coming in is not good. Thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) are still pouring out of parts of northern Pakistan where fighting is continuing between Taliban militants and military forces.
Indonesia: Eat your tempeh, kids May 18, 2009
Pakistan: Babies, Full and Contented March 30, 2009
You would expect a small room of 20 young children between the ages of six months and three years to be quite a noisy affair. But in this narrow space in Pakistan's Hazara Town, it is surprisingly quiet. | <urn:uuid:6a0846fa-cbc1-456d-ac00-1c8060596b88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mercycorps.org/health?page=12¤t_step=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93409 | 552 | 1.664063 | 2 |
- Mar 21, 2008 7:35 PM EST
- [num] Comments
Are targeted ads an invasion of your privacy? New York state assemblyman Richard Brodsky thinks they are, so the Democrat has drafted a bill to limit the ways in which companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! can use your personal information to create customized advertisements.
The bill, which is beginning to gain momentum in the state capital, would likely affect Internet companies on a nation level. They would face difficulties attempting to adjust their policies on a state-by-state level.
"Should these companies be able to sell or use what's essentially private data without permission?" Brodsky asked The New York Times. "The easy answer is absolutely not." The law is not the first of its kind, following similar proposals in states like Connecticut and California.
Since first proposing the bill, a handful of lobbyists from prominent Web companies have met with Brodsky, including Yahoo! and Microsoft. AOL is reportedly planning a meeting with the assemblyman as well. Yahoo! has seemingly been hesitant to support such a move. Microsoft, meanwhile claims that it will support Brodsky's legislation; the software company upped the ante, asking the assemblyman to create a broader bill that would, incidentally, include that perpetual bee in Microsoft's bonnet, Google.
"What we have with this new technology is a conflict between the economic model of the Internet and consumers' reasonable expectations of privacy," Brodsky added. | <urn:uuid:afb67322-3b28-419d-aa5e-268dfd88f348> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://appscout.pcmag.com/none/275640-ny-state-bill-targets-targeted-ads | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948231 | 303 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Veteran filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier has been making films since the 1960s, getting his start working with the great Jean-Pierre Melville. One of Tavernier’s first features, The Clockmaker, won the Prix Louis Delluc and the Silver Bear (Special Jury Prize) at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival. A lifelong admirer of American filmmakers, Tavernier made the trip to the US to shoot In the Electric Mist with Tommy Lee Jones, and publicly commented on not having “anything in common” with a new generation of American directors. Indeed, In the Electric Mist was released in two versions: one for the US, and another for the rest of the world. After this brief trip way down south, Tavernier returns to his native France to tell a tale as old as time.
Based on a short story of the same name by Madame de La Fayette, one of France’s first novelists, The Princess of Montpensier (La princesse de Montpensier) is set during the Wars of Religion in the latter half of the sixteenth century. In the adaptation by Jean Cosmos, Francois-Olivier Rosseau and Tavernier, it is the figure of the Comte de Chabannes (Lambert Wilson, Of Gods and Men) that ignites the tale when he tires of fighting and elects to become the tutor of the troubled Marie de Mézières (Mélanie Thierry, Babylon A.D.). Meanwhile, Marie has her own set of problems as she is forced into a loveless marriage with the Prince of Montpensier (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) while passionately in love with Henri de Guise (Gaspard Ulliel, Hannibal Rising).
The Princess of Montpensier, devoid of the flashy whizbangery of Hollywood’s historical epics (where CGI is commonplace), is a surprisingly modern take on a well-worn period of history. Aside from the excellent young cast of internationally unknown actors, there is a fresh feel to the filming that belies (or perhaps confirms) Tavernier’s decades of work in the film industry. The stunning Cesar Award-winning costumes dazzle the eye sockets and barely restrain the heaving bosoms of unrequited love. Contrasting this pleasantly is a modern sensibility that manifests itself not only through the swordplay and battle sequences, but in a steamy kind of romance that almost winks at the audience in self-awareness. Tavernier has commented that he was inspired by the unlikely source of American Westerns for many of the scenes in the film, noting that many important conversations took place on horseback in the filmed version of the American West. Carrying that concept over to the Wars of Religion gives us a drama that is quite literally always moving, and a sense of momentum that is often lacking from other more stilted costume dramas.
This often complex storyline, made even more so by the unnecessary addition of the Duke d’Anjou (Raphaël Personnaz) as an additional pursuer of Marie’s affections, toes the delicate line of being a soap opera of epic proportions, but manages to remain grounded thanks to the excellent cast. The main male leads of Ulliel and Leprince-Ringuet bring the passion, and it is amazing just how much the Twilight films have borrowed from these archetypes. The third young male suitor, Personnaz, comes in with the requisite swagger of a gunslinger from the films Tavernier admires so much, and is the toff to Ulliel and Leprince-Ringuet’s emo. Although her character is somewhat underdeveloped, the beautiful Thierry provides ample fuel for the intricate and fiery love pentagon at the heart of the story, although it is with the always excellent Lambert Wilson that the real pathos of the film lies. As someone both complicit in aiding Marie’s attempts at regaining true love, along with being hopelessly in love with her as well, his tragic nobility is the audience’s ticket into this rarefied world.
The Reel Bits: A sweeping historical epic of the first order that makes full use of, but is never overwhelmed by, the lush settings at Tavernier’s disposal. Gorgeous award-winning costumes, fresh young faces and experienced cast alike make this a fascinating film to watch, even if purely for the visual magnificence.
The Princess of Montpensier is screening as part of the Alliance Française French Film Festival 2011. | <urn:uuid:8802e75e-191d-4fe0-afb4-f13538ba581b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thereelbits.com/2011/03/31/the-princess-of-montpensier-alliance-francaise-french-film-festival-2011/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941416 | 955 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Gulf Coast Homeless Veterans Get Appreciation, Supplies and Services During Stand DownBy Rhonda Miller | Published 21 Oct 2011 09:24pm |
Hundreds of Gulf Coast veterans who fought to protect America’s freedom are now struggling with physical and emotional problems, many of them living on the street. MPB’s Rhonda Miller reports the Homeless Veterans Stand Down is one day when those who served are given a safe place to get the care and appreciation they earned.
In her camouflage uniform, Ruth Goldberg is expertly running the razor in the hair-cutting tent at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Biloxi.
"I’m a licensed cosmetologist, that’s how I supported myself through college," Goldberg says. "But in the military, I’m a licensed clinical social worker. Yes, I’m cutting hair…"
Goldberg and hundreds of other military and community volunteers offer their talents and camaraderie during the Gulf Coast Stand Down
Derrial Agee is getting the haircut. She was a cook in the Army and served in Korea. Agee was homeless for a while, but now has a place to live and has gone back to school to train for a new job. To stretch her limited budget, she came to get some supplies.
"Personal hygiene, blankets, mainly winter clothing, you know while I’m searching for jobs, so I’ll be warm," Agee says.
The Homeless Veterans Stand Down is a national project that began as a retreat for military units returning from combat in Vietnam. Veterans get free medical check-ups and referrals to social services for problems like drug and alcohol abuse, or post-traumatic stress disorder. They get respect and family-style meals.
"... to come through and a have nice warm meal for lunch."
About 300 veterans arrived at the Gulf Coast Stand Down in pick-up trucks, cars, wheelchairs and on bicycles with seats wrapped in gray duct tape. The more the better, says Margaret Scurfield, the homeless program coordinator for the V.A. in Biloxi.
"Our goal is to make sure that our veterans, the ones who have served our country so that we can be free, get the services they’re entitled to, but also that we put an end to homelessness," Scurfield says.
Officials at the V.A. say there are about 300-to-400 homeless veterans on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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limitations are not freedoms
Based on the to the Montana Deferred Deposit Loan Act, "A licensee may not charge a fee for making or carrying each deferred deposit loan authorized by this part that exceeds 36% per annum, exclusive of the insufficient funds fees authorized." All deferred deposit lenders are now legally able to charge $1.36 on every $100 they lend, eliminating the possibility of profits for most. In 2009, Montana licensed 113 deferred deposit lenders and in 2010 there were 102 licensed in 2010. As of 2011 34 licensed lenders remain in the state.
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour allows payday lending to continue in the state by signing legislation that is expected to only decrease lenders profits by 10%. Although smaller businesses may have to close their doors, the state would be keeping over 3000 people employed.
The newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, aimed at recreating and enforcing the laws relating to consumer financial products and services, launches its website this month hoping to gather the opinions of consumers. Currently, the CFPB website focuses on gathering the feedback of consumers and encourages individuals to submit their comments, experiences and thoughts via various formats. The website is also dedicated to educating consumers by providing resources for a number of financial literacy subjects including bank accounts, budgeting, credit cards and counseling, credit reporting and much more.
Virginia has made several attempts to put further rate caps on loans in the state. Virginia already has strict regulations on short-term lenders including a mandatory extended payment plan that must be offered to borrowers after their fifth loan within 180 days and a database. Applicants must be entered into the database to determine loan eligibility and also alerts lenders when the applicant is eligible for an extended payment plan. With these laws already in place, Senator Mamie Locke and Senator John Miller of Virginia recently sponsored bills to cap all loans at 36% annual percentage rate. More recently, Senator John Edwards also proposed to cap loans at 36%.
The new Montana rate cap law went into effect in January, 2011. Last year, Montanans voted on a ballot initiative to limit the annual percentage rate on all loan products to 36%. The measure received 72% of the vote even though the Montana Division of Banking and Financial Institutions received very few complaints on the payday loan industry over the past several years. The Montana Division of Banking and Financial Institutions received one formal complaint in 2008 and two formal complaints in 2007. Once most of the non-traditional lenders leave the state, Montana residents will have to find other means in which to meet their unexpected expenses and emergencies.
The Federal Reserve proposes to lower debit card interchange fees. On December 16, 2010 the Federal Reserve announced that it was proposing a rule to establish debit card interchange fee standards which includes a maximum fee of 12 cents per transaction that a merchant can be charged. These standards would apply to issuers that have $10 billion in assets or more. According to a press release from the Federal Reserve, at 12 cents, the fees would be approximately 70 percent lower than the average fees for 2009. The new rule would take effect on July 21, 2011.
The City of Dallas tries to appeal to the unbanked by offering lower cost checking accounts. The goal of the Bank on Dallas program is to discourage citizens from using check cashing establishments and payday loan services. The program also stresses financial education by partnering with several non-profits to offer financial education resources to new account holders. The program began in July and despite the fact that the city has invested numerous resources into making it a success, their 19 participating banks and credit unions have only recorded 81 new accounts.
The FDIC created its Money Smart program almost 10 years ago in an effort to assist consumers in learning to manage their money by covering both basic as well as more difficult financial subject matters. It also helps to promote relationship building between consumers and federally insured financial institutions. According to the FDIC, more than 2.5 million people have benefited from a Money Smart education since inception. Check out the FDIC website for more information.
In October, our nation's largest banks extended a moratorium on foreclosures in order to conduct internal audits of their processes, procedures and documentation relating to foreclosures. Such banks as Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup were accused of maintaining inaccurate or insufficient foreclosure documents. After its own investigation was completed in 23 states, Bank of America contended that no errors were found during the review. According to CNN Money, the announcement was made one day before their third quarter earnings report.
Virginia becomes target of usury legislation once again. Critics of the short-term loan industry appeal to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell to propose new legislation to end usury in the state. Based on the actions of other states, ending usury typically refers to outlawing payday loans. Their concern is that service members are being taken advantage of but we are confused as to why that is still an issue. The military is no longer subject to paying any fees over 36% annual percentage rate but states continue to use the military in order to push their own agenda.
Montana seeks to cap payday loan rates. We've seen this already in several states where either rates were capped, resulting in the short-term loan industry no longer being able to operate, or the complete abolition of the industry altogether. These states already include Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia. Montana is disregarding the integral role that alternative lenders play in the overall economic atmosphere in addition to the lives of the responsible individuals that are positively effected. Initiative 164, also known as I-164, proposes to reduce the annual interest, charges and fees (collectively) on all payday, title, installment and consumer loans in the state of Montana. As of October 7, 2010 Judge C.B. McNeil ruled that the initiative will stay in the ballot. The Responsible Lending Center is a firm advocate of education versus restriction in the financial services industry. Click here for the complete text of I-164.
New credit card provisions go into effect this week. In 2009 the 110th Congress introduced the Credit Card Bill of Rights which is meant to place more controls on credit card companies. The new provisions include but are not limited to;1)the elimination of penalties for early payment 2)the elimination of arbitrary interest rate increases, and 3)the creation of a minimum time period in which billing statements are sent to customers. Be sure to review and understand any disclosures and changes made by your credit card company.
If you need assistance with understanding and organizing your finances, attend our free financial literacy course this fall at Better Living Communities. In this five week course, we will review a number of subjects pertaining to your financial security including budgeting, saving and understanding the laws that protect you. The course is mostly based on the FDIC Money Smart Program. Download our financial literacy class brochure for more details.
The final results on the FDIC Small-Dollar Loan Pilot are in. We actually commend the FDIC for its efforts in creating a banking product that is less expensive than accumulating overdraft fees as well as attempting to accommodate those with short-term and temporary lending needs. But how does it really compare to the highly popular payday advance. Of course the perceived success of the program is most definitely relative, especially since the goals and focus were abruptly changed when the program was still in its infancy. There was no way that the FDIC would let the program fail by their own definition and thus recreated their descriptions relating to the Small-Dollar Loan Pilot. In the most basic sense, the Small-Dollar Loan Pilot was not profitable and seemed to be considerably higher maintenance than its traditional counterpart the payday loan. Instead of determining whether short-term profitability was possible, participants were encouraged to use the program to create goodwill in the community through CRA and build long-term relationships, which would, in the long run lead to profits. The pilot program is labeled as being safe, affordable and feasible but based on the requirements and approval procedures what it is not is convenient, practical or non-invasive. | <urn:uuid:5a90ca0f-226a-4040-af15-9abd133ea90e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thecenterforresponsiblelending.com/news_list.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969205 | 1,651 | 1.695313 | 2 |
I spent the day at the Capitol today with about 20,000 of my nearest and dearest friends. Labor came out in force to protest the new Right to Work legislation. For those who don’t know (of whom there were many), Right to Work is a SERIOUSLY misleading name. It does away with the closed shop. A closed shop means that anyone who works in it automatically belongs to the union. Dues are deducted automatically, and they are used to fund the workings of the union. Supervisor gunning for you? Call your steward. Is the sup making up stuff to try and get you fired? File a grievance and go through the process of keeping or losing your job. Have a workman’s comp claim because a piece of faulty equipment (or repetitive stress) has hampered your ability to work? Talk to your steward to get help working through it.
Oh, you don’t believe in unions? Well, unions believe in you.
The Labor Movement has been on the front lines of creating a middle class in this country since at least the 1800s. But especially since the 1930s, when the UAW won its first contract with GM. Organized labor is responsible for things like: OSHA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. Ending child labor. The weekend. Health benefits for working people. Overtime pay. Sick leave. Paid vacations. Profit-sharing. Organized labor in every industry is responsible for setting the bar of pay, benefits, everything. Even non-union employers use industry standards when putting together compensation packages. But we’ve heard all this before in the fights about this legislation.
The Republican governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, a complete asshole if ever there was one, pledged that Right to Work legislation was not a priority of his. He lied. He, and the Republican-led LAME DUCK (codeword: coward) state legislature ran this legislation through in under a week. This is a travesty. It’s a sad day for democracy, and it’s a sad day for working people in Michigan, the cradle of organized labor. People think of labor and they think of fatcat union bosses. I’m not worried about what the vice president or president is doing. Those guys are abstractions to me. God love ‘em, all of ‘em, but they’re not my major concern. Here is what Right to Work legislation means to me. I’m just one person, born and bred in Detroit, the once and future Promised Land. It means an unraveling of gains for which people fought and died.
It means, if we let it, that those people who occupied the GM plant in Flint in 1937 taught us nothing. Here is the story of the Flint Sit-down.
One of the original GM workers from that strike was there today at the Capitol. I’m sure he never imagined he’s see such times as these.
These are the times in which all working people are seeing their hours increased while their wages stagnate. In which democracy is subverted a little bit more with each election, right down to our local school board in Detroit. The presidential election cost how much? A billion dollars? And we’re supposed to think that President Obama is going to save the working class? I’m not even worried about the middle class. They’re just a myth anyway. While CEOs make record salaries and bonuses, people wonder whether they’ll ever be able to retire. As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in the once-posh suburb of Grosse Pointe. I’m overhearing a conversation in which a woman who is 70 if she’s a day, is discussing the two part-time jobs she works. This is what it’s come to. This is where we are. Back to the 1930s. Back to the trenches. As much as it hurt my heart to wake up today and know that all those gains have been rolled back, one thing kept me from going completely into mourning. We have generations before us who lived that good life, who know what it is, who know what it is to work for it. And we have in this city, this state, this life, people who are veterans of long struggles for human rights. We have coalitions appearing which would not have been if the Republican right hadn’t played so rough. Yesterday at the capitol, there was the Planned Parenthood crowd, mostly young white women; the teachers were out in force because of the EAA (another whole story); UAW retirees, building trades, nurses, you name it. This coalition is greater and stronger than the first time Labor had to fight. Back then, it was mostly white men. Now, there’s a much better sense of inclusion (though still not perfect). There’s a better sense of shared destiny. There’s the knowledge that these battles don’t represent the impossible, for they’ve been won before, but merely the very difficult, for we are in wondrous new times. A friend of mine said after George W. Bush got re-elected that we were living in times that forced us to be relevant. Well, he couldn’t have imagined what that would come to mean. We’ve a long fight ahead of us and it’s not going to be easy. These are dark times, like the Middle Ages before the Renaissance. Well, goddammnit, we’ve got the moral high ground. Light candles, light fires. Our times are calling us. As my mother says, “See you at the barricades.”
In Solidarity and sorrow, anger and hope,
Stepchild in the Promised Land. | <urn:uuid:1a3238e0-cfd4-486c-b541-bd26637ee9e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/13437-back-to-the-trenches | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96757 | 1,210 | 1.6875 | 2 |
An appeals court should throw out a $500m (£260m) patent infringement judgement against Microsoft because a lower court failed to recognise that the patent was not invented by the company awarded the money, a Microsoft lawyer claimed yesterday.
Lawyer Constantine Trela told an appeals court in Washington that the Eolas Technologies patent that allowed web browsers to recognise and run embedded applications on web pages had been demonstrated by Pei-Yuan Wei in May 1993, more than five years before the Eolas patent was granted.
But Eolas lawyer Martin Lueck argued that the patent was valid because Wei abandoned the functionality in later versions of his Viola web browser and never demonstrated his browser's ability to run embedded applications to anyone.
Lueck rejected the suggestion that Wei made the functionality public and improved the browser. "That's not what happened. If you put a feature in a piece of software, and you never show it to anyone, you never give it to anyone, and you never use it again, that's abandonment."
The Eolas lawsuit against Microsoft, filed in 1999, prompted an outcry from several web experts, including Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium. The US Patent Office re-examined the patent and rejected it last March.
Grant Gross writes for IDG News Service | <urn:uuid:7f4d9e6c-cade-48cf-950f-3f2f0268dba1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240059248/Microsoft-contests-patent-infringement-decision | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962602 | 269 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Managers at Metro have released a sweeping vision for the future of transit in the Metropolitan Washington region. Among the most expensive items in the list: new, underground rail lines through downtown D.C. and a new tunnel to Rosslyn in Arlington County.
Metro's problem, in a nutshell, is its popularity. Our regional rail system carries about 750,000 fares a day. Over the next 25 years, that is expected to grow to more than a million riders a day. Even with all eight-car trains during rush hours, the central core capacity of the system will become constantly jammed.
"Where there is no longer capacity in the system, whether it's east-west [or] north-south, you have to split the system apart and provide additional tracks," explained Richard Sarles, Metro's top executive.
Metro's general manager outlined (for the board that oversees the transit system) a plan that calls for consideration of new underground Metro tunnels in D.C. beneath 10th Street, NW and beneath M Street, NW. Those underground lines with new tracks would include a new tunnel under the Potomac River into Rosslyn. This opens the tantalizing possibility that Georgetown could get a Metro station.
Georgetown, at one time, had rail service. A hundred years ago, trolleys ran there, and you can still see remnants of trolley tracks on some Georgetown streets.
The trolleys went away in the late 1950s, and community leaders in Georgetown were cool to the idea of a Metro stop when the system was being designed in the 1960s.
Mohammed Ali, who operates the Thomas Sweet ice cream shop in Georgetown, favors a new Metro stop in the neighborhood.
"Yeah," Ali told us. "That will be a very good help to the businesses and the community as well."
Georgetown resident Dr. Joyce Hagel-Silverman also wants Metro in her neighborhood: "I would like it very much ... because it's hard to park in many places and getting the Metro could take us to National Gallery, all the Smithsonian [museums], plus [the] National Press Club. Many of the places we go."
Dr. Hagel-Silverman's husband, Charles, however, expressed concern over what would be years of torn-up streets in Georgetown if the traditional trench format is used for constructing the proposed new underground tracks.
There are many other recommendations in the new Metro report, which is called "Momentum." They include extending existing Metro rail lines to Bowie, Md. and Centreville, Va. and Potomac Mills, Va.
The plan also calls for developing priority bus corridors as another way of moving people around the region in the future. | <urn:uuid:0e0baad4-1f9e-46ce-b4af-428d98e717ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/20673324/metro-growth-plan-calls-for-new-dc-tunnels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966523 | 556 | 1.84375 | 2 |
In 1970, artist Terry O’Shea mailed a letter to curators at LACMA describing both a gift and an action. O’Shea had been the 1966 recipient of the Young Talent Award (an honor that has for nearly four decades taken the form of prize funded by the Modern and Contemporary Art Council and more recently as an acquisition fund in the guise of AHAN: Studio Forum), and was contacting the curatorial staff to alert them to the work he had produced for LACMA as part of the terms of the distinction. O’Shea made a cast-resin sculpture with colored striations that was indicative of his Light and Space–leaning work—and then threw it unceremoniously into the La Brea Tar Pits. The letter and a black-and-white photograph of the sculpture are now part of the permanent collection.
As I was working through LACMA’s database and moving through the museum’s various storage areas in preparation for the new exhibition Lost Line: Contemporary Art from the Collection, I thought often about this “lost” object in the collection. What does it mean to “collect” something that is submerged in the primordial soup next door? At the same time, with the frenzy of interest surrounding Michael Heizer’s Levitated Mass (and a new wave of scholarship around Land Art), I found myself gravitating to works in the collection that considered location, from the underground to the aerial, from street level to the global stage.
Many land artists, including Michael Heizer, used methods of removal, burial, and displacement to create site-specific pieces, often of monumental proportions but with different intentions than the traditional forms of monuments (as memorials, e.g.). All this made me think of Gabriel Orozco’s witty alternative to the monument, a work in LACMA’s collection called Lost Line, from which the exhibition takes its name. The artist once described this piece as “the opposite of a static monument… a sculpture as a body in motion”—a notion that reinforced my approach and challenged me to think beyond the usual suspects associated with earthworks.
Lost Line, the exhibition, is therefore not organized by chronologies or movements but by a more freeform sensibility that invites associative or lateral meanings. I wanted to consider Buckminster Fuller’s print of his cartographic innovation, the Dymaxion World Map, in relation to Dennis Oppenheim’s Removal Transplant-New York Stock Exchange and James Welling’s “foil” photographs. The small-scale sculptural constructions of Barbara Kasten which result in obtuse architectural studies could dialogue with Yunhee Min’s gallery intervention—a hybrid painting, sculpture, and architectural construct.
As has happened in my previous curatorial endeavors, I connect to works that bring the outside elements inside the galleries. Thus whether in the stains and spurts of Ingrid Calame, the drywall of Pablo Rasgado, or the rebar faux ficus trees of Ruben Ochoa, there is an invitation for the tar to seep up through the gallery floors. Maybe, just maybe, O’Shea’s work will finally resurface.
Rita Gonzalez, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art | <urn:uuid:2107c4d0-f4f4-44a9-bacb-720ed74e3ec9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lacma.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/art-in-the-tar-pits-and-other-lost-works/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944881 | 690 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded off Louisiana’s coast in 2010, unleashing an unmatched oil spill from BP’s Macondo well.
About eight months later, the Justice Department filed suit to recover damages.
BP entered into a $4.5 billion settlement of criminal claims in November.
The owner of the rig, Transocean, has just agreed to plead guilty and pay $1.4 billion in criminal and civil penalties for violating the Clean Water Act. A federal judge is likely to sign off on the agreement at a hearing set for Feb. 14.
The Coast Guard has approved plans to investigate another oil sheen spotted near the site of BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The sheen was initially spotted on Nov. 2 in the same area where a discarded steel container leaking oil had been capped and plugged the week before.
When the Deepwater Horizon exploded two years ago, spilling an unprecedented amount of oil into the Gulf, BP hired about 48,000 workers to clean up. Some of those workers have since reported health problems. There's just one clinic in Louisiana now dedicated to treating them. As WRKF's Tegan Wendland reports, the clinic has a rather controversial backer.
Actors, directors and theater groups all over the country are marking the anniversary of the BP oil spill this spring with a play. ‘The Way of the Water" focuses on the aftermath of 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill. It was written by an award-winning playwright and will be performed by a group of volunteers in Baton Rouge this weekend. WRKF's Tegan Wendland talked with local Director and doctoral theater student at LSU, Eric Mayer Garcia, about why he thought it was important to bring the play to Louisiana for the first time.The performance will be Saturday, June 1 at 7:30p.m.at The Red Shoes Center for Personal & Spiritual Growth, 2303 Government St. Donations are welcome. | <urn:uuid:27c91c78-23aa-42c4-a381-bab13865af88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wrkf.org/term/deepwater-horizon?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95677 | 397 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Talks between US, NK still premature: source
WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The United States believes it is still too early to push for the resumption of bilateral talks with North Korea, an informed source said Thursday.
"There is consensus that it's not the right time yet," the diplomatic source said on the condition of anonymity.
The source was referring to the possibility of diplomatic engagement between Washington and Pyongyang on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to be held in Cambodia July 12-13.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit the annual security forum, and her North Korean counterpart, Pak Ui-chun, is expected to join in.
But the source left the door open for contact organized by academic circles or other civilian channels.
North Korea and the U.S., which have no formal diplomatic ties, have sometimes used so-called "track-two" meetings to pave the way for government-level dialogue.
North Korea, under new leadership, fired a long-range rocket in April, effectively scrapping the Feb. 29 deal with the U.S. on a set of initial steps towards denuclearization in exchange for massive food aid.
The North was widely expected to conduct another nuclear test or attack South Korea again to make up for the failed rocket launch.
"I think North Korea's restraint from additional provocations following the missile launch is attributable to the China factor," said the source.
South Korea and the U.S. have asked China to rein in the North.
"Seoul and Washington have received a good signal from China (regarding the matter)," the source said.
The source identified a "game change" in dealing with North Korea.
"For the past 20 years, North Korea took the initiative in the game," the source said. "But the phase of the game has changed as South Korea (strongly) raised the issue of North Korean human rights and the livelihood of the North Korean people, a move supported by the U.S." | <urn:uuid:b5705f0e-0a98-4088-b1d7-b76881e4ec09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/07/120_114100.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960829 | 423 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Running Windows 7 (RC, 64 bit). Suddenly, today, after months without a problem, clicking on links has become extremely slow.
I've noticed this in two places.
(1) clicking hyperlinks in Outlook email messages, which launches Firefox, takes around a minute. Launching Firefox by itself is instantaneous - I have an SSD drive and a very fast CPU. (2) opening Word documents attached to Outlook email messages also takes a surprisingly long time.
The only thing these two might have in common is that they use the DDE mechanism, if I'm not mistaken, to send a DDE open command to the application. Under Windows XP this problem could sometimes be fixed by unchecking the "Use DDE" checkbox in the file type mapping, however, I can't find any equivalent under Windows 7. | <urn:uuid:b4f229ab-99c1-4eb6-be61-b9ac60dfffed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://superuser.com/questions/41935/clicking-hyperlinks-in-email-messages-becomes-painfully-slow/41945 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930652 | 168 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Poor Julius is spending his summer toilet-training a three-year-old and taking intensive French lessons.
While spending the summer with his great-aunt in the family's old house, twelve-year-old Drew travels back to the year 1910 and trades places with his great-great-uncle who is also twelve years old.
Neely and her little brother find a way to sneak into Halcyon House, a deserted mansion filled with toys, until the owners unexpectedly return and bring some unwelcome surprises.
Describes the research that Samuel Marshall and his students are doing on tarantulas, including the largest spider on earth, the Goliath birdeating tarantula.
After finally convincing her mother that she should take swimming lessons, twelve-year-old Emily discovers a terrible and wonderful secret about herself that opens up a whole new world.
The eleven-year-old son of the Ravenmaster at the Tower of London befriends a Jacobite rebel being held prisoner there.
Upon leaving an oppressive summer camp, twelve-year-old Margaret Rose Kane spearheads a campaign to preserve three unique towers her grand uncles have been building in their back yard for over forty years.
Noticing that a popular series of horror novels is having a bizarre effect on the behavior of its readers, Franny and Beamer set out to find the mysterious author.
The Greek myth of Prince Theseus and the trials that befall him when he vows to become a hero.
Disgusted that a family with three girls moves into the house across the river, nine-year-old Wally and his three brothers declare a practical joke war on the girls. Followed by The Girls Get Even.
1201 Caroline Street | Fredericksburg, VA 22401 | 540-372-1144
Copyright © Central Rappahannock Regional Library - Powered by Drupal
CRRL does not disclose, give, sell or transfer any personal information about our visitors. | <urn:uuid:06ccd750-ea39-4e35-9e1c-2c6e7bccdc8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.librarypoint.org/taxonomy/term/1128 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958403 | 397 | 1.828125 | 2 |
YouTube Uploads Hit 72 Hours A Minute: How Can That Ever Be Pre-Screened For 'Objectionable' Material?
from the moore's-law-strikes-again dept
YouTube has announced that 72 hours of video is now being uploaded to its service every minute. Earlier this year, the statistic was that 60 hours of video was uploaded to its service every minute:
In 2007 we started at six hours [of uploads per minute], then in 2010 we were at 24 hours, then 35, then 48, and now...60 hours of video every minute, an increase of more than 25 percent in the last eight months.
This year, a 25% increase will probably take around around six months. In other words, the rate at which uploads occur is accelerating. Presumably at some point things will level off, but there's no sign of that yet, and it's not hard to see YouTube video uploads hitting 120 hours a minute or more.
Now consider the calls from some governments that Google and others pre-screen user-generated material. Just how do they think anyone can do that when every second there's one or more hours of new material flooding in? The challenge is particularly acute for video, which does not lend itself to automatic screening, unlike text, say. Such machine-based approaches are still extremely rough, and will either let through material governments want censored, or else err massively in the other direction, blocking all kinds of harmless footage.
As Google's latest figures for YouTube demonstrate, the mismatch between what governments want and what is possible is only going to get worse, thanks to Moore's Law and its analogs for storage and bandwidth. It's not clear how this is going to be resolved, but with more and more politicians calling for "something to be done", the chances of a good outcome based on rational policy making don't look good. | <urn:uuid:9224ae15-ce21-493d-b894-422a3ad4db04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techdirt.com/blog/blog.php/?start=20&tag=streaming&company= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970097 | 385 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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