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When hiring, employers must make sure that the application and assessment process meets defensible standards. With the excessive use (and often misuse) of internet- based “quick, easy and free” personality tests offered as hiring tools, violations of rules set forth by the Department of Labor are becoming more frequent. Though the Department of Labor document citing the guidelines is considered unexciting and often tedious reading, it should be considered required reading for any employer or manager in charge of hiring or promotion decisions. Adhering to the guidelines as best as possible could keep employers out of harm’s way when it comes to legal battles.
The Department of Labor offers 13 different guidelines that employers should follow when deciding on an “assessment initiative”. They are as follows:
1. Use assessments and assessment tools in the manner in which they are indicated or advised (follow the directions!). When employers misuse an assessment tool or program, they could potentially face legal issues in the future.
2. Use the “whole- person approach” when testing. Remember, no test is perfect! Use an assessment test, or maybe even a combination of tests, that will give you as much information as possible about behaviors most important to your business.
3. Use tests that are unbiased and fair to all groups. Even tests that inadvertently discriminate may keep employers from gaining a qualified and diverse work group and may kindle, you guessed it, more legal battles.
4. Use tests that are reliable. Make sure that the questions offered on the test are not tricky and that they seek specific responses.
5. Make sure that the assessments being used are valid for the specific purpose intended. This may be considered one of the most important criterions in the selection process. Validity is simply the specific assessment’s ability to measure the target characteristic at a level that can be useful to the employer.
6. Assessment tests must be appropriate and applicable for the target population of desired employees (a.k.a., tests must be specific to your trade). For example, you would never give a person applying for a job at a burger joint an assessment designed specifically to assess dental hygienists.
7. Instructions and all other documentation must be completely comprehensive and easy for applicants to understand.
8. If the assessment test requires proctoring and/or administering, make sure that the people performing these actions are properly trained and qualified to do so. Some instruments require an extensive certification process to administer, proctor, and score tests.
9. Provide consistent standard and uniform testing conditions in order to obtain more consistent results. The key is keeping test takers from being distracted to assure the integrity of the test results.
10. Provide reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. Remember: no group should ever be disadvantaged by the test or the conditions under which the test is taken.
11. Strong test security is important if the test results are going to be useful. Tests and their scoring should never be assessable to the general public.
12. Test results must be maintained in a confidential manner. Most effective are tests taken over the internet requiring a username and password.
13. Accurate interpretation of results is tremendously necessary. Nothing is worse than bad interpretation of good data. Don’t let that happen to you!
Though these guidelines might sound dull and restricting, the Department of Labor does support the use sound testing and assessment strategy, and actually acknowledges the difficulty employers now have of “attracting, developing and retaining the best employees.” They go on to say that a well built and solid assessment strategy can “maximize chances for getting the right fit between jobs and employees.” (DOL publication, “Testing and Assessment: An Employers Guide to Good Practices”)
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Click here to share this post. | <urn:uuid:fd4941a2-d9ee-421c-b1f7-7df3956d1ca2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.schulzbusiness.com/blog/post/2011/09/24/Sales-Hiring-Tests.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941557 | 825 | 1.84375 | 2 |
February 26th, 2011
I’m participating in the 52 weeks of personal genealogy and history challenge.
This week’s topic is all about what were some of the technological advances that happened during your childhood. Wow – where to start as there has been incredible change during my 50 something years.
After some thinking I have come up with my top 3 technological advances that impacted me the most in hindsight.
Without doubt the purchase of our first television changed our lives (and our eating habits). We always used to eat together as a family at least up until our high school years. When we bought the TV it went into the lounge room but we all were soon addicted to the TV (even though it was B&W). And no we didn’t start eating in the lounge room!
Our lounge and dining rooms were really one big room so it was a relatively easy matter to turn the TV around at dinner time, although it was incredibly heavy. We always had to watch the news and then my strongest memory is of Bob and Dolly Dyer and Pick A Box which we watched religiously. I can still remember Barry Jones and his debates with Bob.
Of course with the TV on that was the end of dinner conversation as a family unless we could do it within the adverts and there didn’t seem to be that many back then. After dinner I had to go to my room and do homework, especially when I was in high school, and I remember having to yell to turn the TV down so that I could think. It was only a small house and my brother would be playing his music in his room across the hall to make it even more chaotic. I ended up using ear plugs.
Even today I tend to associate dinner time with the 6.00pm news and I strongly suspect that is why Queensland still doesn’t have daylight saving – they are all inside watching the news on TV and having dinner at 6.00pm, which would only be 5.00pm real time. I never really believed the curtains would fade.
My second technologically shattering event was the invention of the pop up toaster. I can’t tell you how many times I used to burn my fingers on the old toaster which you had to open from the sides to put the bread in and then open without burning yourself once it got hot. I also used to burn a lot of toast as well. So for me the pop up toaster was simply the best invention after sliced bread or was it before sliced bread! Everyone’s allowed one trivial memory!
From a non family perspective the greatest event I ever witnessed was Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. It was a school day and I was in a small high school in Brisbane. Due to the significance of the event, we were all herded into the science lab to watch the television. We stood there for what seemed like hours (thankfully it was winter) but it is still incredible to think we were watching it live on television.
I had always been fascinated by astronomy and outer space and I used to watch all those early B&W space movies and so on. My first real love was William Shatner aka Captain Kirk from the Starship Enterprise – none of the other spin offs have captured my attention as much as the original series did.
If I was to come closer to the present, one would have to say things like my first computer and then laptop, the joy of email, the internet not to mention mobile phones and all the other gadgets that we can no longer seem to live without. My generation has certainly seen a lot of technological change in our everyday lives. I am left wondering what my Gen Y son would say to the same question. | <urn:uuid:2a836c0d-fb43-49e1-92ff-cb3a6d789a1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shaunahicks.com.au/52-weeks-of-personal-genealogy-history-week-7-technology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988644 | 761 | 1.578125 | 2 |
When Voting, something to think about.
There is an outcry of "voter intimidation" now being pushed by our own DOJ. With political appointee and hack of a lawyer Attorney Genereal Eric Holder. Now Holder is not the only one crying fauxfoul on this. The left is in a outpoor of false implications and mas hysteria. Lets look at what is so omportant that you have to show a valed picture identification card and then look at voting.
You have to sow a picture I.D. to buy a movie ticket if you are getting a discount ticket, senior or student. Soometimes just buy the ticket to prove your meet the age requirments of the movie rating. To cash a check or write a check , places ask for a picture I.D. to make sure it is you cashing the check. To buy cigarettes you most definately have to show picture I.D. or to buy alcohol you need that little picture I.D. If you are pulled over in your car , better have that picture driver license or be hispanic , one or the other because the police are going to demand the picture I.D. even if it is for a busted tailight.
You want to go to the bar with your friends and watch the big game? Better be able to prove who you are or go home and watch on a small screen. Picking up mail at the post office? Best show that evil little I.D. there too. The local p[ost master requires identification in order to give you registered mail.
These are minor things when compared to the implications and importance of voting. Think about the vote for a minute. Here you are not only excercising your Constitutional right , but your responsibility as a citizen when voting. No one is saying you can not vote. What is being asked of American citizens is to make sure that no one is falsly voting in your stead. I know when it comes time to vote I am always among the first 10 to vote in my local precinct. I get up early go get in line and wait for the poll to open. Why,m to make sure that my name is correct on the rolls and that it is checked off for me and not some imposter. You say this does not happen. Well goggle yourself. I found in my state mthat there are 46 people with the exact same name , spelling and birthday as me. Six of these people are of the opposite sex. I can not prove identitiy theft but, I do get a lot of denials for credit cards I have never applied for.
Your vote is not sacred , but itis imporatnat. In our form of a REPUBLIC DEMOCRACY it allows you your voice in the way things are done. You elect represenitives who supposedly represents a like way of thinking on issues. It gives you voice on other issues like tax hikes, levees, and which way the economy may go. Rather we have a strong or weak national defense.
With issues like this at stake is it too much to ask the government to make sure no one is using your name to misrepresent your thinking? To represent you yourself and cancell out your vote on an issue or political hack runniing for office? I think not!
So when you go to the poll to vote whats more important, proving that you ar who you say you are , or buying that next pack of smokes. | <urn:uuid:8eee4c51-de1a-4863-95d8-4e8f74953c21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://libtree.blogspot.com/2012/06/when-voting-something-to-think-about.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959506 | 709 | 1.5 | 2 |
View From the Hill: "DADT" Momentum
BY Kerry Eleveld
June 05 2009 12:00 AM ET
When that time comes, let's hope President Obama moves beyond the campaign rhetoric he offered to Brian Williams on marriage this week.
"I think gays and lesbians have a friend in the White House because I've consistently committed myself to civil unions, making sure that they have the ability to visit each other in hospitals, that they are able to access benefits, that they have a whole host of legal rights that they currently do not have," he said.
As a friend put it to me, it's so '90s -- especially against the backdrop of his boldness in Cairo, which was unabashedly revolutionary and progressive. I mean, c'mon, Dick Cheney's views on gay marriage now outstrip the president's.
Not to mention the fact that providing the "whole host of legal rights" Obama mentions is going to take some leadership in Washington since the Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the federal government from recognizing perfectly legal same-sex marriages.
The White House is no doubt thrilled that all the real work on marriage is being done in the states -- that is clearly where they want the debate to stay. But as more states make marriage equality the law of their land, it's incumbent upon President Obama to translate his campaign speak on the trail into movement on the Hill.
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- Youth Boy Scouts Vote to End Discrimination Against Gay Youth May 23 2013 6:22 PM | <urn:uuid:a2778bc5-b85a-4d5c-816c-751c791eccc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advocate.com/politics/2009/06/05/view-hill-dadt-momentum?page=0,2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941906 | 522 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Sometimes the work of a professional makes all the difference. Whether your home has ten bedrooms, or your apartment is 800 square feet, it can be incredibly difficult to create a cohesive look for your home that is representative of you. That's where an interior designer comes in.
What is an interior designer? A good interior designer will hone your style down to its very essence, and be able to choose a functional layout that feels natural to you. Today, an interior designer can be involved as much or as little as the client desires. Many clients who hire interior designers - particularly those who are remodeling - have a good sense of how the room should look and what product they should use. Often clients will insist that a designer use the product already present in the home. Other times, a designer will need to start from scratch - especially if this is a just-purchased or just-built home. A designer will need to figure out exactly what the client needs. This means organizing rooms, laying tile, picking carpeting and colors, and finding the perfect pieces of furniture to compliment it all.
Really do your research before meeting with an interior designer. Ask yourself what you want your space to become, and what it will be used for. Figure out the extent of what you need help with, what your must-haves are, and what your budget is. Interior design services can add up fast, so be up front with potential designers from the beginning. Also, pick a designer that fits your style. Browse through a designer's portfolio and decide if you would live in those houses. Not just if you like it - but if you can live in it. There's a big difference!
Questions to ask when you meet with an Interior Designer:
Ask for a referral. It makes a big difference to talk to a client who's worked with them before.
Ask to see their interior design portfolio.
When will the project be done?
Do you charge an hourly rate, a flat rate, cost plus method, or mixed method?
Find an Interior Designer on Houzz. Narrow your search in the Professionals section of the website to Interior Designer, then choose the metro area in which you'd like to find a Designer. You may also look through photos by style, like Traditional, Asian, Contemporary, Modern, Eclectic, Mediterranean or Tropical, to first find a room you like then contact the professional who designed it. | <urn:uuid:2e4603f4-a8b7-43e7-8b03-4401c8f10115> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.houzz.com/professionals/interior-designer/tampa | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958668 | 494 | 1.523438 | 2 |
|Uploaded:||August 24, 2011|
|Updated:||August 24, 2011|
Hello again folks, and welcome all to another fun lesson that is going to make you smile. I am going to start the tutorial day by showing all you guys "how to draw a husky pup", step by step. There are so many members and even visitors that are completely infatuated with this dog breed. I seriously think it’s because of a few things, like how they have blue eyes, and real pretty coats, but most importantly, one of the main reasons why people love huskies, is because they look so much like wolves. Yes I know they make great pets, but one of the reasons why my fourteen year old sister likes these dogs is because they remind her of wolves. Did you know that husky dogs howl instead of barking? It’s true; huskies are known to let out a series of howls when protecting their dwellings. Don’t get me wrong they still bark, but only when they feel it’s necessary. As far as husky pups go, they are so adorable. I’m filling a request by making this lesson on "how to draw a husky pup", and even though it’s not a realistic version, I think it will do just fine. So let me know what you think and be sure to rate, comment and fav all the tutorials you like or dislike. In the mean-time I will return in a few and with my return I shall bring good things to draw. Peace people! | <urn:uuid:80246915-8a5e-4916-9c35-9d903be9d571> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/9177/2/1/67835/how-to-draw-a-husky-puppy,-husky-puppy-step-3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959417 | 327 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Sometimes a story is so troubling that it takes some time to digest, and the ruling delivered last Wednesday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (PDF), in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of five men subjected to “extraordinary rendition” and torture, is one such story. The men — Binyam Mohamed, Ahmed Agiza, Abou Elkassim Britel, Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah and Bisher al-Rawi — claim, with some justification, and with copious amounts of evidence in their possession, that their rendition, and their torture in a variety of countries, was facilitated by Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing whose role as “The CIA’s Travel Agent” was first exposed, through statements made by a former Jeppesen employee, in an article by Jane Mayer for the New Yorker in October 2006.
In statements that were later submitted to the court, Sean Belcher, a former employee, said that the director of Jeppesen International Trip Planning Services, Bob Overby, had told him, “We do all the extraordinary rendition flights,” which he also referred to as “the torture flights” or “spook flights.” Belcher stated that “there were some employees who were not comfortable with that aspect of Jeppesen’s business” because they knew “some of these flights end up” with the passengers being tortured, but added that Overby had explained, “that’s just the way it is, we’re doing them” because “the rendition flights paid very well.”
Last Wednesday, however, when asked to rule on whether these five men should have their day in court, or whether the government should be allowed to dismiss their lawsuit by claiming that the exposure of any information relating to “extraordinary rendition” and torture threatened the national security of the United States, American justice contemplated looking at itself squarely in the mirror, telling truth to power, and allowing these men the opportunity to address what had happened to them in a court of law, but, at the last minute, flinched and turned away. By six votes to five, the Court decided that, in the interests of national security, the men’s day in court would be denied.
As Judge Raymond C. Fisher stated in the majority opinion (in which he was joined by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, and Judges Richard C. Tallman, Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Consuelo M. Callahan and Carlos T. Bea):
This case requires us to address the difficult balance the state secrets doctrine strikes between fundamental principles of our liberty, including justice, transparency, accountability and national security. Although as judges we strive to honor all of these principles, there are times when exceptional circumstances create an irreconcilable conflict between them. On those rare occasions, we are bound to follow the Supreme Court’s admonition that “even the most compelling necessity cannot overcome the claim of privilege if the court is ultimately satisfied that [state] secrets are at stake.” After much deliberation, we reluctantly conclude this is such a case, and the plaintiffs’ action must be dismissed.
This is an extraordinarily depressing result, because the Jeppesen case, which had been dismissed by the District Court in 2008, had then been won on appeal before three judges in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2009. On that occasion the judges in question — Judges Michael Daly Hawkins, Mary M. Schroeder and William C. Canby, Jr. — had thoroughly demolished the government’s claim — first submitted by the Bush administration, and then, to the judges’ great surprise, slavishly copied by President Obama’s Justice Department — that it could dismiss the case by invoking the “state secrets” doctrine.
Unlike last Wednesday, when the majority agreed with the government regarding the “state secrets” doctrine, the panel of judges in April 2009 had no hesitation, in reviewing what they described as the “relatively thin history” of the doctrine, in dismissing the government’s reliance on two precedents because of their irrelevance to the Jeppesen case. One, Totten v. United States, involved a secret agreement between the government and a spy in the nineteenth century, and the other, United States v. Reynolds, from 1953, dealt with the prevention of “discovery of secret evidence when disclosure would threaten national security.”
As I explained in an article at the time:
[The judges, in an opinion written by Judge Hawkins] did this first by pinpointing the “clear error” the District Court made when it initially dismissed the case, when the court declared, “inasmuch as the case involves ‘allegations’ about the conduct of the CIA, the privilege is invoked to protect information which is properly the subject of state secrets privilege,” and also declared that “the very subject matter of this case is a state secret.” In contrast, the Appeals Court judges insisted that “The subject matter … is not a state secret, and the case should not have been dismissed at the outset.”
Dismissing the government’s arguments, they concluded that, although the government may be entitled to protect certain evidence in the interests of national security, it has no justification for suppressing judicial scrutiny of the case as a whole, particularly because some information relating to the case is already publicly available, and also because what the government is actually trying to do, with no legal precedent whatsoever, is to impose a blanket ban on all discussion of potential government wrongdoing.
In a particularly powerful passage, Judge Hawkins stated:
At base, the government argues … that state secrets form the subject matter of a lawsuit, and therefore require dismissal, any time a complaint contains allegations, the truth or falsity of which has been classified as secret by a government official. The district court agreed, dismissing the case exclusively because it “involves allegations” about [secret] conduct by the CIA.” This sweeping characterization of the “very subject matter” bar has no logical limit — it would apply equally to suits by US citizens, not just foreign nationals; and to secret conduct committed on US soil, not just abroad. According to the government’s theory, the Judiciary should effectively cordon off all secret government actions from judicial scrutiny, immunizing the CIA and its partners from the demands and limits of the law (emphasis added).
Elsewhere, as I also explained:
[T]he judges drew on Boumediene [v. Bush, the 2008 ruling granting the Guantánamo prisoners constitutionally guaranteed habeas corpus rights], in which the Supreme Court stated that, while “[s]ecurity depends upon a sophisticated intelligence apparatus,” it “subsists, too, in fidelity to freedom’s first principles [including] freedom from arbitrary and unlawful restraint and the personal liberty that is secured by the adherence to the separation of powers.” They also drew on Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, another important Guantánamo case in the Supreme Court (in 2004), in which the justices stated, “Separation-of-powers concerns take on an especially important role in the context of secret Executive conduct. As the Founders of this nation knew well, arbitrary imprisonment and torture under any circumstance is a ‘gross and notorious … act of despotism.’”
I was also particularly impressed by the following passage:
If the simple fact that information is classified were enough to bring evidence containing that evidence within the scope of the [state secrets] privilege, then the entire state secrets inquiry — from determining which matters are secret to which disclosures pose a threat to national security — would fall exclusively to the Executive branch, in plain contravention of the Supreme Court’s admonition that “[j]udicial control over the evidence in a case cannot be abdicated to the caprice of executive officers” without “lead[ing] to intolerable abuses.” … A rule that categorically equated “classified” matters with “secret” matters would, for example, perversely encourage the President to classify politically embarrassing information simply to place it beyond the reach of judicial process.
As I also explained:
What was notable about this passage was that it succinctly encapsulated the entire approach to “classified” information that was maintained by the Bush administration, and also mentioned invoking national security to prevent embarrassment — or, it could be said, to prevent the disclosure of crimes.
Sixteen months on, it is clear from reviewing Judge Hawkins’ opinion that nothing has fundamentally changed, and that therefore the majority that prevailed last week has simply repeated the “clear error” the District Court made when it initially dismissed the case, and has endorsed the President’s right to “classify politically embarrassing information simply to place it beyond the reach of judicial process,” albeit with more obvious hand-wringing.
If justice does still mean anything under the cowardly Obama administration, then the Jeppesen case will proceed to the Supreme Court, although, since Justice John Paul Stevens retired (PDF), there is no longer much hope for justice there either. Justice Stevens’ replacement, Obama’s former Solicitor General Elena Kagan, is contaminated by her involvement in national security arguments on behalf of her former boss, and will have to recuse herself from anything touching on the Bush administration’s toxic legacy. As a result, the Supreme Court is likely to split 4-4 on issues like the Jeppesen case, handing victory back to the senior administration officials who so desperately crave blanket immunity for the Bush administration’s torturers.
This is a profoundly depressing thought, especially as so many commentators have expressed their disgust at last week’s ruling. In an editorial entitled, “Torture Is a Crime, Not a Secret,” the New York Times lamented, “The decision diminishes any hope that this odious practice [“extraordinary rendition”] will finally receive the legal label it deserves: a violation of international law,” and the Los Angeles Times declared, “The decision to short-circuit the trial process is more than a misreading of the law; it’s an egregious miscarriage of justice. That’s obvious from a perusal of the plaintiffs’ complaint. One said that while he was imprisoned in Egypt, electrodes were attached to his earlobes, nipples and genitals. A second, held in Morocco, said he was beaten, denied food and threatened with sexual torture and castration. A third claimed that his Moroccan captors broke his bones and cut him with a scalpel all over his body, and poured hot, stinging liquid into his open wounds.”
For the ACLU, Ben Wizner stated:
This is a sad day not only for the torture victims whose attempt to seek justice has been extinguished, but for all Americans who care about the rule of law and our nation’s reputation in the world. To date, not a single victim of the Bush administration’s torture program has had his day in court. If today’s decision is allowed to stand, the United States will have closed its courtroom doors to torture victims while providing complete immunity to their torturers. The torture architects and their enablers may have escaped the judgment of this court, but they will not escape the judgment of history.
Moreover, on Monday, Scott Horton of Harper’s Magazine not only pointed out that the facts of the case “were established beyond any reasonable doubt without the need to turn to classified information,” but also reminded readers that, “Under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which adopts the position that the US Justice Department took in 1946, the crime of disappearance connected to torture is a crime against humanity, with no statute of limitations and no defense of superior orders applicable.” Horton also reminded readers that, by signing the UN Convention Against Torture in 1987, the United States “made an unequivocal commitment to the international community to compensate those who are tortured by its agents” — and also, it should be noted, to bring the perpetrators to justice.
In addition, Horton pointed out that, in February this year, the Court of Appeal in London, which “had already viewed the formidable evidence” in Binyam Mohamed’s case, had brought to an end 18 months of Obama-style stonewalling by foreign secretary David Miliband regarding British knowledge of Mohamed’s torture by US agents, and had ordered the information to be publicly released, leading to a criminal investigation, which is ongoing, and, with a change of government, the announcement of a judicial inquiry into British complicity in torture — something that many of Obama’s supporters had hoped would happen in the US. As Horton explained, “The British court concluded, just as the Ninth Circuit was legally obligated to do, that state-secrecy claims could not be used to block discovery of evidence of crimes.”
Horton also explained that, although the position taken by Eric Holder’s Justice Department — that it is “protecting state secrets essential to our security” — is “risible, and half of the court saw through it,” what is really at stake is the possibility that evidence produced in the US could be used elsewhere. As he stated:
Twenty-three US agents have already been convicted for their role in a rendition in Milan. Prosecutors in Spain have issued arrest warrants for a further 13 US agents involved in a botched rendition case that touched on Spanish soil. Prosecutors in Germany have opened a criminal investigation into the use of Ramstein [Air Force Base] in connection with torture and illegal kidnappings. Prosecutors in Poland are pursuing a similar matter. And Prime Minister David Cameron was recently forced to brief President Obama on his decision to direct a formal inquiry which could lead to prosecutions tied directly to the subject matter of the Mohamed case. This is the remarkable background to the case decided by the Ninth Circuit, and remarkably not a single word about this appears anywhere in the opinion — or even in most of the press accounts about it.
While we wait to see what — if anything — happens next, I’d like to leave you with some sensible words regarding the legitimate scope of the “state secrets” doctrine, as written by Judge Hawkins in the opening paragraphs of his dissenting opinion last week, in which he was again joined by Judges Schroeder and Canby, and also by Judges Sidney R. Thomas and Richard A. Paez:
The majority dismisses the case in its entirety before Jeppesen has even filed an answer to Plaintiffs’ complaint. Outside of the narrow Totten context, the state secrets privilege has never applied to prevent parties from litigating the truth or falsity of allegations, or facts, or information simply because the government regards the truth or falsity of the allegations to be secret. Within the Reynolds framework, dismissal is justified if and only if specific privileged evidence is itself indispensable to establishing either the truth of the plaintiffs’ allegations or a valid defense that would otherwise be available to the defendant.
This is important, because an approach that focuses on specific evidence after issues are joined has the benefit of confining the operation of the state secrets doctrine so that it will sweep no more broadly than clearly necessary. The state secrets doctrine is a judicial construct without foundation in the Constitution, yet its application often trumps what we ordinarily consider to be due process of law. This case now presents a classic illustration. Plaintiffs have alleged facts, which must be taken as true for purposes of a motion to dismiss, that any reasonable person would agree to be gross violations of the norms of international law, remediable under the Alien Tort Statute. They have alleged in detail Jeppesen’s complicity or recklessness in participating in these violations. The government intervened, and asserted that the suit would endanger state secrets. The majority opinion here accepts that threshold objection by the government, so Plaintiffs’ attempt to prove their case in court is simply cut off. They are not even allowed to attempt to prove their case by the use of non-secret evidence in their own hands or in the hands of third parties.
It is true that, judicial construct though it is, the state secrets doctrine has become embedded in our controlling decisional law. Government claims of state secrets therefore must be entertained by the judiciary. But the doctrine is so dangerous as a means of hiding governmental misbehavior under the guise of national security, and so violative of common rights to due process, that courts should confine its application to the narrowest circumstances that still protect the government’s essential secrets. When, as here, the doctrine is successfully invoked at the threshold of litigation, the claims of secret are necessarily broad and hypothetical. The result is a maximum interference with the due processes of the courts, on the most general claims of state secret privilege. It is far better to require the government to make its claims of state secrets with regard to specific items of evidence or groups of such items as their use is sought in the lawsuit. An official certification that evidence is truly a state secret will be more focused if the head of a department must certify that specific evidence sought in the course of litigation is truly a secret and cannot be revealed without danger to overriding, essential government interests. And when responsive pleading is complete and discovery under way, judgments as to whether secret material is essential to Plaintiffs’ case or Jeppesen’s defense can be made more accurately. […]
This is an appeal from a Rule 12 dismissal, which means that the district court was required to assume that the well-pleaded allegations of the complaint are true, and that we “construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff[s].” The majority minimizes the importance of these requirements by gratuitously attaching “allegedly” to nearly each sentence describing what Plaintiffs say happened to them, and by quickly dismissing the voluminous publicly available evidence supporting those allegations, including that Jeppesen knew what was going on when it arranged flights described by one of its own officials as “torture flights.” Instead, the majority assumes that even if Plaintiffs’ prima facie case and Jeppesen’s defense did not depend on privileged evidence, dismissal is required “because there is no feasible way to litigate Jeppesen’s alleged liability without creating an unjustifiable risk of divulging state secrets.” But Jeppesen has yet to answer or even to otherwise plead, so we have no idea what those defenses or assertions might be. Making assumptions about the contours of future litigation involves mere speculation, and doing so flies straight in the face of long standing principles of Rule 12 law by extending the inquiry to what might be divulged in future litigation.
Andy Worthington, a regular contributor to The Public Record, is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison and the definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, published in March 2009. He maintains a blog at andyworthington.co.uk. | <urn:uuid:563ab19a-90a0-4aed-8678-7857d994a039> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pubrecord.org/torture/8263/vote-court-torture-extraordinary/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959261 | 4,028 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Transparency and the state
Fiat a little more lux
The coalition hopes to build on one of Tony Blair’s biggest regrets
“YOU idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop…I quake at the imbecility of it.” So Tony Blair berates himself in his memoirs for passing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which came into force in 2005. The realities of power transformed him from an advocate of official openness into a despairing critic.
Mr Blair's jaded attitude seems not yet to have infected the coalition government, which is planning to let a little more light into the tenebrous corridors of Whitehall. In opposition, both David Cameron and Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, promised to promote transparency. It is a cause that Mr Clegg's Liberal Democrats have long championed, arguing that it will improve the workings of government, while the Tories see informed citizens and an open state as essential conditions of their plans to devolve power.
To those ends, the government intends to broaden the scope of the FOIA, extending it to currently uncovered parts of the state, among them the Association of Chief Police Officers, an outfit that sets much policing policy, as well as the regulators that oversee many privatised industries. The government also plans to reduce the length of time that official records remain sealed from 30 years to 20 (the rule looks rather quaint now that former ministers publish tell-all memoirs within months of leaving office).
Other changes are already revealing more details of how government works. The Downing Street website features a new “transparency” section that discloses, among other things, which lobbyists and potentates are meeting which ministers and when. All central-government spending of more than £25,000 must be published, as well as local government spending of over £500. The government is keen, at least in theory, to make available much of the data that it holds, for the perusal and analysis of “armchair auditors” and enthusiastic nerds (see article).
Britain's small but vocal freedom-of-information lobby has given the plans a cautious welcome. Maurice Frankel, who runs the Campaign for Freedom of Information, is heartened that the government has pressed ahead despite having plenty of other things on its plate.
Nevertheless, much will remain whelmed in mystery. Messrs Cameron and Clegg both promised before the general election that the new regime would cover Network Rail, an oddly constituted body laden with publicly backed debt that runs Britain's railway tracks. That idea seems to have been ditched. Northern Rock, a bank nationalised in 2008, will escape scrutiny; the rules concerning the royal family are to be tightened. Private firms that administer parts of the NHS, criminal justice, schools and other public services will also be exempt (Scotland, which has separate laws, is considering making big contractors subject to FOI requests).
And changing the rules might not, by itself, fix a cultural resistance to scrutiny within some bits of government. Heather Brooke, a journalist who did much of the spadework that led to the revelations over dodgy expense claims by MPs, thinks that parts of the British state are run “almost feudally,” and remain resistant to explaining their workings to mere voters. She argues that better enforcement of the existing system would do more to inform the public of what is done in its name than fiddling with it. That might be a vain hope: the Information Commissioner's Office, which enforces the Freedom of Information Act, has a hefty backlog of cases—and, under the government's austerity plans, is facing cuts. | <urn:uuid:b37e6e9d-3542-4999-a47d-28b1f91144fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/node/17963581/email | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962714 | 744 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Satomi Koga writes:
The most important thing is to recognize
that the condition of patient Takahashi is very serious. He has recently
been diagnosed hypertensive and he is a heavy smoker. High blood pressure
and current cigarette smoking are risk factors for heart disease. Additionally,
his feelings of weakness and mild pain in the neck and upper chest areas
are the signs of heart disease. And I think it is very bad for his health
to be lacking in exercise, because lack of exercise causes overweight and
this is another risk factor for heart disease.
Certainly, lack of exercise and heavy smoking are related to T's heart condition. I think the following things also: First, he has high blood pressure. Second, he is a type A personality, so he is very busy. This thing suggests an irregular life for him. Third, he has a hereditary problem. His mother died after heart by-pass surgery complicated by hardening of the arteries, so it is quite possible for him to suffer from heart disease. The daily diet of Mr. Takahashi's family may be some problem, also.
From one study, we know that estrogen supplements can produce a 20 to 40 percent decrease in coronary heart disease rates. So, I will recommend estrogen treatments. Next, I will give him the advice that he should take some medicine to take away the mild pain, and he should take a nutrient to take away the feelings of weakness.
I advise him to improve his daily life. He should do moderate exercise. Because there is a fact that long-distance runners have a greater capacity to "dilate" their coronary arteries. And cigarette smoking is one of the risk factors, so he should give up smoking. Also, I will advise him to take low calorie foods, because these foods do not include high cholesterol, causing hardening of the arteries.
For the reasons mentioned above, I will say to Mr. Takahashi the following. "Your health depends on your habits. The most important thing for your health is that you know your condition is very serious. If you would not improve your habits, your condition will get worse. Step 1, you should get medicine to reduce your chest pain and get the nutrient. Step 2, please try to give up smoking and do more exercise. Step 3, you ought to reduce the amount of your work. Rest is necessary for you. I am convinced that your condition will be better if you carry out these steps. Good luck!"
| Click the BACK button to return to the student index.| | <urn:uuid:2c527f6a-b264-4d3c-b423-2ec59360f628> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fauxpress.com/kimball/med/heart/hcst/koga.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962715 | 521 | 1.84375 | 2 |
One of Waterbury's finest jewels about to be taken away
Waterbury is on the brink of a jewel heist from which it will never be able to reclaim the stolen bounty. Goss Memorial Park as featured in Michael Puffer's Jan. 27 article "East End woods suggested as site for city school," is a "diamond in the rough" with great value to the city in its present form, and not much value in an altered state (with a school on the site).
Almost 100 years ago, Edward Goss was a visionary with the foresight to see the great value in open space and nature sanctuary. He took action to preserve a small portion of land for future generations. He could see that future generations would be too shortsighted to protect their valuable assets.
Read more of this story and more!
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conservative1 wrote on Feb 2, 2013 8:53 AM:
Where is Goss Park? "
blue star wrote on Feb 2, 2013 2:40 PM:
Citizen 4 Fairness wrote on Feb 2, 2013 7:40 PM:
conservative1 wrote on Feb 2, 2013 9:15 PM:
- Surprised Malloy didn't try to land Spaceport America
- It's up to the public to provide safe places for children
- One of Waterbury's finest jewels about to be taken away
- City would be foolish to build another school
- Laws won't dissuade criminals, killers from violent acts
- Simply banning some types of guns won't prevent massacres
- Malloy administration failures are starkly revealed by U.S. data
- State officials show lack of common sense in gun legislation
- State's approach to clean energy is bearing fruit
- Little economic justification for Jackson Lab subsidy | <urn:uuid:72531c2f-94dd-42a7-be62-11280cf4826d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2013/03/02/letters/701396.txt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952413 | 463 | 1.640625 | 2 |
There was no time to dig a proper grave. There was no time for a funeral at all, for even though the Eagles had driven off the Orcs and the Balrog was dead, the company feared to linger too long in one place. But it did not seem right to leave Glorfindel’s body as they had left those who froze to death on the path to Cirith Thoronath or fell during the ambush. So few had escaped Gondolin, and at great cost. Heroes there had been, yet memorials there were not.
A cairn was built over the body, at the very mouth of the pass where the Eagles might watch over it. Voronwë and Galdor, whose voices were the clearest and steadiest, sang a mournful dirge, then it was time to move on.
Tuor stood by the wayside with Dramborleg draped over his shoulder, herding the company along the southward road that would take them to Doriath and thence to the mouths of Sirion. As the column dwindled, he paused to look once more toward the cairn. A lone figure stood there, bent in grief over the tumbled stones. Tuor circled the column and climbed up to him.
“It is time to go,” he said gruffly.
Dressed in the tatters of the house of the Golden Flower, the man wore the badge of a steward on his upper arm. He gave no sign that he heard Tuor, but continued to weep unabashedly, repeating over and again a name that sounded like Erunámo. In his hand he clutched a small object. Tuor drew close enough that he could take the steward’s hand in his own and pry the fingers open.
A single gold bead shaped like a flower rested in the steward’s palm. Laced through the hole, snagged by dried blood and a tiny imperfection in the gold, were several strands of golden hair.
Idril, noticing that her husband was not among the column, climbed up to see what delayed him. Still holding the steward’s hand in his, Tuor showed her the bead and all that remained now of Glorfindel’s golden hair; the corpse Thorondor bore up from Thorn Sir had had none.
“Speak gently now, my husband.” She took the steward’s hand and, moving in front of her husband, gently closed the steward’s fingers around his prize. “You are a faithful servant, but it is time now to go,” she murmured. “Come, the House of the Golden Flower has need of you.”
The steward hesitated, then laid his head upon the lady’s shoulder. “Erunámo,” he sobbed into her mantle. “Pitya laurëalótënya.”
* * *
He drifted, no longer aware of the numbing cold or his own lethargy. Once, he dimly remembered, he had wondered where he was, but no longer. This place simply was, and he was one with it.
Sometimes he felt the presence of others, though, like him, they had neither bodies nor voices. This he accepted, no longer wondering that it might be thought strange. Most of the time he was left to himself, save for those rare occasions when some hazy, uncertain presence approached him and asked his name and if they knew where to find this one or that. He did not answer, for though he had a vague memory of what a name was, he did not remember what his own had been, or if he had ever had one.
And then, a presence came to him that was not like the others. Dark it was, and forbidding, but it was not unkind and did not frighten him. Tendrils of gray mist wrapped around him and became a voice, calling him by many names: Erunámo and Laurëfindo and Glorfindel, and he remembered that all of these sounds had belonged to him at one time or another.
The voice asked if he was ready to leave this place, if he was healed of his hurts. But he did not remember any other place but this, or that any hurt had been done to him for which he required healing. Pain was a sensation of which he had heard (he did not know when or where) but did not recall what it felt like.
--Your sacrifice has not gone unheeded. There are those without who will have need of your courage in the dark days to come. You will be released, and your memory of this place will fade—said the voice. Ropes of mist coiled around him from every side, swathing him in darkness, and he saw and heard nothing more.
* * *
He was cold again, but the cold now felt different. It felt heavy and deep, and he shivered; it took him a moment to realize how strange it was that he could do so. He took in a deep breath, and the inrush of cool, clean air burned his lungs. Choking, he curled into himself until the coughing spasm subsided.
An archway of stone sheltered him; the rough-hewn pavement pressed against his flesh. He looked down and saw pale limbs trembling in the cold; it took his mind a moment to grasp he was naked, and another moment to feel shame.
Through the curtain of his hair he saw a pair of feet and the hem of a gray robe; the fabric rippled slightly as hands touched him. He flinched at the contact, at the new sensation of being touched. Something soft and heavy and warm spilled over him; when he put up his hand to feel what it was, he realized it was fabric, to cover his nakedness.
“You are cold,” a voice said gently. An arm draped over his shoulders, urging him upright. “I will help you to stand.”
Stand. His limbs flailed uselessly, unwilling to obey him; he let the other’s strong arms pull him up and support him as he started to sag.
“In time you will learn to walk again, but for now I will guide you,” said the voice. He lifted his head until he could see the face of the one holding him. A male’s face, neither young nor old, neither Quendi nor of the race of Men, he returned Glorfindel’s gaze with warm eyes.
Who are you? he thought. He wanted to say the words, to sound them in his throat, but though his lips moved he could not remember how to make speech. He shook his head in frustration, moaning and trying to force the animal sounds he made into something meaningful.
Still supporting him, the man touched his cheek, wiping away his tears, then put a finger to his lips to still his frustrated efforts. “Speech is something that will also return to you in time,” he said.
Glorfindel held to him, trembling as the man guided him from the archway into the cool grass. After the dimness of the other place, the air was too bright and made his eyes water. Turning, he buried his face in the darkness of the other’s robe.
“Ah, yes, you are not used to the light.” A hand gently drew up a piece of fabric, a hood, to shield Glorfindel’s eyes. “Mandos often forgets His charges have been too long away from the sun.”
Mandos. The word struck a chill in him that he did not understand, something vague and forbidding that yet remained just out of reach. His throat constricted around the sound, trying to form it.
The man recognized his effort and answered it. “You have been released from the Halls of Awaiting, but do not dwell upon that place; your memories of it will soon fade. Mandos has granted you a new body, which you must learn to use. You will have need of it.”
Bewilderment overtook Glorfindel with physical exhaustion. He slumped against his guide, suddenly too weak to stand. The arms that held him upright now eased him down onto the grass, supporting him so he could sit. More questions than he could fathom brimmed on his lips, mute for his inability to articulate them, and he gave a frustrated whimper.
Gentle fingers cupped his chin, lifting his face so he was compelled to look into the other’s eyes, that belonged to neither Elf nor Man but were grave and compassionate. “You have many questions; in time I hope to answer all of them. For now, I will answer one and give you my name. I am called Olórin.”
“Ol-ór--?” His lips started to shape the name, but speech failed him. He hung his head, leaning against the other for support.
“Come now with me,” said the one called Olórin. “Let us leave the cold of Mandos behind, for there is much work that lies ahead.” He touched Glorfindel’s cheek and smiled. “For both of us.”
This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author. | <urn:uuid:93972dca-0a36-4ca5-9f56-5cca2172e70f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/chapter_view.cfm?stid=2106&spordinal=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988738 | 2,118 | 1.507813 | 2 |
ATZ asked Coney Island artist and rogue taxidermist Takeshi Yamada what he’s bringing to Friday night’s Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest at Bell House. He replied by sending his photo with the “Jersey Devil.” Can you believe it? For three centuries, New Jerseyans have been hunting the Pine Barrens in search of what Weird N.J. calls the state’s “oldest, most enduring, and important pieces of folklore” and it turns up in Coney Island’s Museum of World Wonders!
“It is a big winged lizard or dragon,” says Yamada of his Jersey Devil. “For over a century, this carnivorous animal has been a famous and very well-known cryptid called “Jersey Devil” in the New Jersey area. Body parts of this taxidermy were collected in the woods of New Jersey. I also personally saw many unusual strange flying creatures (not birds or flying squirrels) in the woods for years in New Jersey.”
Yamada is also planning to bring one of his freak human babies. At the 2009 contest, he was awarded “The Most Twisted Prize” for his family of freak show babies made from his own skin. There’s a Two-headed Baby, Mermaid Baby, Octopus Baby, Lobster Baby, Snake Baby, Penguin Baby, and Three-headed Baby. Which one would you like to see? Yamada also won the Grand Championship of Taxidermy in 2006 for his 6-foot-long mummified Fiji Mermaid.
The Secret Science Club presents the 6th-annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest, Friday, December 9 at Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd Aves) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. “Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. $7 cover.” Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th.
UPDATE December 10, 2011…How did it go at the contest? Takeshi Yamada writes: “I had a great time at the taxidermy contest. I showed my 3 jersey devils on 3×4 feet Victorian picture frame, and the freak snake human baby (surprisingly, you have chosen the right one. I thought I might bring both the 3-headed baby and snake baby up until 1 hour before leaving my house.) I received the “SHOCK & AWE” award and trophy for them.”
Related posts on ATZ...
November 29, 2012: Coney Island Taxidermist Takeshi Yamada in AMC Reality Show
December 7, 2010: Art of the Day: Freak Taxidermy Skull by Takeshi Yamada
September 18, 2010: Photo of the Day: Takeshi Yamada’s Freak Baby Museum at San Gennaro | <urn:uuid:67208aef-f530-4c18-b122-441b66338ae3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amusingthezillion.com/2011/12/08/takeshi-yamadas-jersey-devil-set-for-bell-house-taxidermy-contest/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953003 | 616 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Rainforest Action Network mourns the unexpected loss of our visionary Executive Director Rebecca Tarbotton.
Our organization, and the community that has grown around it for more than 25 years, are mourning the loss of Rebecca Tarbotton, who died unexpectedly on Wednesday while vacationing in Mexico with her husband and close friends.
Rebecca Tarbotton, known to friends as Becky, was a profound thinker and leader. She was dedicated to merging environmental and social justice movements, and building campaigns that inspire transformational changes in forest protection, climate change and human rights. A self-proclaimed “pragmatic idealist,” Becky was deeply admired by a whole movement of activists for her boldness and clarity of vision.The RAN staff, her friends and family remember a “force of nature” with an infectious laugh, adventurous spirit, and a heart bursting with love.
Under her leadership, RAN achieved tremendous victories in preserving endangered rainforests and the rights of their indigenous inhabitants. Most recently, Becky helped to architect the most significant agreement in the history of the organization: a landmark policy by entertainment giant, Disney, that is set to transform everything about the way the company purchases and uses paper.
Becky spent much of her time thinking about how to inspire masses of people to work for transformational social and environmental change, and how to push the country's biggest corporate polluters to reform their ways.
As she said during a keynote address in October 2012: "We need to remember that the work of our time is bigger than climate change. We need to be setting our sights higher and deeper. What we're really talking about, if we're honest with ourselves, is transforming everything about the way we live on this planet…We don't always know exactly what it is that creates social change. It takes everything from science all the way to faith, and it's that fertile place right in the middle where really exceptional campaigning happens--and that is where I strive to be."
Rainforest Action Network is committed to continuing the course that Becky set. We will continue to focus on our core purpose of protecting forests, moving the country off of fossil fuels and defending human rights through effective, innovative and hard-hitting environmental corporate campaigns--campaigns powered by people like you.
Tarbotton died on Wednesday on a beach in Mexico north of Puerto Vallarta while vacationing with her husband and friends. The coroner ruled cause of death as asphyxiation from water she breathed in while swimming. She was thirty nine years old.
Her ashes will be scattered off of Hornby Island in British Columbia where her family owns a cabin and where she spent much time with family and friends. Public memorial services will be held in San Francisco, CA and in Vancouver. Dates are still to be determined. | <urn:uuid:95da78dc-ece2-4592-995f-6760c73b7edf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ran.org/becky | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967278 | 568 | 1.695313 | 2 |
So my trial was not so hard as I had expected, and father was just as wise as mother, and I alone rebellious concerning his departure. I cried night and day whenever I could get a moment to cry in, and I could not help it. How perverse I felt, although doing all I could to forward his departure, which was daily coming nearer, and when the 4th of July came and with it the gala day which the entire country about us enjoyed, I could not and did not go to the pic-nic, or the speech ground, and I succeeded in making all at home nearly as unhappy as myself.
Some people believe in predestination (or “fore-ordering,” as Aunt Ruth used to call it), and some do not. I never knew what I believed about events and their happening, but it was certainly true I learned to know that my efforts to hurry or retard anything were in one sense entirely futile—that is, when I did not work in unison with my surroundings, and made haste only when impelled. If I could have felt thus concerning Hal’s departure, I should have been of more service to him, and saved myself from hearing “Oh, Emily, don’t,” falling as an entreaty from his lips, at sight of my swelled eyes and woeful countenance. I think he was heartily glad of the innovation made in our family circle, which, of itself, was as wonderful to me as the story of Aladdin’s Lamp to the mind of a child. It happened so strangely too. Before I tell you of this event I must explain that our family circle consisted of father, mother, Halbert, Ben and myself. It was half past six in the evening of July 8, 18—, and we had just finished supper, when a loud knock was heard at the back door, and opening it we received a letter from the hands of a neighbor, who came over from the post-office and kindly brought our mail with him. We received a good many letters for farming people, and I had kept up a perfect fire of correspondence with Mary Snow ever since she went to the home of her uncle, who lived some twenty miles distant, but this appeared to be a double letter, and mother broke the seal, while we all listened to her as she read it. It is not necessary to quote the whole of it, but the gist of the matter was this: A distant cousin of father’s who had never seen any of us, nor any member of the family to which her mother and my father belonged, had settled in the city of ——, about thirty miles from our little village. Her husband dying shortly afterward, she was left a widow with one child, a son. In some unaccountable way she had heard of father, and she now wrote telling us that she proposed to come to see us the very next day, only two days before Hal was to leave us. She went on to say that she hoped her visit would not be an intrusion, but she wanted to see us, and if we could only accommodate her during the summer she would be so glad to stay, and would be willing to remunerate us doubly. Mother said simply, “Well, she must come.” Father looked at her and said nothing, while I flew at the supper dishes attacking them so ferociously that I should have broken them all, I guess, had not mother said gently, | <urn:uuid:bcf4b10b-4230-45e3-b038-cba32cd5bb71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/18332/6.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.994353 | 717 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Anyway, here's what Kirby had to say in his editorial:
If they truly exist, I believe they will. Of course, I speak of gods in the historical sense, the kinds of beings who stop ashore from places unknown and impress us with their very images, their manner of communication, and, above all, their display of transcendent power.
The Aztecs, who outnumbered the forces of Cortez by astronomical odds, were completely cowed by the sight of the Spaniard's horse and the effects of his cannon. Were they overcome by their own fear of the supernatural- or were they awed by what they viewed as the fulfillment of their own prophecy- the return of Quetzalcoatl and his band of super-beings, whose memory survived antiquity?
In my own recollection of the early jungle pictures, there was nothing more stupefying to the chattering natives of remote areas, than the sudden appearance of the movie's hero, whose "big white bird" had crash-landed in the center of the village.
Sure, they made him a god, And, if it had really happened, those natives would still be weaving tales about him today.
However, my point is, how often has this kind of thing happened in our past? How many of these so-called gods have stumbled upon this boondock planet called Earth? How many of them have inspired the potent myths which not only laid the groundwork for man's many religions, professions, and sciences, but have left man with a massive mystery on his hands- one that just won't go away...
With the daily accumulation of new artifacts all over the globe, and the simultaneous input of UFO "flapology" on a worldwide scale, humankind is straining its "group memory" to dredge up a proper picture of the ancient past, in order to deal with the provocative incidents of contemporary issue.
The compelling quality inherent in this type of theme has led me to project its mystifying questions into comic magazine storytelling. It's natural for myself and for the comics fan who dearly loves the world that lies between fantasy and fact. We are, in a word, "sympatico".
Still, despite the fact that I've contrived my own version of those momentous confrontations of prehistory, I take them from the de facto questions of today.
What did happen in those remote days of man's early struggle for civilized status? What is the true meaning of the myths which shared a global similarity among diverse peoples? Did beings of an extraterrestrial nature touch down among us and influence our lives to this present day? And then, the all-important question of the lot- are these beings in some cosmic orbit which will lead them back to us someday?
The excitement generated by this last question is undeniable. It leads directly to ourselves, and to how we will react to their arrival. The grab bag of possibilities is a limitless spectrum of spine-tingling visions. They inspire everything from elation to paranoia.
At any rate, we can do nothing but sense the air of this century and look aloft, or listen for sounds not made on this world- or read THE ETERNALS for the vicarious thrill of anticipating, in story and pictures, the astounding experience of coming to grips with the kinds of creatures we imagine the gods to be. Hey, if you're reading this, you're doing it! | <urn:uuid:0b85ba0d-1eaa-4ca2-b733-6ea17b37b6f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/02/jack-kirby-and-ancient-astronauts.html?showComment=1297706958171 | 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 | 0.970234 | 698 | 1.65625 | 2 |
New Masters of Flash by Tomas Jankowski et al, published by Friends of ED (ISBN 1903450039)
It should be said at the outset that this is not the sort of book that you will impulse buy. And at £43 you are unlikely to get it on expenses without an eyebrow being raised. You will not find it on the business shelves or filed under "Marketing", but it could be one of the most profitable ways of spending half an hour on one of Borders' settees.
Marketing communication used to be easy. If you had the gift of the gab, you were ahead. If you knew a good photo or an intelligent logo, you were laughing. But now things are a lot more complicated and are set to become even more involved.
As new media technologies proliferate, multimedia is becoming the norm. It is no longer print or images or audio, it is all three - and they are put together in ways that are difficult to imagine.
This book is a collection of work from a variety of designers, most of them commercial, who work in this field, using one particular programme, which is unimportant. The value here is looking at how they understand multimedia communication and structure the coming together of the different aspects to make a single coherent message.
Ivo van de Grift likens good deign to a short story; Andries Odendaal muses on left-right brain design and the importance of maths in the process; Eric Jordan takes inspiration from movies' opening sequences; and Manuel Clement sings the praises of that "Lego feeling".
Ignore the tips and techniques. Instead, learn how creative - and successful - communicators, using the media-most-likely-to-be-over-designed, are grappling with the difficulties of communication. | <urn:uuid:e59d6877-8cbc-4283-9231-8f8d7f7f8859> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelawyer.com/book-review/77179.article | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944807 | 370 | 1.75 | 2 |
]This isn’t a story about Manti Te’o. I surely don’t know enough about this recent news to comment fairly about the specifics, and I doubt that anyone other than the perpetrators do.
This isn’t a sports story. After all, these commentaries are intended to speak about issues relevant to marketing. There are scores of other sources for sports news and opinions.
Rather, this is a cautionary tale — ripped from the headlines as NBC’s “Law & Order” used to claim. Recent headlines focused heavily on three stories: the Manti Te’o hoax, the confession of Lance Armstrong to Oprah Winfrey and the change of heart of Oregon’s Chip Kelly. Each speaks to the fragility of public trust and the impact this can have on a brand — be it a personal brand or a corporate one.
The most valuable asset a brand has is the trust stakeholders have in it. When the actions of the people who control the brand do positive things, that value increases.
When actions are taken that raise uncertainty about honesty, ethics or wisdom, brand value is diminished.
As the case of Manti Te’o unfolds, the only thing certain is the high degree of uncertainty about the specifics of this story. Te’o’s popularity among football fans throughout the country had achieved almost mythical status. Not only had he helped wake up the echoes of Notre Dame’s reputation as a football powerhouse, he was universally perceived as a great guy — with an uncommon level of human warmth and compassion and the inspirational leader of his team. Now there is uncertainty about the truth behind this bizarrely unfolding story. I, for one, pray that when the entire truth comes out, Te’o will be guilty only of incredible gullibility. In the meantime, the uncertainty is diminishing this young man’s credibility in sad and unprecedented ways. Time will tell. Though it seems a bit crass to reference an individual like Te’o as a brand, that is exactly what he is. And that brand, if not his NFL draft status, has been devalued.
I have less sympathy for Lance Armstrong. Though no one can question the incredible good he did for the cause of fighting cancer, he repeatedly lied about using illegal means of gaining an unfair competitive advantage. Years of deceit will never be erased by a televised repentance. Although the American public is by and large prone to forgiveness, I believe Armstrong’s penance will be a lifetime of distrust. To some degree, he devalued the Livestrong brand. He absolutely destroyed the Lance Armstrong brand.
Perhaps Chip Kelly’s on again, off again, on again romance with the NFL is the least significant in this trilogy of caution. Being a high-profile coach is, after all, a business.
And everyone in business presumably has the right to look at ways to improve their stature or financial quality of life. But to repeatedly mislead his recruits and players, the University of Oregon administration and fans and the public at large about his intentions speaks to his lack of character. Still another example of a personal brand that has been seriously devalued.
Organizational brands seldom get the kind of coverage that sports celebrities do. But the lessons are the same. Brand trust is hard to achieve. Once it has been devalued, it is even harder to rebuild.
Thom Villing is president of Villing & Co., a South Bend marketing firm. | <urn:uuid:5c4f09c7-a269-4ebb-9766-17749a448b6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aberdeennews.com/news/sbt-tales-about-fragility-of-trust-20130122,0,5003876.story | 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 | 0.957193 | 715 | 1.539063 | 2 |
From the draft minutes of the last Michigan Historical Commission meeting held on 1/27/11:
Director Clark reported on the Civil War Sesquicentennial. The website is up and running; however, some major changes are being made. Archives of Michigan and Michigan Historical Museum staff are working together on a new exhibit, “From Plowshares to Swords,” which will open April 12, 2011. As part of the grand opening weekend, a Civil War Encampment is scheduled for April 16 in the vacant lot next to the Michigan Historical Center. Commissioner Dempsey and Sandra Clark noted that a Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee Meeting will be held in the next few weeks. Commissioner McConnell reminded members to promote the Civil War Essay Contest (handout distributed). Commission Truscott reported that the Friends of Michigan History is partnering with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and the Earl Nelson Singers to present a Civil War Concert on the Capitol steps, on June 3, 2011, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
"With lively narration, telling anecdotes and vivid battlefield accounts, Michigan and the Civil War presents, as never before, the story of Michigan’s heroic role in saving the Union. Beginning with Michigan’s antebellum period and antislavery heritage, the book describes the state’s rapid response to President Lincoln’s call to arms, its involvement in the greatest battles and its most interesting personalities. In the triumphant conclusion, Custer corners Lee at Appomattox, and the Fourth Michigan Cavalry apprehends the fleeing Davis. Based on thorough and new research, this volume is surprising in breadth, at times awe-inspiring and a continual revelation of long-overlooked Civil War contributions of the Great Lake State.
All author proceeds are donated to Michigan’s Civil War Sesquicentennial commemoration.
If you would like to schedule an interview with the author, please contact Dan Watson at 843.577.5971, ext 114 or firstname.lastname@example.org
First Capitol Furnishings At Museum The original furnishings from the first state Capitol building in Detroit are on long-term display at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing.
When Michigan was finally admitted to the Union on Jan. 26, 1837, it already had a state Capitol. The Michigan Territorial Capitol in Detroit had become the seat of state government with the convening of the first state legislature in November 1835.
When the seat of government moved to Lansing in 1847, the furnishings came along. Several pieces were saved when Michigan's third capitol was dedicated in 1879. They are now in the collections of the Michigan Historical Museum.
Among the original capitol furnishings now on exhibit are the podium and matching speaker's chair inherited by the House of Representatives from the unicameral territorial legislature. The large desk in the exhibit was most likely used by both Stevens T. MASON, when he was Territorial Secretary, and by Kintzing PRITCHETTE and his successor Secretaries of State. | <urn:uuid:9bda1985-a401-43b8-8670-41a08ee0cddb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://micwc.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/index.html | 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 | 0.941289 | 629 | 1.742188 | 2 |
I just discovered these adorable little plush animals called Webkinz that seem to be attracting kids to the Internet in the droves. Each animal comes with their very own secret code that if typed into the Webkinz site
will take kids to an online virtual version of their new pet.
Once online kids choose names for their virtual pets and dress them up and accesorize them, much like adults do with their Avatars. They're also given virtual homes where they must care for their pets and make sure they are fed and happy.
They are given a certain amount of virtual money to purchase food, clothes, furniture etc... But then they must compete in trivia games and other activities geared toward learning to earn more money to care for their pets.
They can also invite other virtual pets over to chat, although chatting consists of choosing phrases from a set list so everything remains kid friendly.
It has all the elements of a social community and virtual reality rolled into a PG package, plus an adorable plush animal for the real life. | <urn:uuid:dc26bad9-1813-4aa9-82c6-fac516e8b596> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogarchive.hillandknowlton.com/blogs/thesocialbubble/archive/2007/01/27/6990.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95854 | 210 | 1.523438 | 2 |
On Tuesday, Google announced Search, plus Your World.
The deep integration of Google+ results into its search results is perhaps the strongest reminder yet of the fact that Google is competing head on with publishers and other companies. Publishers and companies that hope to achieve top rankings in the company's search results.
When it comes to Google's big social push, antitrust concerns were raised almost immediately, not by regulators, but by members of the tech community itself. Once government bureaucrats catch up, inquiries over Search, plus Your World are all but certain. After all, they love picking winners and losers, often under the guise of protecting the consumer. Google is already in their sights.
When it comes to Google promoting itself in the SERPs, the real question for the tech community isn't whether this is a thorny issue (it is) but rather how it's best addressed.
If you read the angry rants from individuals who say Google is playing unfairly (or flat out destroying the internet), there's a not-so-subtle implication: regulators need to step in and stop Google.
Take MG Siegler, for instance. As I write this, he has managed to publish no less than seven posts on the Search, plus Your World on his personal blog in the span of two days. One of his posts is entitled Antitrust+, and while he writes "I’m not saying that the Justice Department should look into this", his posts leave little doubt. Siegler has the popcorn in the microwave and is itching to watch a prime time government smackdown of Google.
More concerning than the fact that a blogger who wears his irrational biases on his sleeve wants government to have a say in how Google runs its business is the fact that Twitter is signalling that it will probably complain to regulators. Trying to get the competition in trouble is a popular strategy, but what goes around almost always comes around.
The implication of this: apparently, faith in the 'free market' is running low in parts of the tech industry. That's a really, really sad thing given that the technology industry has thrived in large part because of its ability to move faster than politicians who believe the internet is a series of tubes.
Is Google playing 'dirty'? Frankly, I don't know ('dirty' is a subjective word after all), and more importantly - nobody should care. At least enough to suggest that a bunch of politicians in Washington DC or Brussels should step in and tell the search giant how to organise its search results.
At the end of the day, Google's success is dependent on its ability to provide quality, relevant search results. Put simply, Google needs to provide users with the information they're searching for. Most of that information, of course, is offered up by companies other than Google. If it goes too far in promoting its own properties over those that have the information consumers are really seeking out (in some instances from sites like Facebook and Twitter), or it clutters up the SERPs with new types of results that the majority of consumers don't care about just to promote itself, it will eventually suffer the negative consequences and create new opportunities for competitors in the process.
This is far preferable to letting a bunch of people who largely don't understand how the internet works dictate how the internet needs to work. On that note, the tech industry's cognitive dissonance on matters of government intervention is perhaps best highlighted by the SOPA backlash. Individuals like MG Siegler don't want government changing how internet service providers operate to protect Big Content, but apparently it's okay to have government change how search engines work to protect Big Social (Facebook, Twitter, et. al.).
We can't have it both ways. If the tech community doesn't favour regulatory nonsense like SOPA, a good first step would be to stop inviting it. | <urn:uuid:88348da2-223c-4bab-a393-b38f486fcf13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://econsultancy.com/de/blog/8657-search-plus-your-world-a-sad-day-for-tech-but-not-for-the-reason-you-think | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965511 | 776 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Superstorm Sandy weighs on retail sales
Overall retail sales down 0.3% in October
Retail sales fell in October for the first time in four months, as Superstorm Sandy pummeled the east coast.
Sales at auto dealers, furniture, electronics and hardware stores all fell during the month, while food stores and gasoline stations saw a slight pickup in sales.
Overall retail sales fell 0.3 percent in October, according to the Census Bureau.
The Census Bureau issued an additional statement, claiming it could not precisely measure the impact from Superstorm Sandy, but the storm did distort the data. Some stores reported a drop in sales due to damage and fewer customers, whereas other firms reported sales increases as customers stocked up on storm supplies.
"Even though we cannot isolate the effect, we did receive indications from the companies that the hurricane had both positive and negative effects on the retail sales data," the Census Bureau said.
Previously, retail sales had begun rising in July and continued increasing through September, marking an encouraging sign for the economy that corresponded with solid job growth in the sector.
Economists are hesitant to put too much stock in October data, given the storm-related distortions.
"It will be a bit difficult to separate how much is due to Hurricane Sandy, but I think the consumer is in relatively good shape here," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James.
Copyright 2012 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:3e7fbe94-f2bf-400a-9eb9-1f0dbc401538> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wfmz.com/lifestyle/money/Superstorm-Sandy-weighs-on-retail-sales/-/133080/17400274/-/view/print/-/dh21ekz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968848 | 308 | 1.585938 | 2 |
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Home > Newspaper Articles > 1972 > November 9, 1972 Tucson, AZ.
CONCERT DATE: November 9, 1972 Tucson, AZ.
Elvis Still King - Despite Dull 'Helpers'
by Hardy Price
The Arizona Republic
November 10, 1972
TUCSON - Don't look now, Glen Campbell and all you other cats, but Elvis is still the king.
And he's the kind of king who can surmount late starts, bad opening acts, and a huckster with all the grace and charm of Johnny Carson's Art Fern character to please something like 10,000 fans.
Elvis can win out over just about anything - squealing girls, microphone feedback and a million flash bulbs going pop-pop-pop, creating an unscheduled light show.
The second stop on his current tour, Tucson provided an apt audience for the veteran show-stopper. Elvis sang and sang and sang, for something over an hour, with little or no breaks for small talk with the audience.
But that's his thing, singing, with a little movement to the music tossed in; that's what causes all the squealing.
Quick to judge an audience, Elvis knew the crowd wanted the "oldies but goodies" and he gave them that.
Starting with "Love Me" and ending with "Hound Dog," Elvis hit most of the stops in between. Not just a line or two here and there, but the W-H-0-L-E blessed thing.
He's strong, folks, he works hard and he's good.
Within the space of his time on the stage, Elvis evokes a feeling of going home. The majority of the audience looked to be of the first Elvis generation - people who were in their teens when Ed Sullivan was censoring the hip movements of Presley way back in 1956. They really didn't care about his newest hit or his latest movie.
What they wanted (and what they got) was to capture, if only for an hour, that feeling of remembering.
Remembering sock hops and '57 Chevies, The Malt Shop, and going steady.
For that's what Elvis turned a whole generation on to.
Man, you got high just thinking about it all.
But there's no going back, no matter how hard you try or how hard you want to.
With the conclusion of I Can't Stop Loving You," Elvis was off the stage, the lights were out and the feeling was gone.
Then the lights came up and the Art Fern character was up hustling souvenir programs of the show, "... a brand new item, selected for this tour only."
On the debit side of the ledger, an unknown (so unknown there was hardly a mention of his name) comedian opened the show and did 20 very long minutes. Then came the Sweet Inspirations with a very tight, but equally dull, 15 minutes of songs which made Aretha Franklin seem even greater.
And all the time this Art Fern chap is hustling $2 programs, posters and autographed pictures, which was insulting not only to the audience but to Presley.
But the charisma of Elvis overcomes all. The mere thought that he would be out on that stage in less than an hour, kept the fans at least placid during the opening drivel. - HARDY PRICE.
Courtesy Of Archie Bald | <urn:uuid:04b96edf-5c51-4c0f-aff6-32f6c36f5435> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elvisconcerts.com/newspapers/press448.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95602 | 738 | 1.625 | 2 |
Historically, prolonged extreme concentrations of wealth and outrageous income inequality tend to play out in two ways:
1) Violent Leftist/popular revolutions, such as the French Revolution, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and the Russian Revolution.
2) The rise of a Fascist state, as the elites use “fear of the other” to gain support for policies that suppress freedom and democracy, and increase coercive control of the impoverished masses. Fascism never rises without support of the elites.
In the United States, with its strong pro-capitalist institutions and values, we’re more at risk for fascism than we are for violent Leftist revolution. There are strong currents of popular fascism in the racist, xenophobic blatherings of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. More and more our lawmakers are controlled by corporate interests. Disturbing incidents where police and military are used against U.S. citizens are on the rise.
Occupy Wall Street is the nearest thing to a popular “Leftist” movement we’ve seen in long time, but it’s really more of a centrist movement. While there are elements of OWS that are calling for an end to capitalism, private property, and money-lending, a more common demand is for reasonable financial reform and regulation, such as reinstituting the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 (which separated commercial banking from investment banking).
The alternative to either of these grim scenarios (historically, the Leftist extreme has led to guillotines and gulags, the extreme Right to gas-chambers and world war) is a re-balancing of wealth via reform and strengthening the civic state.
The global Occupy Wall Street movement is an opportunity for the 1% to keep most of their wealth and promote social stability, but only if they seize this moment as an opportunity to push through significant reforms that strengthen the civic state.
Unfortunately, most of the 1% is preoccupied with either defending their own work ethic (which isn’t the point) or making fun of the “hippie” protestors, or just waiting for the whole thing to blow over.
If OWS does blow over without any significant reforms being enacted, then the 1% might find themselves in big trouble down the road. They might have to deal with a real Leftist movement (one that wants to abolish the corporate entity altogether, instead of just mildly reforming it).
A more likely scenario is that the elites will find themselves in bed with fascist elements in order to protect their wealth and control the citizenry. What would U.S. fascism look like? I think “Stage 1″ would include:
- isolated incidences of election rigging
- vast expansion of the intelligence community
- secret surveillance of U.S. citizens
- erosion of laws that protect the poor and the weak
- continued concentration of wealth (rich get richer, poor get poorer)
- war profiteering (private contractors getting rich from tax-payer funded wars)
- scapegoating of the poor and powerless (blaming economic malaise on migrant workers and single mothers)
- use of torture and prison camps by the state (Guantanamo)
- corporate collusion in all of the above
Arguably, we’re already experiencing most symptoms of “Stage 1″ fascism. What would “Stage 2″ look like?
- rampant election rigging
- total corporate control of the media
- erosion of free speech and freedom of assembly
- expansion of the definition of “treason”
- “disappearances” of prominent activists
I don’t think we’re at Stage 2 yet, and hopefully we won’t ever get there. Unfortunately I can’t rule it out. Operation Condor (linked to at least 60,000 political assassinations in South and Central America) received support from the United States; Secretary of State Kissinger was at the very least fully aware of Condor and still faces questioning/extradition requests from France, Chile, Spain, Argentina, and Uruguay for his role in the disappearance, detention, torture, and wrongful death of citizens in relation to Operation Condor.
Laurence Britt’s article “Fascism Anyone?” (originally published in Free Inquiry magazine) looks at the 14 common characteristics of fascist governments. The same page includes an excerpt from Milton Meyer’s “They Thought They Were Free” which discusses how “decent men” became Nazis, basically through inertia and accepting gradual steps towards fascism. These men kept thinking their country would “come to its senses,” but it never did.
I describe Stage 1 and Stage 2 of a fascist state, but in fact there is no clear division. It’s simply a line I have drawn for my own comfort. It is my hopeful defense against my own gradual acceptance of fascistic national policies. When do I speak up? (now). When do I get out? (Hopefully never — I’m a patriot and I love my home — but if political activists in the United States start “disappearing” then I will seriously consider living somewhere else in the world.)
I hope that I am overreacting to signs of fascism in the U.S. — if someone would like to explain to me how I’ve misread the signs above I would be happy to listen.
How Do We Restore Growth?
We restore growth by creating real wealth. Real wealth raises quality of life for everyone.
We should abolish taxes for the poor, lower taxes for the middle class, and raise taxes for the extremely rich (call it the 0-9-90 plan — take that Herman Cain). This sounds extreme, but even if you taxed the bribing, scheming Koch brothers 90% of their annual income, they would still be vastly richer than the rest of us. According to Forbes, Charles Koch has a personal net worth of $25 billion. If his income tax rate were 90%, he’d still be worth $25B. He’d just get richer a lot more slowly.
Does a 90% maximum income tax rate sound high to you? Does it sound socialist? Would you be surprised to learn that the maximum U.S. income tax rate hovered between 79% and 91% from 1936 to 1963, and was above 70% right up until 1981? There’s a strong precedent for high tax rates for the rich in the United States.
Cutting middle-class taxes to 9% would free up tons of expendable income, most of which would be plowed right back into the economy, thus creating a job boom.
We should redirect government spending away from the Pentagon, private security contractors, and the expansion of the intelligence state.
We should redirect government spending towards public schools, financial aid (grants and scholarships) for university and early-childhood education, scientific R&D, and upgrading our infrastructure (water, communications, transportation, and energy). When there aren’t enough jobs, tax-payer money should be used to create jobs, and to better prepare citizens for the skilled jobs that do exist.
We should re-institute Glass-Steagall, at least the parts that separate the commercial and investment banking sectors. We should reform the U.S. corporate charter to make it legal for corporations to consider factors like the environment, worker safety, and community health on the same level as shareholder profits (right now corporations can be sued by shareholders if they put any consideration ahead of maximizing corporate profits).
None of the these measures can happen without campaign finance reform and/or congressional reform (such as Warren Buffet’s plan), so those should be priority measures.
Don’t Wait For Your Country to Come To Its Senses — Make It Happen
I considered not writing about OWS because I wasn’t sure if it fit into the mission of this blog. But “systems for living well” must include collective systems, not just personal systems. I’ve noticed many self-help and self-improvement bloggers avoid political topics altogether. I suppose they don’t want to alienate potential readers. IMO, that’s a bullshit cop-out. You can’t separate the personal from the collective — it’s all connected.
It doesn’t matter how skilled, clever, efficient, well-trained, well-educated, healthy, hard-working, motivated, or innovative you are if your state falls victim to an extremist regime. The state can take your wealth, your freedom, and your life in the blink of an eye. There is no protection or insulation from a corrupt, broken state.
If the United States was in any danger of veering too far to the Left, I would be railing against that. I co-own a couple of businesses, and I’m a big fan of personal property and the existence of a private sector.
But the fact is, even the election of centrists like Clinton and Obama hasn’t stopped a steady rightward tilt of this country for the past 30+ years. The military-intelligence complex continues to grow, restrictions on corporations continually weaken, and resources for the poor and underprivileged continue to shrink. Control of banking and media is dangerously concentrated. The rich are too damn rich.
Let’s use OWS as an opportunity to reform some things that are broken. I’ve shared my ideas regarding where we should start. What do you think? Republicans and Libertarians welcome — I won’t censor or delete any comments as long as they are civil. | <urn:uuid:fe170f00-bcd3-4ccf-8b6a-5127aa340b2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jdmoyer.com/2011/10/19/to-the-1-how-to-keep-your-head-on-your-shoulders/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943821 | 2,008 | 1.710938 | 2 |
I found this plan at outerzone.uk, which is likely an old FF free plan from Model Aircraft Builder. I haven't found any photos of a model built from the plan, as it may have never been prototyped before publishing the plans. The plans were enlarged to 36" span, using the advanced CAD package MS Paint.
I'm not sure what I was thinking in choosing this subject after the Aerovan, and it is already obvious that the Aerovan was a very simple build, compared with this one.
I'll call this build a scratch build, as the plan is more of a "rough guide" with grey areas, some dimensional inconsistencies and lacking boom details. There are some areas that may not go together quite as intended, from what I see so far. Irregardless, the are a number of these old plans appearing on the web, that provide a good starting point for unique subjects.
The booms appear to be shown as simple, built-up design. I was tempted to go that route, but the oval shape would require a good bit of sculpting, with the potential of having heavy booms, given the stock thickness that would be required for the shaping. The boom formers were hand drawn, and will be former and stringer construction, with 1/32" sheeting.
There is a previous Crusader build on rcg by Albyone that has flown, which is similar to how this will go together. After a bit of debating, I decided to build the fuse, inner wing panels and booms as a single assembly, with the outer wing panels being attached later. It's a toss up, as to what method one chooses to build a subject like this. Obviously there will be a good effort to mount all gear and battery as far forward as possible.
There are a number of photos here, from the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives: | <urn:uuid:cb89d444-2a34-4b80-b2a0-3100f521a4b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=895051&mode=threaded | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977592 | 386 | 1.671875 | 2 |
REASON’S WHY PEOPLE SHOULD NOT SET OFF FIREWORKS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD
- It hasn’t rained in over one or two weeks
- We live in front of a large area of wetlands….which even though “wetlands” has the word “wet” in it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not incapable of catching fire….especially when there hasn’t been rain.
- When the wetlands do catch on fire. It spreads like crazy. Which is horrifying especially when the brush fire is heading towards your house.
So tonight was terrifying. People have been lighting off fireworks in my neighborhood the whole summer. Not gonna lie I have lit off a few myself….but recently we have had no rain, and everything around us is extremely dry. Then in my backyard there is a vary large area of wetlands that becomes arid in the summer. Someone set off a bottle rocket and it went straight into the backyard and caught flame. No one in my house knew what was going on until I looked out my window to see a line of fire-rescue and police cars up and down the street. Then I looked in the backyard to see the wetlands engulfed in flames and heading straight towards my house. The next thing I knew firetrucks were swarming the block along with the whole neighborhood gawking to see the show. Luckily no one was hurt, and no houses caught on fire. But it was defiantly a close call. The firemen drenched the area so hopefully there’s not another fire anytime soon. But not gonna lie I was totally packed and was ready to evacuate….if only there wasn’t a firetruck blocking my car in. | <urn:uuid:fc314e3a-55d4-4014-beac-f1db2ac2714f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allisonoooster.tumblr.com/tagged/run | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972147 | 359 | 1.625 | 2 |
(CNN) -- Tim Kassouf lost 45 pounds, and it all started when he got really mad at his girlfriend.
The left image shows Tim Kassouf in 2005 before he lost 45 pounds on the small changes diet.
Kassouf, a 24-year-old marketing manager in Baltimore, Maryland, was moaning to his beloved that he'd gained weight recently. He was worried. The men in his family are prone to heart attacks, and his grandfather died of one at age 29.
But instead of giving Kassouf the sympathy he expected, his girlfriend told him off.
"She said, 'You keep complaining about it but do nothing about it.' I was angry she said that, but she was totally right," Kassouf said.
Inspired, Kassouf made radical changes in his diet.
"That would last about a day," he said.
So he moved on to Plan B: small changes. That worked. Four years after he got mad at his girlfriend, Kassouf weighs 200 pounds, down from 245, mostly by focusing on a few parts of his diet without changing everything.
"What I started to realize is, it didn't have to be all or nothing," he said.
There's actually a name for what Kassouf did: It's called the "small changes approach." James Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, is the father of the movement, and in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, he writes about how "small changes are more feasible to achieve and maintain than large changes."
For Kassouf, small changes started with soda.
"I was probably drinking 10 Cokes a day," he said. By switching out those Cokes for water, Kassouf saved 1,400 calories a day.
Then he worked on his snacking. He used to eat a 12-ounce bag of Doritos while watching television. Watch how small changes can add up »
"The show would be over, and the bag would be empty," he said.
Now, he takes a handful out of the bag and puts it on a plate, and that's all he eats, saving 1,350 calories a day.
Kassouf said he lost about 5 pounds just by making the Coke and Doritos changes and then lost 15 more by cutting down on sweets and switching from white flour to wheat flour. Exercising helped him shed 25 more pounds.
Hill said it's tough to say exactly how many calories you have to cut to lose a pound, but he encourages people to think of it this way: By eating 100 fewer calories each day, you can avoid the weight gain that comes with getting older.
Most people gain a pound or two a year, he said, which can really add up. A svelte 130-pound 18-year-old could turn into an overweight 170-pound 38-year-old. iReport.com: Planning to lose weight in '09? Tell us about it
Here are five ways to cut 100 calories out of your diet each day. Doing any one of them could keep you from gaining that typical pound or two a year. The first three tips are from from Kim Gorman, a registered dietitian with the University of Colorado's Center for Human Nutrition. The fourth one is from Starbucks, and the last one is from Hill.
1. Old: whole milk
New: 1 percent milk
Let's say you have milk with your cereal and then a glass of milk some other time during the day. Drinking 1 percent milk instead of whole milk saves you 100 calories.
2. Old: whole bagel
New: half a bagel
Give the other half of your bagel to a friend, and you'll save 100 calories. Depending on the size of the bagel, you could save even more.
3. Old: chocolate ice cream
New: chocolate yogurt or a Popsicle
Swap out the ice cream for the yogurt, and you're consuming 100 fewer calories. You'll save nearly that much if you have a Popsicle instead of the ice cream.
4. Old: latte made with whole milk
New: latte made with skim milk
Order a nonfat latte instead of a regular latte, and you'll save 90 calories.
5. Old: be a couch potato
New: take a 20-minute walk
Walk a mile every day, and you'll burn about 100 calories. Twenty minutes is an estimate of how long it takes to walk a mile; some people are slower, and others are faster. For all you pedometer wearers out there, a mile is about 2,000 steps.
It took Kassouf several years to lose 45 pounds doing the "small changes approach," but he said it's been worth the wait, because he's more likely to keep the pounds off than if he'd made big changes.
By the way, Kassouf is no longer with that girlfriend who called him a complainer, but he's still grateful to her for making him snap to it and come up with a plan for losing weight.
CNN's Jennifer Pifer-Bixler contributed to this report.
|Most Viewed||Most Emailed| | <urn:uuid:4d0cfcef-4db0-408c-9084-9340d0b29a59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/01/ep.small.changes.diet/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977163 | 1,081 | 1.765625 | 2 |
"Islamic, Islamic," went a popular chant. "Neither secular nor liberal."In an Atlantic cover story a couple of months ago, I raised the question of whether the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist-oriented groups would come to dominate the Arab Spring:
After days of negotiations between the rival factions, the demonstration Friday had been billed as a show of national unity, but adherents to a spectrum of religious movements -- from the most puritan and conservative, known as Salafists, to the comparatively more moderate Muslim Brotherhood -- vastly outnumbered other voices in a sun-drenched Tahrir Square. The numbers of Salafists, in particular, represented the most definitive declaration yet that they represent a formidable force in Egyptian politics, riding an ascent since the revolution that has surprised and unnerved many secular and liberal activists -- and poses new challenges to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Since the Arab revolution began, the Muslim Brotherhood has shown signs of fracturing along ideological lines, but its leaders have proved somewhat adept at playing politics, particularly that aspect of politics in which hard questions are ducked. I recently had a conversation with Mohamed Morsy, one of the Brotherhood's senior leaders, in which he refused, to an almost comical degree, to grapple with two simple questions: Could the Brotherhood support a Christian for the Egyptian presidency? Could it support a woman? (The Brotherhood's 2007 draft party platform, from which the organization is now trying to distance itself, makes clear that a Christian could not serve as president of Egypt.)
"Which Christian?" Morsy responded when I first asked.
I explained: not a particular Christian, but any Christian.
"There are no Christians running for president," he said.
Yes, I know. It's a theoretical question.
"This is a nonsense question," he said. So I asked him if the Brotherhood had ideological objections to a woman's running for president.
"Which woman?" he asked.
It is worth remembering, particularly at a time when the Muslim Brotherhood is attempting to soften its image, that the group's essential platform remains unchanged. The Muslim Brotherhood's avowed creed is "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."
This article available online at: | <urn:uuid:0489720c-b59a-48d4-b9b4-6052c875a94f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlantic.com/international/print/2011/07/tens-of-thousands-of-islamists-rally-in-tahrir-square/242782/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955842 | 469 | 1.71875 | 2 |
The Khadr family have long been associated with Al Qaeda and the Canadian family are far from popular in Canada. Unlike other countries the Canadian government has done nothing to have Omar Khadr repatriated from Guantanamo. They sat back and let someone who was a child soldier when captured by the U.S. in 20002 in a firefight in Afghanistan stay in Guantanamo for a decade now. In fact the Canadian government said nothing about his treatment that included what amounted to torture nor the fact that he was tried by a military tribunal.
Although he and his comrades were under attack Khadr was charged with throwing a grenade and killing an American soldier, The U.S. justifies holding Khadr and others indefinitely because there is a state of active hostilities between the U.S. and terrorist linked groups. Of course Obama does not call this the war on terror as Bush did but the legal justification is the same. Usually in such armed conflicts fighters on both sides would not be charged when in battle if they kill people on the other side. However in the legal mumbo jumbo used by the U.S. people like Khadr who fight without uniforms and not as part of a recognized force are unprivileged belligerents and if they kill their enemies even if they are soldiers can be charged with murder. This is what happened to Khadr. Theoretically CIA drone operatives are in the same legal position. This has been pointed out as a problem by lawyers. Of course the difference is that CIA operatives are not likely to be caught and tried!
To add insult to injury he was also a child soldier at the time. In fact he was badly wounded and would have been finished off as was a comrade who may have thrown the grenade except that an officer thought that Khadr might have useful information.
Usually Canada does what the U.S. wants. This was the case with Abdullah Rahman who was arrested at the request of the U.S. when he returned to Canada. From this site:""Abdullah Khadr (born 1981), a son who returned to Canada in 2005, was arrested on behalf of the United States and held for 5 years while an extradition request was reviewed. Ontario Superior Court ordered him released in 2010 citing "shocking and unjustifiable" human rights violations." One son Abdurahman Khadr no doubt regarded by the family as their black sheep worked for the CIA and gave numerous interviews with the press.
Omar Khadr has been held at Guantanamo for almost ten years now. The U.S. has agreed to have him serve the rest of his sentence in Canada. An article here gives six reasons why he should be transferred to Canada. I will deal only with two.
Since Khadr is a Canadian citizen he has the right to enter and remain in Canada. A Federal Court cited this right in another prison transfer case. The U.S. is waiting for Canada to consent. In this case the U.S. is not the holdup it is the Canadian Harper government.
Secondly Khadr committed the alleged offenses when he was still a child and was 15 when captured. Both Canada and the U.S. have signed the Optional UN Protocol on the rights of the child that set 18 as the age for participation in hostilities. Child soldiers are to be psychologically and physically rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. Of course neither the U.S. nor Canada has paid the slightest attention to this aspect of the case. Perhaps one reason Harper does not want him here is that there will be demands that he be treated as a child soldier. This could be politically inconvenient for Harper. | <urn:uuid:a65c3a4c-f5af-46f4-9821-949009888027> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitaljournal.com/blog/17346 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984872 | 731 | 1.734375 | 2 |
There is an old adage in genealogical research that "three sources are proof." Not so. Remember that three "sources" of the same information may actually come from the same source--think about who likely provided information for the death certificate, the obituary, and the tombstone. They probably were the same person.
Try (where possible) to get information from sources that likely had different informants. While that's not always possible, three sources agreeing is not magic. | <urn:uuid:7479e810-60f0-4a9a-99fa-5e1658196a68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com/2011/01/are-three-sources-enough.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 | 0.965876 | 99 | 1.695313 | 2 |
According to Genesis, God gave the world to Adam and Eve, to put it another way, to humanity. But look at the figures in the above link. Nearly 70% of the Earth is covered in salt water, so is generally uninhabitable to mankind. Of the land less than 10% is good, arable farmland. Man is essentially unable to survive on more than 90% of the Earth's surface. Gee, that's some gift. Thank you for your generosity, God. | <urn:uuid:2697e27c-fdc4-4f72-b60e-9611ccf9954f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.atheistnexus.org/profiles/blogs/this-is-the-world-that-he-created | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954666 | 100 | 1.742188 | 2 |
LAS QOREY, Somalia July 12 (Garowe Online) - Forces loyal to Somalia's breakaway state of Somaliland voluntarily withdrew from a town in the disputed region of Sanaag, Radio Garowe reported.
The Somaliland troops captured the old port town of Las Qorey four days ago, after rival forces from the region of Puntland retreated to the east.
Jama Hersi Farah, the Puntland state minister for security, confirmed to Radio Garowe during a Saturday interview that Somaliland forces withdrew towards the Sanaag provincial capital of Erigavo.
"Puntland forces are [now] in control of Las Qorey and they [Somaliland] withdrew at 1pm," he said from the town of Badhan, also in Sanaag region, where a three-member Puntland Cabinet delegation is visiting
Mr. Farah suggested that the withdrawal of Somaliland forces was a result of Puntland troops who advanced on Las Qorey from "three deferent locations," including Badhan town.
But Somaliland's defense minister, Mr. Abdullahi Ali Ibrahim, rejected reports that Somaliland troops withdrew from Las Qorey and suggested that such reports are "spread by the enemy."
"Somaliland troops have not withdraw – and they will not withdraw – because they are in their country and they are defending their people," the defense minister told reporters at a press conference in Hargeisa, capital of breakaway Somaliland.
The two rival sub-states, located in northern Somalia, have fought several times over control of Sool and Sanaag regions since 2002.
Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but remains unrecognized internationally, claims Sool and Sanaag regions fall within the borders of colonial-era British Protectorate of Somaliland.
But Puntland government officials claim that they only recognize "clan borders" in the post-1991 era, when civil war and foreign invasion destroyed the Somali nation-state.
In recent weeks, Sanaag region has attracted plenty of media attention after a German man and his wife were kidnapped by pirates and held hostage in the mountains of Sanaag.
The kidnappers have demanded a ransom, but traditional elders are reported to be negotiating the safe release of the foreign captives.
Last week, the region's clan elders appealed to Somaliland and Puntland regional administrations to withdraw their forces from Sanaag and allow the elders to negotiate with the kidnappers and peacefully resolve the crisis.
Source: Garowe Online | <urn:uuid:5f3fda20-22b4-4fc5-b125-5031e857fade> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Somaliland_and_Puntland_officials_claim_control_of_Sanaag_town.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95912 | 529 | 1.546875 | 2 |
“It was in rough shape from years of use and misuse and had seen better days,” architect David Shove-Brown says of an 8,000-square-foot, 1907 building in Washington, DC, that he and his Studio3877 partner David Tracz had been asked transform it into the latest outpost of Matchbox. Over the years, the building had done duty as a bowling alley, a jazz club and a car dealership and still retained a great character, so, he says, “It was pretty clear we wanted to be true to the building”—with a straightforward approach to its history and materials that matched the restaurant’s approach to ingredients.
When Hayden Slater, one of the minds behind the Pressed Juicery, approached the architecture firm Standard, helmed by Jeffrey Allsbrook and Silvia Kuhle, he was thinking big and small. In addition to a space in Beverly Hills (it would ultimately become both the design idea lab and flagship for the company), Slater and his partners planned on rolling out several more locations, ranging in size from small to smaller. They wanted a firm that could create a concept flexible enough to fit a compact storefront on down to almost a niche, with elements that could be incorporated or not without diminishing the character of the brand.
If you read the print edition of FORM, you’ll definitely remember Michael Webb’s fascinating story Color and the City, investigating the role that color does or doesn’t play in today’s urban fabric. To illustrate the article, we included an image from the Firmeza Foundation of a Brazilian favela the group had painted.
One look at the new Tetra light from POD Design (now available from ahaLife), and you know there's something afoot. The design might be simple, deceptively so, but there's something about its form that invites contemplation and further inspection. We talked to the brains behind it—Brooks Atwood, Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at NJIT and principal of POD Design—to get the inside scoop on what makes it so singular.
By Michael Webb
The Museum of Modern Art in New York was the first to embrace architecture as an art, and the exhibition Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light, is the latest in an 80-year succession of landmark exhibitions. It’s the first solo show in the US to celebrate the genius of a 19th-century French architect who created two extraordinary libraries in Paris: the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (1838-50) and the reading room of the Bibliothèque Nationale. Their soaring, light-filled volumes, daring structure and rich ornament, were a major influence on several generations of architects, and they still inspire awe—notably in a memorable scene from Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. That clip is shown in 3D, alongside the exquisite drawings that Labrouste created during his years at the French Academy in Rome and his long practice. They alone are reason to fly to New York: Masterpieces of draftsmanship that chart a decisive shift from classicism to modernism. The lightness of the roof vault and the slender cast-iron columns belong to a different word than the stone monuments of Greece and Rome. Strip the surface ornament and these reading rooms are models of functional engineering along with the great train sheds and the Eiffel Tower, Oddly, Labrouste (1801-75) seems to have realized no other buildings of note, but these two ensure his immortality. | <urn:uuid:a331d19b-30fd-4d76-9f37-6aef0c528da1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.formmag.net/monitor/?currentPage=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957911 | 737 | 1.625 | 2 |
Part 79: 1335: Lhankpent's Story Part IV
Soon a Zenthoring delegation arrives, demanding wergild for the deaths of their two weaponthanes. They ask for forty cows, the custom amount for two slain thanes.
Agree to their demand.
Refuse their demand.
Offer them twenty cows instead--remind them that Lhankpent never received Wergild for his father's death.
Maybe I can talk them into settling for less.
They have more of a case against us than we did against them.
We can afford the Wergild, if you want to pay it.
In the sagas, feuds can last for many years. | <urn:uuid:d835652b-05c0-4cd1-8799-7e508cbd8b5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lparchive.org/King-of-Dragon-Pass/Update%2079/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961876 | 148 | 1.515625 | 2 |
I’m sure the Romans had their “Shit” disturbers too. These public discussions are privy and well “seated” and planned for this coming Tuesday night sponsored by the Palo Alto PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING to be held October 25,2011. Â
Discussions will perhaps have many on the “hot” seat as they discuss and focus on installing new public restrooms located at Juana Briones Park.
I hope the discussions are civil and that no one get’s dumped on!! Going number one and or number two has changed dramatically throughout the millennium as noted here.
As everyone knows going Green is in vogue. So, if you have to go, why not go “GREEN”.
Perhaps discussions can include installing environmentally friendly outdoor restrooms where no plumbing is not involved. “Eco-Toilets”.  Eco-Toilets Uses No Water – No Chemicals, No Pollution. | <urn:uuid:0b0b2f33-532f-4aa0-8a65-d2aa74de5f79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paloaltofreepress.com/do-as-the-romans-do-or-doo-doo/ | 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 | 0.952121 | 229 | 1.617188 | 2 |
OLD MCDONALD’S HAD A BAD EGG FARMMini BlogsOther Good Stuff
We read about this recent controversy to hit McDonald’s and just shook our heads.
A supplier- Sparboe Farms- had been treating chickens inhumanely.
All was revealed through an undercover operation.
Some of us worked on the McDonald’s business when in advertising.
Some of us “graduated” from McDonald’s University in Oakbrook with a “Degree in French Fries.”
There was always something cultish about the organization.
At worldwide conventions we were asked to wear “crew people’s” hats and asked to imagine being one of “them”.
We were taught the McDonald’s mantra at that time which was all about Q,S,C and V- Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value.
The brand had different ad agencies- one for the Latino market, one for the Black market and one for, we guess, the bland generic WASP market.
We never saw any Blacks in Top Management.
We met quite a number of Execs, however, who had served in Vietnam.
After all the squeaky-clean meetings, they would relax with a few stiff drinks and talk about chinks, gooks and worse.
They would tell us what went into McNuggets: Everything.
When McDonald’s opened up in China, the levels of corruption were unbelievable.
To obtain the best locations, landlords suddenly had “family” who owned tomato ketchup, buns and mustard factories.
Others manufactured all those sachets used for ketchup and mustard.
We won’t even get into some of the creepiness a few who played Ronald McDonald in the US got up to- and were found out and fired.
The Golden Arches?
More like the Golden Arses. | <urn:uuid:5c6b0a0e-dd12-4424-97de-c1f211aa0f5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fasttrack.hk/mini-blogs/old-mcdonalds-had-a-bad-egg-farm/ | 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 | 0.968859 | 405 | 1.65625 | 2 |
This week marks the one-month anniversary of one of the most terrifying events in American history: the sequester. So, with great trepidation, I have climbed out of my bunker to survey the devastation and send off this column.
American alliances are systems that transfer wealth from U.S. taxpayers and their debtors to citizens in wealthy allies. With Uncle Sam paying for those countries’ defense, their governments are free to use their own revenues for welfare programs or other domestic priorities. This is a sucker’s bet from an American perspective, but pretty great from the perspective of the citizen of a rich country who benefits from this largesse.
The President on Tuesday signed the continuing resolution that funds the government through September and (gasp) keeps the sequester cuts intact. Now that it appears sequestration isn’t going away (and yet the earth continues to spin merrily on its axis), the focus should be on how this small step might be extended.
The latest report by the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold on Beltway tomfoolery tells of what happened when both Democrats and Republicans asked government workers and the public for suggestions on how to reduce government spending. Apparently neither party had much interest in the responses.
As if U.S. agriculture isn’t subsidized enough already. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) visited a hops yard yesterday to raise the profile of, and inevitably seek federal support for, what he hopes will be New York’s first commercial hops yard. In the second subtitle of his press release, Senator Schumer sings the praises of NY’s “booming craft beer industry” and yet simultaneously makes the somewhat contradictory claim that the industry suffers from a lack of capital:
Some more from the new Canadian budget: It has some interesting charts (page 38) comparing U.S. and Canadian labor markets (or “labour” markets as the Canadians would say).
The new Canadian budget includes estimates of marginal effective corporate tax rates for major countries (page 149). These rates measure the tax load on new investments, such as a manufacturing company buying new machines and expanding a plant.
Canada’s federal government introduced a budget yesterday that includes new estimates of corporate tax revenues. I’ve discussed how Canada has cut its statutory corporate tax rate to a fraction of the U.S. rate, yet Canada raises more revenue. The new budget shows that the Canadian federal 15 percent tax raised 1.9 percent of GDP in revenue in 2012, while the U.S. federal tax at 35 percent raised just 1.6 percent, per CBO.
State and local politicians love federal money. Every federal dollar that a state or local politician can spend is a dollar that he or she doesn’t have to ask his or her voters to come up with through taxes or fees.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently said that “America is one big pothole.” President Obama, members of Congress, and pundits often claim that our infrastructure is “crumbling.” The Senate Budget Committee’s new spending plan, for example, uses that word no fewer than ten times in calling for a $100 billion infrastructure package. And in a report released yesterday, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation a grade of D+ on its infrastructure. | <urn:uuid:ec11b30a-8226-42dc-8487-31bd6c028b77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/blog?field_themes_tid=All&field_departments_target_id=All&page=3&%24Domain=pfxqgncochbuzg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948859 | 689 | 1.703125 | 2 |
The National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981 (NWU) is committed to establishing a living wage for all freelance writers. We believe that recent actions by AOL/Huffington Post set a dangerous precedent.
Working without pay should not be the expectation of online publications – or online writers. As the nation’s most popular blog, the Huffington Post sets the status quo for other online publications. The NWU is committed to fighting for fair pay for freelance writers. So we want to work with the Huffington Post to set high standards of quality online journalism that fairly compensates its writers. For more campaign updates, sign up at www.PayTheWriter.org
In late October, the National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981 withdrew from the boycott of the Huffington Post. The boycott began after the Huffington Post was acquired by AOL for $315 million last February. NWU and The Newspaper Guild-CWA were electronic picket captains with the support of many, many progressive writers, bloggers and organizations. For now, the boycott has run its course.
But the NWU is continuing and intensifying our Pay The Writer! campaign to establish fair pay rates for freelance journalists working for the Huffington Post and other online publications. On October 11, we held our first national event, a live-streamed panel discussing the future of online freelance journalism (video of the event is available here). We will continue to organize around these principles:
Writers create more than content. We create value and wealth. Just ask Arianna Huffington. Working without pay should not be the expectation of online publications – or online writers. Quality journalism must be justly compensated.
Today we are in touch with hundreds more writers than we were when we started, and some are joining NWU. Over the coming months our organizing drive will become more active and visible, as hundreds and then thousands of freelance writers add their collective knowledge and wisdom to this campaign. We are confident we are gathering the forces that will make Pay The Writer! a reality. Sign up for campaign updates at www.PayTheWriter.org and follow us on Twitter @PayTheWriter. | <urn:uuid:45809e77-5888-4d3c-9780-014f70d9c0bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nwu.org/huffpo?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942026 | 430 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Blues Musician Chris English Holds Benefit for SU Music Department
SALISBURY, MD---What do a 1930s guitar, a harmonica and an old Coca-Cola crate have in common? Salisbury musician Chris English can make them all sing.
These are just three instruments he uses in a quest to play and preserve the blues (he keeps time by stomping his foot on the Coke crate). Audiences will have a chance to hear English’s musical stylings live in the Black Box Theatre of Salisbury University’s Fulton Hall 8 p.m. Saturday, February 21. Funds raised during the performance benefit SU Department of Music Performing Arts Fund.
English began playing guitar at age 11. His older brother introduced him to the blues in the late 1960s, during his high school years. English concentrated on slide guitar and harmonica, teaching himself to play. He concentrated primarily on the Delta style of blues dominant in Memphis and parts of Mississippi.
Throughout the years he has learned the subtleties that make each type of blues special. He also uses vintage guitars from the ’30s to replicate the sound and feeling of the blues he has studied and loves. He puts that sound to good use in his class “Blues: the Roots of Rock and Roll,” which he created and teaches at SU.
His first album, Live at the Avalon, was recorded at the Avalon Theatre in Easton and released in 1996. His second album, Lowdown in the House, followed in 2004. A third album, Chris English 1-13-07, is soon to be released. Samples of his performances are available at
Sponsored by the Department of Music, admission to English’s performance is free to the public. Donations to the Performing Arts Fund are appreciated. For more information call 410-543-6385 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu. | <urn:uuid:e6e15c9d-c686-45c4-8b72-88e44b70306e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.salisbury.edu/newsevents/fullstoryview.asp?id=3832 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965311 | 399 | 1.679688 | 2 |
.On 28 June 1996, the requirements for the entry into force of the Agreement were fulfilled. Consequently the Agreement entered into force on 28 July 1996, in accordance with article 6 (1).
In accordance with its article 7 (3), the provisional application of the Agreement shall terminate upon the date of its entry into force, i.e., on 28 July 1996. In accordance with the provisions of section 1, paragraph 12 (a) of the Annex to the said Agreement, " ... Upon entry into force of this Agreement, States and entities referred to in article 3 of this Agreement which have been applying it provisionally in accordance with article 7 and for which it is not in force, may continue to be members of the Authority on a provisional basis pending its entry into force of such States and entities, in accordance with the following sub-paragraphs:
(a) If this Agreement enters into force before 16 November 1996, such States and entities shall be entitled to continue to participate as members of the Authority on a provisional basis upon notification to the depositary of the Agreement by such a State or entity of its intention to participate as a member on a provisional basis. Such membership shall terminate either on 16 November 1996 or upon the entry into force of this Agreement and the Convention for such member, whichever is earlier. The Council may, upon the request of the State or entity concerned, extend such membership beyond 16 November 1996 for a further period or periods not exceeding a total of two years...".
.Number of Parties does not include the Provisional members of the International Seabed Authority.
.In accordance with Article 4 of the Agreement which reads as follows: "After the adoption of this Agreement, any instrument of ratification or formal confirmation of or accession to the Convention shall also represent consent to be bound by this Agreement."
.States and regional economic integration organizations listed under " Participants " include those States and regional economic integration organizations having either signed or adopted the Agreement. According to article 7 (1) (a) of the Agreement, the Agreement shall be applied provisionally as of 16 November pending its entry into force by a) States which have consented to its adoption in the General Assembly of the United Nations, except any such State which before 16 November 1994 notifies the depositary either that it will not apply the Agreement or that it will consent to such application only upon subsequent signature or notification; b) States and entities which sign the Agreement (unless notification to the contrary at the time of signature); c) States and entities which consent to its provisional application; and/or d) States which accede to the Agreement.
.State which upon signature or at a later date, notified that it has selected the application of the simplified procedure set out in articles 4 (3) (c) and 5.
.State or regional economic integration organization which, upon the entry into force of the Agreement, notified the Secretary-General of its intention to continue to participate as a member of the International Seabed Authority on a provisional basis, in accordance with paragraph 12 (a), first sentence, section I of the Annex (see note 1).
.State which, upon signature or at a later date, notified that it is not availing itself of the simplified procedure set out in article 5 and that consequently it will establish its consent to be bound by the Agreement under the provisions of article 4, paragraph 3 (b), by subsequent ratification.
.State or regional economic integration organization which has specified that its consent to the provisional application will be subject to subsequent notification to the depositary in writing, in accordance with article 7 (1) (a), or that it will not apply the Agreement provisionally in accordance with article 7 (1) (b).
.On 14 November 1994, the Government of Italy notified the Secretary-General that it would apply the Agreement provisionally.
.See note 1 under "Montenegro" in the "Historical Information" section in the front matter of this volume.
.For the Kingdom in Europe.
13 February 2009
For the Netherlands Antilles.
.Upon depositing its notification of succession to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on 12 March 2001, the Government of Yugoslavia confirmed the signature affixed to the Agreement on 12 May 1995 and its notification of application of the simplified procedure under article 5 of the Agreement.
See also note 1 under “Bosnia and Herzegovina", "Croatia", "former Yugoslavia", "Slovenia", "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and "Yugoslavia" in the "Historical Information" section in the front matter of this volume.
.Upon depositing its instrument of ratification, the Government of the United Kingdom also stated the following
[This] instrument of [...] ratification extend[s] to:
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The Bailiwick of Jersey
The Bailiwick of Guernsey
The Isle of Man
British Antarctic Territory
British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands
The Cayman Islands
Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands
St. Helena and Dependencies
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands.” | <urn:uuid:3bf0b565-fe89-408c-b31a-04eaca96a46f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=UNTSONLINE&tabid=2&mtdsg_no=XXI-6-a&chapter=21&lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935996 | 1,071 | 1.601563 | 2 |
By John Nene
BBC News, Mombasa
Prostitutes are known for their skimpy attire, but Kenya's coastal port of Mombasa is witnessing a controversial fashion makeover.
The twilight ladies, as the city's residents refer to the sex workers, have traded their revealing outfits for the more austere buibui - a loose, floor-length gown and head covering favoured by Muslim women.
Walking along the city's main red-light streets at night, one comes across many of the buibui-clad prostitutes.
Although most shy away from speaking to the press, a few are willing to talk.
"I'm better off wearing the buibui so I look respectable. I can avoid arrest. I am just trying to get some money to live on," one says.
Another claims she wears her buibui to hide her identity.
"I know I am sinning, but I'm forced to because I am looking for my livelihood. So to me, it's acceptable," she says.
Most of her customers are local men, not tourists. She says wearing a buibui helped them to more easily pick out women from the region.
But the phenomenon is causing a stir in the predominantly Muslim city where religious women are required to cover their bodies from head to toe.
Some female residents say it is a big disgrace.
"I feel so embarrassed that sometimes I contemplate removing my buibui and throwing it away. The buibui has lost its respect," Mariam Salma says.
Another resident, Asha Hussein, claims the sex workers are not native to Mombasa.
"They are not Muslims. Most are from Somalia and Ethiopia. They wear it to avoid public humiliation," she says.
Wearing the buibui not only allows prostitutes to mingle freely with other women, black buibuis allow them to hide under the cover of darkness.
When night falls it is even easier for Mombasa's prostitutes to hide
City authorities have mounted numerous operations over the years to get prostitutes off the streets, with limited success.
After the crackdowns, the prostitutes go underground for a while, creating the impression that the operation has succeeded, only to emerge later.
The newly adopted attire has ensured their trade is not disrupted.
However, it is not the first time the prostitutes have used this tactic.
It was popular in the 1990s until a religious vigilante organisation illegally rounded up the prostitutes hiding under buibuis and flogged them publicly.
Religious leaders are now urging the government to take action.
"We cannot arrest any of these women; it is the government's responsibility," says the organising secretary of the Council of Imams of Kenya, Sheikh Muhammad Khalifa.
"We are saddened because the government is ignoring the problem."
If the trend continues, police are likely to mistake respectable women for prostitutes, he says.
"For God's sake, if one has decided to join this profession, the uniform of prostitutes is well known.
"They should stick to their disgraceful attire." | <urn:uuid:52802e2a-f4c5-47e6-90b2-0da44d74e19b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6291100.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962846 | 634 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Cube Cube Cube
When playing a sculpting and chiseling puzzle game like Danny Yaroslavski's Cube Cube Cube, one recalls the old advice that the easiest way to transform a block of marble into a solution, is merely to chip away at anything that doesn't look like a solution. Or an elephant. Or something. Not quite sure. Point is, Cube Cube Cube is an entertaining 3D variation of Nurikabe that presents sets of mental blocks for you to quite satisfyingly smash.
Use the mouse to rotate the level, and click to smash or mark blocks. The [spacebar] is used to switch functions, or else you can click the on-screen icon. You must break apart the level into sets of blocks connected by faces. Each set must include the number of blocks shown on one of the blocks in the set. Each set will contain one and only one numbered block. Different sets can touch along the edges, but not the faces. Three mistakes and you must restart. Five sets of seven levels are available, including the tutorial. With a clever central concept, and a polished presentation, Cube Cube Cube comes off like a lost Conceptis release, and that's meant as a compliment. The only complaint is that gameplay would benefit from allowing interior blocks before chiseling away the outsides, as many other cube-based puzzle games do. Still, Cube Cube Cube has the feel of a new classic, and logic puzzle fans should be pleased to find another addiction to test their wits against. | <urn:uuid:cae3c5d7-578a-4a3b-ac2a-e5e11431d7fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jayisgames.com/archives/2012/12/cube_cube_cube.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942924 | 307 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,
but because of the people who don't do anything about it
Occupation magazine - Commentary
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Six days in Israel, 45 years ago
Los Angeles Times
June 6, 2012
In early June 1967, as I cowered with my mother and sisters in the `safest` room of our house near Jerusalem — the downstairs bathroom — we feared the worst. None of us imagined that the war that had just begun would end in six days. It was inconceivable that the Israeli army would destroy three Arab armies, kill upward of 15,000 Arab soldiers (at a cost of 700 Israeli casualties), triple the size of the state of Israel and, for the first time in two millenniums, give the Jewish people control over the entire land of Israel, including the crown jewel, the Old City of Jerusalem.
Many believe now, as they believed then, that Israel was forced to initiate a preemptive strike in 1967 because it faced an existential threat from Arab armies that were ready — and intending — to destroy it. As it happens, my father, Gen. Matti Peled, who was the Israel Defense Forces` chief of logistics at the time, was one of the few who knew that was not so. In an article published six years later in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, he wrote of Egypt`s president, who commanded the biggest of the Arab armies: `I was surprised that Nasser decided to place his troops so close to our border because this allowed us to strike and destroy them at any time we wished to do so, and there was not a single knowledgeable person who did not see that. From a military standpoint, it was not the IDF that was in danger when the Egyptian army amassed troops on the Israeli border, but the Egyptian army.` In interviews over the years, other generals who served at that time confirmed this, including Ariel Sharon and Ezer Weitzman.
In 1967, as today, the two power centers in Israel were the IDF high command and the Cabinet. On June 2, 1967, the two groups met at IDF headquarters. The military hosts greeted the generally cautious and dovish prime minister, Levi Eshkol, with such a level of belligerence that the meeting was later commonly called `the Generals` Coup.`
The transcripts of that meeting, which I found in the Israeli army archives, reveal that the generals made it clear to Eshkol that the Egyptians would need 18 months to two years before they would be ready for a full-scale war, and therefore this was the time for a preemptive strike. My father told Eshkol: `Nasser is advancing an ill-prepared army because he is counting on the Cabinet being hesitant. Your hesitation is working in his advantage.` The prime minister parried this criticism, saying, `The Cabinet must also think of the wives and mothers who will become bereaved.`
Throughout the meeting, there was no mention of a threat but rather of an `opportunity` that was there, to be seized.
Within short order, the Cabinet succumbed to the pressure of the army, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Six-Day War began three days later and was over on June 10, 1967. When the guns fell silent, one general saw yet another opportunity, one that would take most of Israel`s other leaders some decades to recognize. This was my father. A 1995 newspaper profile reconstructed the first weekly meeting that the IDF general staff held after the war. When it came his turn to speak, my father said: `For the first time in Israel`s history, we have an opportunity to solve the Palestinian problem once and for all. Now we are face to face with the Palestinians, without other Arab countries dividing us. Now we have a chance to offer the Palestinians a state of their own.`
His position was well known. He argued in 1969 that holding on to the territory gained in the war was contrary to Israel`s interests: `If we keep these lands, popular resistance to the occupation is sure to arise, and Israel`s army will be used to quell that resistance, with disastrous and demoralizing results.` Over the years, he argued repeatedly that Israeli control in the West Bank and Gaza would turn the Jewish state into an increasingly brutal occupying power (he was right) and could eventually result in a binational state (he may yet be right, as events are moving in this direction). Allowing the Palestinians an independent state of their own, he maintained, would lead to stability and calm.
For 45 years, successive Israeli governments have invested billions of dollars in making the 1967 conquests irreversible, and they have eliminated any chance for the two-state solution to become a reality. Cities, highways, malls and factories have been built in the West Bank in order to settle Jewish Israelis there, while a reign of terror was put in place to govern the Palestinians whose lands were being taken. From denying access to water and land and obstructing free travel, through a maze of discriminatory laws and restrictions, to full-on military assaults, Israel has dedicated huge resources to the oppression and persecution of the Palestinians.
Now once again Israel is faced with two options: Continue to exist as a Jewish state while controlling the Palestinians through military force and racist laws, or undertake a deep transformation into a real democracy where Israelis and Palestinians live as equals in a shared state, their shared homeland. For Israelis and Palestinians alike, the latter path promises a bright future.
Miko Peled is an Israeli activist living in San Diego and the author of the recently published book, `The General`s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.`
Links to the latest articles in this section
Looking for ‘a new devil,’ Israeli leaders and supporters left scrambling after election of moderate Rouhani
The right to be pessimistic
J Street’s failures | <urn:uuid:7a7248b6-018c-4e49-8123-56f4fb446699> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=53326 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974305 | 1,224 | 1.75 | 2 |
While the U.S. is going through an artisanal coffee movement, Brazil—already the world's largest producer of coffee—is seeing a revolution of its own, with shops like Sao Paulo's new Coffee Lab at its center. Working with one roasting machine and a crew outfitted in jumpsuits inspired by mechanics' uniforms, Coffee Lab turns out almost 2,000 pounds of roasted beans per month in a former residence that's been renovated into a bright, charming cafe. The beans are then incorporated into various flavorful blends served by the cup or available to bring home.
The winner of Brazil's first National Barista Championship, owner Isabela Raposeiras says that one of the keys to making excellent coffee lies in how she keeps the beans. She stores them separately from the bags in which they're sold, which is actually a rare practice in the business.
Raposeira also maintains a strict and rigorous process in the roasting and selection of the beans. For the latter, she works to form relationships with Brazilian coffee farmers all over the country. "I look for sustainability, social responsibility and traceability," she says. "When it was harvested, how long it took to dry, how long it rested and in which silos—everything has to be traceable. The flavor profile has to be very high-scale, and I look for nice people. Because even if they have it all but they're not nice to talk with and aren't generous, I won't work with them."
Besides the standard espresso drinks, the Lab's real draw is coffee prepared in an AeroPress, a system that exploits the full potential of the beans. This process involves steeping the coffee for around 10 seconds before forcing it through a paper microfilter, resulting in a smooth brew that's velvety in taste and texture. Coffee Lab has plans to add the pour-over method sometime next year.
Raposeiras takes her quest to show the depths of Brazilian beans far beyond her shop, traveling around the world to enter her coffee in international competitions. "These great roasters outside of Brazil, they're always cupping my coffee and giving me amazing feedback," she says. "They tell me, 'I never saw Brazilian coffee tasting like this.'" | <urn:uuid:a1961bb2-382b-483d-82ee-603979b94db0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coolhunting.com/food-drink/coffee-lab.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975901 | 458 | 1.726563 | 2 |
PURCELL, Okla., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- A small methamphetamine production laboratory was discovered inside a portable toilet at a Purcell, Okla., golf course, investigators said.
After staffers at the club noticed sports drink bottles containing chemicals inside the toilet and called police, it was determined the facility was being used to make meth by the "shake and bake" method of causing a chemical reaction in a single container, KFOR-TV, Oklahoma City, reported Wednesday.
Three bottles were found, two of which exploded before detectives arrived, the television station said.
"If someone would have been in the porta-pot when it happened, they might have gotten hurt by the flying plastic and the chemicals," said Purcell police Detective Cpl. Scott Stephens.
Investigators said they had a lead on one suspect, but others could be involved. No arrests have been made.
|Additional U.S. News Stories| | <urn:uuid:6b90ff6e-0133-4c71-a065-c846fa5e5882> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/02/13/Meth-lab-in-golf-course-portable-toilet/UPI-60021360780892/?spt=mps&or=5 | 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 | 0.976946 | 193 | 1.632813 | 2 |
About Manhattan Community Board 3
Community Board 3, like all the community boards within NYC, has an important advisory role in dealing with land use and zoning matters, the City budget, municipal service delivery and many other matters relating to their communities' welfare.
Land Use and Zoning
Community Boards must be consulted on placement of most municipal facilities in the community and on other land use issues. They may also initiate their own plans for the growth and well being of their communities. Also, any application for a change in or variance from the zoning resolution must come before the Board for review, and the Board's position is considered in the final determination of these applications.
Community Boards assess the needs of their own neighborhoods, meet with city agencies and make recommendations in the City's budget process to address them.
Other Community Concerns
Any problem which affects part or all of the community, from a traffic problem to deteriorating housing, is a proper concern of a Community Board.
The Community Board, its District Manager, and its office staff serve as advocates and service coordinators for the community and its residents. They cannot order any city agency or official to perform any task, but Boards are usually successful in resolving the problems they address.
Community Boards are local representative bodies. There are 59 throughout the city. Each Board consists of up to 50 unsalaried members appointed by the Borough President, with half nominated by the City Council members who represent the community district. Board members are selected by the Borough Presidents from among active, involved people of each community, with an effort made to assure that every neighborhood is represented. Board members must reside, work or have some other significant interest in the community.
Boards meet once each month. At these meetings, members address items of concern to the community. Board meetings are open to the public, and a portion of each meeting is reserved for the Board to hear from members of the public. In addition, Boards regularly conduct public hearings - on the City's budget, on land use matters, and other major issues - to give the people of the community the opportunity to express their opinions.
Board committees do most of the planning and work on the issues that are acted on at Board meetings. Each Board establishes the committee structure and procedures it feels will best meet the needs of its district. Non-Board members may apply to join or work on Board committees.
The Board Office
The District Manager and the Board staff are hired by a Community Board and serve at the Board's pleasure. The District Manager establishes an office, hires staff, and implements procedures to improve the delivery of City services to the district. District Managers play many different roles. They are complaint takers, municipal mangers, information sources, community organizers, mediators, advocates and much more. The main responsibility of the District office is to receive and resolve complaints from community residents. Many Board offices have assumed the responsibility of providing additional services. These include processing permits for block parties, street fairs, etc. In addition, some offices may handle special projects depending on community needs. | <urn:uuid:4f308f1f-03a1-4ea5-aceb-2a41674eb3f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb3/html/about/about_cb3.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964396 | 619 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Teen says toy marketing sends wrong message
McKenna Pope launches petition asking Hasbro to feature boys on toy ovens packaging
McKenna Pope's 4-year-old brother wanted an Easy-Bake oven for months and she was more than happy to get it for him. She wants him to know it's OK for boys to enjoy baking cookies.
But she's worried that toy makers are sending boys a different message. The 13-year-old reached this conclusion last week during a shopping trip with her parents. They searched the shelves for an Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven and found pink and purple boxes that show only girls using the kid-friendly appliance.
They decided not to buy it because they thought the packaging would make him feel like he was playing with a "girl's toy" he wouldn't want. Still, McKenna decided to take it up as a cause and launched a petition asking Hasbro to feature boys in the packaging of Easy-Bake Ultimate Ovens.
"I feel that this sends a clear message: women cook, men work," Pope wrote in her Change.org petition, which has earned more than 30,000 signatures since it went up Friday night. "I want my brother to know that it's not 'wrong' for him to want to be a chef, that it's okay to go against what society believes to be appropriate."
With more people shopping for children's toys during the holiday season, McKenna and others are reviving debate over the effects of gender-biased toy marketing in a year that has seen intense discussion on the issue and even some progress.
It's easier for girls to play across gender lines, said McKenna, who spoke from experience. When she played with Nerf guns, people called her a tomboy, at worst, she said. But she has seen male classmates endure harsher name-calling for playing with dolls.
"I'm sure there are a lot of kids out there like my brother who want Easy-Bake ovens but don't ask for them because they're told they're not supposed to want them," she said. "There's a lot toys specifically marketed towards boys and girls, but guys need to learn to cook and take care of children, too."
Hasbro did not respond to a request for comment.
Not everyone believes children should play across gender lines. In a previous CNN story on the topic, some commenters said that allowing children boys to play with dolls or other toys typically associated with girls could make them targets of bullies. Others suggested that some color-coded marketing works and that selling pink LEGO or science kits packaged in purple attracts girls to toys that they might shy away from otherwise.
Toys come in different colors based on feedback from consumers and retailers, said a spokeswoman for the Toy Industry Association, a non-profit trade association that represents businesses involved in the creation and marketing of toys.
"Toy companies are basically businesses that respond to consumer requests," spokeswoman Adrienne Appell said. "If there's a market to explore, a company is going to want to put their marketing efforts behind products that families are going to buy."
Comments on the petition echoed McKenna's views about how the packaging and marketing might enforce gender stereotypes. Some parents, including men, agreed with her statement that boys benefit from playing with kid-friendly appliances and other toys typically associated with girls.
"I loved my Easy-Bake oven when I was a boy and I love cooking today. All boys should have access to the kitchen. And it's never too early to let them have that access," one commenter wrote.
"This goes for craft kits, too! My son (also loves cooking), has shown an interest in sewing, yet the kits out there are all geared toward girls. Cooking and sewing are basic life skills that all our children should learn ... especially when they show an interest," another commenter wrote.
Activists are heartened that a teen is speaking up on behalf of a sibling, rather than the usual advocates and opinion writers.
McKenna's voice lends credibility to the argument that traditional gender stereotypes are losing relevance among her generation, said Deborah Tolman, co-founder of SPARK, a nonprofit group that trains teens and young women to be media activists.
"People really listen when it comes from a young person or the actual consumer. It's different from adults making arguments in sophisticated words," Tolman said. "How can you ignore young people when they say they don't like what you're selling them and they want choices? It's pretty much a win-win situation for the advertiser and the consumer."
It's an issue close to SPARK, whose teen activists have orchestrated several campaigns in the past year to raise awareness of portrayals of women in media and popular culture. Last November, they launched a petition over LEGO's busty, pinkwashed "Friends" line asking the company to return to its gender-neutral approach to marketing. SPARK's efforts continued in 2012 by pressuring Seventeen and Teen Vogue to stop photoshopping models.
The fact that McKenna did it on her own -- as she and her mother claim -- shows that people her age are capable of scrutinizing media messages, said Dana Edell, executive director of SPARK.
"It matters most when it comes from them because they're the future leaders of the world who will be making decisions about marketing and advertising," Edell said. "So many people like to say, 'Who cares? Girls will always play with dolls and boys will always play with trucks and it doesn't matter.' So, it's encouraging to see someone who's not an adult stand up and say 'Wait a minute, actually, it does matter.' "
Toy marketing saw a shift this year when British store Harrod's re-opened its toy department organized by themes rather than gender.
More recently, Sweden's Top-Toy Group, a licensee of the Toys "R" Us brand, published a catalog featuring a girl aiming a toy gun and a boy styling hair with beauty accessories.
The gender-blind catalog prompted Carolyn Danckaert to start her own Change.org petition asking Toys "R" Us to follow suit in its catalogs and marketing materials in the United States. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
"People are recognizing that the divisions being created aren't necessary and it just makes more sense to be sorting toys thematically rather than by gender," said Danckaert, founder of "A Mighty Girl," an online marketplace for books and movies that feature females as main characters.
"We hear from parents all the time who see the value in allowing boys to play with baby dolls," she said. "A lot of people believe that it's desirable to encourage boys to become nurturers and develop the whole child, from analytical skills to the ability to empathize."
Since launching the petition, McKenna said she has learned a bit about scrutinizing ads.
"Now, whenever I see a toy commercial, I feel my mind automatically shooting to: 'Why are they marketing it this way?' " she said. "I can't help it. I wonder who this is being marketing to -- should they do it in a different way?"
Follow CNN Living on Facebook and Emanuella Grinberg on Twitter
Copyright 2012 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:6ded267a-3a09-4db8-9a82-8eb1590b57cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news4jax.com/Teen-says-toy-marketing-sends-wrong-message/-/475982/17678520/-/format/rss_2.0/view/print/-/jed14t/-/index.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 | 0.974932 | 1,518 | 1.5625 | 2 |
I had similar issues but resolved all of them, eventually.
I suggest to look at Adafruits usbtinyisp articles and make sure you are using the correct driver.
There is one for a 64bit operating system here http://www.ladyada.net/make/usbtinyisp/download.html
I can tell you it works for Windows7. This driver has the correct date stamp(after Win7 was released) contrary to another driver out there that predates Win7's release - and will not work.
The 32bit driver is on the same link as above and first up on that page.
I also bought a few of Sparkfun's usbtinyisp's which Limor Fried helped co-develop - they are already assembled.
I still use Arduino IDE V23 as V1.0 has code syntax changes and other issues that are not backward compatible with many programs V23 and before, so instead of rewriting all your code, just get up and running with V23 first.
Another tip - when plugging your Arduino in to the ICSP cable make sure the cable runs across the board(not to the outer edge). Yes it's nonsense but that's how they wired up the ICSP plug to the usbtiny.
Now if using IDE V23 find and open the Preferences.txt file and edit the line which says upload.using=usbtinyisp (line 24 of the code).
The default is upload.using=bootloader.
Save the file.
Now open up the IDE followed by attaching the usb to the usbtiny. You should see the blue and red led on (Sparkfuns version).
If you had the IDE open while trying to edit the file it won't take - close the IDE and try again.
If you are using IDE V1.0 this operation is unnecessary - but I prefer V23.
The critical part is getting the right driver correctly loaded and following these steps.
If you get it right then you can repeat the upload sketch, burn bootloader process as often as you like (good to do it a few times to get the feel of it).
You don't need to worry about Avrdude. Downloading Avrdude is not necessary if you want to upload with usbtiny. The IDE already has Avrdude.
But I have Avrdude downloaded as well. | <urn:uuid:1f3c628f-e9d9-401a-8579-b2122e7cfacb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adafruit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=146884 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955545 | 495 | 1.585938 | 2 |
When the poet Anne Sexton began writing in the late 1950's, those intensely autobiographical poems about her mental breakdowns, erotic fantasies and preoccupation with death brought her overnight acclaim, and some criticism, as a "confessional poet." As Sexton said, rather proudly, at the peak of her popularity in 1969, "I hold back nothing."
Neither did her psychiatrist. "Anne Sexton," to be published by Houghton Mifflin in September, is the first serious examination of Sexton's life and work since her suicide, at the age of 45, in 1974. It is also the first known time a biography of a major American figure relies on material taken from the subject's private therapy sessions with a psychiatrist.
The author of "Anne Sexton," Diane Wood Middlebrook, was given medical records, unpublished early poems and more than 300 audiotapes of sessions the poet had with Dr. Martin T. Orne, a psychiatrist who treated her from 1956 to 1964 and who first encouraged her to write poetry. Details of Madness and Abuse
His action has caused far more consternation in literary and more particularly psychiatric circles than any other revelation in the book, which chronicles in sometimes harrowing detail Sexton's madness, alcoholism and sexual abuse of her daughter, along with her many extramarital affairs, including one with a woman and another with the second of her many therapists.
Dr. Willard Gaylin, a Columbia University psychiatry professor and an expert on medical ethics, said, "Doctors have no obligation to history and certainly should not act as a research assistant to a biographer." He described Dr. Orne's action as a betrayal of his patient "and his profession."
Though Sexton left no instructions about what should be done with the tape recordings of her therapy sessions, Dr. Orne as well as Sexton's children and friends have said she would have agreed to their release.
"I have no question that she would have jumped at the opportunity to share what we did," Dr. Orne said in a recent interview. The Philadelphia-based psychiatrist, who wrote a foreword to the biography explaining his cooperation, added, "I was often more concerned about her privacy than she was."
Yet even though Dr. Orne acted with the permission of Sexton's literary executor, her daughter Linda Gray Sexton, his decision has shocked many of his colleagues, who say they view it as an unconscionable breach of medical ethics.
"A patient's right to confidentiality survives death," said Dr. Jeremy A. Lazarus, the chairman of the ethics committee of the American Psychiatric Association. "Our view is that only the patient can give that release. What the family wants does not matter a whit."
Until recently, families were better known for destroying private papers than for releasing them. Stephen Joyce, the grandson of James Joyce, burned letters written by Joyce's daughter, Lucia. Ted Hughes, the poet and husband of Sylvia Plath, has said he destroyed parts of Plath's diary to spare the feelings of their children.
But as even serious biographers show an ever-growing interest in uncovering their subjects' most private torments, or what Joyce Carol Oates has labeled pathography, relatives have begun taking it upon themselves to do the revealing. Linda Gray Sexton, who said she selected Ms. Middlebrook to write the book, did so for some of the same reasons that the children of John Cheever unveiled the secrets of their father's private life. "Our inclination is to let everything out," said John Cheever's son, Ben, who has prepared his father's journals for publication in the fall. "But we want to be in control of it." 'How Could I Cover It Up?'
Correction: July 20, 1991, Saturday An article on Monday about a biography of the poet Anne Sexton misidentified the author of a biography of John Cheever. He is Scott Donaldson. | <urn:uuid:b436e8fd-4052-4311-ac5a-754815c8036b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/15/books/poet-told-all-therapist-provides-the-record.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980541 | 807 | 1.539063 | 2 |
by Gun Owners of AmericaApril 1994
Senator Kennedy: "Are you going to make a recommendation to us to ban the manufacturing and production and the distribution of those weapons in the United States?" Mr. Bennett: "No, I'm not Senator. . . . We do not want to -- we've had this discussion before -- interfere with the legitimate rights of gun owners and collectors and hunters." --Discussion between Senator Edward Kennedy and Drug Czar William Bennett during September 7, 1989 session of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Some people think that the whole question of assault weapons is an easy one. "I don't need an AK-47 to shoot a deer," they say.
Actually, there is much more to the issue. Some essential facts have been lost in the supercharged rhetoric of gun control advocates.
Semi-auto "Assault Weapons" no Different from Many Hunting GunsThe primary fact is that a true "assault weapon" is a military firearm which can be fired either "automatically" (many shots per trigger pull) or "semi-automatically" (one shot per trigger pull). In other words, a true assault weapon is a machine gun which is already regulated by federal law.
The firearms that are covered by the so-called "assault weapons" laws are semi-automatic handguns, rifles and shotguns. Some of these firearms are made to look like a military-style weapon but are mechanically indistinguishable from the traditional-looking deer rifle.
As stated by Officer William McGrath in the Police Marksman:
These [assault rifles] are little different than the semi-automatic hunt-ing rifles that have been on the market since before World War II. The main difference between an assault rifle and a semi-automatic hunting rifle is that the assault rifle looks more "military". . . .(The term "assault" rifle is really a misnomer as a true assault rifle is a selective fire weapon capable of switching from fully automatic to semi automatic and back with the flip of a lever. There is already a ban on the impor- tation and manufacture for domestic sale of such weapons.) The charge that the assault rifle holds more rounds than a "legitimate" hunting rifle shows either a lack of knowledge or a deliberate twisting of the facts, as 10, 20 and 30 round magazines for "legitimate" hunting rifles have been on the market for decades without the world coming to an end. (1)Assault Weapons Bills Often Affect Traditional Hunting GunsThe Wall Street Journal has noted that national legislation banning these firearms could cover 20-30 million of them. Legal experts in the California Department of Justice did not believe it was possible to ban so-called "assault rifles" without banning all semi-automatics. (2)
Some states have passed legislation just this sweeping. In 1989, New Jersey State Senator Frank Graves introduced a bill which defined an assault weapon as any rifle or semi-automatic shotgun with a magazine capacity of 7 or more rounds or any semi-automatic handgun of 18 or more rounds. Any firearm which uses a detachable magazine technically has a "magazine capacity" of these large sounding numbers because it can accept a magazine of any capacity that fits that firearm.
Because of the wording used in this bill, and similar bills introduced in both the U.S. Congress and the state legislatures, a lot more people stood to lose their firearms than may have initially realized it. In this way, hunters and other sportsmen are misled into thinking that they have nothing to worry about.
By the time New Jersey passed a semi-automatic firearms ban, state officials estimated 300,000 firearms in the state were affected. (3) Owners of many rifles or carbines designed to accept a detachable magazine of more than 15 rounds, owners of shotguns which could hold over six rounds, and owners of handguns which were designed to accept a magazine over 17 rounds learned that they owned "assault weapons." (4)
By this definition, a Mossberg model 500 pump shotgun with eight-shot capacity, which is used by many police agencies and honest citizens, is transformed into a threat to society. So too is the Glock 17 pistol, which is rapidly becoming the choice of law enforcement for many of the same reasons which make it appealing for home defense--it is easy to maintain properly, easy to shoot and makes extra shots available if needed.
California did have an assault weapon incident before it passed a ban on 56 kinds of firearms in 1989. (5) A psychotic individual, who passed California's 15-day background check for the handgun he used to kill himself, used an AK-47 during the commission of a heinous crime.
Instead of drawing the lesson that gun control laws don't prevent crime, California's politicians decided to ban some rifles and shotguns and impose a waiting period on the sales of all other long guns. Unlike New Jersey's ban, Californians who owned banned weapons prior to a certain date would be allowed to keep them, so long as they registered them. (6)
Like many laws passed in haste to score political points, California's gun ban has run into problems. California mental health professionals criticized the new requirement that the mental health facilities submit the names of all patients to the state. Dr. Peter Gruenberg, president of the Southern California Psychiatric Society complained, "how paranoid do you have to be to see that as a possible infringement on your civil rights?" (7)
Police officers learned that because they had pled guilty to certain crimes years before, they could no longer carry guns as police officers, leading Frank Grimes, vice president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League to argue, "I don't believe it was ever the intent to take away the career of a peace officer in the pleading of a case eight or 10 years ago." (8)
By June 18, 1991, California Attorney General Dan Lungren felt compelled to warn California law enforcement officials to be careful in making "any seizure, arrest or prosecution" for possession of something "which may be viewed as an assault weapon, pending legislative action." (9)
Lungren noticed that many of the guns listed by trade name either did not exist at all or were so misrepresented that "without some new legislation to correct or clarify them, enforcement is not practical." (10)
Even before the Attorney General's attempt to clarify the law, most Californians who own banned firearms have not bothered to comply with it. Only 35,788 of the estimated 300,000-500,000 affected firearms were registered prior to the December 31, 1990 deadline for doing so. (11)
Semi-auto Ban Could Affect 50 Percent of Gun OwnersIn 1994, the U.S. Congress voted to ban scores of semi-automatic firearms. While the author of this ban, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), claimed the law would only ban 19 types of firearms, other government officials dispute this claim.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has admitted the law bans at least 45 guns. (12) And firearms experts have concluded that the law, which uses generic definitions to ban even more weapons, will actually cover more than 180 guns, thus affecting 50% of the gun owners in the country. (13)
This means that if a person fails to register a common hunting shotgun or rifle (not realizing that their gun is covered by the generic definitions in the bill) they will become a criminal and could lose their gun rights forever.
For example, the Feinstein ban covers any shotgun that holds 6 or more shells. Many shotguns only hold five, and thus their owners might not think to register their weapon. However, if British 2 inch short shells are used -- instead of the standard 2 3/4 inch or 3 inch shells -- these shotguns can then hold six rounds, and they have now become illegal firearms. (14)
Would officials interpret the law this way? They already have in New Jersey. State law bans any gun holding more than 15 rounds as an "assault weapon." This should have excluded the tubular-fed Remington 552 which only holds 15 .22 Long Rifle rounds. However, New Jersey officials have determined this rifle is an "assault weapon" because it will take 20 .22 Short rounds. (15)
Assault Weapons Not the Choice of CriminalsWhen the gun control side has it pointed out to them that their sweeping "assault weapons" bans will disarm large numbers of voters, they usually come back with a more limited bill which affects a certain number of scary-looking firearms that they claim are the choice of criminals.
Actually, police departments nationwide agree that criminals do not prefer these weapons:
* Police View: Over 100,000 police officers delivered a message to Congress in 1990 stating that only 2% to 3% of crimes are committed using a so-called "assault weapon." (16)
* Florida study: In Florida, only 3.5% of the guns recovered by the police were guns that could loosely be defined as "assault weapons." (17)
* California study: The California Department of Justice suppressed an official report showing that "assault weapons" comprised only 3.7% of the guns used in crime. (18) While the report was eventually leaked to the media, it received little press coverage.
* Virginia task force: A special task force on assault weapons found that only 2.8 percent of the homicides involved "assault-type weapons" during 1992. (19)
* Connecticut: The Department of Public Safety reports that only 1.79% of all confiscated firearms were "assault type weapons." (20)
* New Jersey: The New York Times reported that, "Although New Jersey's pioneering ban on military-style assault rifles was sold to the state as a crime-fighting measure, its impact on violence in the state . . . has been negligible, both sides agree." (21) Moreover, New Jersey police statistics show that only .026 of 1 percent of all crimes involve "assault rifles." (22)
* Nationwide: The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 1993 that violent criminals only carry or use a "military-type gun" in about one percent of the crimes nationwide. (23)
* Knives more deadly: According to the FBI, people have a much greater chance of being killed by a knife or a blunt object than by any kind of rifle, including an "assault rifle." (24) In Chicago, the chance is 67 times greater. That is, a person is 67 times more likely to be stabbed or beaten to death in Chicago than to be murdered by an "assault rifle." (25)
Col. Leonard Supenski of the Baltimore County Police claimed in 1991 that Maryland needs to ban these firearms because "assault weapons . . . have features that make them more threatening, particularly to police officers." (26) One would think that this threat would manifest itself in some quantifiable way -- like an increase in deaths of citizens and police officers caused by semi-automatic rifles. But that is not the case.
According to the FBI reports, only three brave Maryland police officers have been killed in the line of duty from 1989 to 1991. None of these murders were committed with an "assault weapon." (27)
While these tragedies grieve the community, it is hard to see how a proposed Maryland ban would have saved these officers lives. Semi-automatic "assault weapons" are simply not threatening police officers in Maryland.
In fact, these firearms are not menacing police officers nationwide. The FBI reports that no more than three officers will be killed in any one year by such guns. (28) And police officers are two to three times more likely to be killed by their own gun than by an "assault weapon." (29)
One can't have it both ways. If one wants to ban weapons that are dangerous to police, then begin by banning police officers' own weapons -- since these guns kill far more often than assault weapons. The same is true with knives and blunt objects. These instruments kill policemen far more often than these same semi-automatics. (30)
It is not without interest that memos were circulated within the California Department of Justice which suggested that the sponsor of the California ban, former Assemblyman Mike Roos (D) and others agreed not to include future studies on what firearms were used in crimes because these facts were "unlikely to support the theses on which the law was to be based." (31) No sense confusing legislators or the public with the facts.
Police Say Large Capacity Guns Better for Self-DefenseOn February 27, 1990, Col. Leonard Supenski of the Baltimore County Police testified before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in favor of a "prohibition on the manufacture, commercial sale and private possession of assault-styled weapons by anyone except law enforcement and military personnel -- period. We also seek a ban on magazines of over 15 rounds capacity" (his emphasis according to his written testimony).
Yet a little over a month earlier, January 8, 1990, Col. Supenski testified as an expert witness in a case brought by Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse in their efforts to overturn the state Handgun Roster Board's approval of nearly all FIE-manufactured handguns as suitable for "legitimate sporting activities, self-protection, or law enforcement."
Supenski stated that his objection to a particular .38 caliber revolver was based upon the need to remove the cylinder to reload the firearm:
[It is difficult] to rapidly reload this weapon.... You've got six shots and that is it. . . . The homeowner always has to contemplate the possibility of reloading, and one of the reasons for that is the law requires you to retreat. Retreat to the point in your home where you no longer can retreat, and then you can stand your ground. Eighty percent of those [knock and rob entries of occupied homes] involve more than [one] individual. So the possibility of needing to reload rapidly and quickly is always present.FIE's attorney suggested during cross-examination that if reloading was so essential, "the best weapon to have would be an assault rifle with a 30-round magazine." Not wanting to be on record as justifying the ownership of AK-47's, Supenski replied that "no, the best weapon to have if you must have a weapon, is a shotgun."
The man officially in charge of crime prevention in Baltimore County, after discussing how you or I must be prepared to face a gang of hoods bursting into our living rooms at any moment, seems to think that private firearms ownership is an "if you must" option--nice to have but not a necessity.
Baltimore County residents now know that their police administrators believe six shots is too few and 15 shots is too many for civilians to have available to protect their loved ones. But when the police are allowed to choose their own guns, magazine capacity is a big selling point. "More" almost always equals "better."
Even in 1978, it was standard procedure for a Philadelphia, PA police "Stakeout Car" to contain two .30-'06 rifles, two 12-gauge shotguns, a .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun and a .30 caliber M-1 assault carbine. The cars also each contained 1,000 rounds of ammunition. (32)
The Santa Fe, New Mexico Police Department literally brags that it has more fully-automatic machine guns than the Los Angeles Police Department. (33)
If the police who visit dangerous neighborhoods for a few minutes feel that they need a high capacity semi-automatic to ensure their safety, what of the people who live in those same neighborhoods? Surely these worried citizens have even more right to own such a firearm.
Gun Owners of America Executive Director, Larry Pratt, knows all too well what goes through a citizen's mind during a time of danger. Pratt often reminds politicians that he learned the importance of individual gun ownership during the 1968 riots in Washington, D.C. As a man with a wife and young family, he had every reason to fear for their safety in a situation well beyond the capabilities of the local police.
Pratt purchased the best high-capacity semi-automatic firearm available to him at the time--a shotgun. Had some of the firearms which are on many banned lists today been available to him then, "I can assure you that I would have bought one."
Koreans Defend Themselves with "Assault Rifles" in Los Angeles RiotsMany of the guns which current "assault weapons" bans are targeting -- including the federal ban enacted in 1994 -- are the very guns with which the Korean merchants used to defend themselves during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. (34) Those firearms proved to be extremely useful to the Koreans. Their stores were left standing while other stores around them were burned to the ground.
The Korean merchants would agree that when one is facing mob violence and the police are nowhere to be found, one needs a gun that shoots more than just six bullets. A ban on large capacity semi-automatic firearms will only harm one's ability to defend himself and his family.
While most Americans are able to spend little time thinking of what the police can do to protect them during times of domestic tranquillity, there is no guarantee that this will always be the case. Citizens, like the police, have a right, and some would say a duty, to be able to prepare themselves against certain threats.
Assault-Type Semi-Automatics Often Less DangerousCalifornia's new assault weapons law bans firearms like the AK-47, which fires a 7.62x39 cartridge, and the UZI, which fires the same 9mm cartridge which more police departments are turning to for their departments' handguns. Neither of these bullets will do half as much damage on impact as the .30-'06 cartridge used by an ordinary deer rifle.
When firing comparable bullets, a 7.62x39 cartridge will generate only two-thirds of the muzzle velocity of a .30-'06 cartridge (2350 feet per second vs. 3140) and barely half of the muzzle energy (1495 foot-pounds vs. 2736). (35) Yet the .30-'06 was invented in 1906, long before the weaker cartridge used by the AK-47. (36)
Why would the military want to switch from a more powerful cartridge to a less powerful one, as it has done? Mr. J. Bolton Maddox, a retired Washington police captain, flatly stated that semi-automatics like the AK-47 were designed to wound, rather than kill. (37)
A well-placed shot from any firearm can be fatal. But obviously, a person has a better chance of surviving being shot by a bullet meant to wound a 170-pound man instead of a bullet meant to kill a 500-pound animal.
Politicians Using Assault Weapon Issue as Political PloyAdvocates of gun bans of this sort continue to claim that criminals and drug dealers prefer these firearms. The evidence suggests otherwise. Of the 72 murder weapons used in the District of Columbia in 1989 which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was asked to trace, precisely one was a rifle of any kind. (38) Of the 16,370 firearms seized in New York City in 1988, rifles of all kinds totaled 1,028. (39) (A firearm can be seized for any number of reasons in New York City, including a lack of the proper permit.)
Politicians have seized on this issue not because there is a great problem but precisely because this is a visible issue which appears to affect few people. They can appear to be "doing something" about crime without putting people in jail. Governor Mario Cuomo of New York berated the New York Legislature in 1989 for failing to pass an assault weapons ban in order to protect the police. But it turned out that no police officers were killed with an "assault weapon" during the entire previous year. (40)
Similarly, New Jersey Governor James Florio railroaded the legislature into passing a ban on semi-automatics in 1990, even though "assault weapons were not used in any murder in the state in 1989." (41) Furthermore, the New Jersey State Police admitted that at the time the ban was enacted, they did not have "complete figures on their [assault weapons] statewide use by criminals." (42) Yet despite this lack of hard evidence that there was any problem whatsoever, a law was passed which made criminals of the owners of 300,000 firearms. (43)
The events in New Jersey should remind us exactly what a ban on what many mistakenly believe to be a small group of firearms will mean in practice. Even though military-style semi-automatics are a relatively small part of the nation's firearms stock, a ban on such firearms inevitably must affect more traditional-looking rifles and shotguns. There is no way to mechanically differentiate the firearms proposed for registration or confiscation from the ordinary centerfire rifles honest citizens have used for sport and recreation for years.
Now that Congress feels it can ban some firearms, despite the clear wording of the Second Amendment, exactly what protection do other firearms have? Recall that New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan suggested recently that Congress could ban the sale of 9mm ammunition on the basis that they had already banned Teflon-coated bullets. (44)
This ban, it is safe to predict, will have no effect on criminal behavior, which will lead to cries for still more stringent gun control. New York City's original handgun permit law was sold to the public back in 1911 as a way to stop killing. The City murder rate leaped 18% over the next 12 months. The legislature decided the law was too weak 68 times over the next 70 years -- but fewer New Yorkers than ever feel safe in their homes, let alone their streets and parks. (45)
It is also worth recalling that federal income tax was once a temporary measure that affected relatively few people. The dangers of most legislation become evident only after time.
Those who urge compromise on this issue forget that neither the National Rifle Association nor Gun Owners of America is likely to be allowed to decide how the compromise legislation will be enforced.
A member asked Gun Owners of America founder and chairman, Senator H.L. Richard- son to investigate what he believed was police abuse of the California assault weapons ban. The member was shocked to learn that the police were being told if any homes in a neighborhood they were visiting contained registered "assault weapons." In one case, officers investigating a man sleeping in a car were told that a hazard (a legally owned and registered AR-15) existed at the address the car was parked in front of.
Senator Richardson, outraged at this abuse of the privacy rights of citizens accused of absolutely no crime, filed a formal complaint with California's Chief Deputy Attorney General, David Stirling. Stirling's response:
The legislature has not specifically limited the use of this information and accordingly this Department does not believe it has the authority to place limitations on its use which were not imposed by the legislature. In other words, unless the government is specifically told not to do something, it feels free to do what it wants. Silence is permissive. Yet California gun owners are not allowed to interpret silence as an argument for protecting their rights. The referee is by no means neutral in California or elsewhere. Often he is all but wearing the uniform of our opponents' team.
Legal Government Record Keeping Often Breeds Illegal Record KeepingThe government has shown itself willing to flout even clear prohibitions on certain conduct if it chooses to do so. California resident Mike Smith learned this the hard way in January of 1991.
Smith was stopped by the police after three hours of shooting practice near the Santa Rosa Mountains. The area he had chosen for his practice turned out to have been an unmarked game reserve in which any shooting was banned.
The Bureau of Land Management Officer involved in Smith's arrest took an interest in his Springfield SAR-48 rifle. Under a new California law, the rifle in question had to be registered. He called in the make, model and serial number of the rifle.
It turned out that the rifle was not registered. But the police had on file who the rifle was sold to, when it was sold, and from what store it was sold. Evidently, the BATF had illegally transferred to the police already illegally obtained data from California gun stores.
Gun Owners Legal Assistance Program is aware that BATF has attempted to compile a list of names of those who have purchased firearms covered by the state's new gun law. BATF has gone to individual gun stores and copied the names and addresses of those who bought "assault rifles." This "forward tracing" is illegal under federal law.
Military-Type Firearms Are Protected by 2nd AmendmentAssault weapons legislation not only disarms honest hunters and sportsmen while not further troubling the thug and his already illegal and far more deadly sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun, but it also cuts out the heart of the Second Amendment to our Constitution.
The Second Amendment was enacted not to protect hunters and sportsmen, but to ensure that the government never had a monopoly of force it could use to oppress the citizenry. Events not too long ago in Panama, China and the Soviet Union should remind us once again that when a government has a monopoly on the means of effective defense -- like semi-automatic firearms -- there is no check upon its appetites.
Even in this country, government officials can go too far. Consider a small sampling of abuses that have occurred in this decade alone:
* In 1992, government agents murdered a mother and son in the mountains of Idaho. The father, Randy Weaver, and a friend had used a deer rifle even more powerful than a standard military rifle to shoot back at the agents. (Before he was killed, the son had also used a semi-automatic military type rifle to return the agents' fire.) Weaver and his friend killed one agent, although a jury later acquitted both of these men, deeming they had used justifiable force in self-defense. (46)
* New York City and Chicago have begun confiscating firearms of law-abiding citizens, report newspapers in each city. In New York City, officials are using registration lists to identify gun owners, while in Chicago, police are making random searches in apartment complexes. (47)
Noted constitutional scholar Stephen Halbrook has documented that "[t]he British attempt to seize or destroy the arms and ammunition at Lexington triggered the revolutionary shot heard around the world." (48) Some of those arms were among the finest available at the time and helped win America her independence from tyranny. The British could not understand why the colonists wanted to keep their military-style flintlock muskets since the British Army was there to "protect" them. Today, the same question is asked about the paramilitary assault rifles owned by hundreds of thousands of Americans.
The issue has remained fundamentally the same over the years. The Founding Fathers in their wisdom tried to guarantee that no future tyrant, be he domestic or foreign, could impose his will upon a helpless population.
Those who argue that the authors of the Second Amendment did not intend to protect the right of ordinary American citizens to own military-style weapons must contend with the fact that the same Congress which passed the Second Amendment also passed the Militia Act of 1792. This law required every free male between the ages of 18 and 44 to own the same type of rifle that was used by soldiers in the Revolutionary War and to own ammunition as well.
The Supreme Court confirmed this in 1939. The Court stated in U.S. v. Miller:
The Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense . . . [and that] when called for service, these men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time. (49)Thus, military-styled firearms are constitutionally protected firearms for individual citizens. The Court's reference to the militia is not a reference to the National Guard but "all males" who are physically able to defend the country.
As stated by a U.S. Senate Subcommittee in 1982:
There can be little doubt from [the Militia Act of 1792] that when the Congress and the people spoke of a "militia," they had reference to the traditional concept of the entire populace capable of bearing arms, and not to any formal group such as what is today called the National Guard. The purpose was to create an armed citizenry, such as the political theorists at the time considered essential to ward off tyranny. (50)This nation has enjoyed 200 years of freedom because, like the Swiss and the Israelis, individuals have the right to bear arms that can be used effectively against would-be tyrants, both foreign and domestic. That is a far surer foundation for our freedoms over the next 200 years than some bland assurances that we have nothing to fear and never will. | <urn:uuid:59d54adc-dfea-429c-97ac-d426e7cdc2fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gunowners.org/fs9403.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968435 | 5,918 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Hot on HuffPost Parents:
Indian women's wombs for rent
Would you rent out your womb to make some extra cash? Apparently a growing number of women in India are doing just that. And it's freaking me out.
According to an article I read in Marie Claire (take it or leave it, ladies, but it was in print) couples in the United States who are, for whatever reason, unable to or uninterested in carrying pregnancies to term in their own wombs are turning to women in India to do it.
I've heard of publishing companies outsourcing typesetting to India, but this seems a bit extreme and ridiculous.
Although I couldn't dig up the article for you online, it can be found in the August issue of Marie Claire featuring growing star Anne Hathaway on the cover. The article is titled "Womb for Rent" and is wriiten by Abigail Haworth.
Scary similarities to Brave New World and the Sci-Fi genre in general, I think it would emotionally be very hard to have a baby, even if it weren't made of your own genetic material, and then have to turn it over to people who were basically strangers.
Of course, surrogate parenting is nothing new in this country. It's a service that has provided many women with the opportunity to have a family when they otherwise could not. What interested me about this article is that the women involved were doing it to make money.
If you get a chance, check out the article and let me know what you think! If nothing else it makes for some very interesting reading.
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
- Why should anyone listen to a _____, what makes her an expert? Harpo is jus an actress, all she does is sit on her tush & claim she knows it all. ...
- Parent's Unwind Page ???
- What's the penalty for falsley claiming relation to a person does it have to be for monetary gain or proven not just a social gesture | <urn:uuid:518b7e46-c3ab-4336-8fd9-389c51d8d6e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parentdish.com/2007/07/17/indian-womens-wombs-for-rent/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972289 | 412 | 1.65625 | 2 |
THE PERFORM ACT IS BACK
Ask your Member of Congress to OPPOSE the re-introduced "Perform Act," S. 256, which will effectively ban the introduction of new digital products that don’t conform to a narrow definition of "reasonable recording."
- Users would not be able to listen to songs in a different order than they were broadcast.
- Digital products wouldn’t even be able to play back songs by artist or genre.
THE FAIR USE ACT, H.R. 1201
HRRC advises you to ask your Member of Congress to support the FAIR Use Act and encourage American innovation. | <urn:uuid:2017511f-6a9e-4395-bb3e-697a00d85676> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hrrc.org/index.php?id=2&subid=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96858 | 131 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Here’s a question for readers: if a journalist chooses to quote an obviously inaccurate – and in this case, patently unhinged – statement made by someone in the news, does that journalist also have an obligation to inform audiences of the statement’s inaccuracy? And, should the journalist chose not to provide background information which allows the audience to put that quote into its correct context, is he or she guilty of trying to shape audience perception of an event?
The BBC has so far produced three reports on the subject of Bashar al Assad’s claim made on February 3rd that the alleged Israeli attack on a benign-sounding “research centre” and/or weapons convoy last week is an attempt to “destabilise” his country and proves Israel’s involvement in the 23 month internal conflict in Syria.
On February 3rd the Middle East section of the BBC News website looked like this:
Articles included a written report entitled “President Assad accuses Israel of destabilising Syria”, a filmed report also shown on BBC television news entitled “Syria crisis: Assad claims Israel ‘destabilising’ country” and analysis by the BBC’s Beirut correspondent Jim Muir under the title “Syria strike leaves dialogue bid open”.
The first two of those items repeat variations of the following claim:
“President Assad said on Sunday that last Wednesday’s raid “unmasked the true role Israel is playing, in collaboration with foreign enemy forces and their agents on Syrian soil, to destabilise and weaken Syria”.”
The trouble is that the reports make no attempt whatsoever to explain to those viewing or reading them – the majority of whom will not be familiar with the precise make-up of the forces fighting against Assad or the ins and outs of the conflict – just how ridiculous Assad’s claim is. The same bizarre notion was also promoted on BBC Twitter accounts.
In two of the articles Jim Muir promotes the idea that:
“..the air strike has strengthened President Bashar al-Assad’s regional credentials as the standard-bearer of Arab defiance to Israel.” [emphasis added]
That bizarre choice of phrasing, together with the BBC’s failure to put Assad’s ridiculous claims into any sort of context, makes the BBC sound more like one of the conspiracy theory-loving official Syrian news agencies rather than an objective Western media outlet committed to accuracy and impartiality. | <urn:uuid:75b05b36-d58e-495e-9f7c-3d6fd278481a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bbcwatch.org/2013/02/04/bbc-unquestioningly-promotes-assads-destabilisation-claims/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933964 | 515 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Translocation (6;9)- Related Myeloid Neoplasms in Children Are Diseases of Older Children with Variable Presentations.
John Joseph, Andrea Sheehan, Xinyan Lu, Tarek Elghetany. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; Texas Children's Hospital, Houston
Background: Translocation (6;9) is recognized in the current WHO Classification as acute myeloid leukemia with recurrent cytogenetic abnormalities. Patients tend to have a poor outcome.
Design: We reviewed the cytogenetics records at Texas Children's Hospital in the last 6 years. Four cases of t(6;9) was found among 92 cases of myeloid neoplasms for a frequency of 4%. Clinical follow-up was obtained by review of each patient's electronic medical record.
Results: In three cases, t(6;9) was the sole abnormality while one patient had concomitant complex abnormalities. The age of all four children ranged from 12-15 years. There were three males and one female. Two cases presented with a sufficiently high blast count to be labeled as acute myeloid leukemia. One case had Auer rods and 10% blasts in the bone marrow and the diagnosis of RAEB-2 was rendered. The fourth case presented with a high white cell count and marked dysplastic features but less than 20% blasts in the peripheral blood and bone marrow prompting the diagnosis of atypical CML. The two AML cases went into remission with standard induction therapy followed by matched related donor transplant. Both patients are alive with no disease 1 and 2.5 years after diagnosis. The RAEB-2 patient received allogeneic BMT and is alive and well 4 years after diagnosis. The atypical CML case died in three weeks of brain hemorrhage secondary to a rapidly progressive DIC. This patient had complex cytogenetic abnormalities at presentation.
Conclusions: Despite this limited study, we may conclude that t(6;9) myeloid disorders affect older children, may have a variety of presentations, including MDS, AML, and atypical CML and they respond well to therapy if the t(6;9) is the sole cytogenetic abnormality.
Monday, February 28, 2011 1:00 PM
Poster Session II # 173, Monday Afternoon | <urn:uuid:fbcdd96c-89f6-4a19-adb8-33bf3e777cb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abstracts2view.com/uscap11/view.php?nu=USCAP11L_1291 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944339 | 482 | 1.75 | 2 |
Church in Ireland at a breaking point says Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on “60 Minutes”
Dublin archbishop says sex abuse scandals are not over
Martin tells CBS reporter Bob Simon that it is entirely due to the child sex abuse scandal. “Now is not the time to forget,” he says.
"There's a real danger today of people saying, ‘The child abuse scandal is over. Let's bury it. Let's move on,’” he tells Simon.
“It isn't over. Child protection and the protection of children is something that will go on…for the rest of our lives and into the future. Because the problems are there,” says the archbishop.
Bob Simon’s report looks at how the sexual abuse scandal in Ireland has transformed the way of life.
He shows how the child sex abuse crisis and cover-up in the Catholic Church in Ireland has taken a devastating toll on one of the most Catholic countries in the world. Some parishes that once saw 90 percent Sunday Mass attendance are down to two percent.
A country that once produced so many priests that they were considered an important export now doesn’t have enough for its own churches the report finds.
Despite the publication of the Murphy Commission’s report, a scathing analysis of the abuse and cover-up, the scandal is not over, says Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, one of the highest ranking church officials to openly criticize the Catholic Church.
When Martin became archbishop, he provided the Murphy Commission investigating child abuse with 65,000 files his predecessor had refused to turn over. In his sermons, he confronted the Church head-on for the behavior that caused the scandal.
Martin takes Simon on a tour of his old seminary in Dublin. “When I entered this building…there were 120 of us, and they were building a new extension. At the moment, I have 10 seminarians.”
In the Southwest of Ireland, Simon talks to the people of Allihies, Cork, who remember when the parish priest had more power than the mayor or the police chief. It was a special status that set the stage for the abuse and the cover-up.
Says Monica Polly, a parish council member in the town, “They cover it up because the priests were supposed to be perfect. They had an image of what they should be and they kept to that image rather than the reality.” She has grown pessimistic. “To be honest, I don't think we've seen it all yet.”
Simon also talks to a priest, the Rev. Shane Crombie, who is optimistic about the future of the Church. Crombie uses the analogy of fire to describe the Church’s troubles. He keeps a charred cross on the altar of his church, a remnant of the original building rebuilt after burning down 25 years ago. It’s a reminder that the Catholic Church, too, can emerge from the flames that have engulfed it.
“I think the fire that's burning in the church at the moment is…the fire of disappointment, the fire of absolute rejection…of cover-up,” he tells Simon. “It is the people, it was the people that rallied together to rebuild this church. It will be the people who will rebuild the church that is on fire,” says Crombie.
The archbishop speaks to Bob Simon for a 60 MINUTES report about the effects of the scandal on Ireland to be broadcast Sunday, March 4 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Here’s a clip of the “60 Minute” report:
15 - 75 | See all comments
- Young Irish woman turned in to U.S. authorities
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- The top ten things I dislike about Irish...
- 'I expect terror attacks during G8 summit'...
- Nigerian migrants send $653 million a year...
- Violent attacks on gays in New York up 70...
- Do the Irish speak a foreign language?
- Top bishops clash over excommunication of... | <urn:uuid:8665fa7d-bee7-40e2-88e8-f918ce95b40c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Church-in-Ireland--at-a-breaking-point-says-Archbishop-Diarmuid-Martin-on-60-Minutes-141161963.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967508 | 896 | 1.632813 | 2 |
I also use the hand held sharpners for two reasons. To keep the kids in their
seats and to avoid the noise of the sharpner. I do sharpen the pencils in
the morning and during my lunch break.
I buy Magic Rub erasers and cut them in half. If I catch a student drilling
holes or tearing one, they replace it with a new one. Had to do it once with
a first grader this year.
I also don't keep the pencils and erasers at the tables anymore. It became a
nightmare because kids dropped them on the floor or took them then the next
class did not have supplies. I had out pencils and erasers when needed and
pick them up at the end of class. Each table has a designated helper that
does that for me. No one is allowed to leave until all supplies are returned
to the appropriate location. Janet | <urn:uuid:be586fbb-a10f-46fd-b362-454a8a7341dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.getty.edu/education/teacherartexchange/archive/Feb02/0454.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976636 | 190 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Video:How to Organize a Pantrywith Kris Sundholm
Organizing your pantry doesn't have to be a hassle. Even if your have stock piles of canned goods and other assorted items in your pantry, you can organize it with these tips and some organizer products.See Transcript
Transcript:How to Organize a PantryHi I'm Kris Sundholm for About.com. Using some tips from About.com's personal organizing webpage. An organized panty is essential if you have a small pantry or just way too much food.
Clean Out the Pantry CompletelyThe first thing to do is empty the pantry completely. Remember check dates when your doing this so that you can discard food that has gone bad or is out dated. Assess each item and ask yourself if you need it or will use it. You can donate unused items to a shelter or food bank. Its always a good idea clean off the shelves while it is empty.
Restock Pantry Shelves With CategoriesKeep similar items together. It will be easier to find what your looking for. Pasta and rice, chips and crackers, sauces and condiments. Combine or repackage loose products. If you don't have any extra storage products. Its best to put the taller items in the back and shorter items in the front, so that you can see part of all the items. Put snack items in an easy to get to area and put items you don't use often or something you don't want the kids to get into on the top shelf.
Use Organizing Tools to Keep Order in the PantrySoup racks, turn tables and 3 tier racks also aid in organizing and saving space.To keep your pantry organized when you go grocery shopping make sure everything is put into its place with like items.
To learn more visit us on the web at About.com | <urn:uuid:6a8e2c8a-26c4-478d-9ee7-42ab65eb44ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://video.about.com/personalorganizing/How-to-Organize-a-Pantry.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933023 | 383 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Sometimes, when parental fogyism gets the better of us, we just have to ask why. Why, for example, would you want to encourage a child to learn text messaging before they need to? Won't they be retreating to their secluded corners with device in hand soon enough?
Mattel apparently wants to accelerate adolescent isolation by introducing the $65 "IM-Me," kind of a training-wheels version of a texting phone or SMS device that we spotted on Gadgets Weblog. About the only good thing we can see is that it doesn't require a two-year contract, working instead only within the range of an accompanying USB dongle that connects to a parent's computer (presumably so you can monitor what the kids are doing).
We have another idea. If you want kids to experiment with short-range communication projects, how about trying two cups and some string? | <urn:uuid:869fa1dd-eb1a-4adf-8c25-bfb8d3be3657> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9688894-1.html | 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 | 0.956919 | 182 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Survey: Oregonians Prioritize Investment in Infrastructure, Farm/Forest Protection, and Water Quality
Oregonians are sending state leaders clear priorities to drive the economic recovery: invest in good long term bets, like world-class infrastructure, a reliable resource economy, and healthy rivers and aquifers.
That is according to a new pair of surveys released by the Oregon’s Kitchen Table project. The consultations were commissioned to help inform Governor Kitzhaber’s 10 Year Plan for Oregon and the 2013-15 budget. This release is the third topic area to be covered, following surveys on Education and Justice, and Healthy People and Revenue.
In these questionnaires, Oregonians were asked to imagine they had $100 to spend on a variety of strategies for promoting economic growth and for environmental protection, respectively. Averages were taken of each respondent’s opinions to create an overall picture of Oregonians’ spending priorities. In both areas and both surveys, Oregonians rated infrastructure investments and protecting farm and forest lands very highly in both surveys.
In the economic growth category, the clear winner was “invest in public infrastructure to provide jobs and ensure Oregon has the necessary transportation, power, water and other resources to support growth,” scoring above other options like more job training and capital availability. Among respondents in the DHM poll, infrastructure investment was a very clear leader, while respondents in the second consultation rated it roughly equal with financial and tax incentives to attract and retain businesses.
When asked to rate strategies for a healthy environment, respondents in both polls placed the highest priority on ensuring communities’ access to safe drinking water and healthy rivers, and managing land development “in ways that maintain our working farms and forests.” Preserving open space nad parks also ranked highly. Other, lower-ranking categories included reducing toxic air pollution, managing water use, and improving wildlife habitat.
Oregonians still value all these efforts. But good land use planning is the foundation of making many of them successful. As one of the representative comments with the survey argued, “If we don’t manage development appropriately, these other concerns can’t be resolved.”Although it’s easy to chase the latest economic fad or pave over farmland for houses, state and local leaders should focus on the best bets for future Oregonians. Oregon’s long-term health, productivity, and livability depends on making good land use choices today.
Farms and forests provide reliable (and growing) economic contributions to Oregon—farming alone supports almost a fifth of Oregon’s economy and over 260,000 jobs. Converting working lands for warehouses or subdivisions can often cause a double-whammy for Oregonians: new infrastructure must be built and maintained. Since there is often no revenue source for long-term maintenance, and many land uses cost more to service than they provide in tax revenue, this converts productive land to a long-term liability for taxpayers. With a massive infrastructure maintenance backlog facing cities throughout the state, leaders should be careful not to dig a deeper hole as they look for strategies to get Oregon’s economy back on track.
One survey was administered online to 2,790 Oregonians by DHM Research. This poll was not intended to be representative. A second survey, administered by Knowledge Networks, surveyed a representative statewide sample of 423 Oregonians. The polls were commissioned in tandem for comparison purposes, and returned similar results. To read the full report, click here: http://oregonskitchentable.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Economy-and-Jobs-and-Healthy-Environment-Outcome-Areas-Findings.pdf.
Oregon’s Kitchen Table is an experimental program to give all Oregonians a voice in setting priorities and suggesting policy for the state on a variety of issues. To learn more about the Oregon’s Kitchen Table project and to sign up to participate, please visit oregonskitchentable.org.
To learn more about land use in your life, please visit www.friends.org/LandUseIs. | <urn:uuid:df60a569-317c-43a8-9079-a0d422b827eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.friends.org/latest/survey-oregonians-prioritize-investment-infrastructure-farmforest-protection-and-water-qualit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935041 | 852 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Shutting News of the World looks like such a grand gesture. In fact, it's another attempt to look like something is being done -- while in fact changing nothing fundamental within News International.
Shutting the 168-year-old paper isn't a great sacrifice (although, since it was Murdoch's first UK paper, he may feel sentimental about it); it's just bowing to the inevitable. No one wanted to advertise, no one wanted to buy and precious few people wanted to appear in the paper: better to shoot it and put it out of its misery.
But the fact that the URLs for SunonSunday.com and SunonSunday.co.uk were reserved fully two days ago suggests that News International may just be planning to switch its employees over to a "new" paper just like the "old" paper -- but with a new name. This rebranding will fool no one. The fact that the teams are still headed by Rebekah Brooks means nothing will have changed -- except that now, presumably, all her employees will loathe her for failing to protect them.
The fundamental change that Murdoch must confront is that the political parties have discovered a little courage. In unity, they are bold enough to challenge the monster that, heretofore held them in thrall. They might come to enjoy that courage; it certainly plays well with the public. | <urn:uuid:babb755e-7c22-4960-a4ac-dfab1a478116> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-heffernan-/another-empty-gesture-fro_b_892391.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977832 | 279 | 1.625 | 2 |
A reader (hat tip Bob Abu!) sent me this staggeringly good article written by long-time political journalist Seymour Hersh, appearing in the New Yorker, entitled “The Next Act.” Specifically, it addresses whether the recently humbled Bush Administration is now more likely, or less likely, to invade Iran.
What was Cheney’s reaction to the possibility of a Democratic Congress and Senate?
Cheney began reminiscing about his job as a lineman, in the early nineteen-sixties, for a power company in Wyoming. Copper wire was expensive, and the linemen were instructed to return all unused pieces three feet or longer. No one wanted to deal with the paperwork that resulted, Cheney said, so he and his colleagues found a solution: putting “shorteners” on the wire–that is, cutting it into short pieces and tossing the leftovers at the end of the workday. If the Democrats won on November 7th, the Vice-President said, that victory would not stop the Administration from pursuing a military option with Iran. The White House would put “shorteners” on any legislative restrictions, Cheney said, and thus stop Congress from getting in its way.
The White House’s concern was not that the Democrats would cut off funds for the war in Iraq but that future legislation would prohibit it from financing operations targeted at overthrowing or destabilizing the Iranian government, to keep it from getting the bomb. “They’re afraid that Congress is going to vote a binding resolution to stop a hit on Iran, à la Nicaragua in the Contra war,” a former senior intelligence official told me.
The article also addresses progress (or lack thereof) in Iraq, and how the decisions made in the next few months, in the midst of a zeitgeist for change, may be critical in the way this war is fought.
“Bush has followed Cheney’s advice for six years, and the story line will be: ‘Will he continue to choose Cheney over his father?’ We’ll know soon.”
“Iraq is as bad as it looks, and Afghanistan is worse than it looks,” Armitage said. “A year ago, the Taliban were fighting us in units of eight to twelve, and now they’re sometimes in company-size, and even larger.” Bombing Iran and expecting the Iranian public “to rise up” and overthrow the government, as some in the White House believe, Armitage added, “is a fool’s errand.”
“Iraq is the disaster we have to get rid of, and Iran is the disaster we have to avoid,” Joseph Cirincione, the vice-president for national security at the liberal Center for American Progress, said. “Gates will be in favor of talking to Iran and listening to the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but the neoconservatives are still there”–in the White House–”and still believe that chaos would be a small price for getting rid of the threat. The danger is that Gates could be the new Colin Powell–the one who opposes the policy but ends up briefing the Congress and publicly supporting it.”
The thought that America would even think of invading, or waging war with another country sends shudders through me. We are over-extended and bleeding money, just with the wars we’re in now. With Bush’s tax cuts and rampant spending, I’ll be paying for this war until the end of my life. Likely my children will too. Don’t make my grandchildren pay for Bush’s folly.
Check out the rest of this excellent article by Hersh. | <urn:uuid:8b140611-32c9-4699-909f-72ed3095bacb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2006/11/23/is-humbled-admin-more-or-less/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965402 | 780 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Southeastern South Dakota, where I live, was having an unseasonably mild August. By the middle of August the weather felt like the middle of a normal September. Temperatures were warm all day with the evenings cooling off nicely. The local flora and fauna were responding accordingly. My five year old daughter and I had decided to do some fishing on a Saturday afternoon. My daughter loves to fish, and the night before had been like an invitation to catch. The sky had been clear and warm all day on Friday and right as the sun started to relent, a nice low pressure system had rolled in; bringing a little drizzle and a mating swarm of mayflies that, if they had teamed up, could have grabbed you by the shoulders and carried you away. These things were gigantic, an inch or longer in the body, and were so numerous that your car would get covered with them at the nearby gas station when you stopped to pump. I had never seen a spinner fall like this before and I had fished it alone and hard. Fish were rising to these bugs and I caught many large ones. The particular species that were partaking in the buggy feast are locally known as mooneyes. Don’t feel bad, even with 20 years of fishing these waters I proclaimed, “Holy shit, I caught a piranha!’ when I landed my first one that day. A google search when I got home revealed the real species. These are flat, silver fish, with oddly upturned, toothy mouths and large scales. The largest one I caught was nearly as big around as my net. Anyway, I wanted my daughter to participate in this fishing bonanza. While she wouldn’t be able to dead drift a mayfly look-a-like to them, I had noticed that once the feeding frenzy was on; these fish were aggressively biting anything that appeared semi-foodlike. A minnow on a bobber should be particularly effective. So I spent the half hour drive to the stream teaching her about the lifecycle of mayflies and the ensuing fish feast that would inevitably follow. We fished for a few hours and the mayflies refused to breed and die. My daughter was completely out of patience.
If you have ever been fishing with a 5 year old, you know that it can be a daunting proposition. They want to catch fish, the bigger the better, just like any of us. However, they would rather not wait for these fish to show up. So you are left with a quandary. Do you try to put them into some small bluegills, so they can catch many small fish quickly and eventually get bored with that and want to go home. Or do you try to get them into bigger fish and run the risk of them not catching anything for a while and getting bored and wanting to go home? The trick, in my opinion is twofold. First, you embrace the experience for what it is; time in nature with your child and don’t be afraid to reel in and go look at the cow-patties and explore for pretty rocks. It is the 5 year old equivalent to me sitting on the edge of a stream thinking about how buddha was right when he said life is like a river. The inherent value in recognizing how truly unimportant our responsibilities can be and going to explore something new. Secondly, and more practically, fish for the little ones without excluding the possibility of a wallhanger.
My daughter and I had been fishing on a prior occasion and she was catching bluegills as fast as I could get them off the hook and a new worm on it. I had purchased a couple dozen crawlers for this particular fishing trip and we were going through them so fast it looked like we were going to run out. I didn’t get to fish that day; I was too busy baiting her hook and taking her fish off. Despite the impending nightcrawler shortage I continued to put full, large worms on her hook and direct her to cast to the outside of the pingpong table sized area where the bluegills were hanging. I thought there was a chance, with a nice looking worm and by being on the outskirts of the fishy circle, that we might pick up a big cruiser. Sure enough, her bobber vanished and she fought with everything she had, nearly losing her pole in the process and, after screaming at me that this was her fish and to not help, she drug it on shore. She had landed a 19 inch walleye. That is a fish that is nearly half as big as her. She still talks about landing that beast and holding him and then letting him go. The only thing bigger than that fish she caught that day was her smile.
Having the opportunity to share what you have learned about where the fish are and when, can be a very rewarding use of your fishing knowledge. My mother and I had agreed to meet on dreary day at a spot near her house. I got there about 15 minutes before her, and strung up and hit the water. There was a beautiful seam that was easily fishable from shore right were I approached the stream and I swung a white wooly bugger into it. I cast 5 times before Mom appeared on the bank behind me and I had gotten 4 hits and caught a beautiful dark gold walleye. I was so excited that I immediately put Mom right where I was standing, pointed out the seam to her and suggested a lure (mom is a spin fisherperson) to her. I then left to find myself a new spot. Mom caught a couple very nice fish in that spot, including a chunky 17 incher. I, on the other hand, didn’t get a hit for the rest of the evening. I would say I got skunked, but the next morning she called me and thanked for the experience. It seems she hadn’t caught a fish that size for a number of years. I would call that a pretty good catch.
My mom is not the only other person in my family that fishes. My Dad and my brother do also. In fact, I recently went on a two day fishing excursion with my little brother. Now this was not your average, everyday flyfishing trip. My brother lives in Minneapolis proper and we were fishing in the city. So there we were, a couple of guys in chest waders, fishing vests and hats, wondering the parks of Minneapolis. It is a wonder we weren’t arrested. After a full day and a half of looking for fish and only catching one small northern pike, we were close to calling it a weekend. But lady luck had something more in store, for me at least. As we were walking back slowly along a stream, my Brother spotted a nice little school of bluegills. At this point it behooves me to point out that my Brother’s recent domestication and his career as an attorney have severely limited the time he spends on the water. And in fairness, we were both pretty excited to see some fish after a good 18 hours of fishing with nothing to show for it. Any way, he spotted the fish and immediately pointed them out to me by thrusting his 9 foot rod at them like a fencing sword. That caused the fish to decide to move, obviously. I chastised him appropriately and then asked him to again identify precisely where he had seen the fish. And, with an absentmindedness befitting a wacky haired college professor, he repeated the rod thrust motion, completely spooking the school of fish. When we finally located the school again, or more likely another school that hadn’t had our presence broadcast to them, I stepped back to give my brother a shot at fishing these fish. He was so excited that you could visibly see it, and that doesn’t translate into effective flyfishing. He managed to knot his line while trying to strip out to prepare for his cast. He then took one step too many in approaching the bank and nearly fell into the water. After getting his wits about him, he attempted to cast and managed to get the line wrapped about his body and his fly hooked in the tree behind him. After we had utilized some moves reminiscent of a top to get him all ready to cast, he hooked his fly on the back of his vest in his backcast. Needless to say, the fish had left the area long before he put a fly on the water and we came up empty. But I did get a nice ab workout from laughing so hard at him that I thought I was going to wet my pants.
Anyway, my Daughter had lost all patience and was ready to call it a night. I took my fly off and was winding up when she said, “Daddy, what does a Mayfly look like?” I began to describe it to her again and she interrupted me, saying, “Does it look like that?” as she pointed to the water. And the Spinner Fall was on. | <urn:uuid:5d6d8021-fddf-45a7-b53b-2c2ca2253f04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prairieflyfisher.wordpress.com/tag/mooney/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991207 | 1,859 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Hypolimnas bolina (Great Eggfly, Blue Moon Butterfly)
I was actually capturing images of our Brunfelsia calycina/pauciflora bush one lovely sunny morning in May when this Great Eggfly fluttered around and decided it wanted a photo session too! It chose to settle on a group of lovely blooms, clever choice for a complementary backdrop!
And I couldn’t believe my eyes when this gorgeous looking butterfly with wingspan about 7-8.5cm, fanned out its wings and ‘cheekily beckoned’ me to start shooting! I was so excited and just click…click…and click as many as I could capture! It posed for so many shots, as if it knew that I greatly desire to capture such precious moments! Wow!…15 shots to be exact when I downloaded into my personal computer later on and all turned out very nicely!
A collage of nine images of the Blue Moon Butterfly was created to reminisce those wonderful and joyous moments! Images were cropped and presented in such a manner so that I can feast repeatedly on the spectacular display of its many poses, specially posed for me on that unforgettable morning! What joy, what bliss! How blessed!
Hope you enjoy seeing these images as much as I do! :)
- Scientific name: Hypolimnas bolina
- Common name: Great Eggfly, Blue Moon Butterfly
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
- Family: Nymphalidae
- Subfamily: Nymphalinae
- Genus: Hypolimnas
- Species: H. bolina
More info on this Blue Moon Butterfly at Wikipedia which included its distribution, habitat, life history, etc.
Here again, it was flying around the same Brunfelsia calycina bush, intoxicated by its lovely scented flowers, decorating the whole plant! Had earlier thought that this visitor was a first-timer, until I uploaded its images onto my iMac and realized that it is the Blue Moon Butterfly after all and none other! ;) | <urn:uuid:dc9182e5-5a63-4037-8542-91bff92ae6ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jaycjayc.com/the-great-eggfly-hypolimnas-bolina/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946143 | 457 | 1.648438 | 2 |
I don't normally use this space to comment on purely political activities, but as a former Senate staffer I am very concerned with where the Senate might be going with the fight to weaken the filibuster. Like it or not, the right of any Senator to unlimited debate (commonly called a filibuster) is what makes the Senate the ultimate protector of the rights of the minority. It should be kept in mind that this right is not absolute. Under Senate rules, debate can be closed off with a supermajority of 60 votes (down from the original rule of two/thirds).
During my time on Senate staff, I was on the Democratic majority and saw how the Republican minority used the filibuster (not just a filibuster but the threat of a filibuster and other filibuster-based techniques) to modify or even kill legislation that did not have a bipartisan majority. I didn't like it. But I came to understand that the filibuster is an important part of our checks and balances system which makes our Constitution so powerful.
The argument in this instance is not with legislation, but with judicial nominations. Senate GOP leaders are quick to point out that the so-called "nuclear option" of changing Senate rules through a ruling by the Vice President sitting as the President of the Senate (which takes only a majority vote to ratify) will not apply to the legislation. We are told that the President should be given deference in his appointments. I think this is backwards. If anything, judicial appointments should be subject to the two-thirds rule, similar to treaties. The founding fathers realized that treaties could not be undone with out severe consequences (normally war) and they therefore set up the two-thirds requirement. Judicial appointments are also difficult to undo. Judges are appointed for life and can only be removed through the difficult process of impeachment. Thus, the Congress should be extra careful with Court appointments.
What bothers me most, however, it the misuse of information and history during the discussion. An example of this is Charles Krauthammer's "Nuclear? No, Restoration," in Friday's Washington Post:
This technique is defended by Democrats as traditional and rooted in history. What a fraud. The only example that comes close is Lyndon Johnson's nomination in 1968 of (sitting) Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas to be chief justice. But this case is muddied by the fact that (a) Fortas was subject to allegations involving conflicts of interest and financial impropriety, (b) he did not appear to have the votes anyway, and (c) the case involved elevation on the court, not appointment to the court.
Krauthammer goes on to assert:
One of the great traditions, customs and unwritten rules of the Senate is that you do not filibuster judicial nominees.
Since 1789, the Senate has rejected nearly 20 percent of all nominees to the Supreme Court, many without an up-or-down vote.
In 1968 Republican senators used a filibuster to block voting on President Lyndon B. Johnson's nominee for chief justice of the Supreme Court. During the debate, a Republican senator, Robert Griffin, said: "It is important to realize that it has not been unusual for the Senate to indicate its lack of approval for a nomination by just making sure that it never came to a vote on the merits. As I said, 21 nominations to the court have failed to win Senate approval. But only nine of that number were rejected on a direct, up-and-down vote."
Between 1968 and 2001, both parties used filibusters to oppose judicial nominees. In 2000, the last year of Bill Clinton's presidency, Republican senators filibustered two of his nominees to be circuit judges. They also prevented Senate votes on more than 60 of Mr. Clinton's judicial nominees by other means.
So much for the assertion that filibustering to prevent votes on judicial nominees is a new tactic invented by Senate Democrats.
I leave you to be the judge of who to believe. My money is on Senators Mitchell and Griffin. | <urn:uuid:69070087-6c96-4be8-a6c2-ba2f0bc022ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.athenaalliance.org/weblog/archives/2005/05/misuse_of_infor.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967777 | 816 | 1.84375 | 2 |
US Postal Service letter carrier Juan Padilla arranges mail in his truck while on his delivery route on December 5, 2011 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
CBS News reports that the U.S. Postal Service will propose halting Saturday delivery of first-class mail by August 1 to help reduce its financial losses.
According to the report, Postal Service lawyers have found a way around the requirement that any reduction in service needs approval by Congress.
The Postal Service lost $16 billion last year and $41 billion over the last six years, CBS News reported. The Postal Service has steadily lost business to e-mail, private shippers including FedEx and UPS, and online banking.
Packages, mail-order medicines and Priority and Express Mail would still be delivered on Saturday. | <urn:uuid:8ddcc28d-8dc7-4cc8-b986-23dbdf05c221> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.13wmaz.com/news/article/215906/28/Report-Postal-Service-to-Halt-Saturday-Delivery-by-August | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955908 | 165 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Value Line is regarded as the best independent research available. More than just recommendations, Value Line provides the rationale behind its picks for greater understanding.
- Don D., California
Electric Utility M&A
In February of 2010, FirstEnergy (FE) reached an agreement to purchase Allegheny Energy (AYE) in a transaction that would combine two utilities that also have a significant ownership of nonregulated generating assets. FirstEnergy would issue 0.667 of a share of its stock for each Allegheny share. This would amount to $26.41an Allegheny share, or a total of $4.48 billion. (We are basing all of our calculations on the closing prices of FirstEnergy and Allegheny Energy on March 18, 2010, which were $39.59 and $23.36, respectively.)
This was the first announcement of a deal involving electric utilities as both buyer and seller since Aquila agreed to be sold in pieces to Black Hills Corp. (BKH) and Great Plains Energy (GXP) three years earlier. At that time, the credit crisis was still more than a year away, so that can’t be blamed entirely for the lack of merger and acquisition activity. In our view, the two key problems are the difficulty in obtaining regulatory approvals and the mediocre track record of utility deals.
Whenever there is a utility merger, at least one state commission, and various federal agencies (most significantly the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) must approve the combination. This is easier said than done. State regulators normally demand concessions from the companies. This typically means that a portion of the merger-related savings must be passed on to customers. Utilities are willing to do this, as long as the conditions aren’t onerous. Sometimes, a commission’s demands are so high that the buyer decides to terminate the deal. In 2006, Exelon (EXC) decided not to go ahead with its agreement to acquire Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG) for this reason. Other concerns that regulators have are the possibility of a degradation of customer service or a loss of local control of a utility. Furthermore, even when a deal is completed, the process is lengthy—usually more than 12 months. A former utility CEO once lamented that this is the only industry in which the time needed to close a merger is measured in years, not months.
Opposition from outside parties can thwart a transaction, too. In 1995, Baltimore Gas and Electric (now part of Constellation Energy (CEG)) wanted to merge with Potomac Electric Power (now part of Pepco Holdings (POM)). Baltimore G&E is one of the few nonunion utilities. Opposition from Pepco’s unions wasn’t the sole reason why the merger did not go through, but it didn’t help. Already, there has been litigation by some Allegheny shareholders against the deal with FirstEnergy because they believe that the price is too low. FirstEnergy would be paying 11 times earnings for Allegheny. In most utility acquisitions, the multiple is in the low to mid-teens.
Many proposed utility combinations have fallen through. Even when the deals are completed, the results aren’t always favorable. Integrys Energy (TEG) and SCANA (SCG) have had to write off goodwill because they overpaid for other utilities. NiSource (NI), which we now cover among gas utilities, wound up cutting its dividend after it overpaid for a major acquisition.
Considering all of the uncertainty surrounding proposed utility combinations, and the lengthy time to closing, it isn’t surprising that, a month after the deal was announced, Allegheny stock was trading at a discount of more than 10% to the value of FirstEnergy’s offer. This indicates the market’s concern that the deal will fall through. Moreover, this announcement isn’t necessarily going to spur M&A activity among other utilities. It isn’t easy to come up with deals that make sense from a financial, strategic, and operational standpoint. It will be interesting to see the outcome of the FirstEnergy/Allegheny proposal. That likely won’t be known until 2011-- or perhaps 2012. | <urn:uuid:67446881-364b-416b-92b9-fcc207d1ddc3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.valueline.com/Tools/Educational_Articles/Stocks_Detail.aspx?id=8370 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964018 | 862 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Sunlabob installs fridge systems in remote Laos
- Published on Monday, 23 July 2012
Sunlabob has once again been awarded a national tender for rural Laos, this time for an Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded project to improve access to basic health services for people and animals in remote areas in Laos; the project is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and locally by the Ministry of Health.
Powered by photovoltaic systems, each of the 44 vaccine systems comprises a high European quality refrigerator/freezer. Sunlabob Engineering has implemented complete installation works in 5 Southern Laos provinces: Savannakhet, Champasak, Salavan, Sekong and Attapeu, namely.
Beneficiaries among the 11,000 people who will be directly affected by the project have welcomed the installations in health and veterinary locations close to their villages greatly, as they now have improved access to health services such as safe vaccines.
Installation routine of Sunlabob Engineering was challenged by the weather conditions as the Monsoon raining season complicated access to several villages. With long days of rain, slopes and high river water levels became almost impassable by the installation trucks.
Sunlabob has once again demonstrated greatly its capabilities to perform under the most difficult weather conditions and circumstances to bring electricity and off grid systems to areas in need. | <urn:uuid:83629fff-aef3-43ff-be11-e5723199408b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunlabob.com/news-2012/sunlabob-installs-fridge-systems-in-remote-laos.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955474 | 271 | 1.578125 | 2 |
by Sarah Eaton
Janice-Katie wanted to leave. She wanted to scoop up a handful of mini-sheep and another handful of mini-goats and take them back to the home she shared with Mrs. Beck. She thought of the fear they must feel when the petals of the object whirred shut above their small, soft heads. The way they would buck and shudder. The way they would scream.
There were no windows in the laboratory, but Janice-Katie had always relied on an excellent sense of direction. Despite the many twists and turns through hallways that had led them to this room, she felt certain that she could backtrack and escape.
Mrs. Beck stared at Dr. Scoot, mouth agape. “You grow these animals to their full size and slaughter them? No wonder it smells like blood and bleach in here. I thought it was you.”
Janice-Katie wondered why the bunnies and goats and cows and pigs stayed. Was it similar to the feeling that made her certain her bones were turning to powder, and that if she tried to get up from her bed she would only collapse? There seemed to be no mechanism holding them in place. They nuzzled their companions freely. She closely observed Dr. Scoot for a few moments, not noticing any sinister posturing or conflicts between his words and gestures. He said he was a concerned scientist. So what if he was mad.
“We let them go, gently, before we put them in the Egg. That’s what we call this contraption,” he said, pride in his voice.
“You inject them with poisons!” Mrs. Beck said.
“No, no,” he said. “Mrs. Beck,” he said, “I do a lot of reading. Do you?”
“Who has time to clutter her head with things that are untrue?” she said.
“But there are many true things in books. I learned from books what a powerful emotion fear is. And I also learned about love.”
“Oh come on, Janice-Katie,” Mrs. Beck said. “It’s just another man who wants to ogle you. Let’s go home where the animals are sized normally. I’ll make some brownies.”
Janice-Katie stayed where she was. Sometimes she felt like she was overflowing with love. It electrified her fingers and made her antsy. Mrs. Beck thought it was anxiety, but Janice-Katie knew that the symptoms could mirror each other. At night, while she paced and flipped her hands, she thought of how many things mouths could do, and how much easier it was to move around than to stay still. She wanted to love one of those mini-bunnies. She wanted to put it in her mouth and swirl it around. She wanted to spit it out and cuddle it against her cheek. She wanted to kiss it and kiss it and kiss it and kiss it and kiss it.
Dr. Scoot placed his hand, palm up, in front of one of the bunny cubbies. The bunny hopped out obediently. It rolled over onto its back, exposing its downy yellow belly.
“Almost irresistible,” Dr. Scoot said. “They’re trained to do their cutest moves.” With that, the bunny flipped over and rested its head against Dr. Scoot’s wrist, gazing at Janice-Katie sidelong. “Kiss it, Janice-Katie,” he said. “Kiss the mini-bunny.”
She lowered her head and gripped the tip of its velvety little ear between her lips.
“No, not like that,” Dr. Scoot said. “Like you’re saying good-night.”
“This is how you kill them!” Mrs. Beck shouted.
“Why do you have to say everything out loud?” Janice-Katie said. “We all knew that.”
She looked at the baby bunny and thought about not kissing it. It was a base urge, kissing it, and she could resist if she wanted. She could just hold it and squeeze it gently.
Dr. Scoot dipped his head and stretched his lips into a pucker. The bunny raised its head. It was mutual, affection shared. It expired, limply. Tenderly, he placed it next to the cake, uttered an incantation, and the Egg sealed.
“That bunny died without fear,” Janice-Katie said.
“That’s right,” Dr. Scoot said. “And now I’m going to engorge it in the Egg. It will be rabbit-sized. We can make a lovely fricassee. You don’t have to be vegan anymore, Janice-Katie. You’ll eat love instead of fear.”
Mrs. Beck snorted. “Shows how much you know,” she said. “Mad scientists are the worst at facts. Her skin will be covered in pock-marks and cystic acne in no time if she eats that rabbit. It’s full of hormones!”
The Egg fell open, and the rabbit and the cake were large enough to feed a family.
“Janice-Katie,” Dr. Scoot said. “It’s an end to world hunger. Help me spread the word.”
“Ha!” Mrs. Beck said. “It’s not the word he wants you to spread.”
“It’s true, Janice-Katie,” Dr. Scoot said. “You are a very attractive older woman. We would make a good team.”
Janice-Katie looked around at the mini-animals lining the walls. Their watery black eyes roamed the room, not seeing her. They posed, paws covering eyes, then sitting like humans on a davenport. They leaned forward and twitched their noses. Dr. Scoot was no prize, but these mini-animals’ beating hearts would be hers to stop. She looked at Mrs. Beck, with her stooped posture and refusals. Mrs. Beck’s eyes snapped at the way this afternoon had turned from a walk to a threat. Janice-Katie felt a great surge of disappointment mixed with affection.
“Thank you for your offer, Dr. Scoot,” she said. “We will not detain you further.”
She considered stuffing as many bunnies and goats and sheep into her pockets and brassiere and underwear as possible, but she knew she would have to kiss them someday, and that when she did, they would die. She thought about how this should feel like a revelation and probably would if she spent some time slowing down her actions and paying attention to her breath, but the sun was setting. She had to get home. | <urn:uuid:71c1d445-ae95-4540-a7ba-5eaa33ac9add> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wunderkammerpoetry.com/2010/10/janice-katie-and-the-concerned-mad-scientist-part-4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98075 | 1,529 | 1.507813 | 2 |
[what about:] how you can make friends on the internet with people you otherwise would not have met; how you can then consolidate and extend these friendships offline; how, even if you don't (because of distance, say), having electronic friends can be a rewarding experience in itself; how old (real-world) friends who live far apart can now be in touch with one another with much greater facility and regularity than formerly; how, the internet being (when all is said and done) part of the real world, friends can also cease to be friends because of what happens there; and how anyone whose friendships are wholly confined to the internet probably has problems aside from an addiction to their computer.Of course you do have to factor in that he was taking Roger Scruton to task for pointing out that online friendships differ to real-life ones in somewhat simplistic terms (finding fault with Scruton: fish, barrel). Even so Norm offers some wise distinctions and complications of the argument.
I'd certainly back up most, if not all, of these:
1) I've made friends with people all over the world whom I almost certainly would never have gotten chance to meet otherwise;
2) through blogmeets and just general encounters (especially with local bloggers) I've gotten to know some smashing people;
3) some of the people I know online I only know online - but through blogs, forums, emails and chats I can exchange thoughts and views on a whole range of life, the universe and everything topics;
4) the same works too for some of my more distant real-life friends -- without the internet I doubt I would have been able to sustain contact with Rita or Chrissie even though I do speak to each by phone (and yes, Chrissie, I know we keep talking about Skype!);
5) I've certainly made and subsequently lost friends through online contact - there is something raw in words on the page, written with an immediacy that may remove tone and gesture - but that isn't to say that I haven't screwed up real-life friendships too;
6) and I would (broadly) concur that to only have online friends may be indicative of bigger issues (with the proviso that for some, perhaps those unable to interact as easily with the physical/real-world through disability for example, an online life may be far more productive as a source of friendship. Arguably, that too is suggestive of bigger issues, though not necessarily 'problems' as Norm phrases this).
How do you feel about your online/real-life friendships and their similaries and differences? Is it different if you're on Facebook, rather than writing blogs? | <urn:uuid:59a520cf-6571-4c2f-ab85-799749822b92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rullsenbergrules.blogspot.com/2008/11/norm-speaks-truth-on-online-friends.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965016 | 552 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Oceania continues to be a model for solid deployments. The Marshall Islands project has a clear project document and technology plan, and is moving steadily towards implementing them. Last week the national team held an educators workshop with teachers from across the region, and Mike Hutak and Ian Thompson.
Acting Minister of Education Mattlan Zackhras encouraged all teachers to take advantage of the workshop so that everyone in the islands could benefit from the program. As he said at the opening ceremony,
“By bridging the digital divide to an inclusive global community, our students here in the islands can share ideas with other students in the Pacific and from around world“. | <urn:uuid:3afb7ffb-6851-4779-b2af-45703dfc8ab3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.laptop.org/tag/island-nation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940618 | 134 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Also in GPs:
Grampian Care Data - a free local care, community and health information service
Find your local GP - hosted by Scottish Health on the Web
NHS 24 - round the clock advice 08454 24 24 24
GP Booklet - answers the questions you may have about registering with your local GP
GPs and their teams are the first port of call for healthcare advice and services (including help to be healthier). Primary and community care services also include 53 health centres and clinics and 19 community hospitals, 14 of which have minor casualty units. These are now part of Community Health Partnerships and you can find out more by looking at the local services pages on this website.
Out-of-hours medical services in Grampian are provided by G-MED, and are integrated with NHS 24, Scotland's round-the-clock telephone advice service. If you need medical advice when your own practice is closed you should call NHS 24 on 08454 24 24 24 who will give you advice or refer you to an out-of-hours doctor or nurse. | <urn:uuid:2ff7013d-b1ac-4977-a479-8cd51038920a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhsgrampian.org/nhsgrampian/gra_display_simple_index.jsp?pStyle=plain&pContentID=538&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959372 | 219 | 1.539063 | 2 |
BANGALORE: Offshoring the Wall Street analyst's job could add the required glitter to a much stereotyped Indian BPO industry.
Contrary to common belief that business process outsourcing (BPO) means only answering calls and processing transactions of global customers, India's BPOs are now setting their sights on high-end area like equity research, report writing and analytics as part of lucrative knowledge services.
As the $2.3-billion BPO industry here matures, they are increasingly hiring professionals like CAs, MBAs and PhDs in economics and statistics for such service at a starting annual salary of Rs 4 lakh as opposed to Rs 1.5 lakh for a call agent. The industry pitch is that thousands of CAs and MBAs based in India can be engaged in tweaking balance-sheets and number-crunching for a fraction of the cost abroad, which can deliver cost savings up to 60 per cent for the banks. As per estimates, a junior analyst in the US is paid between $80,000-1,00,000 per annum, while it will be 20 per cent of that cost in India with the same quality level.
Equity research offshoring is happening at a rapid pace as global investment banks are under pressure to pare costs after the three-year slump in the industry.
Global investment banks are making a beeline for India to leverage the equity research and analytics skills here through captive and third-party provider models. The big daddies of investment banking such as JP Morgan, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Stanchart have already commenced their operations here. Says R. Ravi Mohan, MD of CRISIL, "Due to Indian companies adopting US-GAAP, we have a large base of financial professionals here who are familiar with global practices." | <urn:uuid:92a5da8c-d25f-480f-84c6-444923a0f751> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2003-12-03/news/27533628_1_india-s-bpos-bpo-industry-global-practices | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942057 | 374 | 1.507813 | 2 |
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Publishers WeeklyStarred Review.
In 1968, at the age of 20, Ramirez was diagnosed with leprosy and shipped to a 350-acre hospital at Carville, Lou., the only one of its kind in the continental U.S, where he was kept and treated for almost 10 years. Despite significant medical advances (including the 1941 discovery of the "miracle drug" promin), the pariah-like treatment of "lepers" (a term Ramirez rejects) had not improved much in hundreds of years (when they were forced to view church services through an opening called a "squint"). Even his parents, devout Catholics, accepted a Biblical prognosis that suggested their son had been rendered "unclean" because of their unwitting sinfulness. Still, Ramirez presents a heart-warming account of their support, along with his 12 siblings and wife-to-be, reflecting the mores of his tightly-knit Mexican community in Laredo, Tex. Ramirez also relates wrenching but inspiring stories of fellow patients-many abandoned by relatives and loved ones-who became his second family. During his illness, Ramirez received a Bachelors and a Masters Degree from LSU (in social work), and began to challenge the segregation of patients from staff at Carville. This outstanding, uplifting memoir by a remarkable man should captivate those interested in the intersection of illness, family and religion. 20 b&w illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:7c0039c1-c5b5-4664-97bd-43cfb014e9b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/squint-jr-jose-p-ramirez/1111502675?ean=9781604731194 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978282 | 317 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Lots of people die young, as the news daily tells us (and as many here, myself included, know from deep personal experience.)
The deaths of strangers don’t strike home in the same way as those of people close to us, of course. There’s a kind of disembodied quality to any sorrow, a regret at the abstraction of lost years, lost human experience. But I feel a barb that lodges within a particular vein of sadness — or perhaps better, regret — when a musician’s voice goes dumb too soon.
The reason is pretty obvious. Mark Knopfler (happily very much still with us) nailed it, I think (about 8:50 in): “…songs are milestones for people in their lives; they use them. They use them to live with.”
I’ve been moved by lots of songs, singers, players. But I can think of few — none really — who combined the power of music itself with the rush that came with utter, marvelous strangeness that I encountered late in high school when first heard this.
That was (I think — it’s been a while) Bob Marley’s first big hit to chart beyond Jamaica. I know that it is almost a cliche now — and there are other songs in his catalogue that probably move me more. But try to imagine hearing that for the first time after a steady diet of (often great) straight rock and roll. Skull shrapnel ain’t in it; it truly blew one’s mind.
Marley’s suffered a fairly common post-mortem fate for iconic figures: he’s been mythologized out of recognition. Gone is the radical, redemptive, political, demanding man who explained why he made it on stage for a concert in support of Michael Manley two days after being shot, saying, “The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?” Now, too often, Marley has become an almost generic figure of benevolence, which is too bad, because I don’t believe he ever lost the sense that there is something of a Manichaean struggle to be waged against those who (still) act to make this world worse.
But this is certain: Marley broke through any niche ceiling to become the first (that I can think of) truly global musical voice to come from what used to be called the Third World. For that alone, he has had more to do in shaping the landmarks of people’s lives, to give them songs — and a sense of the world within those songs — that we use to live our lives. Forty years or so on from his breakout, we’ve grown so much richer in our musical lives, sounds from anywhere weaving through our culture, our headphones, one pair of ears at a time. I won’t go so far as to say that Bob Marley makes Barack Obama possible — but the demographic shift that so troubles the latter-day Republican Party is not simply political. It’s incomprehensible, I think, to many who came of age in the last twenty or thirty years to know how transformative it was to hear other voices — and not simply as a novelty, or some in-group marker of cool found in a few basements in college towns. Marley was HUGE from the 70s, and stayed so after his death.
Now his music is the stuff of the shrinking pool of oldies radio — except of course, that his influence and that of his 60s and 70s reggae comrades shoots through our current musical culture.
But even so — it’s hard not to wonder what he could have sung and said if he had managed to beat the cancer that got him in 1981, when he was all of thirty six years old.
Bob Marley would have been sixty eight yesterday.
Bonus full concert (complete w. a fifteen minute bonus opening by Dick Gregory that truly captures some of the deep strangeness of the late 1970s. Trust me; it was far wierder than I can hold in mind most times. This concert, btw, at Harvard Stadium (!) occurred while I was still in college — which means that I could have been there. That’s a regret I’ve nurtured since the day-of):
Image: Bob Marley in concert in Zurich, May 30, 1980 | <urn:uuid:01164495-1e11-473e-9eda-bf515fdfbc36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://inversesquare.wordpress.com/tag/joyful-noise/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975897 | 927 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Goal line extended (GLE) can be visualized as the line between the pipes, but extended to each sideline. It serves as the boundary for what coaches define as “topside.” If an offensive player beats his defenseman to this point, he can usually turn the corner and get a quality shot on net. Defensemen are taught to “close the gate” at GLE and turn the offensive player back toward the end line. Ryan Boyle offers the following moves, counter-defensive tendencies around GLE especially effective with his reputation as a feeder. One of the best around the cage, here are some of his go-to moves in the first of a three-part series with Trilogy Lacrosse.
Called a “Z-Dodge” for its sharp angles and zigzag pattern, which take advantage of an overaggressive defender wanting to stay on a feeder’s hands.
1. When defender pushes at GLE, I want to go with the push to create separation from my defender. At this point, I also want two hands on my stick to look like I’m feeding, drawing the defenseman toward my hands.
2. This presents an ideal time to dodge because the defender is flying out at me. I then re-attack with a one-handed cradle and running through the oncoming check.
3. Once I get a step on the defender, I can put my bottom hand back on the stick and step to the goal before attempting a shot.
Called an “S Dodge” because a player changes direction in a more subtle, curvy fashion.
1. Set up this dodge by carrying wide of the net so you don’t draw a slide. When the defender forces you back at GLE, simply roll back behind the goal and switch hands.
2. Now I’m in a dangerous feeding position because I can see the entire field and my feeding lanes are outside the goalie’s reach. Again, I’ll carry with two hands.
3. Once the defender rushes back to get on my hands, I re-attack and change direction with one hand and head “underneath” my defenseman, which is the space between him and the crease.
4. Once I have a step on my defender, I want to get in front of him to gain topside position. This slight change in direction eliminates his ability to throw a trail check and gives me a better shooting angle.
A. Z-Dodge into Question Mark or Inside Roll
If the defender’s very athletic and stays with you after the re-attack, you might need to change direction one more time. Depending on how high you are in front of the goal and your comfort level with each move, you may want to execute a question mark or inside roll.
B. Stay in Inside Hand on S-Dodge
If you can’t cut off your defender and get topside position, you may want to keep your stick toward the inside. If you change hands in this situation, the defender can throw a trail check, so just work toward getting in front of the goal. Once you’re there, you should have ample angle to shoot from within the framework of your body. | <urn:uuid:bd4265a2-5b2e-4141-8b4e-0050b04f5217> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/04/19/inside-lacrosse-may-2010-issue-playing-around-gle | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955559 | 678 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Kapsersky Labs have uncovered a new cyber threat called Gauss, which is targeting users in the Middle East. The anti-virus maker describes Gauss as a complex, nation-state sponsored cyber-espionage toolkit designed to steal sensitive data with a specific focus on browser passwords, online banking account credentials, cookies, and specific configurations of infected machines. (more…)Google+
Result for: “Stuxnet” categories
Two weeks ago we reported that security suite maker Kaspersky Labs had uncovered the Flame bonnet, which it claimed could be the most lethal cyber weapon of its kind. At the time, it had been noted that the Flame was much more complex than Stuxnet and was not related. After extensive research, the experts at Kaspersky Labs have found out that there is a link between Stuxnet and Flame with the developers being connected. (more…)Google+
Kaspersky Labs detects “The Flame”, the most sophisticated cyber weapon unleashed on the Middle East
Security experts Kaspersky Labs have unraveled a worm called the Flame, which the company says could be the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed. Kaspersky Labs believe it is a nation sponsored virus as it is not designed to steal money from bank accounts and is also different from cyber attack tools of hacktivists. The report says that its sole operation is to systematically collect information on the operations of certain nation states in the Middle East, including Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and ... | <urn:uuid:0dc61c22-55b6-4fb0-b50e-2cf50859f5cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bgr.in/tag/stuxnet/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958551 | 309 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Miroslav Svoboda, Hutnictví železa a.s., e-mail: email@example.com, www.hz.cz
The impact of the economic crisis on the metallurgical industry was fully felt in 2009. The slower rate of growth and lower demand in the decisive consumer branches, which were already seen in the 4th quarter of 2008, continued with even greater intensity. The volume of new orders declined by nearly 40% on a year-on-year basis. A problem for exporters throughout the whole period under review was the considerable volatility of the Czech crown in relation to the Euro and the Dollar. All these factors taken together resulted in a record 68% year-on-year decline in added value and marked reduction of the overall cost-effectiveness of production. A turn occurred in 2010. While in the 1st quarter of 2010 the volume of new orders grew by +2.2% year-on-year, in the 2nd quarter it rose by 58.7%, nearly reaching the level of the 1st quarter of 2009.
In 2009, the industrial production index (IPI) in the sector declined by 24% year-on-year on an average (total industry -13.1%). In the first half of 2010 the sector resumed its upward trend with IPI in the first quarter rising by 25% and in the second quarter by as much as 42.4%. For comparison, total IPI in that period rose by 7.5% and 12.3% respectively, year-on-year.
A similar trend was shown by final metallurgical production, which in the 1st quarter of 2010 rose by 36.4% year-on-year, of which rolled material by 34.6% and steel tubes by 38.4%. Final production deliveries to the domestic and foreign markets in the 1st half of 2010 rose by 37% on a year-on-year basis. A survey of traders and buyers revealed that stocks of previous years would be exhausted by the end of 2010 and a marked increase in demand for steel was only to be expected in 2011.
For reasons of high stocks on the part of traders and consumers, the decline in consumption manifested itself much more distinctly in apparent consumption (supplies + imports – exports), where the year-on-year decline in 2009 was 30.8%, than in real consumption (-20.8%). In the following period, i.e. in 2010 and especially 2011, a reverse trend is expected as a result of the replenishment of stocks, and the same growth rate could be achieved in the course of 2012.
Considering the high proportion of Czech exports, the country’s export possibilities are closely linked with the economic revival or recession in the world, in particular the European Union. EU industrial production in 2010 is expected to grow by 6.8% (following a 14% decline in 2009), mainly thanks to the revival in engineering, including car production and metalworking. In the building industry, the decline is expected to continue (-1.4%).
Slight Revival on the Part of Buyers
The situation is quite favourable in the steelusing industries (SWIP), too. In 2009, the year-on-year decline in the sector amounted to 18.9%, but in 2010 a moderate growth of 3.7% is expected. A marked growth was recorded by the automotive industry, mainly owing to the extremely low 2009 level, but also a massive growth in orders from third countries (China, India, Japan, and other states). The situation on the EU internal market continues to be unfavourable. This, together with the expected slower growth in third countries and their lower imports in the 2nd half of the year, will not allow the estimated growth of SWIP in 2010 to exceed 3.7%. This trend is expected to continue with only a very moderate growth being anticipated for 2011 (+3.4%). The economic slowdown is also responsible for the massive decline in the real consumption of steel products in Europe. While in the whole of 2008 real consumption dropped by 7% year-on-year on an average, the decline in 2009 was nearly 23%. The decline accelerated especially in the 1st half of 2009 in connection with a rapid drop in demand on the part of the main buyers and high stocks in the entire production chain. The estimated growth of real consumption in Europe will be only very moderate in 2010 and in 2011 the real consumption level, too, will be still below the values recorded at the beginning of the millennium.
Linking up to EU Markets
In comparison with the old EU member states, the impact of the recession was more strongly felt in the Czech Republic in year-on-year comparisons, mainly due to the size of the Czech domestic market and the rate of involvement of the Czech economy in the international division of labour. This manifested itself by cuts in orders in the manufacturing industry, which in turn caused a decline in steel production.
Cutback on Prices
The decline in steel production in 2009 was accompanied by a year-on-year decline in the prices of steel products. This was due to cuts in demand in a situation where manufacturers drew on their excessive stocks in the entire steel-using industries complex. The decline in steel product prices was also made possible by the lower prices of raw material inputs. In comparison with 2008, in 2009 world scrap metal prices dropped by 37% year-on-year, with thermal coal prices also declining massively (-44%) and the prices of natural gas falling by 33% and iron ore by 28%. Electricity prices were stagnant.
A different development could be observed in 2010, when rising raw material prices put pressure to bear on steel product prices. In the 1st half, thermal coal prices rose by 40.4% year-on-year, the price of iron ore by 32.7%, and that of scrap metal by 60.6%. Only natural gas prices declined, by 30% year-on-year, in the period under review.
Revenues Are Going Up
In 2009, revenues in current prices in the steel companies under review declined by 38.7% year-on-year. In the 1st half of 2010 the trend was more favourable, with revenues rising by 10.8%, yet staying distinctly below the level of the 1st half of 2008 (by nearly 40%), despite massive growth of the physical amounts of production in 2010. There are two reasons for this situation: the above-mentioned year-on-year decline in prices (-10%) and the strengthening of the Czech crown (in relation to the Euro by approximately CZK 2/EUR year-on-year on average) with a much higher proportion of deliveries to foreign markets. The faster growth of revenues in comparison with the growth of consumption from operation was mainly due to the development in the 2nd quarter of the year, when added value grew by 37.6%.
Profitability has also Reversed Its Trend
The gradual growth of added value also became projected into profitability indicators. The profit and loss result before tax was CZK +972 million as against CZK -2.4 billion in the comparable period of 2009. Profitability of revenue in the period under review amounted to 2.4% as against -5.9% in the first half of 2009. Own capital profitability indicators showed positive values in comparison with 2009. The successful economic development of most companies in past years also added to the growth of the share of the companies’ own capital to the average value of 69% of total assets. While total liabilities, including credits (total credits declined by 42% year-on-year), were growing year-on-year, overall credit indebtedness, too, declined (also by 42%). This can be partly explained by reduced credit availability and lesser need for operating financing. From the point of view of the companies’ capability of meeting their short-term liabilities, the situation worsened in terms of year-on-year comparisons, with current liquidity declining by 45% year-on-year. While production showed a revival in comparison with the 1st half of 2009, stocks grew by 20% year-on-year. This, together with the more moderate growth of revenues, resulted in the prolongation of stock rotation by 7%. The shortening of repayment terms and asset rotation periods is valued positively.
Deliveries and Orders Growing
Despite the considerably different economic situation of companies, the development in the 1st half of 2010 can be valued rather positively. Deliveries are growing and so is the volume of orders, although neither has as yet reached the 2008 pre-crisis level. The development is showing a favourable trend especially in Germany, while on the other hand the budgetary problems of the EU southern wing and the austerity measures that have been adopted may slow down the economic revival process in Europe (to a lesser extent also in the CR). Thanks to the previous development, the financial situation of most companies is on a level ensuring their functioning. Companies continue to be in a position to meet their obligations. Their cash-flow is growing, while the repayment periods of their debts are shortening. The shortage of orders in the past period necessitated the closing down of production facilities and making wage cuts, whether by way of shortening the working week or by decreasing the number of workers. Capacity utilisation in the entire technological chain and the productivity of labour continue to be low, despite the year-on-year growth. In spite of this, most of the indicators under review are showing an improvement in comparison with the results from 2009.
SELECTED EXHIBITION AND FAIRS
METALFORM Mexico, Monterrey, May 11 – 13, 2011
- Surface treatment of metals and other materials
ALUMOTIVE Italy, Brescia, May 19 – 21, 2011
SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN
Russia, Moscow, May 23 – 26, 2011
- International Trade Fair for Joining, Cutting and Surfacing
EUROWELDING Slovakia, Nitra, May 24 – 27, 2011
- 17th international exhibition for welding and welding technologies
GIFA Germany, Düsseldorf, June 28 – July 2, 2011
- International foundry trade fair
METEC Germany, Düsseldorf, June 28 – July 2, 2011
- International trade fair for metallurgical technology
The decline in revenues and orders, which accelerated especially in the first half of 2009, also had an impact on the productivity of labour and necessitated a corresponding reduction in the area of employment. During the 1st half of 2010, the average registered number of workers (excluding agency workers) declined by 10.1% year-on-year and practically remained on that level. Cuts in employment prompted by the lower volume of confirmed orders also resulted in greater wage savings. In the 1st half of 2010, wage payments dropped by 6.5% year-on-year. The result was a year-on-year 4% growth of average earnings, which followed a decline in average earnings in 2009. In the 1st half of 2010, productivity of labour derived from revenues rose by 24.3% year-on-year, which corresponds to the growth of revenues (orders), and is the consequence of labour cuts. In absolute terms, however, productivity is far below the 2008 level.
The level of the productivity of labour also limits the growth of earnings in companies. So, live labour substitution (wage saving) is becoming an important instrument of attaining the price competitiveness of products of comparable quality and use value. Aware of this fact, companies have resorted to major labour cuts, even at the cost of high payoffs.
The chart on p. 7 shows that beginning with 2002, the growth of the productivity of labour exceeded the growth of average earnings, with the greatest difference being achieved in 2004, when, however, the record revenues were due, to a considerable extent, to high year-on-year price rises. It should be noted that since 2007 the growth of productivity and revenues has not been exclusively a matter of labour cuts, but has been increasingly due to rationalisation measures and a changed structure of workers in favour of the higher qualification of the labour force. This manifests itself by greater differentiation between the wage and productivity of labour rates of growth/decline.
In the 1st half of 2010, production and orders grew at a faster rate in comparison with the same period in the previous year. Nevertheless, the pre-crisis level of production, and especially revenues, was not attained, and its attainment cannot be expected in the latter part of the year either. In particular, demand from domestic manufacturers remains low. Most important for further development will be a revival, especially in Europe, to which the decisive proportion of the output is directed. This may be negatively affected by the austerity programmes of other countries, provoked by previous massive investments to stimulate economic growth. From the global point of view, the most important thing for finding outlets for metallurgical materials is the economic development in China and consolidation of the US economy.
Other Requirements and Financing Possibilities
The development of the steel industry in Europe and the CR is closely linked with the development of the countries’ business environment and their legislation. Countries use important legislative measures in the area of ecology and the environment, where certain laws and regulations that are being adopted may some time in future lead to the loss of competitiveness among European manufacturers. Examples of this are the proposed emission permit trading systems, environmental legislation for the atmosphere, etc. It is unacceptable for environmental legislation not to affect all pollution sources (industry, local, and mobile sources) evenly and to discriminate against industry. The central point for the steel industry in future is to realise specific actions eliminating unfavourable impacts on the environment. These investments (prepared projects) cannot be realised exclusively with the industrial enterprises’ own resources; they will need money from the State Environmental Fund created with revenues from permit trading, from the Environment Operational Programme, and from EU structural funds. An indispensable condition of development of the metallurgical industry is also the realisation of research, development, and innovation projects. The use of resources from Operational Programmes and co-financing with support from European funds is a way to sustainable living conditions.
Supplement of Czech Business and Trade 1-2/2011 | <urn:uuid:a68a89fe-0f76-4c49-9ad8-4a905780d7ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.doingbusiness.cz/EcbtApplication2.aspx?rid=13454&app=Main&grp=Content&mod=ContentPortal&sta=ArticleDetail&pst=ArticleDetail&p1=OID_INT_1623&p2=VPath_STRING_&p3=ShowDocInfo_BOOL_False&acode=21688220 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961111 | 2,943 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Created: 11/28/2012 10:06 AM KSTP.com By: Jennie Olson
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will be the first school in the UW System to offer a so-called flexible degree, in which students will be able to earn college credit for knowledge already gained through work or life experience.
UW System officials outlined the program over the summer. On Wednesday they provided details about how the courses would work and which programs would be included.
UW-Milwaukee will begin offering degree programs this fall in nursing, diagnostic imaging and information science, as well as a certificate program in communications.
The 13 two-year UW colleges will also provide courses for general education and liberal arts.
The target audience includes nontraditional students such as military veterans and those who left school with some college credits.
UW System Flex program: www.flex.wisconsin.edu
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) | <urn:uuid:92b2d15d-0c5e-4a6a-a8e2-293b997c2f21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hbispace.com/printStory/kstp/index.cfm?id=2848377 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941364 | 210 | 1.585938 | 2 |
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1936 Tony Lazzeri Signed New York Yankees Contract
Starting Bid - $1,000, Sold For - $8,295
Four-page fold-over contract, dated March 2, 1936, between Tony Lazzeri and the American League Base Ball Club of New York, signed in green ink by "Anthony Lazzeri" (grading "10") and in black fountain pen by "Jacob Ruppert" ("10"), owner of the Yankees. Also signed in black fountain pen ("8") by William Harridge in his capacity as American League president. The one-year agreement calls for Lazzeri to receive an annual salary of $12,000. Lazzeri joined the Yankees in 1926 and for the next twelve years he remained a fixture at second base for the "Bronx Bombers." Always in the shadow of larger-than-life legends such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, and best remembered as one of the key members of 1927's "Murderers' Row" Yankees lineup, the soft-spoken Lazzeri always carried a "big stick" to the plate. "Poosh 'Em Up Tony" drove in over 100 runs on eight separate occasions (no small feat when one considers that for his first nine years he was batting behind Ruth and Gehrig) and he finished his career with a .292 average. Highly regarded in the field as well, Lazzeri helped lead the Yankees to six pennants and five World Championships during his twelve-year tenure with the club. Lazzeri batted .287 with 14 home runs and 109 RBI in 1936 and then capped the season with a team-high seven RBI in the Yankees' six-game victory over the Giants in the World Series. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991. 104 of Hall of Fame players, especially those dating from their respective playing careers, are rare and the offered example is no exception. This is only the second Tony Lazzeri contract we have ever offered, with the first having sold for $3,525 in our May 2011 auction. The fact that this example dates from the Yankees 1936 World Championship season, which marked the start of the club's historic 1936-1939 dynasty, makes it especially desirable. The contract (8.5 x 11 inches) displays two horizontal folds, as well as a few minor surface wrinkles. In Excellent condition overall. Matted and framed (unfolded) to total dimensions of 23.5 x 18 inches. Ideally, the piece has been framed with Plexiglas on each side, so that both the front and reverse of the contract can be viewed in their entirety. LOA from James Spence/JSA. Reserve $1,000. Estimate $2,500+. SOLD FOR $8,295
(Click the smaller thumbnails to the left and right (if any) to cycle through each photo in the gallery of images for this lot.) | <urn:uuid:9db77052-7926-47a6-b6be-8bdc4795c7c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2012/750.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96011 | 637 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The heart of President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday was the same focus on jobs and middle-class economic uncertainty that's driven every State of the Union of his presidency.
But that was far from the only ground he covered.
The president reeled off a laundry list of small-bore proposals: He called on Congress to hike the minimum wage to $9 an hour and invest $50 billion on rebuilding roads and bridges. He proposed universal preschool for 4-year-olds and linking some federal grant decisions to research schools on their ability to keep tuition costs in check. And he urged Congress to put his full gun control agenda up for a vote.
Nearly every idea in his speech had a couple of things in common: Virtually all of them are core Democratic priorities presented in language that delighted the base. None of them were shoot-for-the moon ambitious. They were either old ideas repackaged or markedly modest new ones. And few if any of them are likely to become a reality under the current Congress -- nobody in the chamber Tuesday night, including the president himself, thought otherwise.
In a sharp contrast to his first address to Congress four years ago, the president paid lip service to bipartisanship, but he made clear that it was a luxury, not a driving priority. He invited Republicans to join him in a bipartisan effort... to back the Democratic policy vision.
If the speech came across more like a wish list than an action plan with a good chance of making it past the House, that's because it was. Just laying the exhaustive string of liberal policy priorities seemed to be the point -- a companion to the ideological offensive in his inauguration speech.
The top priority Tuesday wasn't necessarily jobs, or guns, or climate change, or voting rights. It was the sum of all those parts, a liberal vision that Obama clearly hopes will nudge the country in that direction.
"It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country -- the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead," the president said. "It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few."
The framing in Tuesday's speech was designed to help the president score two wins: in the long term, a progressive legacy, and in the short run, an advantage in the budget battles and debt ceiling drama.
With the GOP laying responsibility for a looming sequester at the White House door, the president pointed to Republicans' emphasis on the need for entitlement reform as proof that they're laying the burden for deficit reduction on cops and teachers and seniors instead of "the wealthiest and most powerful." | <urn:uuid:974e6c18-1aea-4000-ba91-995ff1f35c8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wesh.com/news/politics/Analysis-Obama-s-vision-to-push-U-S-to-left/-/11788048/18531628/-/item/0/-/gvw11d/-/index.html | 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 | 0.973864 | 546 | 1.75 | 2 |
I got a fitbit device as a gift. Fitbit is an electronic device that measures your daily steps, calories burnt, stairs climbed, and sleep. There’s a companion website that allows you to log in your food and other activities (e.g. sports, tasks, physical activities) I was going to sell it on ebay, but never got around to it. So about a week ago I decided to start using in. why not.
I don’t need to lose lots of weight, but I wouldn’t mind losing some. I don’t want to get fanatical about my daily calories or steps taken.
So far I’ve enjoyed the novelty of seeing how much I do or don’t do in a day. Fitbit makes it easy to log food as so many brands and kinds of food have their nutritional data in the system. You just need to click away.
I’ve been doing well with it, though I get a little upset when I don’t wear mine thinking, “I didn’t get credit for all those stairs” or what have you.
I’ve been walking around Phnom Penh a lot and yesterday walked over 20,000 steps. I burned over 2500 calories according to Fitbit.
- Fitbit talks fitness tracking, privacy and healthy apps ecosystems (guardian.co.uk)
- Health Tracking Gizmos For The New Year (forbes.com)
- Fitbit, why can’t I have my data? (simplystatistics.org)
- Oh, I found myself a Fitbit (allthingsdesigned.wordpress.com)
- 9 Things We Learn About Learning From Fitbit (insidehighered.com) | <urn:uuid:01d43924-92d7-422a-87ad-9eaca39686d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smkelly8.com/2013/02/22/fitbit-so-far-so-good/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942295 | 369 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Are you an original? OK, so I am sure you will say “yes”. No two of us are the same, and these days movies, songs and personal development blog posts drum into our heads the importance of individuality.
But this is not a personal development blog post. This is a blog post about your blog posts and your articles. The question is, “Are you an original…blogger.”
A lot of emphasis has been placed on “original” and “unique” content recently, mostly because people believe (partly correctly) that Google robots will storm your website and emasculate it in the SERPs if they discover that you are publishing duplicate content.
The bad news is that blog owners and blog writers have reduced “originality” to “Can this article pass Copyscape?” You hear ghost writers constantly promising that their copy is original and unique, just because it is not “duplicate content”.
If you or someone you are guest blogging for is even asking this question, you are not only missing the point – you are missing the boat.
Originality is not about rewording a sentence and adding bullet points. Originality is about thinking new thoughts.
Now that’s a new thought!
How can I be original?
Let’s be fair. Not everybody is a creative thinker, not everybody is a born writer, and not everybody is meant to be. So how can someone be original? Here are three prompts to help you.
Prompt Number One: Read three or four articles or blog posts on the topic you want to write about. As you read them, make notes about what you agree about – and, more importantly, take notes about what you disagree about.
If there is something that more than one article says that you disagree with, you have the foundation for a truly original article. Playing Devil’s Advocate is always a great way to be original.
If there is no common theme you disagree with, review your list of points you disagree with. Maybe there are three points in the four blog posts. Maybe just one. In either case, you have at least one, and perhaps three, blog topics to write about that are your own original thoughts.
Prompt Number Two: Pick a topic you like – the topic might not be original, nor your opinion – and wrap it in a brand-new analogy. In the case, your idea or topic is not unique, but your presentation of it is very unique.  Here are a few ideas of analogy themes you can use:
- Animals: Replace people with animals that display characteristics you are writing about.
- Food: describe your topic as a meal.
- Recipe: Write a recipe for the advice you are giving.
- Geography. I am sure you have seen the maps called “The United States of…”. You can put just about anything into map form, and you can do so in writing, too.
- Geology. Every topic has a hard-to-scale mountain, a vast uncrossable dessert, an ocean, an abyss, etc.
- Clothes. How can you dress up your topic? Underwear (you can’t leave those off), regular clothing, outer wear, accessories… now write it.
There are countless other analogies possible.
Prompt Number Three: Interview somebody. Sure, this is cheating, but when you can’t come up with your own original thoughts, pull them from someone else. Try to be as creative as you can with your questions, and make sure to ask for original content:
“Can you share with our readers one tip you have not included in your course?”
“Can you give an example of when this has happened to you recently?”
“What was the most successful [whatever] you ever did?”
Originality pays off
There are hundreds of blogs and thousands of articles on almost every topic. I don’t have time to read most of them. I will read those that are not just the same old, same old rechurned slop they served up at the last dozen blogs I have visited.
I am not saying it is easy to come up with truly original content, especially in well-trampled niches like personal finance, blogging, nutrition and such. But the payoff will be a loyal readership that spreads the word for you – a growing audience of engaged fans.
Grab The Bookmarketer For Your Site | <urn:uuid:866eca09-2778-43b8-8d13-98d6070794b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seo-writer.com/writers/index.php/2012/09/26/are-you-an-original-blog-writer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944856 | 1,056 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Gun control debate pushed into spotlight following Colorado shooting
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- The man suspected in the massacre at the movies will be back in court next Monday.
James Holmes made his first appearance Monday. He looked dazed and confused.
Holmes is accused of killing 12 and wounding 58 at the midnight showing of the new Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado last Friday.
Police are still searching for a motive in the rampage.
Legal experts think Holmes' lawyers will probably try an insanity plea, based on what he looked like and how he acted in court Monday.
While we still don't know a motive, police are sure the attack was not random. They say Holmes had been planning for months; buying guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and body armor.
The question is: How could be afford it? It turns out he received a $26,000 research grant by the National Institutes of Health funded by taxpayer money.
Holmes withdrew from the University of Colorado research program in June, after already stockpiling all those guns and ammunition.
The shooting that he's accused of is renewing the debate on gun control in America.
Holmes was able to purchase four guns and an entire gun shop supply of ammunition, and he did it in just a matter of months through local gun stores and online.
The guns: a 12-gauge shotgun, a semi automatic rifle, capable of getting off 100 rounds in 30 seconds, as well as two 40 millimeter glock handguns.
Holmes also bought 6,000 rounds and 300 shot gun shells. Small gun stores don't even keep that much ammo on premises.
The National Rifle Association has opposed restrictions on online ammunition sales in the past.
They would not comment to the media, but say it's time to let families grieve and that there will be an appropriate time down the road to engage in political and policy discussions. | <urn:uuid:746978a6-048f-4dee-9771-09aa919d3866> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/163532236.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974345 | 391 | 1.539063 | 2 |
- Veteran bands Motorhead, Black Sabbath top Metal Hammer Golden Gods
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Abe's aide says Japan shouldn't fret if yen falls to 100 vs dollar
TOKYO (Reuters) - A weakening of Japan's currency to 95 or 100 yen to the dollar is nothing to worry about, an economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday, suggesting that recent yen declines are justified and beneficial for the export-reliant economy.
"(A dollar/yen level of) 100 is a very good border line," Koichi Hamada, Abe's special economic adviser, told a news conference. "If you go to 110 or more in yen weakness, then we should be worried. But (a dollar/yen level of) 100 or 95 is nothing to worry about," he said.
The comments nudged up the dollar on EBS above 90.14 yen, its highest level in more than two-and-a-half years.
Hamada, a Yale University professor, also said the Bank of Japan is expected to take some form of monetary easing steps at its rate review next week.
"Only after monetary policy is used at its full extent would fiscal policy be effective in stimulating the economy," he said.
Hamada said there was always a threat that excessive money printing could fuel unwelcome inflation, and that it was hard to pre-determine what volume of bonds central banks should buy to stimulate an economy.
But Hamada, who Abe admires as an expert on monetary policy, said such a concern was groundless in a country such as Japan that has been mired in deflation for most of the past two decades.
"Economics is like medicine. We don't know how much medicine is needed to cure high fever, so you have to try and observe," said Hamada, who has long criticised the BOJ for being too hesitant to ease monetary policy.
"But you have to try as much as you can to beat deflation," he said. "There is no ground for substantial inflation (in Japan) right now."
The BOJ is expected to double its inflation target to 2 percent and ease monetary policy at a meeting ending on Tuesday, sources have told Reuters, under pressure from Abe to take bolder steps to beat deflation.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Shinichi Saoshiro and Richard Borsuk)
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- Digg this | <urn:uuid:5abfc8f1-2268-4beb-b293-a512dae07092> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/18/uk-japan-economy-boj-hamada-idUKBRE90H05Y20130118 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965779 | 557 | 1.679688 | 2 |
I am particularly interested in the types of rifles that troops serving in Africa would use, especially during the 1890's. Did they have any kind of repeating rifles, or were they still using single shot rifles? Any specific details would be appreciated.
They would have started the decade with Lee-Metford bolt-action 8-10 shot rifles and ended the decade with Lee-Enfield bolt-action 10 shot clip rifles. There were probably still some Martini-Henry level-action single shot rifles as well as their updated version being used at the time but the 1890s seems to be when the single shot rifle was phased out in favor of those with magazines. | <urn:uuid:f8575b61-b8c2-4e98-819b-1e7fddc6db49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/436/what-types-of-weapons-did-the-british-army-use-in-the-late-1890s?answertab=oldest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988477 | 133 | 1.679688 | 2 |
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In the thirty-four years since his retirement, Henry (Hank) Aaron’s reputation has only grown in magnitude. But his influence extends beyond statistics, and at long last here is the first definitive biography of one of baseball’s immortal figures.
Based on meticulous research and extensive interviews The Last Hero reveals how Aaron navigated the upheavals of his time—fighting against racism while at the same time benefiting from racial progress—and how he achieved his goal of continuing Jackie Robinson’s mission to obtain full equality for African Americans, both in baseball and society, while he lived uncomfortably in the public eye. Eloquently written, detailed and penetrating, this is a revelatory portrait of a complicated, private man who through sports became an enduring American icon.
“Beautifully written and culturally important . . . tells the Aaron story with gusto and a ferocious sweep. . . . Bryant may just have given us a classic.” —The Washington Post
“Illuminating and rigorously researched.” —New York Times Book Review
“A welcome and long-overdue portrait . . . thoughtful, insightful and deeply engaging. . . . It easily stands as one of the most impressive profiles of a ballplayer in years.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Bryant is a great writer for a great subject. . . . Mr. Aaron’s story is the epic baseball tale of the second half of the 20th century.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Impressive. . . . Nuanced. . . . For baseball junkies, The Last Hero offers enough about ballplayers of the era and the game to amply satisfy. But fortunately this book offers more. This is not mere hagiography. This is the tale of a man performing in the public eye, laboring under a persona projected by others with preconceptions of their own, but who gradually moves forward in his quest for self-determination.” —Bill Nowlin, The Boston Globe
“Brawny. . . . The Last Hero had the forceful sweep of a well-struck essay as much as that of a first-rate biography.” —The New York Times
“The best baseball biography to come along in years, a work that fuses the storytelling acumen of a David Halberstam with the sensitivity for race and sport embodied by writers such as Dave Zirin and William Rhoden. . . . For readers eager to know the man behind the numbers and the footage, Bryant hits one out of the park.” —The Bay State Banner
“Perfect for the sports fan and the history buff.” —Good Morning America
“No one was more important to the game of baseball in the last half of the 20th century than Henry Aaron and no one writes about that supremely talented man, that tumultuous time and this treasure of a game better than Howard Bryant. Together, they are an extraordinary combination, and the book Bryant has written gets to the heart of the complicated and dignified, patient and consistent genuine hero that is Henry Aaron.” —Ken Burns
“Marvelous. . . . Wrists, legs, heart, brain—here is the full picture of a great man and ballplayer who finally gets his due.” —David Maraniss, author of Clemente
“There will surely be other books on Hank; there may never be a better book on Henry Aaron than Bryant’s The Last Hero.” —Mobile Press-Register
“A fascinating and at times a troubling book, which revivified the lovely old game for me.” —Tracy Kidder
“A must read for baseball fans of every generation.” —Booklist
“We already know Henry Aaron as one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. Now, in Howard Bryant’s impeccably researched and nuanced biography, we know Henry Aaron not just as a great ballplayer, but as a remarkable man. In The Last Hero Bryant asks the hard questions and cuts through the myths to create a timeless and unflinching portrait of an American icon and his times. And as in any great biography, in learning about Aaron’s life we also learn something about our own.” —Glenn Stout, series editor, The Best American Sports Writing | <urn:uuid:a8509a46-a9cb-4cbd-97ad-a3a32d3e8e8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307279927 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947058 | 936 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Mixing Things Up
To say that the human body is an amazing machine is an understatement, especially when it comes to diet and exercise. Our bodies are constantly trying to achieve a state of homeostasis. The human body over time will make adjustments to try and adapt to its current environment.
The biggest problem with sticking with the same diet and exercise plan day in and day out is that your body will eventually adapt to that plan. The goal is to make subtle changes that keep your body guessing.
Use shock principles with your workouts
There are minor changes that you can do to your workout that will drastically improve your performance. One trick that I like to use is to take comparable exercises and swap them out from week to week. For example, let's take a basic quadriceps workout. I'll group my exercises into different categories
Category A: Free weight squats, Smith machine squats
Category B: Leg press, Hack squats
Category C: Leg extensions, lunges
During week one I will use one exercise from each category. The following week I will pick a different group of exercises from my list and so on and so on. For example:
Week One: Free weight squats, Hack squats, Leg extensions
Week Two: Smith machine squats, Leg press, lunges
Week Three: Smith machine squats, Leg press, leg extensions
*Note: These are drastic changes and the changes don't have to be done every week but they do keep your workouts from becoming stale.
Another option I use in my workouts is to cycle the weight and intensity. I like to train hard and heavy for three to four weeks then do one to two weeks of lighter weight with higher repetitions. Another benefit to cycling your training intensity is that you can decrease the risk of injuries.
Tying it all together
If you notice that your workout program is no longer working for you then try mixing things up. Add a little spice to your workouts and change the tempo. You may be surprised that a few subtle changes can drastically change your workout results.
Gerald Gore is the owner of the online fitness review site One4Fitness. For more health and fitness related tips and reviews on workout equipment visit Gerald's site at http://www.one4fitness.com
The Many Benefits of Exercise
Health experts encourage us to include exercise as a necessary part of our daily routine to promote our general well- being. Together with healthy and balanced diet, adequate rest and relaxation, exercise is recommended to promote optimal health. People who are usually inactive can improve their health and well-being by becoming even moderately active on a regular basis.
Top 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Exercising the Abdominals
The abdominal muscles are essential for maintaining good posture and core stability, however many exercisers are unclear on the correct way to exercise them. Traditional exercises for the abdominals include crunches and sit-ups also known as trunk curls and curl-ups. The following are ten things to avoid when performing exercise for the abs.
Discover the Best Weight Loss Exercise Ever!
The Best Weight Loss Exercise
Weight Loss & Low Body Fat ? High Calorie Burning Techniques During Workouts!
My name is Greg Ryan. I am a fitness expert, professional bodybuilder, personal, trainer to movie stars, and former employee of Kathy Smith. For twenty years I have been able to continually make progress and keep my body fat below normal. I accredit this to being able to work smarter than most not harder.
Unstable And Proud Of It! Power to the Push-Ups!
When I get finished teaching you this never-before-seen version of the push-up, you're going to think that either I'm crazy or a genius or both! Of course, the results you'll get from it will speak for themselves.
Finding Time to Exercise
Exercising During Commercials
Exercise ? More is NOT Better!
Years ago when I was a professional bodybuilder, I fell into the mindset that the more I exercised, the less fat I ate, the better I would look and feel. At the time this seemed like the logical thing to do. And maybe in my mind that was correct. However, from my body's standpoint, this was NOT the thing to do, nor was it healthy.
Super Charge Your Metabolism
1. Cardio in Combination with Strength Training- If you need to combine your cardio with Strength training then do your Cardio AFTER your Resistance Training workout. You need that extra energy for the Hi Intensity Strength training and you also want to pump blood into your muscles after you have just broken them down from a heavy resistance training program... So Pump it up first then do your Cardio.
A 30-minute, Or Less, Full Body Workout
Most people do not have the time to do biceps and back one day, then legs and shoulders the next, then triceps and abdominals the next day. So here is a short, and every effective full body weight session you can easily get done in 30 minutes or less. Your muscles will feel the workout but you will not have the muscle soreness that will prevent you from your other training
Building those impressively sleek shoulders takes a great deal of raw grind but once you sport a shapely set, you'll quickly be separated from the rest. If you like to wear bikinis or summer dresses that reveal your upper torso, shoulder training is ideal in sporting a sexy physique.
No Time For The Gym?
As you have undoubtedly heard, college students around the country are gaining weight at a rapid rate. A recent study by Cornell University found that on average, college freshman gain about 0.5 pounds a week, which is almost 11 times more than the average weight gain among 17-and 18-year olds and almost 20 times more than the average weight gain among American adults.
The Abs... More Important Than You Think
What comes to your mind when I say the word "abs"? Do you think of the infomercials advertising "6 second abs" or the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue? Most people focus on training their abs to look thinner or sexier. But, do you realize the importance of your abs in everyday activities? Most yoga instructors do. And that's why one of the focuses of yoga is to build your core abdominal strength.
Current Recommendations are 30-60 Minutes of Exercise, Everyday?
This is the latest advice to the public and many are surprised at the sheer quantity and confused as to what constitutes exercise.
After Exercise Headache - More Serious Than You Think?
It's surprisingly common - you're exercising, everything's fine, and then POW - a headache strikes! Or, sometimes, a headache hits while you're exercising. Is it just a minor annoyance? Or could it be a signal that something serious is going on? Should you go to the doctor, or just shrug it off?
Exercise and Kids: The Difference between Training Children and Adults!
The greatest mistake a person can make when exercising with children is to treat them like little adults. Children are growing and developing rapidly. This means that certain physiological issues must be considered when they are exercising.
Fitness Focus: Overcoming Obstacles
If you're like me, the quest to be in shape, manage weight and overall well-being, at times, feels overwhelming. And, as if the quest to be fit isn't hard enough, there's often other obstacles to overcome: health issues, time management, mustering up courage or energy. Even if you've been exercising for a long time, there's always new barriers to be broken. So, how to put all of this into perspective? According to Tom Turner, executive liaison for the Spina Bifida Association that's exactly it: Perspective. And also, according to him, there's no mountain too high to climb. Tom would know. Paralyzed from the waist down since birth he's now 33 and trains about three times a week. In fact, he tells me, he just couldn't get along without exercise.
Exercising With Kids -- Tips For Parents
Making exercise a priority is a challenge for everyone. And for parents it can be especially difficult to find time to workout because of the full plates that they often juggle. When summer arrives the juggling act becomes even more tricky with kids home from school and involved in extracurricular activities.
4 Exercises That Will Help You Change Your Body Faster Than Any Other Exercises You May Have Tried
1. Lunges with a barbell. Properly executed, this exercise is the king (or queen) of total body reshaping exercises.
Workout Without a Gym
You may also have no access to a commercial gym, home gym or are on business trip, but there can be a solution, a strength-training workout without the need of expensive machines.
Is It Safe To Start An Exercise Program?
I think the real question is "How safe is it for you not to exercise?" Did you know that obesity has just replaced smoking as the number one cause of health related problems? That's incredible! Sorry to say, but that means we are a bunch of fat, inactive people! Back in the day when people milked cows and planted their own food for exercise, you would never hear of something like this. Think about that the next time you can't exercise because of a hard day at the office! O.k. before I tear off too far into a rant lets look at some of the real concerns you should tend to before you start an exercise program. | <urn:uuid:fe36aa2c-de84-4fbf-bd09-4a36acf1fb5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advancingwomen.com/exercise/51630.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953833 | 1,965 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The Israeli authorities must investigate allegations that two Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in protest at their continued administrative detention have been ill-treated while in detention, Amnesty International said today.
Hassan Safadi and Samer al-Barq have been on hunger strike since 21 June and 22 May respectively. Independent medical examinations conducted last week found that both men were weak and that they risk death if the hunger strikes continue.
According to their lawyer, while the men are barely able to stand and use wheelchairs for their daily needs, guards have repeatedly beaten and verbally abused them while in detention at the Israel Prison Service Medical Centre in the central city of Ramleh.
Hassan Safadi’s health deteriorated on 6 August and he was transferred to Assaf Harofeh hospital, where he remains shackled to his bed – which constitutes degrading treatment prohibited under international human rights law.
"The Israeli authorities must release Hassan Safadi, Samer al-Barq and all other administrative detainees, unless they are promptly charged with recognizable criminal offences and tried in accordance with international fair trial standards," said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"They must also investigate allegations that Hassan Safadi and Samer al-Barq have been ill-treated while in detention and ensure they are treated humanely, and not punished in any way for their hunger strike."
Detainees can be held in administrative detention without charge or trial for periods of up to six months which can be renewed indefinitely. Israel has used the measure against its citizens since 1948. Thousands of Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territories have been subjected to it since 1967.
Hassan Safadi has been detained since 29 June 2011. He ended a previous 70-day hunger strike in May. Then when his administrative detention order which expired in June was renewed for another six months, he restarted his hunger strike on 21 June.
Samer al-Barq has been held in administrative detention since 2010. He ended a hunger strike after 50 days in the middle of May 2012, only to resume it days later after his detention order was renewed for a further three months.
Administrative detainees – like many other Palestinian prisoners – have been subjected to violations such as the use of torture and other ill-treatment during interrogation, as well as cruel and degrading treatment during their detention, sometimes as punishment for hunger strikes or other protests.
In addition, administrative detainees and their families must live with the uncertainty of not knowing how long they will be deprived of their liberty and the injustice of not knowing exactly why they are being detained.
Like other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, they have also faced bans on family visits, forcible transfer or exile and solitary confinement.
These practices contravene Israel’s international human rights obligations.
A mass hunger strike involving some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees protesting poor prison conditions, including solitary confinement, denial of family visits and detention without charge came to an end on 14 May following an Egyptian-brokered deal with the Israeli authorities.
Despite media reports suggesting that Israel had agreed that administrative detention orders of current detainees would not be renewed unless significant new intelligence information was presented, the Israeli authorities have continued to renew orders and to issue new ones.
As of the end of June 2012 there were at least 285 Palestinian administrative detainees, among them members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Human rights defenders such as Walid Hanatsheh and at least four journalists, in addition to university students and academic staff, were also among those behind bars without charge or trial.
More than 300 Palestinians are held by Israel as administrative detainees, without prospect of a trial for any criminal offence. Detention without trial continues as it has for decades. The Israeli authorities have claimed that administrative detention is used exceptionally against people who pose a great danger to security. In practice, they have employed it against thousands of people, including some who should never have been arrested. This report examines the violations associated with administrative detention. | <urn:uuid:4f273ce3-9044-4659-8e0c-8de982f0b50e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amnesty.org/en/news/palestinian-hunger-strikers-detained-israel-must-be-treated-humanely-2012-08-09 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976819 | 816 | 1.5 | 2 |
No one wants to think about things like stolen trade secrets or identity theft. No one wants to think that someone could ruffle through their rubbish and pull out your discarded writings and use it for crime. Most freelance writers do not even think that their rough-drafts are worth the paper they scribbled their notes on. However, information theft is one of the most prominent crimes in the world.
Freelance writers working from home must take precautions to protect their client information. They must take the necessary steps to ensure that whatever data they are entrusted with remains confidential. Freelancers who do not protect the interests of their client may face liability lawsuits.
When you are transmitting data over the Internet, is important to establish a secure connection. You can have extra security added to your website through your hosting company and the cost is very minimal.
You should also make sure that your data transmissions are protected from malware and viruses. It would be a liability issue if a file you transmit carries one of these malicious programs and infects the receiving computer.
Digital files that you store at home should be kept on a portable hard drive that can be unplugged from the computer when it is not in use. This ensures that if your system is hacked, these files cannot be accessed.
Paper File Protection
If your client provides paperwork for you to use as a basis of your work, make sure that it is always filed properly. If the materials are not required to be returned to the client, ask if they would want the files immediately shredded or stored for future use.
Any scrap paper that you use to take notes on the project should either be kept with the file or shredded, regardless of relevance. Copies that printed off of your computer and were not perfect should be destroyed.
Invoices, payment information, credit card or banking information should be stored in the same manner. Keep your paper files locked as an extra act of precaution.
Why The Paranoia?
Information is the hottest commodity, and yes, people will go to great lengths to obtain information that they can sell. A criminal looking through your trash to find an old credit card statement will think they hit gold when they find corporate banking information.
Additional Benefit Of Protecting Your Data
When you can provide your client with this extra security, they will feel better about working with you on a regular basis. A company that believes that you have their best interests in mind will become a regular client.
You should be very straightforward to your clients about the security measures that you use both on and offline. Many clients who visit your information page may decide to select you over another economy-priced writer simply because you offer this extended protection.
Every minute of every day someone has personal information stolen. These victims spend months, and sometimes years, fixing all the problems that this identity theft has caused. | <urn:uuid:09413832-170b-4fc8-9f35-10c4d9726a41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.workfromhomejobs.co.uk/why-all-freelance-writers-must-own-a-shredder | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960285 | 576 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Personal Life, Comfort, Enjoyment in America Vs. India
Coming from a middle class family in India, I am not used to having an air conditioner at home or in the bus…also, never had a car …on a hot summer day, if I travel, I would be almost drenched in sweat…It is quite a different experience living in similar weather conditions in America…I have Air conditioner at home, in the car, in the bus and in any building I enter….quite comfortable life…I am still an average middle class man in America…but, as an individual my life is pretty cozy. Let me share some of my thoughts on personal life, enjoyment and comfort in America comparing with India… this article is part of series Life in America vs. India
Personal Life in US vs. India
In America, your life is very independent…you have full freedom to be the way you want…Privacy is of utmost importance either at home or in a social setting. You do not see people intruding into your personal life, unless you know them very well. You can dress the way you want, travel wherever you want, be passionate about anything you appreciate, etc…Though you are a social being, you are less dependent on others for living your daily life…On the other hand, in India, unless you are from a very affluent society, you are limited by your choices and you are an interdependent human being…you may be barred from doing certain things because of the social implications and taboos…Your choices may be influenced by your peers, family or society because people tend to judge others based on their personal practices and lifestyle…In US, you have the freedom to have a weird lifestyle and not be judged by others…the reality is people do not care much about others lifestyle in US, it is all about individuality…
Physical Comfort in US vs. India
As I mentioned above, you have at most physical comfort everywhere in US….buses, trains, air planes, office buildings, homes, restaurants, shopping centers, etc…You have heaters in cold places and air conditioners in hot places…unless you live in a metro and have good transportation, most people own cars…owning a car is very common…You do not have power cuts…you have so many choices everywhere…I cannot think of anything that creates physical discomfort to me in US as a middle class guy…on the other hand in India, as a middle class guy, I am subjected to physical discomfort in many places buses, trains, shops, etc…I am not talking about upper middle class or rich people…just trying to compare middle class life in US vs. India
Enjoyment in US vs. India
There are so many things to do in US…you are free to do whatever you want without being judged by others…You are free to go to a American football game or to a pub and not be judged…read this article for things to do in USA …Some might like to play board games, some might like to paint, some might like to play guitar, some might like to do archery, some might like to do play cricket, some might like to tell stories, some might like to read books, do skydiving (my experience) etc…whatever your enjoyment activity is, you have a group of people interested in doing similar things and you can find them and enjoy your stuff without being judged by your peers, family and relatives…in India, due to social situations, unless your family and friends circle is care free, open minded, or may be affluent, you may be judged or criticized…Honestly, I would have never even tried to buy guitar, take dance classes, Tae-kwon-do classes, etc …just because my parents may say no, peer pressure and others would judge me…you have much independence to enjoy your life
Decision to live in US vs. India based on Personal preferences
Some people like to live an independent and comfortable life of their own without being judged by others…. some like to live in a social setting with their own cultural beliefs and surrounded by people with similar mindset…If you are in latter category, you are better off to live or settle in India…if not America is your place to live…irrespective of what your preferences are, living in US for some time will give you an understanding or new perspective of things….In all reality, many people settle in America not because they are making more money, but just that life is more independent, comfortable and with many options for their version of enjoyment….
What do you think of Personal life in US vs. India ?
Image Credit: http://www.acriddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/07-rid-064_slowdownenjoy_life_fina.gif
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By Chelsea Janson
MELBOURNE, Australia (Network 10/CNN) - A nine-week-old puppy has been saved by an unusual "hair of the dog" treatment.
The American Staffordshire was put on a vodka drip, after being poisoned by anti-freeze.
The nine-week-old picture of puppy health, but just two weeks ago, Cleo, a cute Christmas present, was hours away from fatal kidney failure, after licking anti-freeze from a car part.
"She was giving us a bit of a scare because she was really disorientated, she couldn't stand straight, she'd fall over," said owner Stacy Zammit.
During the night, Cleo got worse, refusing food and constantly crying. Zammit rushed her to a vet.
The only cure for coolant poisoning was another staff member's Christmas present: pure alcohol.
"There's toxins in that called etholyn-glycol and they're very, very harmful to the kidneys so what we need to do is give them alcohol and in this case, we gave her vodka to try and mop up some of those toxins," said veterinarian Matt Pascall.
The vodka was fed via a drip through her nose and into her stomach.
"It was quite funny, to be honest. Flushing her with vodka to make her better," said Zammit.
Over two days the boozy pup consumed more than a third of the bottle.
"If we put it in human terms, for me it would be the equivalent of having seven or eight shots every four hours," said Pascall.
The Christmas vodka has since been replaced and Cleo's back to full health, now that the hangover's gone. | <urn:uuid:8174d8df-1b9b-48f1-9a02-19b763378247> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ksdk.com/news/watercooler/article/357143/71/Vodka-drip-saves-poisoned-puppys-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985687 | 360 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Good news and bad news in the Ultimate Linux Box department. First of all, the good news. Price War! The classic price curve inflection between “hot” and “almost hot” CPUs is rounding out. The economy may be in /dev/crapper, but hardware vendors' loss is your gain. And as I write this, RAM prices are insanely low, too—1GB is the new 64MB.
The bad news is what do you need an Ultimate Linux Box for these days, anyway? A midrange laptop is more computer than most people need, and you can put together a perfectly good box for under a grand. Why blight the Earth with a room-heating, hover craft-sounding, credit-card-maxing monstrosity?
First of all, you can never have too many web servers. Yes, you have an official process where new pages and programs get developed, then deployed on a virtual host on the staging server for in-house testing, then move to the live server when they're approved. But that's for routine stuff. If you're doing something entirely new, and want to get input from possible users, nothing beats having a “scratch” server environment.
And if you keep an inactive but ready-to-go copy of your main web server setup on your desktop box, you can be back up quickly if your main server gets cracked. Do any necessary upgrades, start the copy and that major security compromise only costs you a few minutes of actual fix time. You have the compromised box, captured intact but off the network, to study and document at your leisure.
Anyone who's responsible for an important site can make the case for having a server in reserve, and that box, rounded out with a few extra parts, might as well earn its keep as a high-end desktop. | <urn:uuid:c99e1a51-82f8-40fe-b7d1-1497a1f47ef9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linuxjournal.com/files/linuxjournal.com/linuxjournal/articles/054/5420/5420s2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941418 | 381 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Alexia Sinclair is a photographer and digital artist from Sydney, Australia. Her images consist of staggering amounts of photographic elements, illustrations and layers, carefully arranged and brushed through in Photoshop. Her biography describes the outcome of this process as “dark and seductive, baroque and symbolic,” and it is hard not to agree.
The same biography refers to Alexia’s celebrated series The Regal Twelve as her crowning achievement. The Regal Twelve portrays twelve famous, or perhaps infamous, female monarchs, each one captured in her own characteristic setting. The series generated widespread attention in fine art circles, but Alexia, who is obviously a star on the rise, is already promoting the second part of her series: The Royal Dozen. This time she is focusing on male monarchs, and the portrait of Peter the Great is taken from this series.
PETER THE GREAT
“The flamboyance of the character is crucial to me,” says Alexia. “There are obviously plenty of historical figures who I could’ve chosen, but they weren’t necessarily visually interesting. Choosing Peter the Great gave me a range of elements that I could light in creative ways.”
Who is Peter the Great?
“Peter the Great was the tsar of Russia. He was known for his love of shipbuilding so I put wood shavings at his feet to symbolize his interest in the subject. He also travelled the world, collecting bits and pieces for his cabinet of curiosity. That’s where this portrait is supposed to capture him – in his cabinet. Actually, everything you see is supposed to be some sort of symbol of his reign.”
Alexia says that she thinks of her images as jigsaws of photographs and illustrations. Exactly how she creates them is quite tricky to explain, but it goes a little something like this: First of all, Alexia and her colleague James Hill build the set. Alexia then locks down the camera (so it cannot move) and starts photographing the set, over and over again, with subtle variations. She shoots with different exposures. She moves an object. She photographs a lit candle, blows it out and photographs the smoke. Once she is done shooting, Alexia layers all of these images in Photoshop. Finally, she goes through the meticulous process of carefully brushing through different elements from different layers, creating something organic and highly personal.
“I often use highlights from one layer, shadows from a second and midtones from a third,” says Alexia. “I do all of this by hand so that it ends up looking almost like a painting.”
For instance, the hanging curtain was shot several times in the same place but with different exposures. The same goes for the table and the globe. Other objects, such as the butterflies and the bell jar, were shot in different places.
“I had a butterfly on a stick, which I moved around and shot from different angles. I then layered all the butterfly images in Photoshop and brushed through the ones that I wanted to keep. The same goes for the bell jar. Actually, we only had one bell jar, so I had to shoot the one we had in all of the different places you can see it in the image.”
Moving the jar but not the camera or the lights allowed Alexia to get a whole bunch of images of jars in different places – lit exactly the same. However, to complicate things further, there were also times when Alexia and James had to move the lights.
“We only had two ComPact 1200 with 3×4´Softboxes at our disposal,” adds James. “We’d love to have more lights, but this was a personal work, and we didn’t really have the budget. Since Alexia is working with so many layers, having absolute color consistency is pretty much the most important thing for her. I mean, she is dealing with maybe 50, 60 or even 100 images, and to have to color correct each one afterwards is obviously a pain. We learned pretty quickly to spend the money we have on one or two lights that we can trust and move around, rather than having 10 bad lights that all fire differently.”
Is working in this way as difficult as it sounds?
“The most challenging part is to understand how the different elements are going to come together,” says Alexia. “I never move the objects in postproduction. Where I shoot them is where they are going to be in the final image, and since you can only see one image at a time when you’re shooting, you’re sort of building this huge jigsaw puzzle. Take the bell jar, for instance. If I’d move it just a little too far, the jars would’ve overlapped each other in the final image so you really have to imagine all the pieces of the puzzle in your head!”
“This background was shot in India,” says Alexia. “It’s actually shot in the very palace that Shah Jahan built and later was imprisoned in.”
Who was Shah Jahan?
“He was the Indian Emperor who built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his dead wife. When his son came to power, the son locked up his father in this room, and Shah Jahan spent the rest of his days looking out of this small window, at the Taj Mahal, where his dead wife was buried. In a series like The Royal Dozen, I try to create different moods and different characters for each one. Shah Jahan is far from your stereotypical, bold military leader. He is a romantic king, and this is a love piece. That’s why he is holding a rose, symbolizing his eternal love.”
How did you light the set?
“I shot the background in India with just natural sunlight, and then I shot my king in the studio with a Pro-B3 and a Softbox 5´Octa. The light that’s falling on his face, that’s the Octa. I often do it like that, shooting my backgrounds on-location with just available sun light, and that light later dictates how I set the light in my studio. In this case, we used the Octa to recreate the natural light that was falling under the archways.”
What else can you tell us about this image?
“Well, we then have the petals. As soon as we’d shot the king with the rose in his hand, we just pulled off the petals, and then let them fall through different frames. Once again, just like with the Peter the Great portrait, I didn’t cut out or move anything. I just brushed them through from different layers. That way they’re all lit the same. Since we didn’t move the lights this time, the petals are also lit exactly the same way as the king. Then we have the grass, which was shot on a third location. And the hair dress is actually an illustration I did.
An illustration? Really?
“Yep. I drew all the feathers by hand.
That’s amazing. I would never have guessed…
“That’s good,” laughs Alexia.
“Okay. So this next image … is me!”
“She manipulated her nose, though,” says James. “It’s not really that big.”
“Thank you,” says Alexia. “Anyway, we shot the background on-location in Versailles, France, whereas the little hill in the foreground was shot here in Sydney. For the portrait of me, we used a pretty simple layout.”
“We did this one the day after Shah Jahan,” says James. “Alexia was pretty tired, so we decided to just use the gear we still had from the day before, which was the Pro-B3, the Softbox 5’ Octa and something else for fill. Can’t really remember exactly what it was, though…”
Alexia, why did you decided to use yourself as model?
“Because when I exhibited my series of queens, The Regal Twelve, everybody assumed that I was in the portraits, which I wasn’t, so when I started working with The Royal Dozen, I wondered if they’d recognize me as a man. Also, Napoleon seemed kind of appropriate. Ever since I was a little girl, people have always told me that I am such a little charger, like a little…
“Little dictator?” asks James.
“Right,” laughs Alexia. “A little dictator.”
We have many more of Alexia’s images, complete with thoughts and comments. If you think we should post these too, leave a comment or drop us an email!
Written by Fredrik Franzén
Trackback from your site. | <urn:uuid:65620d50-d2b1-44cd-a376-5538ab97b266> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.profoto.com/blog/fine-art-photography/alexia-sinclair-layers-of-interest/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974108 | 1,903 | 1.710938 | 2 |
After back-to-back stomach clutching renditions of "Not Gon' Cry" and "I'm Going Down" at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans Sunday night, Mary J. Blige pulled off an Oprah-worthy seminar on affirmation with "Just Fine" to close out the three-day fest, which celebrates black music and African-American culture.
Essence, the nation's premiere black women's magazine, caused a firestorm recently when it hired a white woman as its full-time fashion director. With all due respect to the critics, Essence magazine got it right.
On the first anniversary of the historic 2008 election, retired Gen. Colin Powell, the first African-American secretary of state, talks one-on-one with CNN's Don Lemon for Essence Magazine about the most pressing issues facing black men in the age of President Obama. Don Lemon: President Barack Obama issued a national call to service. Do you think African-Americans have answered that call?
Coca Cola was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a local pharmacist, produced the syrup for Coca-Cola. It was put on sale at the nearby Jacobs' Pharmacy for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink.
Kristal Brent Zook has probably spent more time with the family of the alleged rape victim in the Duke lacrosse case than any other reporter. The Essence magazine contributor and adjunct faculty member at Columbia University told CNN on Tuesday that the 27-year-old alleged victim's parents have seen little of her. | <urn:uuid:21027099-5cab-4bc3-ada5-6891bf555d1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/essence_communications_inc | 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 | 0.956119 | 323 | 1.539063 | 2 |
TECH TIP SEARCH RESULTS
Acura Legend Transmission Problem
The leak from the sunroof on the Acura Legend could cause a TCM (transmission computer module) to burn out. Plugged drain tubes cause water to accumulate and leak down to the floor were the TCM is located. The repair is to clean up any debris, and check the plastic tubes for clogging: they're located at the front mud flap and trunk quarter panels
Audi 5000 Transmission Problem
The Audi 5000 might have a transmission problem in low and reverse. The problem is that the transmission accumulator piston seal is torn, causing drag or a shifting problem. The fix is to remove the transmission pan, filter, valve body and accumulator, and once the accumulator piston is out, check for rough edges then clean up and install a new seal. Don’t forget to install the recommended amount of transmission fluid.
Audi and VW Computer Problems
Loose ground wires could cause the computers on Audis and VWs to instantly burn themselves out. When doing any engine work--such as valve covers, water pumps, engine mounts, head gaskets, etc.--always check that ground straps are properly insulated and tightened. The ground straps, mounting screws and threads must all be cleaned and tightened properly or a voltage drop will occur. If there is an excessive voltage drop, the computer will be damaged
Audi Steering Problems
The 1998 and 1999 Audi A4, A6, and A8 models have a problem with reduced steering control. The problem has been linked to inadequate sealing of the ball ends that are installed on the rack-and-pinion tie rod ends. There has been a recall involving these vehicles whereby Audi will replace the tie rods. For further information contact Audi at (800) 822-2834.
Bad Engine Ground
The poor engine ground connection could cause corrosion of the radiator or other metal coolant components. This process is called electrolysis. Electrolysis usually takes place when an engine ground becomes loose or corroded. You can check for this condition by using a Digital Volt Meter. To do so, attach the black end of the meter lead to a good ground (negative side of the battery), and then connect the red lead so it make contact with the coolant in the radiator. Next, crank the motor over, making sure that the test lead does not touch any part of the radiator or the results will be invalid. CAUTION!!! Care must be taken when dealing with hot engine coolant. Follow all safety precautions and NEVER OPEN THE RADIATOR WHEN HOT!!! If the meter reads more that 0.3 (300 millvolts) you have a problem
BMW 525i Dead Battery
Incorrect routing of the alternator belt causes the belt to slip and the battery to go dead. The belt must be checked for correct routing and proper tension. The smooth side of the belt goes against the flat pulley and the grooved side runs against the notched pulley. Charge the battery with the battery cables disconnected from the vehicle, and then test the battery and the charging system. Follow all safety and manufacturer recommendations.
Brakes That Growl
Did you know a growling or grinding noise coming from your brakes could be an indication that you may have brake trouble. Most disc brakes installed on vehicles have a wear sensor installed on them.When brake pads get low the sensor will hit the rotor, this warning system emits a growling or scrapping noise to remind you to have the brakes checked or replaced. In order to prevent any damage to the rotor surface or caliper you should have your brakes looked at by a mechanic immediately. Don't forget it's the most important system on your vehicle.
Chevy Lumina air bag problems
Their bag problems have led to a recall for the 2000 Chevy Lumina and the Pontiac Grand Prix built from September through October 1999. If you have a vehicle built during this period, contact Chevy at (800) 222-1020 or Pontiac at (800) 762-2737 immediately. The build date can usually be found on the driver’s-side door or pillar
Chevy MIL (Check Engine Light) On
Topping off your fuel tank could cause the MIL light to come on. Yes, overfilling the gas tank will cause the check engine light to come on. This computer system is very sensitive to all fuel system functions on new OBD II equipped vehicles. The light will usually come on after fueling during short trips more so than extended driving trips. The fix for this problem is not topping off (overfilling) the gas tank.
Chevy, GMC and Olds Trucks with Transmission Problems
1995 to 1998 trucks might experience transmission problems caused by a faulty dipstick tube seal. This seal is located between the transmission case and tube. After the seal has been replaced, the transmission should be flush and refilled. Professional equipment is needed to properly flush all of the contained transmission fluid.
Chrysler 2.2 and 2.5 Overheating Engines
The clogged heater core could cause the engine to overheat. As strange as it may sound, the 2.2L and 2.5L engine will overheat due to a restricted heater core. The restriction causes engine coolant flow disruption, creating air pockets. The driver may notice their dash coolant gauge going up (or light to come on) then returning to normal. An early warning sign of a heater core that is becoming clogged will be a decrease in heat from the heater system. To prevent these problems, change the thermostat and flush the cooling system every 2 years or 24 thousand miles.
Chrysler Cirrus, Dodge Stratus and Plymouth Breeze Brake Problem
The Cirrus, Stratus and Breeze built from June 1997 through May 1999 might experience brake failure. The right rear brake line comes in contact with the exhaust system clamp. Symptoms include brake fluid loss and poor braking performance. The fix is to install a new brake line and bleed system, and to reposition the exhaust clamp. For recall repair info, contact Chrysler at (800) 992-1997
Chrysler LHS & Dodge Intrepid Transmission Problems
Cars equipped with the 3.5-liter engine could have transmission problems caused by a faulty thermostat. The thermostat controls engine temperature, which is monitored by the vehicle's computer system. The signal from the cooling system can give the incorrect signal, causing transmission commands to lock up, engaging or disengaging the transmission. The symptom will be a bucking or surging problem. The coolant should also be checked for proper level and the thermostat operation should be checked as well. Use caution when working around hot engine coolant and parts.
Clean Carbon Build-up from Engine
The best way to clean carbon build-up out of your engine is NOT to take the car out and run it as hard as you can. This only results in meetings with local law enforcement personnel, and doesn't do much for cleaning out carbon. If you really want to clean the carbon out of your engine follow these simple steps. Fill an empty soda bottle with water. Remove your air cleaner. Start your engine. While using one hand to control the throttle, trickle the water into the carb or throttle body with the other while holding your thumb over the bottle opening. Keep the engine rpm's up so that the engine doesn't die. Make sure that you don't pour the water in too fast! Water doesn't compress and if you pour too much water in, severe engine damage can result! White smoke from the exhaust is normal. If you have a port fuel injected car, you obviously won't be able to use this method, but I have had success with connecting a vacuum hose to a port at the base of the throttle body and sticking the other end of the hose into the bottle of water. The vacuum of the engine will suck the water in, creating the same effect. This will clean out even the most stubborn carbon, by 'steam cleaning' your cylinders.
Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager Misfire
Both the Caravan and the Voyager equipped with the 2.5-liter engine could experience a misfire due to an air conditioning relay? The problem with the misfire is usually experienced when the air conditioning is turned on. Check for codes in the computer system and check the relay for proper operation. The fix for the problem is to install a new relay, along with an additional ground wire to the relay.
Dodge Dakota Hard Start
The 3.9-liter Dodge Dakota could experience hard starts due to a fuel injector problem. The problem is that the fuel injectors leak, causing extra fuel to be dumped into the cylinder. This contaminates the oil and empties the fuel rail. When the ignition key is turned on, the lack of fuel in the rail causes a hard start or extended cranking time. The fix for this problem is to replace the fuel injectors and seals and to change the oil. Observe caution when working with the fuel system, and follow all safety procedures
Dodge Shadow Cruse Control Problem
The Dodge Shadow could have a problem with the cruise control system, due to a brake switch problem. The brake switch is a major input for the cruise control system; its signal is used to communicate with the computer to turn off the cruise control. The problem is with excessive resistance at the brake switch, causing poor or no cruise control input. Check all connections for excessive voltage drops. Consult an ASE technician for proper procedures.
Ford F-350 Truck Wiper Problem
The intermittent wiper might not work because of a faulty wiper motor. The problem that Ford has been having is that wiper motor circuit board has been failing, leading to occasional or total non-operation. Check with Ford if your truck has this problem.
GM 2.4-liter Engine Problems
The 2.4-liter engine in the Chevrolet Malibu, Chevrolet Cavalier, Oldsmobile Alero, Pontiac Grand Am and Pontiac Sunfire can idle roughly or misfire? This can set off a P0300 code and illuminate a MIL (check engine light). The cause is a missing spark plug boot spring that is used in the direct ignition coil pack. Replace the missing spring and boot assembly to repair this problem. Caution: When working on ignition systems, follow all safety and manufacturer-recommended procedures.
GM Vehicle Transmission Problem
Your GM vehicle might experience transmission problems due to a faulty switch/sensor. The transmission may not shift properly due to fluid that leaks past the electrical connector.This switch/sensor connects the transmission to the TCM (transmission computer). The transmission fluid passes through the switch/sensor and up through the wires, preventing the computer and the transmission from communicating. The fix for this problem is to replace the switch/sensor and install a new wire plug connector. The wire plug connecter has to be spliced into the existing harness and must be soldered and heat shrunk. Take all precautions when working with the electrical and computer systems.
Hard Starting Jeeps Cherokees
Extended cranking or hard starting Jeeps could mean you have a fuel problem. Jeep Cherokee has had a starting problem due to a trouble with the rubber hose that is connected to the fuel pump. This rubber hose can become porous allowing fuel pressure to drop. To check for this problem turn the key to the run position (do not crank engine) and listen for the fuel pump. The fuel pump should run for a couple of seconds. After the pump stops turn the key to the off position and then back to run. This action allows the pump to deliver fuel and fill the rail back up. Care must be taken when installing a fuel pump, first make sure that the hose installed is fuel injection rated and do not over tighten the clamps.
How to Change BMW Battery?
Once you are sure you need to replace your battery you can either pay someone else to do it for you, or do it yourself.
If you decide to save money on labor, first thing you need to do is get the right battery. It's easy, just ask the parts seller to look up the correct application. Make sure you are getting the same amp battery as listed for your car.
Exchange procedure is quite simple and takes about ten minutes. You will need a crescent wrench and a screwdriver.
Begin with loosening the casble clamps attached to the battery terminals. Remove the negative battery cable FIRST, and reconnect it LAST. Then unscrew the hold-down brace which keeps battery in place. Take out old battery and place a new one instead, reversing the whole procedure.
That's it! Your done!
Before closing the hood of your new battery, make sure all cables and terminal ends are clean and not cracked. This will assure positive connection.
Improve Fuel Economy - Four Easy Ways
1. Keep your car in good shape. Fixing a car that is noticibly out of tune can improve your gas mileage by 4%. For example, exchanging a bad oxygen sensor makes your gas mileage as much as 40% better!
2. Plan and combine your trips. Several short trips started from cold engine will use more fuel than one combined trip on a warmed-up engine.
3. Drive Sensibly. Agresive driving wastes gas. You can save money on gas by avoiding speeding, rapid accelaration ans braking.
4. Purchase a K&N Air filter. They are a cheap and proven method to increase gas mileage.
Jeep Blown Fuse
Fuse No. 16 on the Jeep Cherokee has been known to blow because of a melted wiring harness. The oxygen sensor wiring harness is located too close to the exhaust manifold on the 4.0-liter engine, causing the harness to melt. The proper repair is to solder the wires, strap the wiring away from the exhaust manifold, replace fuse No. 16 and test the oxygen sensor for proper operation. If you are unsure of the procedure and repair, consult with an ASE-certified technician.
Nissan Sentra MIL Problem
The MIL (check engine light) might illuminate because of a computer problem. The 1997 and 1998 Sentras can report a PO300 (random misfire code) for a misfire that does not exist. This false MIL stored in the PCM is caused by a design defect in the PCM. Diagnostic procedures must be followed for the misfire code. This will include checking all mechanical and related systems. If no problems are found, the PCM should be replaced.
Oldsmobile 3.8L Stall Out or No Start
The 3.8L engine may have a no-start or stalling problem due to dirt, ice or snow. This engine is equipped with a Hall Effect crank sensor located on the lower part of the engine next to the harmonic balancer. When road dirt, ice or snow get stuck they can either break the sensor or cause an interruption of the generated signal. When the sensor doesn't send the correct signal to the computer it causes a stalling or no start problem.
Your vehicle may not start when it has been plowed in. Snowplows push snow off the roadway as close as possible to the curbs, sometimes blocking your vehicle in. The snow is packed all around your vehicle and possibly into the exhaust pipe (tailpipe). The snow then freezes and doesn't allow release of exhaust to leave the system. Your engine works on the principle of taking in fresh air from the air cleaner, mixing with fuel and then releasing the byproducts of combustion through the exhaust. When snow gets packed inside the exhaust system your engine will not run but it will crank. This can also happen when parking. Be cautious when backing up into a pile of snow. Always remember to check your exhaust pipe for blockage.
Save Money by Inspecting Your Brakes
Save money on brake repairs by inspecting your car every 6 months! Here is what you should look for:
1. Take a look at your brake rotors (disks). If any visible defect or discoloration - exchange them immidiately.
2. Inspect your brake pads for any uneven wear breakage or cracking.
3. Visually inspect your brake drums for the same defects as listed above.
4. Brake shoes - look for signs of uneven wearing or rivets to the friction surface
5. In addition to all above steps - inspect your calipers, wheel cylinders, hoses and fittings for any fluid leakage.
SCAN Tool Readings
It is easy to make snap, incorrect, judgments about what is wrong with a car based upon the SCAN tool reading. Take the time to look at all the parameters. Just because there is a code for an EGR valve not opening, does not mean the EGR is at fault. I showed one of my techs how a bad thermostat and/or CTS would not allow the EGR control to function. Replacing the CTS corrected the pinging, and erased the EGR code. Take the time to look at ALL the parameters. And don't forget to run the gearshift lever through all its positions. If the PRNDL is not reading correctly, the PCM doesn't make the correcting decisions for timing, EGR control, etc.
Transmission Problems in Chrysler LHS
Transmission problems may be caused by a faulty thermostat in the 3.5L engine. Engine temperature is controlled by the thermostat, which is in turn monitored by the vehicle’s computer system. An incorrect signal can be sent by the cooling system, causing transmission commands to lock up. This can result in a bucking or surging problem. The thermostat should be checked for proper operation and the coolant should be kept at proper level. Always use caution when working around a hot engine.
Vacuum Hose Problems
Inspect those vacuum hoses. They either become misrouted, or they deteriorate and collapse. We had a Dodge Colt Vist (Mitsubishi) that would go lean at highway speeds. Went through everything, until we checked vacuum line routing. The lines going to the High Altitude Compensator (opened a vacuum port in the main jet that reduced the fuel by breaking the siphon) were reversed, so the engine ran out of fuel. Have seen lots of misrouted lines causing similar problems, so get out the charts. Check it out yourself. Check the condition for all the vacuum lines to prevent pinhole leaks from driving you crazy.
Vehicle Problems on Bridges & Overpasses
During cold weather overpasses and bridges freeze before the regular roadway freezes. Overpasses and bridges freeze first because they are structures that are above ground level and cold air completely surrounds them. You should slow down and avoid all sudden changes in direction as well as speed. Care must also be taken when applying your brakes.
Vehicle With a 'Questionable' Maintenance Record
If you purchase a used car with a 'questionable' maintenance record, it's a good idea to add automatic transmission fluid to the crankcase and run the engine for a few minutes before changing the oil. This will clean out a good portion of the sludge and build-up from the inside of the engine.
Volvo 240 No-start
The Volvo 240 might not start because of a clogged flame trap. The flame trap is the positive crankcase ventilation system that allows blow-by gases from the engine to be introduced into the intake system. This system vents the gas to prevent engine seal leaks and lowers emissions. Difficult starting can be accompanied by a MIL (check engine light) with an oxygen sensor code. The code is set to the clogged flame arrester problem. Check the flame trap screen for clogging and replace as necessary.
Why Engine Thrust Bearings Fail
Often, soon after an engine rebuild, premature engine thrust bearing failure occurs. We will discuss some of the major causes of these types of failures. One of the most common causes of thrust bearing failures is the transmission torque convertor. When the overrunning clutch in a torque convertor becomes either seized or will not lock up in one direction, the stator does not provide it's normal function of directing the transmission fluid to create the proper torque multiplication required to drive the vehicle. When this happens, a large amount of the energy created is exhausted through the center of the torque convertor, creating excessive forward pressure. It is this pressure which causes the engine thrust bearing damage. When installing a new engine, it is wise to check the convertor your self, or have a qualified transmission rebuilder inspect it for over running clutch problems. Improper installation of the torque convertor in the transmission front pump can also lead to bearing failure, as well as transmission failure. Vehicles with standard transmissions may also experience this type of engine failure due to high clutch pressures, usually related to performance clutches with high spring pressures being installed. Riding the clutch can also cause thrust bearing failure on new engines. You must also ensure the clutch has adequate free play. Symptoms of damage caused by excessive external pressure on the crankshaft vary on engines due to their design differences. Small block Chev engines usually suffer catastrophic damage from excessive external pressures. In most cases the thrust bearing show signs of heavy rubbing on the thrust bearing. The most severe damage it on the other mains bearings, with the highest wear being on the center bearing, usually concentrated on the lower half of the bearing. The intermediate main bearings will have about half the wear of the center bearing, with the front and rear bearing showing little sign of problem. Big block Chev engines, due to the rigidity of their crankshaft, will usually only destroy the thrust face of the thrust bearing, causing little damage to the other mains. Engines with a center thrust bearing usually, as well as rubbing the thrust surface, will show signs of wear on the opposite sides of the crankshaft on the two intermediate bearings. I have seen cases of thust bearing failure on small block Ford engines that do not seem have an apparant cause. Upon checking the inner part of the bearing that seats in the block, signs of scraping on the bearing were noticed. This is the result of the installer trying to install the bearing in the rear location instead of the center, where the thrust bearing is located in this type of engine.
Why Oil Pumps Fail?
Tight tolerances make for a precarious existence for this critical component. Oil pumps don't always need to be replaced when oil pressure drops, but when one does need to be replaced, it is important to know the ins and outs of oil pump failure. By far the most common reason for an oil pump to fail is from dirt or debris in the lubrication system. According to some data, prime culprits include wire bristles from cleaning brushes, valve seal material, and other assorted dirt. When one considers that oil pump clearances are in the order of .003", it is not hard to understand why foreign material can cause oil pump failure. Pieces of nylon cam drive gears have also ended up in oil pumps. Don't expect the screen to filter out these objects as most have a bypass hole or slots designed to allow oil to flow when the oil's viscosity is too high to flow effectively through the screen. A cold start and a piece of debris can quickly lead to oil pump lock-up. So, whenever an oil pump is being replaced, jobbers should advise their customers that oil systems should be flushed out thoroughly. Debris can also end up in the pressure relief valve, possibly causing pressure to bleed off leading to a low oil pressure situation, perhaps ending up in engine damage. In addition, manufacturers have reported that there appears to be an increase in post rebuild engine failures as a result of the oiling system failing to prime itself. Reports from warranty claims have revealed completely dry oil pumps in some cases. To avoid this, jobbers should advise all customer to immerse pumps in oil and hand prime the oil pump before installation. Furthermore, it is not advisable to use petroleum jelly, lithium grease lubricants as a prelube in the oil pump, or liberally in the engine at all as they do not pump and can fill the pumping channels, curtailing is ability to move oil. For engines that are already assembled, but have been shipped or left sitting in storage, it is particularly advisable to pressurize the entire oiling system prior to start up using an electric drill as the oil pump may not be able to pressurize the system quickly enough to prevent damage. This procedure should be performed on any engine that has been assembled, before start up, to prevent dry start.
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MARTINS FERRY - The police department continues its efforts to combat the encroachment of drugs and drug related crimes.
Police Chief John McFarland, commander of the county's drug task force, noted that five officers have completed training in drug patrol operations and another has been sent to the academy for taser instruction.
In the immediate future, substances such as synthetic marijuana are a concern for the community. The police department is working with the city council toward legislation prohibiting the substance. McFarland pointed out that a state law prohibits synthetic marijuana, but the makers of the drug continually change the ingredients. He said the legislation would have to be wide-ranging enough to cover chemicals with a similar effect. He said the state bureau of criminal investigation tests a variety of products and if one is similar to a controlled substance, it is treated as that controlled substance.
In addition, the department is introducing their new police dog, Ecko, to the city schools during several demonstrations. The students have taken an interest in the dog and have taken up collections toward dog food. Ecko will be patrolling lockers and vehicles.
Heroin ranks among the officers' concerns for future. McFarland noted that two months ago, officers busted a heroin house, the first of its kind in the area, and more heroin turned up as a result of the recent Operation Shield county-wide drug busts.
DeFrank can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:2e1d58ae-9ba1-4ad2-8210-f0dd77558ef1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://timesleaderonline.com/page/content.detail/id/542305/Ferry-cops-continue-drug-battle.html?nav=5010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971594 | 298 | 1.828125 | 2 |
By John Darnton
387 pages. Dutton. $25.95.
Could a human mind enter a computer? It seems unlikely at first blush. After all, the fastest supercomputer today is a thousandth as fast as the brain of Homo sapiens. But what about the Internet? As it happens, the Internet's total unused computational power outstrips that of the human brain. If cyberspace were organized into a giant neural computer -- that is, a computer that mimicked networks of brain cells -- one could in theory ''upload'' a person's mental software into it: thoughts, feelings, memories, the works. Would cyberspace then be the arena of that person's consciousness, of his very soul?
That is the metaphysical question at the heart of John Darnton's new thriller, ''Mind Catcher.'' Mr. Darnton, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent who is now cultural news editor of The New York Times, apparently dashes off techno-thrillers in his idle moments. With this one, his third, he proves himself a practiced hand at the genre. The settings are cinematic and often memorably creepy; the characters are just complex enough to engage our sympathy or loathing; the technical bits -- brain surgery, bizarre neurological syndromes, sinister computer devices -- ring authentic; the plot mechanics are good, keeping the pulse racing all the way to the denouement.
Fitfully, though, ''Mind Catcher'' betrays a larger aspiration: it wants to be a thriller of ideas, a meditation on the nature of the self. And in this respect, I think, it's something of a muddle.
Our protagonist is Scott Jessup, a New York photographer who has lost his wife in a plane crash, and who is now raising their son, Tyler, alone. But something gruesome befalls the boy: in a rock-climbing accident in the Catskills, a metal device pierces his skull, embedding itself deep in the cortex of his brain.
The comatose child is rushed to a hospital on Manhattan's East River, there to be operated on by the celebrated and monumentally arrogant brain surgeon Leopoldo Saramaggio. The procedure Dr. Saramaggio has planned is unprecedented: while Tyler's brain is connected to a computer that maintains his basic life functions, the surgeon will extract stem cells, cultivate them in his lab and then reimplant them to rebuild the boy's cortex. Whether Tyler will regain consciousness, let alone his sweet personality, is far from certain. But since there is no other hope, his distraught father gives his consent.
Ambitious as Saramaggio's operation is, it doesn't approach what his collaborator, Dr. Cleaver, is scheming to do. A skulky little man whose bald dome makes him look like Lenin, Cleaver is the presiding physician at a lunatic asylum across the river on Roosevelt Island. In the basement of this half-ruined Gothic pile, he experiments on his basket-case patients, scanning and galvanizing their brains to verify his pet theories of the mind. Cleaver's guiding obsession is that a person's essence might be coaxed out of the body and made to merge with a machine. Now that Dr. Saramaggio has asked him to handle the computer part of the brain operation on Tyler, he sees a chance to realize it on the sly. | <urn:uuid:c7e3216a-d399-4d6e-af45-fec3f8177d49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/07/books/books-of-the-times-a-boy-s-essence-uploaded-and-adrift-in-cyberspace.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955865 | 699 | 1.671875 | 2 |
The hardest part about being Santa Claus is making two-year-olds smile for photographs. But after 42 years in the business, one of the most experienced Santas in the United States has it down to a science. No coat or hat – the fur makes kids cry. He doesn’t scream at kids to sit still – he crawls onto the padded floor surrounding his chair to make eye contact.
And it works. He’s only had a handful of criers. “I thrive on winning kids,” says Santa “Sid,” which stands for “Santa in disguise.”
Santa Sid headlines The Santa Experience at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It’s not your average shopping mall: Seven Yankee Stadiums could fit into the complex’s 4.2 million square feet. But then again, Santa Sid isn’t your average Santa. The license plate on his red Hyundai reads Santa S; his spare bedroom is filled with Christmas knickknacks, including a tree that stays up year-round; and kids frequent the pool in his backyard (duh, it’s Santa’s summer home).
Age: Santa is 1,500 years old. But I’m 58.
Graduated from: Santa Claus University, with a Master’s degree in Santa Claus.
Based in: I admit to having a summer home in Eden Prairie, Minn. Otherwise, Santa lives in the North Pole. I’ll retire somewhere warmer, but I wouldn’t know how to act in a place that never snows.
Years as Santa: 42. I’ve been in the Mall of America for 16 years now.
How do you spend time on your off months, from January through October? I work at a company that makes aircraft parts called Hitchcock Industries in Bloomington, Minn. I just tell people that I make “big people toys.”
Previous jobs: I’ve always been in the kid business. I lost my 3-and-a-half-year-old brother to leukemia, so I started visiting cancer patients at hospitals dressed up as Santa. I spent two years as the Santa at a mall in Kalamazoo, Mich., before getting this job [at the Mall of America].
Was it a tough job interview? You needed a background check – local and federal. I showed them photos from my past, like one of me taking a nap with a baby on my chest. [See right for a similar photo from this year.]
I read that visits are by appointment only. My line used to be three or four hours long every day. Then someone came up with the idea to put me in a private room and book appointments. This year, before even opening for the season, I had 400 appointments. By December 1, I had 5,800 appointments.
Number of kids on your lap per day: I see 15,000 to 17,000 kids each season, which consists of 45 days.
Walk me through a typical workday. I work from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., take a one-hour break, work from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., take a one-hour break, and work from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. I sit on the floor 99.9% of the day to get on eye level with the kids; I give them high-fives to get communication going. Then I go home, eat dinner, and go to sleep.
Do you use any props? I have a really cool kid rocking chair that’s all cushioned up, and I have a stool behind it. That way, kids don’t know I’m there, and we get lots of great pictures. I also have a floor built with kid padding for playing on the floor, and a stethoscope for taking photos with pregnant moms.
Where do you suit up? At home, before driving to the mall at 7:30 a.m. I own 80 different shirts, so I never wear the same one twice. I wear pants, suspenders, slip-on Birkenstocks, and knitted green, white, and red socks. I don’t wear a jacket; the fur makes kids scream. But I do wear kneepads, since I’m constantly on my knees with the kids.
A hat? Nope. I get my hair done at the hair salon at the mall, so I have hot rollers in my hair every day. Then I go to Starbucks [at the mall] to get my coffee.
Funniest “kids say the darndest things” moment: Maybe, “I want bacon.” Kids are simple – they usually want electronics and remote-controlled toys, or dolls. Sometimes they come with lists that are three to four pages long, though. I take the lists and say, “I’ll see what I can do.” I never promise anything.
Kids ask for different toys each year. What larger shifts have you seen in gift requests throughout your years as Santa? Things have gone very digital. I hear hundreds of requests for cell phones, iPads, tablets, Nooks. Once, a 3-year-old asked me for an iPhone 5. I tell kids that I have a toy factory – I want to talk about toys. Parents give me a thumbs-up for that one.
Best part of your job: I truly see the magic. I sit on the floor and look into children’s eyes – I see the sparkle, the smiles on their faces. I’m helping to be a part of that.
Most challenging part of your job: Too many 2-year-olds.
What would people be surprised to learn about you? I organized a Santa Club in Minnesota with 115 Santas. I help out a lot of guys.
I envision you guys swapping stories about bratty kids. We have three get-togethers a year: A pool party at my house in July, for Santas and Mrs. Clauses; a Christmas kickoff in early November; and a Blues Party when it’s all over, in February, at a hotel. All the Mrs. Clauses are great at making food – your Santas are plump for a reason.
At what age do you think children stop believing in Santa Claus? The magical age for believing starts around 3 – the 2-year-olds are more fearsome – and can go to around 10 or 11. When kids ask whether I am the real Santa, I tell them to pull on my beard and my hair. That way, I’m not really answering, but they walk away saying, he’s the one.
Do you hate Christmas music yet? No. I have it on all the time in my car, and in my back room during breaks. I especially love Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”
Have kids ever recognized you as Santa during the off-season? All the time. My wife and I go out to dinner, and kids pass me notes, telling me they’ve been good or what they want for Christmas. On vacation in Mexico, kids wanted pictures. When you look like this, you live it.
Any children of your own? One, and he’s 30. He’s my No. 1 elf, out of my 860 elves. I also have three dogs, named Dasher, Blitzen, and Allof. That stands for “all of” the other reindeer.
Retirement plans: I’ll be doing this ‘til I’m dead. Right now, I’m working on a five-year contract.
Salary for the season: Many Santas start out at around $10,000 for the season. Salaries can reach $45,000 for the season, but that’s very rare.If you could put one celebrity on your naughty list, who would it be? I don’t look at the bad in people.
Even Kim Kardashian? I don’t know [the Kardashians] or watch their show. That’s their lifestyle.
LAUNCHING YOUR CAREER>>
1. Become a child and learn to play. People sometimes tell me, You’re silly, Santa. That’s the biggest compliment in the world.
2. Learn to answer things as quickly as you can. Once, a little girl asked me Mrs. Claus’ first name. I told her I’d have to get out the marriage certificate to check.
3. An important part of the job is clean living. It’s an honor to be Santa. I don’t drink, smoke, or eat garlic. There’s never onion on my breath.
Unless otherwise specified, all photos are courtesy of Professor Bellows. | <urn:uuid:5c696330-fbec-4286-8631-287d3af5e53b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nojoeschmo.com/tag/photos-with-santa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957898 | 1,880 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Chinese Olympic swimmer Ye Shiwen has been at the center of controversy since her impressive gold meal-winning effort in the 400 IM on Saturday. Sky News explains:
An international row has erupted over Ye Shiwen, 16, after she took five seconds off her personal best and more than a second off the world record in the 400m individual medley.Does data from the history of the 400 IM in the Olympics suggest anything odd? Have a look for yourself in the graph at the top of this post which shows medal-winning times in the event since 1964 (data: here 1964-2008, and here for 2012).
She completed her final 50m in 28.93 seconds, putting her 0.17 seconds quicker than American swimming star Ryan Lochte in the men's 400m medley earlier on the same evening.
John Leonard, the US executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, described the schoolgirl's performance as suspicious and "disturbing".
In comments that sparked rumours of doping, he branded the lightning-speed swim "unbelievable". Meanwhile, previous world record holder Steph Rice said it was "insanely fast". As China reacted with anger to the suggestion of foul play, Ye denied taking performance-enhancing drugs and said her results come from hard work and training.
The dataset is nonetheless interesting with a rapid decrease in times from 1964 to 1980, with the massive improvements in speed in 1976 and 1980 coming from East German swimmers, later implicated in a broad pattern of government-sponsored doping. In 1998 the NYT reported:
[In 1976] the East German women dominated the Olympic swimming in Montreal, winning 11 of a possible 13 gold medals and drowning the formidable hopes of the American star Shirley Babashoff. The East German women had not won a single gold medal at the 1972 Games in Munich, but when the Americans voiced suspicions in 1976 that the East Germans were using performance-enhancing drugs, they were dismissed by many as being poor losers.Then from 1980 to 2000 the winning times did not improve, with the tainted East German record standing until 2000, when 17-year old Ukrainian swimmer Yana Klochkova won the gold medal. Olympic medal-winning times have steadily declined since then.
Since the fall of the Berlin wall, however, documents and court testimony have established the existence of what was long suspected: that East Germany operated a state-sponsored system of providing performance-enhancing drugs to as many as 10,000 athletes from 1968 to 1988. For East Germany, a country of 16 million people, the illicit system gained it scores of Olympic medals, and with those medals considerable stature for an otherwise isolated Communist state.
My reading of the history of times in the 400 IM suggests that there is nothing obviously apparent from the data to suggest anything suspicious about Ye's performance. Obviously something changed sicne 200 to enable improvements after decades of none. Ultimately, such data can only suggest suspicion. The only judgment on doping that matters is that determined by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
As Sky News reports, WADA has found Ye to be clean:
Olympic officials, other swimmers and former athletes have also hit back, insisting that any competitor should be considered innocent until proven guilty.If WADA says she is clean, then that is good enough for me. Congrats to Ye Shiwen -- 2012 IM Olympic Gold Medal Winner!
"And it is regrettable there is so much speculation out there. I don't like it. I think it is wrong. Let us recognise that there is an extraordinary swimmer out there who deserves the recognition of her talent in these Games."
Mark Adams, communications director for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) added: "These are the world's best athletes competing at the very highest level. We have seen all sorts of records broken already all over the place."
He stressed that a "very, very strong drug testing programme" was in place. "We are very confident that if there are cheats we will catch them, as we already have done," he said.
Asked if he was disappointed that talk turns to doping when a world record is smashed, he added: "It is inevitably a sad result of the fact that there are people who dope and who cheat but I equally think it's very sad if we can't applaud a great performance. Let's always give the benefit of the doubt to athletes." | <urn:uuid:19e7b657-ba6d-4135-a91e-7cbca6ec31b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://leastthing.blogspot.jp/2012_07_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971202 | 905 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Yoga space at home: Create a quiet corner in your home and heart
Be regular: 20 min of daily yoga practice brings better results than occasional practice
Yoga can be a great way to spend quality time with family
9 tips to practice yoga at home
Daily yoga practice at home can help you stay healthy, more productive, calm and happy all day. Besides, these benefits are not just for you to enjoy. Doing these practices at home will not only keep you happy but your family members too will be able to feel the positive energy and happiness around. What’s more, you get a chance to practice them right in the comfort of your home, any time you wish.
Once you have learned yoga techniques properly from a Sri Sri Yoga teacher, and are comfortable, you can start practicing them on your own. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you prepare yourself for a fun yoga practice at home.
#1: Choose a convenient time
Practicing yoga in the morning is generally considered to be the best as it keeps energy levels high during the day. Yet, if it doesn’t happen, don’t let it be an excuse to skip your practice. You may choose a time slot which seems most convenient. It could be late mornings, before lunch, or evenings. Yoga at these times can also be a good way to refresh the mind and release stress collected during the day.
#2: Choose a comfortable place
It would be best to have a small, private room in your house for daily yoga practice. Over time, your practices will create positive vibrations in the room, providing healing, strength and comfort to you and others at home. However, in case it is not possible, you may choose a quiet space anywhere at home, which is large enough to roll out your yoga mat and where you know you are not likely to be disturbed for a while.
All you need to ensure is that your yoga space is clean, well-ventilated, and away from furniture or sharp objects (learn more about a yogi’s home).
#3: Practice on a relatively empty stomach
Yoga postures are always best practiced on a light or empty stomach. You can practice yoga poses and meditate about 2-3 hours after your meal.
Go for loose, comfortable clothing – you wouldn’t want tight body-hugging outfits coming in the way of doing some wide stretches! Also, keep aside any excessive jewelry that you are wearing and avoid heavy makeup.
#5: Warm up before doing intense yoga postures
This is an absolute must, else you may be at risk of straining your muscles. Start by warming up your body and do a few body stretches to bring flexibility, before moving on to more intense yoga postures.
#6: It is your own body; be gentle on it
Respect your body and do yoga poses gently with a smile. Doing them increasingly fast or going beyond what your body can take will not bring faster results. It will only make the practice more difficult and painful.
#7: Be consistent
It is very important to be regular with your yoga practice – make it a part of your daily schedule (as mentioned above, find a time slot where you can comfortably fit yoga in) and then it would be easier to make it a habit. Krishan Verma, senior Sri Sri Yoga teacher says, "Twenty minutes of daily yoga practice is more likely to show positive results sooner than two hours of occasional practice."
#8: Make yoga time as ‘family fun time’
When you practice alone, it might get boring after a while or you may simply become lazy. Try doing it with family or friends and see the difference! Yoga can be a great way for a family get-together. Learn more about how you can enrich your family time with yoga.
#9: Include a variety of yoga techniques
Practice a variety of yoga poses and breathing techniques, or if you are crunched for time, you may fix a set of practices to be done daily and then treat your body with the complete package on a Sunday! Also, be sure to end your yoga pose practice with Yoga Nidra.
Remember that yoga practice does not only include yoga postures. Our home yoga sessions should also make room for other techniques such as pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation, and Sudarshan Kriya (if you have done the Part 1 Course).
Yoga practice helps develop the body and mind bringing a lot of health benefits yet is not a substitute for medicine. It is important to learn and practice yoga techniques under the supervision of a trainedSri Sri Yogateacher. In case of any medical condition, practice yoga techniques after consulting a doctor and a Sri Sri Yoga teacher. Find aSri Sri Yoga courseat anArt of Living Centernear you. Do you need information on courses or share feedback? Write to us email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:af9aaf5e-dea6-48dd-bdb1-3369120dc69b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artofliving.org/yoga-home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951702 | 1,027 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Manufactured Gas Plants
Former Daly City Manufactured Gas Plant
The former Daly City manufactured gas plant was located at the current site of PG&E’s Martin Service Center at 731 Schwerin Street in Daly City. Investigation and remediation of gas plant residues was completed at the service center property in 2008 and at the adjacent Midway Village housing complex in 2003.
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) monitors site conditions to determine that remedies put in place continue to be protective of public health and the environment. Reports are available from the most recent reviews, conducted in 2010 at Martin Service Center and in 2008 at Midway Village.
PG&E operated the former Daly City manufactured gas plant from 1908 until 1913, dismantling it in 1916. The federal government acquired the former gas plant property in 1944 and used soils from the property to fill an adjacent parcel where it built a wartime housing complex. In the 1970s, the buildings were torn down and San Mateo County constructed the Midway Village public housing complex on the property. PG&E reacquired the Martin Service Center property in the 1970s. | <urn:uuid:40d16d69-a8b2-444f-b914-dc1fe3162841> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pge.com/about/environment/taking-responsibility/mgp/daly-city.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957474 | 230 | 1.8125 | 2 |
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