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Front Page Titles (by Subject) Chapter IX: EACH FOR ALL. - Illustrations of Political Economy, vol. 4
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Chapter IX: EACH FOR ALL. - Harriet Martineau, Illustrations of Political Economy, vol. 4
Illustrations of Political Economy (3rd ed) in 9 vols. (London: Charles Fox, 1834). Vol. 4.
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EACH FOR ALL.
Lady F——remained a few hours in London to learn the physician's opinion of Waldie's state, and to give notice at home of her approach. She had no rest, in town or on the road, from the visions which haunted her of what she had lately seen. Waldie's countenance of fierce glee was for ever before her; his raised voice startled her imagination perpetually. She had no repose till her husband met her some miles from Weston, suffered her to alight at the parkgates, and invited her to wander with him to the ruin, and through the autumnal woods, to her beloved seat beside the stream that fed the lake. Refreshed aud composed, she joined her guests at the dinner table, and was warmly welcomed back again: not the less so for no one but the earl and lady Frances having an idea what had caused her'absence. All were ready with that delicate homage which may be supposed to have been as gratifying in its way to Letitia as, it is to many who relish a grosser flattery than she would ever endure. All were ready with tidings of her protegés, from pheasants to men and women. One could assure her that a very favourite plant had not suffered from the frosts of the night after she left Weston. Another had tasted the cream of her dairy; a third admired her bantams; a fourth amused himself with Nanny White; a fifth conversed with the old sexton; and lady Frances herself condescended to hope that that good girl, Thèrése, had not been left behind in London. She was such a treasure! Thereby hung a confession, afterwards given in private, that Philips was really very much spoiled, and becoming a great trouble. Her manners were anything but improved, to say nothing of her temper. Miss Falconbridge, whom she knew to be as intimate as a sister with lady Frances, had taken a fancy to lady Frances's style of hair; and as the easiest way of gratifying her, lady Frances had ordered Philips to dress Miss Falconbridge's hair the day before; whereupon Phitips sent word through Miss Falconbridge's maid that she must beg to decline the honour! Lady Frances had insisted, and her maid in some sort obeyed: but never was anything seen so absurd as the young lady's head. What was lady Frances to do? To part with Philips was altogether impossible; and to bear with her now was scarcely less so. Letitia could not answer for what she should do if compelled to retain such a person as Philips: she could only appeal to her own management of Thèrése as a proof of how easy a matter it is to make a valuable friend out of a hired attendant.
“O yes! by taking the trouble of educating her,”no doubt. But that is a task I could not submit to. That reminds me—how does Thèrése get on with politics? I remember her one day, so eloquent about the revolution her father remembers, and the prospect of another revolution, and the glory of having seen Lafayette.”
“She knows more than she would probably have learned in the very heart of Paris. She has left off assuring me that all the kings of France have been royalists.”
“I suppose it is for the sake of keeping her innocent of some things which lady's maids learn soon enough that you let her read and talk politics as she does?”
“Partly; and partly with a more direct view to my own interest. It will be of very great consequence to me that she should be, not only pure in her conduct, but well educated up to as high a point as I can carry her.'
“Ah! you mean for the sake of your little heir. I see Thèrése is as busy about the preparations as if she had taken her office upon her already. But you began your care of Thèrése from the day you knew her, she tells me.”
“I did; and so I should do still, if there were no heir in prospect. Should I be justified, think you, in placing any one where I myself order the circumstances which are to form her character, and at tile same time neglecting to order those circumstances well?—It is perfectly true that, those in engaging servants, we undertake a great task. In the case of Thèrése, however, the task has been all pleasure.”
“Well, for your reward, I suppose you will keep her always. You will not let her marry, I conclude; or, if she marries, will insist on her remaining with you. It would be too hard to lose all your pains.”
“Whenever Thèrése loves,—and I think I can trust her to commit no folly with that sound heart of hers,—she shall marry; and she shall enter upon her new state as I entered upon mine. with the view of being all and doing all for society of which that state admits. This may best be done by being wholly her husband's, and a fixture in his home. I shall surrender my part in her on her marriage day.”
“By Which, I suppose, you hope to retain at least half her heart, if none of her services. But, my dear, what a prospect for you!”
“A goodly prospect indeed, either way. Either a friend at hand, and a fit guardian of my children in my absence; or a successful experiment in happiness-making, ever before my eyes. 1 hope ever to rejoice in Thèrése.”
Lady Frances sighed, and began to ponder whether, even if she could learn to live without Philips, she could make to herself a maid in whom she might rejoice.
Not only from her husband did Letitia learn how welcome she was back to Weston. The days of her absence had passed like other days, when people who prefer the town, and whose lives are formed for that destination, are thrown together in the country. There were means of enjoyment in abundance; but not of a kind to be permanently relished by those before whom they lay. Letitia's music was wanted in the evenings; Letitia's conversation, artless and sprightly as a girl's, rich as a matured woman's, and entertaining enough to suit everybody, was sighed for at table, and when it rained, and especially when the ladies were called upon to amuse each other in the absence of the gentlemen. It was only on rare occasions, however, that she relinquished her privilege of reserving several hours of the morning for herself and her husband. On one desperately rainy day, she was found ready for chess or music before dinner; and at another time, when all tile gentlemen were absent for the whole day at a political meeting in the neighbouring city, she did not leave her guests at all. But these occasions were rare. On the last mentioned one, she had some view to her own interest as well as that of her guests. Lord
F——meant to speak at the meeting; his speech
must, from his office, be one of the most important of the day; and he was doubtful both how he should accquit himself, and how that which he had to say would be received. Letitia was, of course, far from being at ease, and was glad to conceal, and to carry off some of her anxiety at the same time by being “on hospitable thoughts intent.” It was the last day of the last of her visiters; the gentlemen having waited only for this meeting. Their carriages were ordered for the next morning, and they did not return till late at night.
They were nearly as eloquent in describing the effect of lord F——'s speech, as, by their account, had been the speech itself.—One swore by his soul that it was the most good-natured sort of thing he had ever heard in his life: another, that the government and the government candidate ought to feel themselves much obliged to him; another, ought that lord F—'s constituents would be more proud of trim than ever; another, an M.P., a representative of the commercial interest, that lord F—— had enlightened the people not a little on the question when low profits were harmless, and when bad things, and why; and all, with the earl among them, that this day might prove the beginning of a new era in lord F——'s public life. He would now have as potent a voice out of the house as his friends had ever hoped he would in time have in it.
“How happens all this, Henry?” asked Letitia, aside, with a glowing smile. “You gave me no expectation of anything like this.”
“Because I had none myself. The charm lay in the burden which I adopted from our neighbours down in the village;— ' for each and for all.'”
“I see; I understand. Now leave the rest till you can give it me all in order.”
It was accordingly given, all in order, when the last carriage had driven off, the next morning, and Henry and Letitia shut themselves into the library, to enjoy the uninterruptedness of the first fall of snow. This was no day for the approach of deputations, for the visits of clergyman, lawyer, lady callers, gentleman loungers, or even petitioners from the village. The guests had been urged to stay for finer weather; but, as peremptory in their plans as people of real business, provided change of place is the object, business, they could on no account delay an hour; and, to be sure, the snow signified little to any but the postilions and the horses.
“Well, now, the speech, the speech!” cried Letitia.
“I told the people that nobody doubts that changes”are wanted, in order to remedy the evils so large a portion of society is justly complaining of; and that the thing needed is a wider agreement as to what those changes must be, and therefore a sounder and more general knowledge of the causes of existing evils. I led them, as an instance, into the consideration of the common complaint of low profits and low wages, and showed them, I hope, that proportional wages are much higher at present than some complainers suppose; the fact being lost sight of from the enormous increase of those among whom the wages -fund in divided. However little each labourer may, from this cause, obtain for his own share, the division of produce between capitalist and labourer, —that is, the proportion of profits and wages, is more equable than is supposed by capitalists who more equable of their low profits, and labourers of their l wages. Neither of them will gain by demanding a larger share of the other, which neither can afford. They must look elsewhere for a remedy; and I directed them where to look by giving them the example of Holland and its commercial vicissitudes.”
“Rich to overflowing in the fifteenth century; since, well nigh ruined. How was this? From too much capital leaving the country?”
“From the causes which led to such transfer of capital. While Holland was accumulating its wealth, profits were first high, and then gradually lowered in proportion to wages, though still increasing in total amount. It was not till heavy taxation reduced the rate of profits below that of other countries . . . .”
“But does not taxation affect wages too?” “Assuredly; but the labourer uses fewer commodities than the capitalist, and therefore there is a limit to the labourer's taxation, beyond which taxes must fall on profits, and reduce them as effectually as a deterioration of the land could do. Well; this being the case in Holland, more than in the neighbouring countries, Dutch capital flowed into those countries; and the Dutch have engaged largely in the carrying trade, in foreign funds, and in loans to the merchants of other countries, because all this capital could be less advantageously employed at home. No country need or ought to come to such a pass as this; for, where there is an economical government, taxation may be a trifle compared with what it was in Holland after the wars of the Republic; and where there is a liberal commercial system, —that is, no unnecessary check upon the supply of food, accumulation may proceed to an undefinable extent without an injurious fall of wages and profits. Thus may the cultivation of poor soils be rendered needless, the consequent rise of rent be checked, and the fall of profits and wages obviated.”
“What we want then is, a regulation of the supply of the labour market, a lightening of taxation, and a liberal commercial system. But, Henry, where is the eloquence of all this?—that which is commonly called eloquence? It seems to me more like a lecture than a speech.”
“And so it was; but these are days when, to the people, naked truth is the best eloquence. They are sufferers; they look for a way out of their sufferings; and the plainest way is to them the fairest. However, I said to them much that there is no need to say to you,—because you know it already,—of my views of what the spirit of society ought to be, in contrast with what it is. I enlarged,—whether eloquently I know not,— but I am sure fervently,—as fervently as ever any advocate of co-operation spoke,—on the rule 'for each and for all;' showing that there is actual co-operation wherever individual interests are righteously pursued, since the general interest is made up of individual interests. I showed that justice requires the individual appropriation of the fruits of individual effort; that is, the maintenance of the institution of property; and that producers do as much for all, as well as for each, by carrying their produce to market themselves, as by casting it into a common stock.”
“For instance, that A. does as great a public service by bringing a hundred hats to exchange for tables and stockings, and whatever else he may happen to want, as B. by letting the exchange be conducted as an affair of partnership.”
“Yes. Let people have partnerships as large as they like, and make savings thereby, if they find they can. But let them beware of the notion that any competition but the struggle for food is the cause of hardship; and that struggle must take place under both systems, unless the same means are used by both to prevent it. As for the question of time, the struggle will take place soonest under that system which affords the least stimulus to productive industry. “And, now, love, you have the pith of my speech, except of those best parts which you have many a time rehearsed to me, and I to you. Of the ' hear, hears,' and clappings, you learned enough last night.”
“I wish I could have been there,” sighed the wife.
“So do I. Well as you know the aspect of an attentive crowd, you can have little idea of the stimulating excitement of political meetings just now.”
“I can imagine it. The true romance of human life lies among the poorer classes; the most rapid vicissitudes, the strongest passions, the most undiluted emotions, the most eloquent deportment, the truest experience are there. These things are marked on their countenances, and displayed by their gestures; and yet these things are almost untouched by our artists; be they dramatists, painters, or novelists. The richest know best what is meant by the monotony of existence, however little this may appear to their poor neighbours who see them driving about as if life depended of their speed, and traversing kingdoms and continents. Yet from the upper and middling classes are the fine arts mainly furnished with their subjects. This is wrong; for life in its reality cannot become known by hearsay; and by hearsay only is there any notion of it among those who feel themselves set above its struggles and its toils: that is, by the greater part of tile aristocracy.”
“Thank heaven! not by you or me,” replied her husband. “An uninformed observer might think that there is monotony before us at present, sitting as we are, watching the snow-flakes fall with tile few leaves which had lingered aloft till now,—with weeks of retirement in prospect, and nothing apparent to wish or work for. Yet you have had enough, love, of struggle and toil to know what real life is; and I have, of late, begun to learn the same lesson. No fear of monotony for us!”
“No fear; since there are all to live for as well as each, and each other. But, Henry, how is it that there is so little made known where it most wants to be known, of what real life is when trained by that best of educations, vicissitude?”
“Because our painters of life do not take into the account,—in fact know little of,—some of the most important circumstances which constitute life, in the best sense of the word. They lay hold of the great circumstances which happen to all, the landmarks of universal human existence, and overlook those which are not less interesting, though not universal. They take Love; and think it more becoming to describe a Letltia going to the altar with a lord F——, than a weaver and his thoughtful bride taking possession of their two rooms, after long waiting and anxiety. They take Bereavement; and think it the same thing whether they describe the manly grief of an Ormond for his gailant Ossory, or the silent woe of a poverty-stricken widow for her laborious and dutiful son. They take Birth; and would rather have a lady F——bending over tile infant heir of a lordly house, with a Thèrése in waiting .... (My dear, why not describe that which shall be as well as that which has been?)—a lady E——and her infant, I say, than some rustic Mary holding up her boy to smile in father's face when he comes home from the plough. There is no harm in all this, provided the mighty remainder is not overlooked, which is at the bottom of the most portentous heavings of society, —which explains all that is to many unaccountable in the doings of the world they live in. If the aristocracy cannot, by their own experience, get to know all that life is,—though they are born, love, marry, suffer, enjoy, and die, let some idea be given them of it by true images held up in the mirror of their studies.”
“Yes; let humble life be shown to them in all its strong and strange varieties; not only in faithful butlers and housekeepers,—in pretty dairy-maids and gossiping barbers. Let us have in books, in pictures, and on the stage, working men and women, in the various periods of their struggles through life. In the meanwhile, these people should in fairness know that the aristocracy are less aware than is supposed,— less than they will be,—of what is being done and suffered on each side of their smooth and dull path.”
“Let the artists be compassionately considered too, I pray,” said lord F——, smiling. “Granting all that can be urged about their limiting their choice of objects, let us be considerate till they have placed themselves at large. What, for instance, could a weaver of fiction make of our present life?”
“Nothing of a story; only a picture; there being, as you said just now, apparent monotony without, and deep stirrings within. Such a writer, if wishing to make a narrative, must take either my former life, — its perplexities, its poverty, its struggles under its first publicity, its labours, its love, and migration into a new state; —or your future one,—the statesman's honourable toils, joined with the patriot's conflicts and consolations.”
“But if there was good reason for taking up precisely the interval,—-from our marriage till this hour;—what then?”
“Then writer and readers must be contented with little narrative; contented to know what passes within us, since so little happens to us. Would there be nothing to instruct and gratify in pictures of our position, in revelations of our hearts, and records of our conversations?”
“Let us comfort ourselves, Letitia, with deciding that it must be the fault of the recorder if there were not.” | <urn:uuid:b95ddd92-e81f-4274-acbe-58eac3fc58b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1692&chapter=143249&layout=html&Itemid=27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979718 | 4,586 | 1.8125 | 2 |
In Lake City, Seattle, homeless veterans and others now have a place to call home
McDermott Place, an apartment building where 38 of the 75 units are reserved for previously homeless veterans, has opened in Lake City.
Seattle Times staff reporter
When George Bunting got out of jail, he had a disabling knee injury and mental illness — and nowhere to live.
But with the help of government programs and nonprofit groups, the Marine veteran now has a studio apartment and receives ongoing help for bipolar disorder, anger management and alcoholism.
Bunting, 41, last month moved into McDermott Place, a new Lake City apartment building where 38 of the 75 units are reserved for previously homeless veterans.
Open since December, the building also gives preference to others who have been living on the streets of Lake City and to those with serious mental problems.
The six-story, $16 million building a block south of Fred Meyer is named after U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott and operated by the Low Income Housing Institute. Funding came from city, county, state and federal sources, Key Bank and other banks, tax credits, Seattle Housing Authority and United Way of King County.
North Helpline last month moved the Lake City Food Bank and its emergency-services office to the building from cramped quarters in a nearby fire station.
In addition, two Sound Mental Health case managers work full-time at McDermott Place and a weekly RotaCare clinic is being set up with volunteer doctors and nurses.
Sharon Lee, executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute, said it is "tragic" that many vets are living — and sometimes dying — on our streets.
"A lot of veterans fought our wars and they come back here and fight a different type of enemy. That could be drugs, alcohol, depression, mental illness," Lee said. "We want to make sure homeless veterans are not sleeping on the streets and are not sleeping under bridges, in their cars."
So many veterans and others live in cars or camp out in Lake City that the Seattle community has its own task force on homelessness.
John, a Vietnam veteran who lived on the streets of Lake City for 15 years, six of them sleeping on a bench behind a tavern, also now calls McDermott Place home. A North Seattle native, he spoke on condition that his last name not be used. His glasses are held together by tape, and the tips of several fingers are missing. His legs are disfigured by a scleroderma he attributes to Agent Orange, and he walks with difficulty.
It's scary, he said, to move into his own apartment, and he hopes he will find the same camaraderie he had with other street people. "The thing is to have people become a family here and not 75 individuals," John said. "It's important that people watch out for each other."
Before moving into McDermott Place, John and two street buddies lived for 17 months in a tiny house provided by Seattle Mennonite Church. One of his housemates died last August when he jumped from the 12th Avenue South Bridge.
For many of the 55 homeless people who visit the church's drop-in center each day, McDermott Place "is just huge — housing in the neighborhood they love and in the neighborhood they call home," said Jonathan Neufeld at Seattle Mennonite.
Bunting, whose four years of military service are memorialized by a Marine Corps tattoo on one arm, burned through two marriages and jobs as a long-haul truck driver and a warehouse worker as his drinking and depression worsened.
After being arrested for driving under the influence and other offenses, he went to jail for domestic violence. The day he was released, the King County Veterans' Program arranged emergency housing for him. He receives medical and mental-health care from the VA.
When he moved into McDermott Place, his apartment was fully furnished with a bed, table, chairs, refrigerator, kitchen range, bathroom and — thanks to the Lake City Task Force on Homelessness — a basket with toiletries, cooking utensils, cleaning supplies and food.
With the help of counseling and medications for bipolar disorder, Bunting said, "I'm not getting into a depressive state where I want to kill myself."
"I'm still getting used to the fact of me being in my own spot, not under everybody's eyes. So far, I'm loving it."
Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or email@example.com
Sam and Sara Lucchese create handmade pasta out of their kitchen-garage adjacent to their Ballard home. Here, they illustrate the final steps in making pappardelle pasta.
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Virtuality, Perception and Reality in Myanmar's Democratic Reform
This paper argues that Myanmar’s recent political reforms are designed to ensure the continuation of military power by other means. They are also designed to broaden engagement with foreign governments and companies after years of political isolation. The hoped for results are the lifting of lingering sanctions and the diversification of both business opportunities and aid.
© 2012 Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) | <urn:uuid:f9eac6a7-9370-4052-9c6b-444b1bd1cf19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&id=152123 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930446 | 87 | 1.5625 | 2 |
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For Christmas, Americans want less debt
- Jeff Clabaugh
- Washington Business Journal
Many Americans intend to give themselves the gift of less debt this holiday shopping season, according to a survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
The Maryland-based nonprofit says the majority of people responding to a survey this month put paying down debt and padding their savings account ahead of spending money on gifts this year.
The NFCC posed this question: If you had an extra $500, what would you do with it? It says 77 percent chose paying down existing debt and 14 percent said they would put it in savings. Only 7 percent said they would use the extra money on holiday expenses and only 2 percent said they'd spend it on themselves.
"The economic climate in which we live has apparently become very real to the American consumer," said NCFF's Gail Cunningham. "If there is a silver lining to the financial meltdown, it is that consumers are now becoming more engaged with their personal financial situation, and are doing something about it."
Tennesseans are second-worst in the nation in terms of credit card debt, with an average debt totaling $7,039 according to an analysis released last month by TransUnion.com. Only Alaskans fared worse ($7,699).
The survey also found that 68 percent of consumers intend to pay for their holiday purchases with cash. While that decision may be based in part on concerns about saddling themselves with more debt, reduced credit lines and closed credit card accounts are also contributing to that decision, NCFF said.
The group says 8,500 people responded to its survey, the highest number of respondents to any NFCC online poll.
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The Internet Underground Music Archive was better known by the acronym IUMA. The IUMA was started in 1993 by three students at the University of California at Santa Cruz: Jeff Patterson, Jon Luini and Rob Lord. The three men worked together to create an online music archive that would help musicians and bands who weren't signed by a major label. The site allowed these unsigned artists to upload files and send them to fans. The site also enabled the artists the opportunity to talk with their fans. The IUMA was first part of the Usenet newsgroups.
In 1998, Emusic bought the Internet Underground Music Archive and changed the look and feel. Unsigned artists would sign up with the service and receive a website and URL devoted to their name. Emusic also allowed artists to use three different services to upload their music. They could use Internet radio, a live streaming feed, or a download option where fans could download the songs directly to their computer. Many of the early files were WAV and AIFF files, but they later added the option of MP2 tracks and MP3 files. The website included a special section where the artists could see the number of visitors and downloads they had received and some top visited artists received royalty checks from the company.
In the early 2000s the company held a 'Battle of the Bands' event known as Music-o-mania, which went into the record books as the biggest online contest of its kind in history. They also helped bands gain exposure by working with talk show host, Jenny Jones, who have these unsigned artists on her show.
The company was known for unusual publicity stunts. They held a contest in 2000 for expectant parents. Couples who legally named their child Iuma were entitled to receive a check for $5,000. Travis Thornhill and his wife were one of the first families to take the company up on its offer, by naming their child Iuma Dylan Lucas. Thornhill was in a band that used IUMA for business purposes and the couple thought it would make a good story. The company paid out the same amount to a number of other families, too.
In 2001 Emusic decided to reduce costs and laid off a number of employees working exclusively on IUMA. Some of those workers stayed on because they believed the website would return and be better than ever. However, in 2006, Emusic shut down the IUMA site and those workers all left. Vitaminic bought the IUMA format that same year, but the site never returned. | <urn:uuid:50fe776d-82d9-49bd-9a7a-105cbef9faa3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.org/details/iuma-archive | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979278 | 577 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Distributed Authorship and Creative Communities
In its requirement, for both an author and reader, art can be considered a participatory activity. Expanded concepts of agency allow us to question what or who can be an active participant, allowing us to revisit the debate on authorship from alternate perspectives. We can ask whether creativity might be regarded as a form of social interaction, rather than an outcome. How might we understand creativity as interaction between people and things, as sets of discursive relations rather than outcomes?
Whilst creativity is often perceived as the product of the individual artist, or creative ensemble, it can also be considered an emergent phenomenon of communities, driving change and facilitating individual or ensemble creativity. Creativity can be a performative activity released when engaged through and by a community and understood as a process of interaction.
In this context the model of the solitary artist who produces artefacts which embody creativity is questioned as an ideal for achieving creative outcomes. Instead, creativity is proposed as an activity of exchange that enables (creates) people and communities. In his book Creative Land anthropologist James Leach describes cultural practices where the creation of new things, and the ritualised forms of exchange enacted around them, function to "create" individuals and bind them in social groups, "creating" the community they inhabit. Leach's argument is an interesting take on the concept of the gift-economy and suggests it is possible to conceive of creativity as emergent from and innate to the interactions of people. Such an understanding might then function to combat an instrumentalist view of creativity that demands of artists that their creations have social (e.g.: "economic") value. In the argument proposed here, creativity is not valued as arising from a perceived need, a particular solution or product, nor from a "blue skies" ideal, but as an emergent property of communities.
This paper seeks to articulate these issues, identifying a set of core questions and describing the context within which they will be addressed, indicating how these questions are at the centre of the pan-European Electronic Literature as a Model of Creativity and Innovation in Practice (ELMCIP) collaborative research project, undertaken from 2010-2013 and funded through the Humanities in the European Research Area Joint Research Programme. The paper examines a specific example of a creative community and outlines the research methods we employ during our field work. The paper concludes with an outline of our expected outcomes.
Creative Communities, Authorship and Becoming
Communities in the Net
An Ethnography of a Networked Community
as Emergent Creativity
A previous version of this article was presented at the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts conference, Riga Latvia, in June 2010 and will be published in the conference proceedings (forthcoming).
(Source: article abstract.)
|Distributed Authorship and Creative Communities (conference paper)||2010| | <urn:uuid:8054afc0-1fac-4aec-b1ab-65ef448c2d8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elmcip.net/critical-writing/distributed-authorship-and-creative-communities-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940417 | 585 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Does QE Really Work? The Evidence To Date
The market's hopes and dreams for the next LSAP remain high. As gold inches higher, tail-risks priced out (expectations for extreme FX moves are considerably lower than sentiment would suggest), and US equity vol expectations (and put skews) are crushed; the equity market clearly remains 'at a premium' in its notional indices given what is sheer lunacy in earnings expectations going forward. The question every investor should be asking is not when QE or even if QE, but so-what-QE? As Credit Suisse notes, given the deterioration in US economic activity (and the extension of Operation Twist) the FOMC will probably wait until its September meeting (and remember the trigger for further pure QE is a long way off for now). The most critical question remains, will additional QE work? After all, few would argue that US interest rates are too high or that banks in the US need still more excess reserves. Two things stand out in their analysis of how QE is supposed to work (transmission mechanisms) and its results to date: QE1 was more effective than QE2, and it's easier to find QE's effect on Treasury yields than on real economic performance. Perhaps more concerning is that the potential negative effects of such unconventional monetary policy has received little attention (aside from at fringe blogs here and here).
Credit Suisse: Does QE Really Work? The Evidence to Date
Less than four weeks ago, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to continue its maturity extension program (Operation Twist) for another six months. But the sluggishness of US economic activity has the key decision-makers on the FOMC considering a more aggressive easing move.
In our view, another round of large-scale asset purchases (“QE3”) is looking increasingly likely before Election Day in November. While an announcement is possible as soon as the July 31-August 1 meeting, the FOMC probably will choose to wait until its September 12-13 meeting.
Having forecast that the FOMC will buy more assets, we address the next natural question: Will additional QE work? After all, few would argue that US interest rates are too high or that banks in the US need still more excess reserves.
To find the answer, we consulted empirical studies within and without the Federal Reserve system on the effectiveness of the previous two rounds of QE and the balance sheet neutral Operation Twist program. There are many complications that arise in the evaluation of the programs’ results, and opinions differ among economists even within the Fed.
However, a review of the empirical literature yields some common themes:
- QE1 was more effective than QE2.
- It is easier to find and quantify QE’s effect on Treasury yields than to identify and measure QE’s effect on real economic performance.
- QE also lowered nominal interest rates on agencies, MBS, and corporate bonds, with magnitudes differing across bond types and maturities.
Results of the studies we reviewed were less uniform on QE effects on equities, the dollar, and commodity prices.
How is QE supposed to work?
QE1 was the expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet achieved mostly through large-scale asset purchases of agency debt and mortgage-backed securities. To a considerable extent, that program was aimed at rehabilitating a particular financial market that was functioning poorly at the time. From that perspective, the report card reads favorably. Lingering issues in the mortgage market (e.g., the foreclosure confusion) are not related to the original malfunction the Fed sought to cure.
In QE1 (Nov 2008-Mar 2010), the expansion of the Fed balance sheet, and especially the provision of a large amount of bank reserves, was incidental.
QE2 (Nov 2010-Jun 2011) was not about a poorly functioning piece of the financial system. The Treasury market had been functioning just fine. QE2 was about the Fed doing large-scale asset purchases to boost aggregate demand and eventually create more jobs.
How do we get from expanded central bank balance sheets to real economic performance? There are four broad policy transmission paths economists have theorized about over the years as follows:
- A money supply effect, which one might identify with old-fashioned (although perhaps again more timely) monetarism.
- An interest rate effect, which one might identify with a Keynesian marginal efficiency of investment analysis.
- A portfolio or credit channel or collateral value effect, which one might identify with the scholarly contributions of “Professor Bernanke” himself, among others.
- A foreign exchange effect that, in current circumstances, may be more a matter of “forcibly enrich thy neighbor” global capital flows than “beggar thy neighbor” competitive devaluation.
QE Transmission Mechanisms
The Results to Date
Interest Rates – Generally speaking, the empirical evidence suggests that both rounds of QE and Operation Twist were effective at reducing interest rates on long-term Treasury securities. The estimates of reduction in the 10-year Treasury yield ranges between 20 and 110 basis points, with most estimates in the lower two-thirds of this range. Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that the reductions in interest rates primarily reflect lower risk premiums and lower expectations of future short-term interest rates.
The evidence also suggests that LSAP lowered nominal interest rates on agencies, MBS, and corporate bonds, with magnitudes differing across bond types and maturities. Since QE1 included significant purchases of MBS (totaling $1.25 trillion), it was seen, naturally, as being more effective in lowering the rates on those mortgage-related assets.
In addition, QE1 provided liquidity support to a largely dysfunctional market, and therefore its impact was probably larger than that of QE2 and Operation Twist, which were conducted in more normal environments.
Macroeconomic Effects – Research dedicated to the effects of LSAP on GDP and employment is limited, but they do generally find these programs to be effective at promoting GDP growth, though to different extents. One study (Fuhrer and Olivei, 2011) found that $600bn Treasury purchases would increase real GDP by about 40-120bps while another study (Chen et al., 2011) suggested that the effects on GDP growth are not very likely to exceed 50bps. By using Okun’s law, the Fuhrer and Olivei study also theorized that the unemployment rate would drop by 30-45bps.
It should be noted that the estimated (as opposed to observed) effects on GDP and the unemployment rate are more gradual, usually taking place over the course of about two years.
The unconventional measures were generally seen as effective in preventing deflation at the zero lower bound through the signaling effect. However, economists do have contrasting opinions on the magnitude of QE’s price impact.
One study (Krishnamurthy and Vissing-Jorgensen, 2011) found that QE1 increased 10-year expected inflation by 96-146bps and that QE2 raised it by 5-16bps. On the flip side, one study (Chen et al., 2011) concluded that the inflationary consequences of QE1 and QE2 were less than 50bps. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York noted that inflation actually trended lower over the period when QE1 was in progress, though it probably fell less than it would have done without the asset purchases.
Pros And Cons
Empirical studies of the effects of the Fed's balance sheet operations suggest that QE designed to address general economic malaise is less potent than a program targeted at a specific market dysfunction. Even QE proponents on the FOMC stress that asset purchases are not the silver bullet that will cure all that ails the US economy.
Meanwhile, the drawbacks of additional easing may be rising. In his press conference on June 20, Chairman Bernanke explained that unconventional policy has costs and should not be used without serious consideration. Among the costs he cited were (1) potentially making the Fed’s exit strategy more difficult, (2) potentially creating negative implications for market functioning, and (3) financial stability issues (about which he was very vague). The minutes of the June 19-20 FOMC meeting suggested that other Fed officials are also considering the potential limits and drawbacks of large-scale asset purchases:
“A few members observed that it would be helpful to have a better understanding of how large the Federal Reserve’s asset purchases would have to be to cause a meaningful deterioration in securities market functioning, and of the potential costs of such deterioration for the economy as a whole.”
Paraphrasing comments from San Francisco Fed President John Williams, the negative effects of unconventional monetary policy have received scant attention in the research literature and are not well understood.
Future studies should weigh these costs against the value of asset purchases for macroeconomic stabilization. In the meantime, in the face of decidedly inadequate job growth and low inflation, Fed policymakers are likely to conclude that QE3 will do more good than harm. | <urn:uuid:bceacaf2-5730-47e3-a7f4-d24f8e44d4f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zerohedge.com/news/does-qe-really-work-evidence-date | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962827 | 1,896 | 1.585938 | 2 |
In such a polarized environment, Obama has had mixed success following through on his bipartisanship promise.
Given that bipartisanship is a two-way street, it's possible that Republicans are too resistant to working with the president, while Obama himself isn't willing to compromise enough. At the very least, there are deep and sincere differences between Republicans and Democrats, and they may be too difficult to overcome.
Republicans contend Obama hasn't delivered at all.
"I really had high hopes that he would really reach out and work with us," said Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican. But, he said, "There has been very little follow through on that commitment."
The White House argues that Republicans are to blame.
"You can open up your door, extend your hand and invite people in, but if they don't want to come, you can't drag them," said David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser. "That doesn't mean we're not going to keep trying."
Just after taking office, Obama visited Capitol Hill to meet with House and Senate GOP leaders in hopes they would back his first order of business – the economic stimulus measure combining tax cuts and new spending. He promised to listen to their ideas, and he later hosted a White House cocktail party and a Super Bowl party that included Republicans. Obama also reached out to GOP governors supportive of the measure, including Vermont's Jim Douglas, Florida's Charlie Crist and California's Arnold Schwarzenegger.
For all the courting, GOP critics on Capitol Hill said Obama wasn't listening and simply delegated the heavy lifting to congressional partisans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
As Republican opposition on Capitol Hill hardened, Obama shifted gears. He derided GOP ideas and embarked on a full-scale campaign to get the measure passed with or without bipartisan support, while his aides painted Republicans as obstructionists.
In the end, Obama failed to get the significant bipartisan backing he had sought. Still, he won over three Senate GOP moderates – critical votes that resulted in the measure's passage.
Since then, Obama hasn't made such a showy effort to win overwhelming Republican votes on other legislation – and he certainly hasn't gotten it.
No Republicans backed Obama's budget blueprint. Nor did many support equal pay legislation Obama sought. A minority of Republicans did, however, support a bill to expand government-sponsored health care coverage to 4 million more poor children.
In other cases, Obama has beaten the drum of bipartisanship with varying results.
He put two Republicans in his Cabinet and sought a third when he chose New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg as his commerce secretary. That lasted days, before Gregg changed his mind and dropped out. Obama then opted to play it safe, choosing former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat.
At two other points, Obama convened diverse bipartisan groups to debate ways to restore "fiscal responsibility" in federal budgeting and to fix the costly health care system. It remains to be seen whether Democrats and Republicans will work together on those issues. | <urn:uuid:e0f467b1-77f6-475c-88d3-7bbf400e42c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2009/Apr/24/us-obama-100-days-bipartisanship-042409/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973591 | 635 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Courtesy of MommyParties, I was able to recently host a Hexbug Nano Zombie party to showcase some of the new addtions to the Hexbug family. Guests at the party were presented with Limited Edition HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie Bugs, Glow in the Dark HEXBUG Nano Galileo Collection Bugs, Glow in the Dark HEXBUG Nano Habitat sets, three HEXBUG Larva, and additional batteries. It was a package full of goodies for a ghoulishly good time.
Just in time for Halloween, the HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie Bugs are encased in a black or orange coffin and have a glow-in-the-dark exoskeleton. They are available at RadioShack stores nationwide. The Glow in the Dark HEXBUG Nano Galileo Collection bugs come packaged individually in a tube and they glow in the dark. The HEXBUG Larva are robotic creatures that are bigger in size than the Nanos and they resemble actual larva. The HEXBUG Larva has a built-in sensor that reacts to its environment, changing direction upon sensing an objects in its path. The Glows in the Dark HEXBUG Nano Habitat Set and Elevation Habitat Set allows you to create a variety of customizable playgrounds. Both sets glow in the dark and require snap-on assembly. Included with the sets are one or two HEXBUG Nanos.
In my opinion, the Nano Halloween Zombie bugs would make a fun addition for trick-or-treaters or a Halloween party. The coffin packaging on the Nano give it the ultimate Halloween aura. The other HEXBUG Nanos and Habitat Sets are ideal for any time of the year.
The kids had a hard time breaking the seals of the tubes that the Nanos were packaged in, so adult help was needed. Once opened, the kids had a heyday playing with their robotic bugs. For such tiny things, they provide lots of entertainment. Included with each HEXBUG is a code to register online to play games and learn about science. It was emphasized to the children about the codes because I can see how the paper might be interpreted to be trash and thrown away. The exoskeleton on the Zombie bugs can be removed so the option of not having them glow in the dark is available. All of the bugs skitter or wriggle around, giving the impression of real bug movement. Parents and kids alike had a great time at the party and raved about the HEXBUG Nanos and Habitat Sets. A few parents even approached me asking where they can be purchased so they can gift their children with more.
As I mentioned above, Hexbug Nanos have habitat sets that the robotic bugs can be played on for added fun. The Glows in the Dark HEXBUG Nano Habitat Sets include ten connectible pieces and two extremely rare HEXBUG Nano mutations. The Glows in the Dark HEXBUG Nano Elevation Habitat Set includes 52 pieces for a multi-level spiral ramp that rises two levels up. It also includes two rare HEXBUG Nanos. Although I'm sure that younger children would probably need help putting it together, my 13 year old son was able to assemble it all by himself. With the habitat sets, kids can place their Nanos in it to watch them scurry around and spiral down the ramp. Orange tabs are on each Habitat Cell so they can be closed to keep the Nanos from getting out or be opened to attach other pieces.
Since its introduction, HEXBUG has brought my boys much entertainment. The friends who attended the party were very excited about the HEXBUG Nanos and Habitat Sets too. Although the appeal is mainly towards boys, there were a couple of girls at the party who had just as much fun with HEXBUG. There wasn't one set favorite among the group. The general concensus was that everything was lots of fun.
One person will win a HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie bug and a Glows in the Dark HEXBUG Nano Galileo Collection bug.
Leave a comment with a product you'd like to have from HEXBUG.
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Leave a separate comment for each entry and include your email address in the comments. Giveaway is open to residents of the USA. Giveaway ends 11/3/11 at 8 pm CST. Winner will be randomly drawn and will have 48 hrs. to respond to email notification or a new winner will be drawn.
I received products for review from MommyParties and Innovation First Labs, Inc. The opinions within this post are of my own and I was not influenced in any way. Please do your own research before purchasing products. Your opinions and results may differ. | <urn:uuid:4db17aac-79b7-4a95-9e48-0d64192e0039> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heckofabunch6.com/2011/10/hexbug-nano-halloween-zombie-party.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943929 | 1,113 | 1.625 | 2 |
by Chuck Baldwin
February 12, 2010
As far as grassroots activism goes, the surge in Tea Parties across America is one of the more encouraging developments to recently take place. It reminds me of the "Conservative Revolution" of 1994, when the GOP reclaimed both the US Senate and House of Representatives. At that time, it had been over 40 years since the Republican Party controlled both the US House and Senate. And, between the two, the House victories were the most significant.
Spurred mostly by the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, a host of young, energetic freshman Republicans marched into Washington, D.C., determined to return a burgeoning and out-of-control federal leviathan to the constitutional precepts of limited government. I'm talking about then-freshman House members such as Helen Chenoweth, Steve Largent, Bob Barr, Joe Scarborough, Sonny Bono, John Shadegg, J.C. Watts, etc. These young conservatives went to Washington, D.C., determined to reduce the growth and size of the federal government.
The vehicle used to transport these young conservatives from grassroots activism to US House and Senate seats was the highly touted "Contract with America" (CWA), which was orchestrated by House Speaker-to-be, Newt Gingrich. The CWA included a promise to the American people that if they would give the GOP a majority in Congress, they would eliminate up to 5 federal departments--such as the Departments of Energy and Education--and many federal agencies.
Obviously, not only did the GOP-controlled Congress not eliminate a single federal department or agency--or even shrink the size of the federal government at all--it expanded the size and scope of the federal government at every level. And there is one reason for it: Big Government neocons posing as champions of conservatism co-opted and destroyed the Conservative Revolution of 1994.
If one wants to put names to these treasonous wretches (and I do), I'm talking about charlatans such as Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott. Anyone who thinks that Newt Gingrich is a real conservative or that he will do anything to reduce the size and scope of the federal government needs to speak with any of those Republican members of the freshman class of 1994. (Sadly, too, some of the members of that great freshman class went on to become Big Government toadies themselves. Such is the power of that Putrid Province by the Potomac.)
The Tea Parties of 2010 remind me very much of the Conservative Revolution of 1994. And if the Tea Party Nation is not very careful, they will succumb to the same fate. The signs of a silent takeover of the movement are already appearing.
First of all, the Tea Parties were actually born during the Presidential campaign of Congressman Ron Paul of Texas in 2007 and 2008. For all intents and purposes, the Tea Parties and the Ron Paul Revolution were one and the same. These were (mostly) young people, who were sick and tired of the same old establishment Republican Party. They were tired of establishment Republicans selling out the principles of limited government; they were tired of the US Constitution being ignored and trampled by both Republicans and Democrats; they were tired of an incessant interventionist US foreign policy that keeps sending US forces overseas to advance a burgeoning New World Order (NWO); they were tired of perpetual war; they were tired of the bank bailouts; they were tired of the Federal Reserve; etc.
I know this because I met--and spoke before--the Tea Party Nation in State after State as I campaigned for Dr. Paul during the Republican primaries back in 2008. And I met them again all over America, as I was running as an Independent candidate for President--with Ron Paul's endorsement, no less. I was with them in scores of meetings (big and small) from Washington, D.C., to Spokane, Washington, and all points in between.
But now many of the Tea Parties are distancing themselves from Dr. Paul and embracing establishment players such as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. Even Newt Gingrich is being courted. Watch out, Tea Party Nation: you're in danger of losing your soul! Newt Gingrich is not one of you. He is not your friend. He is an imposter. He will destroy you just like he almost single-handedly destroyed the Conservative Revolution of 1994.
Plus, be careful about Sarah Palin and other establishment Republicans. Palin is currently playing both sides. She is promoting Big Government neocons such as John McCain on the one hand, and sincere conservative-libertarians such as Rand Paul on the other hand. But if one wants a real barometer of Palin's true colors, look no further than her endorsement of Rick Perry in Texas.
Perry is the quintessential establishment Republican. Perry has been in office for some 9 years, and what has he done to thwart the NWO in Texas? Nothing! Perry is even a Bilderberg Group attendee. What has he done for State sovereignty in Texas? Nothing! In fact, he supports the North American Union and the NAFTA superhighway. What has he done to resist Obama's universal health care proposals? Nothing! What has he done to protect the citizens of Texas against an emerging Police State? Nothing! What has he done to fight illegal immigration? Nothing!
As a result of both Rick Perry's establishment business-as-usual politics in Texas and the proliferating grassroots Tea Party movement, counterattacking establishment politics, a Tea Partier herself has entered the race for Texas governor. Her name is Debra Medina. As the Tea Party Nation in Texas already knows, Medina is one of you.
Medina is committed to preserving Texas' independence and sovereignty. She is opposed to the Patriot Act. She will secure the Texas border. She will give Texas Vermont-style open carry freedoms for gun owners. She wants to get rid of unconstitutional property taxes in Texas. She will stop the NAFTA superhighway. Medina is the real deal.
So, what did Sarah Palin do? She went to Texas and endorsed Rick Perry! I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, playing political games in order to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars on the speaking and book-signing circuits is not what the Tea Parties are all about.
Tea Parties are supposed to be about putting principle over politics, supporting and defending the US Constitution, supporting limited government and personal liberty, getting rid of the Federal Reserve, abolishing the IRS, ending preemptive and pervasive wars, and putting truth and integrity back into government.
Don't get me wrong; there are things about Sarah Palin that I like. I especially appreciate her pro-life and pro-Second Amendment stands. I also appreciate her signing the Alaska State sovereignty resolution while she was governor. By all indications, she did a good job as Alaska's chief executive. At the national level, however, she favors the Patriot Act--and even wants to expand it. She supported the banker bailouts. And when it comes to foreign policy issues, Palin is just another neocon. Plus, as with most Republicans at the national level, I think she is clueless about the NWO. And please remember, it was Mr. New World Order himself, Henry Kissinger, who vetted Palin on behalf of McCain.
The Tea Party Nation should expect better!
The Nation also needs to be careful about Glenn Beck. He says many of the right things. He is likeable and charismatic; but he's also dead wrong on a number of issues--issues that are critical to the Tea Party Nation. He's dead wrong when he attempts to disparage and impugn Congressman Ron Paul, saying Dr. Paul is a "crazy, kooky guy." He's dead wrong in supporting the banker bailouts. He's dead wrong when he supports raising taxes (which he has done on several occasions). He was dead wrong when he supported the Patriot Act. He is dead wrong when he viciously attacks the 9/11 victims' families who demand further information about what happened to their loved ones on that fateful day. And he is dead wrong when he mocks people such as Alan Keyes and Joe Farah for demanding that Barack Obama release his birth certificate--if he indeed has one.
And now I hear that there are some self-professed members of the Tea Party Nation who are actually running for Congressman Paul's US House seat in Texas. If this is not a sign that establishment Republicans are hijacking the Tea Party movement, I don't know what is. Remember, the Tea Party movement began as a support base for the Ron Paul Revolution back in 2007.
I strongly encourage the Tea Party faithful to read Jane Hamsher's recent column on this subject:
I say again, be careful, Tea Party Nation. You are being infiltrated. You are being compromised. You are being neutered. Stick to your principles. Stick with the Constitution. Keep opposing unconstitutional, preemptive wars. Keep calling for the abolition of the Federal Reserve. Keep fighting for less taxes, reduced federal spending, and states' rights. Keep opposing the Patriot Act and the New World Order. Don't abandon Ron Paul. Be wary of people such as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. You don't need "big name" celebrities to give you credibility. As Samson's strength depended on keeping his hair uncut, your strength lies in keeping your principles intact. And unless you want to wind up like the Republican freshmen in 1994, avoid Newt Gingrich like the plague!
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© Chuck Baldwin
This column is archived as http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2010/cbarchive_20100212.html | <urn:uuid:08ee8e58-b82d-4c9d-b3b8-4bf9db8e9bdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2010/cbarchive_20100212.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967182 | 2,005 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I have written a number of posts lamenting the fact that behavioral economics isn’t used much in public policy. Moreover, most of work so far is limited to field of finance.
I am delivering a talk on behavioral economics and health care later today at the National Academy of Social Insurance. Today’s event is being held in honor of Peter Diamond’s winning the Robert Ball awardfrom NASI. Peter is not only brilliant but also a wonderful friend and colleague, and I am thrilled that he has won this award.
Peter has been interested in behavioral economics, which combines insights from psychology with those from economics, for almost 40 years. The talk emphasizes my belief that effective policy design, including policies affecting health care, must reflect more of the insights from behavioral economics — that is, we need a bit more “Psych 101″ in addition to “Econ 101″ in the design of public policies.
It is an excellent speech where Orszag discusses how defaults etc can be used to reduce overall costs while maintaining the quality of healthcare services. The speech also discusses how healthcare services are faring in US. It is quite an important industry as the speech tells us and can’t be ignored:
Put simply, health care costs are the single most important factor influencing the federal government’s budget trajectory—and they already exert a major influence, larger than most of us perhaps realize, on our paychecks. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO’s) projections, without any changes in federal law, total spending on health care will rise from being 16 percent of the economy in 2007 to being 25 percent in 2025 and almost 50 percent in 2082, and net federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid will rise from being 4.1 percent of the economy to being almost 20 percent over the same period.
The primary driver of future costs will be the increasing cost for treating each beneficiary, rather than the increased number of older beneficiaries.
This is good stuff. | <urn:uuid:78e78cc6-644a-40b8-9a43-c2c1c875aae6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mostlyeconomics.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/ | 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 | 0.955216 | 409 | 1.507813 | 2 |
If you’re reading this you’re too close to the screen
“Thomas Mann wrote that he would rather participate in life than write a hundred stories. Giacometti was once run down by a car, and he recalled falling in to a lucid faint, a sudden exhilaration,
Sustainability is a word that gets talked about a lot, and in our opinion often times gets misrepresented. Instead of debating what the true meaning of it is, we thought we would just share what it means to us.
Being a truly sustainable company means that we consider the impact of our decisions on the natural environment, the people that may be affected, and the financial health of our business. We want to balance all of these areas to operate our business with a long term approach.
Each year we will publish a sustainability report that highlights our progress towards our goals.
*****Click here for the 2012 report (this report is 4.4 MB).****
*****Click here for the 2011 report (this report is 4 MB).*****
LEED Certified Breweries
The USGBC that governs LEED certifications does not track projects by categories such as "brewery" and could not substantiate the number of total certified breweries. From our own researchand to the best of our knowledge, as of Feb 2012, below are brewery and brewery related LEED certifications.
Microbrewery: packaging brewery that makes and sells it beer primarily through distribution
- Brewery Vivant: Grand Rapids, Michigan: LEED Silver 2012
Brewpub: brewery that makes and sells its beer only at its own facility/ restaurant
- Portola Hotel & Spa: Monterey Bay, California: LEED Silver 2011: Within the hotel is Peter B's Brewpub
Educational: non-profit/ non-commercial
- U.C. Davis University: Davis, CA: August A. Busch III Brewing & Food Science Center: LEED Platinum
- Brewery Blocks: Portland, OR: Mixed use development on defunct Henry Weihnhardt site: no brewery now
- The Brewery: Milwaukee, WI: Mixed use development on defunct Pabst Brewery site: no brewery now
Being LEED certified however is not the real point. It is about doing the right things, simply because it is the right thing to do. Within our vibrant craft brewing industry there are many breweries doing some really great things around sustainability. These are some of the breweries that inspire us and drive us to become even better. Check out some of the cool things that some or our friends and colleagues are doing... | <urn:uuid:269bde9e-ece4-4def-af96-ad2d656b5940> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.breweryvivant.com/index.php/sustainability/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941938 | 527 | 1.773438 | 2 |
What are we to do with "Comment Trolls" here at TED?
Stephen Downs writes on his blog that I subscribe to, "OLDWeekly. He recently wrote on the subject of " comment trolls."
"We'll use the word 'science' a little loosely here, but meanwhile there's an interesting survey on the consequences of comment trolls: "it appeared that pushing people's emotional buttons, through derogatory comments, made them double down on their preexisting beliefs." The author offers an explanation, "the psychological theory of motivated reasoning," akin to Hume's dictum, but I think the interplay between thoughts and feelings (if they are even distinct things) is a lot more complex than that. That said, I can attest first-hand to the way comment trolls can drain the life out of a discussion, out of a website, out of living itself. Which, of course, if their intent."
The author Downes is referring to is Chris Mooney. His article in Mother Jones observes:
"In the context of the psychological theory of motivated reasoning, this makes a great deal of sense. Based on pretty indisputable observations about how the brain works, the theory notes that people feel first, and think second. The emotions come faster than the "rational" thoughts—and also shape the retrieval of those thoughts from memory. Therefore, if reading insults activates one's emotions, the "thinking" process may be more likely to be defensive in nature, and focused on preserving one's identity and preexisting beliefs."
Have a look at the article and share your thoughts. | <urn:uuid:8fd81466-1cb6-469c-80dc-37bb190f6c13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ted.com/conversations/15942/what_are_we_to_do_with_commen.html?c=590601 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952111 | 323 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Hormone Replacement Therapy May Cause Incontinence, Research Suggests
November 18, 2009 by Personal Liberty News Desk
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been increasingly discredited in recent years, after being linked to a higher risk of heart disease and some cancers, and a new study has added another reason menopausal women may want to avoid it.
Researchers from Scotland have found evidence HRT could make bladder control problems worse in some women. Specifically, they indentified a type of therapy called systematic conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) as the main culprit behind incontinence in that group.
Study author June Cody says the trial also showed that even individuals who did not have bladder problems at the beginning of the study were more likely to develop the condition than those who took a placebo.
"These findings should be discussed with women who are contemplating using estrogen or hormonal therapy for relief of menopausal symptoms, particularly those who already have incontinence problems," said Dr. Charla Blacker of the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
By contrast, nutritional supplements that have been shown to relieve troublesome menopausal symptoms are safe and natural. WebMD recommends menopausal women try St. John’s wort, black cohosh, evening primrose oil or flaxseed. | <urn:uuid:c4551d7a-2018-46cb-81bd-6b7ef9235484> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://personalliberty.com/2009/11/18/hormone-replacement-therapy-may-cause-incontinence-research-suggests-19458169/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=18b5244a97 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95492 | 264 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Is China Building the Next Bubble?
This post by Carla Fried originally appeared on CBS' MoneyWatch.com.
Will the next pop you hear be the sound of the China bubble bursting? A few of the world's savvier financial minds think so.
Jim Chanos has made a fortune betting against investments he believes are ripe for a fall. Among his most illustrious short trades was pegging high-flying Enron as a disaster in waiting. Today the hedge fund manager is taking aim at China. "Without a modicum of doubt we have a credit-driven property bubble right now," Chanos recently declared in a talk he gave at the London School of Economics. That was a toned-down version of his quip to the New York Times that China is "Dubai times 1,000 -- or worse," a comment the manager of the $6 billion Kynikos fund now half-heartedly describes as tongue-in-cheek.
Chanos is adding his respected voice to a growing rumble that China's economy is nearing 212°F. In a recent survey of investment pros who subscribe to Bloomberg's news and data service, 62 percent said they believed China is brewing a bubble. Also singing in the China bubble chorus: Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff, Gloom and Doom report publisher Marc Faber, and, most recently, James Rickards, a Virginia-based consultant who knows a thing or two about financial calamity -- he was the general counsel for Long-Term Capital Management. To be clear, the China bubble talk is mostly focused on the country's real estate sector, where property sales jumped 76 percent in 2009 and prices in some markets have recently been rising 8 to 10 percent a month. But the fear is that a meltdown in the real estate market could take down the rest of the Chinese economy with it, as has happened in the U.S. and Japan. And with China expected to account for about a third of global growth in 2010, the consequences could well be global.
The Mother of All Stimulus Projects
The roots of the problem lie in China's aggressive response to the financial crisis. To make up for reduced exports, the government ramped up domestic spending and what ensued was the "mother of all stimulus projects," says Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The roughly $575 billion in direct stimulus doled out by China's central government represented 15 percent of its GDP. (Consider that if the U.S. stimulus program had clocked in at 15 percent of GDP we would be debating the merits of a $2 trillion program, not the $787 billion Congress settled on.)
China's banks also followed the stimulus script, doling out $1.4 trillion in loans last year, a 30 percent increase from 2008. All that liquidity did the job. According to China's official data (which are notorious for their lack of transparency) the domestic economy expanded 12.6 percent in 2009, offsetting a three percentage point decline in GDP from exports. Overall, China's economy grew 8.7 percent in 2009, up from 2008's anemic -- at least by China's standards -- GDP growth of 6.8 percent.
However, much of the stimulus spending and lending has found its way into real estate, creating ominous imbalances and the potential for huge amounts of bad loans that the Chinese government would then have to cover. Commercial developers who were all too happy to take the stimulus money and build on spec are now often hard-pressed to find tenants; entire office buildings and shopping malls stand empty in many large cities that have attracted the most development. In the residential market, the problem is flipped: too much demand and not enough supply. Homes are the default investment choice for an increasingly flush populace that has limited access to other investment vehicles. And the prevailing sentiment is that if you don't buy today you are going to be priced out of the market tomorrow.
In response to concerns that it's inflating a bubble in real estate, the central government has begun taking steps to cool things off, but to date it's more talk than action. Bank reserve requirements and a key lending rate have been increased only slightly, and official 2010 lending targets, while lower than last year, will still surpass credit outlays from 2008.
- 1. Leverage is muted. About 25 percent of Chinese buy their homes outright with cash. Among borrowers, a 50 percent down payment is typical; you can't get a mortgage with less than 20 percent down and if you are looking to buy a second (or third) property the down payment is 40 percent. China also has yet to develop a HELOC market. Lardy, of the PIIE, notes that China's household debt as a share of household income runs about 40 percent. In 2007, U.S. household debt to income was 130 percent. Nor has China fallen into the grasp of Wall Street alchemists concocting toxic real estate derivatives.
- 2. It's not a blanket bubble. Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai are China's Florida, Nevada, and California: speculation and overbuilding have clearly fed bubble valuations. But Nicholas Consonery, China analyst at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm, says there's still plenty of unmet demand in China's second-, third-, and fourth-tier cities.
- 3. The ubiquitous demand argument. Consonery also articulates the most oft-heard reason for why the bubble doesn't have to burst: China actually needs more construction, not less, to accommodate the mass migration of Chinese from their rural past to their urban future.
A torrent of commercial development, a residential market convinced that if you don't get in today you're toast, and a wan government response to overheating ... Sound familiar? But there are several key structural differences between our real estate mess and China's situation, which suggest it is simplistic to assume China's bubble must end in a U.S.-style meltdown.
While China's real estate picture doesn't necessarily stack up as Dubai times 1,000, or even the United States circa 2006, similarities to Japan's property bubble could be more salient. Rather than a quick burst, Japan is still working through a long slow deflation from its epic property bubble that peaked in the late 1980s. Patrick Chovanec, professor at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing, who has advised private equity funds on China investments, says that's the danger facing China. "Never underestimate the ability of the Chinese to brush things under the rug, rather than acknowledging losses and poor investments," Chovanec cautions. "That can create a long-term drag on the economy."
Koyo Ozeki, head of Pimco's Asian credit analysis team, acknowledges the Japan corollary (his comparison of China, Japan, and U.S. real estate bubbles is below), but he believes a crucial difference is that China has the ability to grow its way out of trouble. His worst case scenario is that there's a two- or three-year cooling off period for property values, but not a meltdown. "I think that it [would be] a 'correction,' as opposed to a 'burst of a bubble' similar to those seen in the developed countries, because of China's structural demand for modern houses," says Ozeki.
Source: Pimco estimates
The 437,000 Renminbi Question
- Stocks: China is the third largest economy behind the U.S. and Japan, and it is expected to push its way to number two this year. The IMF forecasts that China will grow 10 percent, more than double the overall world rate. If the bubble does in fact burst, growth will slow and we could be in for round two of a global recession. That's an argument for being cautious with equities and making sure your emergency cash fund stays stuffed.
- U.S. Treasuries: China holds about 10 percent of outstanding Treasury debt; it jockeys with Japan from month-to-month for the top spot among foreign investors. If China's economy hit the skids, one theory is that it might choose to sell off Treasuries to raise capital for spending back home. But dumping Treasuries is far from an easy call for China, as it would depress the value of its Treasury portfolio and cause the renminbi to rise in value (and the dollar to fall), which is not ideal for its exports. Questions about how China will handle its cache of U.S. Treasuries will likely keep the bond market on edge. That's just another risk factor to add to why Treasuries aren't exactly the safest investment right now.
- Emerging market funds and ETFs: These are the most obvious losers if China falters. It's not just that China represents 17 percent of the MSCI Emerging Market Index -- the single largest country weight -- but that so many of the other emerging markets, especially those rich in resources such as Brazil and Russia, need China to remain a hungry consumer. Overweighting emerging markets seems especially dicey right now, despite the sector's recent strong performance. But even beyond the implications of a China bubble, it's also wise to understand that the fastest-growing economies don't always produce the highest investment returns.
What does this mean for your portfolio? When you have sharp minds on both sides of the argument that should be a tip that making a big bet on either is probably unwise. Moreover, China presents a few extra challenges. Despite its large footprint -- China is expected to take over Japan as the second largest economy in 2010 -- keep in mind we're still talking about an emerging market.
Volatility and surprises (both upside and downside) are the norm. Add in the fact that China's financial system and data reporting aren't exactly open source code and you have another layer of complexity. And even the China bears are careful to point out that they have no clue when the bubble will burst. "We are not calling for an impending crash," Chanos reminded the LSE crowd. Rogoff, former chief economist of the IMF and co-author of This Time is Different, which chronicles the long history of global financial calamities, recently told Business Week he believes the liquidity deluge in China will eventually culminate in enough bad debt to cause China's economic growth to slow to just 2 percent to 3 percent a year. But as for when, well, Rogoff would only pin it down to some time in the next 10 years, and added that the setback would be short-term, not a Japanese-style slow bleed.
Given all that uncertainty, it seems wise to channel Pascal's Wager: Acknowledge you might be wrong and adjust your portfolio accordingly. In this instance, that's an argument for taking a look at what might happen if in fact China's bubble blows so explosively that it sends the economy into a severe downturn. Here's how your portfolio could be affected:
Bubble or not, one thing is clear: China is teeing itself up for plenty of volatility in the coming years. And it will affect the whole world. "Even with the strong long-term fundamentals, any market that has experienced such rapid growth creates its own fragility," says investment banker Euan Rellie, senior managing director of Business Development Asia LLC. "That makes it certain there will be declines and corrections."
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The term “postsecular” is quickly becoming a keyword for scholars of religion and public life. So what is it all about? An overview of its uses and meanings.
Posts Tagged ‘Radical Orthodoxy’
By insisting that this is all there is, the secularist position forecloses the emergence of anything other than this. Since people are violent, we must manage violence with violence as responsibly as possible—any other option is just foolish. What troubles me is that by sticking to what is probable and practical, secularism misses that which from our perspective seems impossible—say, peace, justice, compassion for all sentient beings, swords into plowshares…. These sorts of promises, it seems to me, are only held by something like transcendence—even if only the possibility of transcendence—the possibility that things might genuinely be otherwise.
This past November, a new think tank called ResPublica was launched in London, in the opulent surrounds of the Royal Horseguards Hotel. It’s not every day that a think tank appears, of course, but even so this one attracted an unusual amount of attention. The meeting room in which the launch took place was overflowing. David Cameron, the Conservative Party Leader, modernizer, and hopeful Prime Minister, provided the opening remarks, and introduced its director, Phillip Blond. In the lead-up to the launch, Blond got prime coverage on television, in the broadsheets, and throughout the blogosphere, building on what had actually been almost a year’s worth of buzz over his rise to the top. ResPublica’s signature approach is what Blond calls “Red Toryism,” which he outlined in the February 2009 issue of Prospect as “the tradition of communitarian civic conservatism,” and about which we’ll soon hear more.
Milbank is an Anglican theologian whose ideas, distinguished by a profound skepticism of secular reason, have given shape to Radical Orthodox theology and provided the underpinnings of the Red Tory and Blue Labour movements in British politics. His most recent book, The Monstrosity of Christ, is a collaboration with the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, edited by Creston Davis and published in 2009 by MIT Press. He is also a contributor to Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age, a series of critical engagements with Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, recently published by Harvard University Press.
JM: …If you are going to be an atheist and nihilist, then be one. Only second-raters repeat secular nostrums in a pious guise. Such theology can never possibly make any difference, by definition. It’s a kind of sad, grey, seasonal echo of last year’s genuine black. All real Christian theology, by contrast, emerges from the Church, which alone mediates the presence of the God-Man, who is the presupposition of all Christian thinking.
John Milbank, in his recent essay “Against Human Rights” (PDF), contends that Christian thought demands a notion and practice of justice as objective “right order,” and resolutely does not provide the theological basis for a doctrine of human rights qua the subjectively grounded rights of the claimant, as Nicholas Wolterstorff argues in Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton UP, 2009). A political order grounded solely in subjective rights is, for Milbank, anathema to Christian justice. | <urn:uuid:80330f11-760f-42f8-8966-70343801d6c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/tag/radical-orthodoxy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956742 | 724 | 1.5 | 2 |
Their Perception Is Your Reality Revisited
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of colleague feedback reports for new executive coaching clients. I just finished one a little while ago actually. Most of the time when I deliver the feedback to the client it goes pretty well. They may have a few surprises but, being the high achievers that they are, are committed to getting better.
Sometimes, though, I face a client who wants to argue with the feedback. The argument can take many forms from “They don’t understand,” to “They’re just wrong.” After letting my client vent for a little while, my response to the argument is something like, “You may be right. Maybe they are wrong, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because their perception is your reality.”
I’ve yet to have a client argue with that point. After thinking about it for a few moments, they usually nod and say, “Yeah, that’s right.”
When you’re taking on the work of becoming a more effective leader, you usually will want to focus on adopting or changing one or two behaviors that will make the biggest difference. You also, though, need to focus on the perceptions that others have of your behaviors. Because you work and lead in a system full of people, your overall effectiveness will depend as much on changing their perception as on changing your behavior.
Here are three things to keep in mind as you do that:
- You actually have to change some behaviors: You can’t change perceptions without actually changing some behaviors. As I’ve written here before, start with something that’s easy to do and likely to make a difference. You’ll be amazed at how much leverage and momentum you can get from relatively simple changes.
- You have to help people see the change you’re making: Don’t wait for people to notice because they won’t. They’re too busy and preoccupied with their own stuff. Tell them what you’re working on and occasionally ask them if what you’re doing is making a difference. When they stop and think about it, they’ll probably recognize that it is. You’re on your way to changing their perceptions.
- You need to be patient: Don’t expect people’s perceptions of you to turn on a dime. Particularly if there’s a long held story about you, it will take people awhile to groove the new story about you. Perception changes almost always lag actual behavior changes. Keep at it and be patient.
What about you? What’s been your experience with changing your colleagues’ perception of how you show up as a leader? | <urn:uuid:1b247268-598d-4b94-8991-543094188878> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.govexec.com/excellence/executive-coach/2012/07/their-perception-your-reality-revisited/56631/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957774 | 587 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Gov't evaluates troop presence in Afghan
Gen. John Allen submitted various options for final stage of U.S. presence
The Obama administration will make a decision within weeks on how many U.S. forces will remain in Afghanistan as a residual force after the final combat troops leave at the end of 2014, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Panetta made the remarks on the way to Australia and Asia to meet with defense ministers in that region.
He said that top NATO commander Gen. John Allen had recently submitted various options for the final stage of the U.S. presence there. The Pentagon and White House would have to review the recommendations before deciding on a final plan.
"My hope is that we'll be able to complete this process in the next few weeks ... I'm confident that we'll be able to get to the right number that we're going to need for the post-2014 enduring presence," Panetta told the traveling press on his airplane while en route to Australia on the first leg of his trip.
Panetta said that various options would depend on the various types of missions U.S. forces would take part in after the 2014 withdrawal. The expectation is that the remaining U.S. forces will participate in follow-on training of Afghan security forces, while a smaller number will remain to conduct a counterterrorism mission against al Qaeda.
"All of those (options) are being carefully reviewed," Panetta said.
Still to be decided by the administration is the timetable -- the pace -- at which U.S. troops will be coming out of Afghanistan over the next two years.
There are about 67,000 U.S. troops currently inside Afghanistan.
During the meeting with the traveling press Panetta was asked about whether he would be staying on as defense secretary in the second term of the Obama administration.
"There are a lot of challenges right now regarding defense issues in Washington -- sequestration, budget, Afghanistan -- and I think the president and I are working very closely to make sure we meet those defense challenges Right now my goal to meet responsibilities," Panetta said.
"That's the most important focus."
Copyright 2012 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:3eb25108-4264-456a-9a6a-539038f04697> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ksat.com/news/Gov-t-evaluates-troop-presence-in-Afghan/-/478452/17378556/-/view/print/-/12m6jypz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964798 | 462 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Putting a man on the moon, solving Fermat's Last Theorem, or firing a tenured teacher because of incompetence or even criminal behaviors: which is harder?
While most teachers are good, decent people with the thankless jobs of teaching unruly kids with dwindling resources and ever-increasing class sizes, there are a few bad apples that really ruined school for a lot of children. But why is it so difficult to fire them?
Jason Song of the Los Angeles Times investigates:
Joseph Walker, a former principal of Grant High School in Van Nuys, was sued by a special education teacher whom he tried to dismiss for alleged repeated sexual harassment. A civil jury sided with Walker -- but the review commission decided the teacher shouldn't be fired. The case, now in the courts, has dragged on seven years.
Confronting uphill battles like this, Walker said: "You're not going to fire someone who's not doing their job. And if you have someone who's done something really egregious, there's only a 50-50 chance that you can fire them."
Walker is now principal of Discovery Charter Preparatory Academy in Pacoima, where he said he had fired three teachers so far this year. None were fired during his three years as head of Grant. The difference: His school's teachers are not unionized and can be fired at will.
(Photo: Joseph Walker. Photo credit: Liz O. Baylen / LA Times) | <urn:uuid:dde231bd-1d00-4a0b-b7f3-4413810d940b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.neatorama.com/2009/05/03/why-is-it-so-difficult-to-fire-bad-teachers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977252 | 296 | 1.6875 | 2 |
St. Joseph Ministries Architectural Stained Glass has released its fall and winter class schedule which includes a holiday workshop featuring creation of a stained glass Nativity set. A variety of professional courses are held at the 2,500 square foot studio. The studio is located at 2745 Industry Center Road, Unit 6,
Classes are for those with an interest in stained glass art and glass painting. In addition to learning new methods and techniques, students will discover the spirituality of art.
The classes are taught by Sister Diane Couture, a renowned stained glass artist and recipient of the 2012 ROWITA (Recognizing Outstanding Women in the Arts) Lifetime Achievement Award.
For more information, visit www.ssjstainedglass.com. Register early for class sizes are limited. To register for a class or workshop, call669-5388.
Classes and workshop
Beginner, Leaded Glass & Glass Painting — Fridays 10 a.m. to noon, Sept. 21 to Oct. 26; Mondays 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Sept. 24 to Oct. 29. Cost: $200 ($150 class fee plus a lab fee of $50 for all supplies). Students will need to have their own set of tools. The complete tool kit can be purchased from the studio for $175.
3D Nativity Scene Workshop:
Nov. 3 and 4: This two-day workshop is offered to teach students how to create three-dimensional figures of Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child. Cost: $300 including supplies. Experience in stained glass is necessary.
Special 3D Three Kings Class:
Friday 10 a.m. to noon, Nov. 2 to Dec. 4; Mondays 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Nov. 5 to Dec. 10. This special class will focus on teaching students to create a set of three richly garbed, three-dimensional Kings to add to their Nativity scenes. In addition, patterns will be furnished to allow students to create other figures such as a shepherd boy, angels, and animals to complete their Nativity scenes. Cost is $225 ($150 class fee plus a lab fee of $75 for all supplies.)
Students must be registered a week before the classes begin. There is a $25 cancellation fee. Call 669-5388 to register. | <urn:uuid:e84ba629-a8cf-4e08-817c-8ff05379abe0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://staugustine.com/living/religion/2012-09-06/stained-glass-classes-beginning | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933366 | 482 | 1.5 | 2 |
Products with a Mixed Sources label support the development of responsible forest management worldwide. The wood comes from FSC-certified, well managed forests and company-controlled sources.
Company-controlled sources are controlled, in accordance with FSC standards, to exclude illegally harvested timber, forests where high conservation values are threatened, genetically modified organisms and violation of people’s civil and traditional rights.
FSC-accredited certification means that the forest of origin has been independently inspected and evaluated according to environmental, social and economic principles and criteria agreed by the Forest Stewardship Council A.C. (FSC).
FSC is an international, non-profit association whose membership includes environmental and social groups and progressive forestry and wood retail companies working in partnership to improve forest management worldwide. | <urn:uuid:23210e4e-90e3-4169-805f-08ff27775f78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.varta-consumer.dk/da-DK/Company/Environment/FSC.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942906 | 157 | 1.734375 | 2 |
It's about having a vision, and taking that vision to your customers. Think of game-changers like Nintendo's Wii or Apple's iPod. They overturned our understanding of what a video game means and how we listen to music. Customers had not asked for these new meanings, but once they experienced them, it was love at first sight.
But where does the vision come from? With fascinating examples from leading European and American companies, Verganti shows that for truly breakthrough products and services, we must look beyond customers and users to those he calls "interpreters" - the experts who deeply understand and shape the markets they work in.
Design-Driven Innovation offers a provocative new view of innovation thinking and practice. | <urn:uuid:e71c15d4-aed0-4208-a3cc-d5fc9d5f2658> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amazon.co.uk/Design-Driven-Innovation-Competition-Innovating/dp/1422124827 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963361 | 147 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The November elections must serve as a wake-up call for those who love limited government, individual liberties and the principles of free enterprise — as embodied in America's founding documents.
Mitt Romney and the GOP did not lose on principles, nor because of a biased media, nor because their opponents offered superior candidates or better ideas. They lost because Republicans preached to a choir too small to win on a national level. In the process they ignored or alienated various factions that were easily influenced by progressive arguments or swayed by single issues where they saw the GOP as threatening their own self-interests.
Additionally, the GOP was beaten badly in getting the vote out and in messaging, with the Democrats appealing to emotions and far better targeting/tailoring communications for various demographic groups.
As a result, America now faces four more years of a continued reckless spending with a devastating slide toward unsustainable debt and the serfdom of government dependence. And millions of conservative, libertarian and socially-moderate-but-fiscally-conservative Americans are suffering despair, pessimism, defeatism, anger, hopelessness and even withdrawal.
These emotions are the wrong responses.
Now is not a time to surrender or disengage. Now is a time for those who can to connect, educate and inspire others.
Libertarian/conservative Americans and those moderates who agree with them on perhaps 80 percent of the issues must unite and get involved. Otherwise, the future will be handed to an ideological well-organized minority that truly sees more government as the answer to everything.
To begin, all need to accept several realities.
What is happening today is not to be blamed on President Barack Obama or Rep. Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It took decades for America to slide. And it happened on our watch — while we, the "silent majority," were engaged in our careers and raising families.
It will now take decades and a generation or two to turn the ship around.
To begin, today's young Americans of all demographics must better understand America and its promise.
Our failure so far to reach/educate/unite others should not be blamed on the media, Hollywood or academe. Blame instead too much apathy, the breakup of the family, an inability of libertarians, conservatives and moderates to focus on where they agree and unite behind common goals, a failure to understand today's demographics — and a serious void in leadership.
Today's progressives are clearly led by the president. But it's impossible to name the leading conservative voice today — a vacuum filled by radio/TV talk-show hosts and guests who will never bring into the tent the millions needed to restore the America we love.
New leadership is needed to end the infighting among conservatives, libertarians and centrists — to cease the destructive bickering that helps progressives score victory after victory.
Witness the current debate on immigration reform — with right-wing spokespersons declaring Sen. Marco Rubio a Republican in name only (RINO).
What we need is a new well-designed national platform where the issues of the day are presented every week on TV and the Internet — perhaps every Saturday morning, hosted by leading conservatives, libertarians and moderates (but not politicians).
A rebirth of William F. Buckley's "Firing Line" and the earlier, most-watched "Fulton Sheen Program."
A platform focused not on feeding "red meat" to the right-wing choir, but engaging in calm, thoughtful and intelligent conversation with all Americans who are misled about what makes America exceptional.
Weekly discussions on our nation's founding principles, the pitfalls and historical failures of collectivism, the strengths of a society based on individual liberties, the moral arguments for capitalism, wealth creation and personal ownership — subjects badly misunderstood today.
A broadcast focused 100 percent on issues/ideas and not on personalities — without the shouting matches that mark many of today's programs.
Could sponsors/advertisers be found for such a program? Yes.
Would there be an audience? Absolutely yes! Many millions hunger for such discussion.
All we need is an organization to take the lead. | <urn:uuid:18c616da-a4ee-4a24-8100-270008029ed5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marconews.com/news/2013/feb/08/guest-column-jack-tymann-where-the-us-goes-from/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942164 | 841 | 1.601563 | 2 |
My School Sport Journey
My School Sport Journey by Debbie Foote, Young Ambassador
Young people don't always get a good press. If you believe
what you often read in the papers, we are all hanging around street
corners, smoking, drinking and acting irresponsibly.
The reality, as most rational people know, is actually somewhat different. There are by far and away more young people that are respectful, well mannered members of society, that will go on to have a positive involvement in the community.
As a 17-year old, I like to think of myself as one such responsible teenager - and I put sport at the heart of how I have developed as a person. I am chair of the Young Ambassadors movement, a group of young people who use the values and power of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to motivate and inspire other young people to become involved in sport.
We Young Ambassadors came about as a result of London winning the bid to host the 2012 Games. Since the Young Ambassador programme began back in 2006, it has grown dramatically through the management and support of the Youth Sport Trust - by 2012 we will see more than 8,000 young people up and down the country using the Games as a way to engage more youngsters to take up PE and sport. It really is a very exciting time for young people.
It's not always been an easy road though. The cuts to school sport announced by the Government last October sent me into overdrive to be honest. When I heard about the plans to remove all funding I had to take action to try and stop it. A petition opposing the decision was launched across the country and more than half a million signatures were taken to Downing Street, with an accompanying peaceful demonstration in London.
Looking back on it, I like to think I played my part in encouraging the Government to have a rethink in December when they confirmed they'd be reinvesting money into school sport. As part of this, there is going to be additional money for the Young Ambassadors movement to be expanded so that every secondary school and some primary schools can introduce even more Young Ambassadors in the run up to London 2012.
So where do I think things are at now? Whilst it's not all the money, it's a much better place than where we were back in October. I think everyone involved in school sport needs to think about how the money which is now being invested can be best used to benefit as many young people as possible.
Members of the Young Ambassadors steering group and I met recently with Education Minister Tim Loughton to discuss how things are likely to move forward. I was encouraged to hear the minister tell us he is very keen on promoting more sport in schools and that he's committed to doing this. He wants to continue meeting with us, to hear the views of young people, and we'll be working with him on how we think the Young Ambassadors programme can continue to be developed.
It's been a rollercoaster few months, for me personally and for school sport. Back in October I could never have anticipated being thrust into the limelight on national breakfast TV talking about the importance of sport, or meeting with ministers at the very top level of Government. It has tested the many skills I have developed through my sporting journey - my confidence, leadership and self belief to name but a few - thankfully they served me well. | <urn:uuid:341b2638-c689-4d79-aeed-98bba371cec3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.youthsporttrust.org/news-media/news/2011/04/my-school-sport-journey.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981877 | 690 | 1.773438 | 2 |
New video shows Anders Behring Breivik, who has confessed to killing nearly 70 teen campers on an island near Oslo, reenacting the mass shooting for Norwegian police.
Breivik returned to the crime scene on the bucolic island of Utoya over the weekend and retraced his steps while restrained by a leash attached to a body harness and wearing a bulletproof vest. During an eight-hour tour, a dozen police officers followed him as he disembarked from a ferry and then walked the same route he took on July 22, the day of the shooting.
Breivik can be seen in the video raising his arms to show police how he fired at the campers as they tried to escape, shooting some of them in the water as they tried to swim to the mainland. Sixty-nine people died in the Utoya shooting, with another eight killed by a bombing in Oslo earlier the same day.
Prosecutor Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said Breivik was allowed to walk and talk with little interruption in order to jog his memory and yield as much information as possible.
"We were able to [jog] his memory with regard to what happened out there," said the prosecutor. He also said Breivik "was not unmoved" by his return to the crime scene, but did not show remorse.
This weekend, it was also revealed that three teens had tried to stop Breivik's shooting spree by throwing stones at him. Breivik shot and killed one of the boys, but the other two escaped.
Breivik, 32, faces 21 years in prison with the possibility of permanent detention for the shooting at the Labor Party summer camp and the bombing of the Prime Minister's office in Oslo. He has admitted both acts.
In a 1,500-page manifesto apparently published by Breivik hours before the attack, Breivik claims to be just one warrior in a widespread crusade against Muslim immigration and integration in Norwegian and European society that will take 60 years to complete. The meticulous manifesto detailed Breivik's years-long preparations for the attack and presents an academic-style argument against what he called multicultural Marxism and Islamic colonization. In it, he says being arrested is all part of the plan. "Your arrest will mark the initiation of the propaganda phase," Breivik writes. "Your trial offers you a stage to the world."
Breivik also mentions a plan to escape prison and execute a "bonus operation."
He has also made two series of demands since his arrest, one group that his lawyer calls practical and the other more bizarre. He has asked for cigarettes and clothes, but also to be made the commander of the Norwegian military and to wear a uniform when he appears in court. He has demanded the complete overthrow of Norwegian and European societies, starting with the resignation of the Norwegian government. When the societies are rebuilt, Breivik said, he wants to play a key role. | <urn:uuid:fb35219f-94de-4dff-bbc4-d5ff9be7a4ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/norway-massacre-anders-breivik-reenacts-shooting-police/story?id=14307389 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982275 | 608 | 1.546875 | 2 |
A batch of sidewalk projects set for construction will fill in gaps on seven major roads, marking progress in Raleigh’s quest to become a more walkable city.
The upgrades are part of an initiative begun by former Mayor Charles Meeker, who urged the city to prioritize sidewalks, greenways and urban-style development. Meeker left office in December at the end of his fifth term.
“Having laid a lot of groundwork over the last two years, we’re now starting to see a lot of the dominoes fall,” said Eric Lamb, the city’s transportation planning manager.
Federal grants will cover 80 percent of costs for the projects, slated for completion this fall.
The immediate goal is making it easier to walk to bus stops and employment hubs, part of what Lamb calls “trying to just get the basics right.”
Setting stage for mass transit
Long-term, the city envisions pedestrian-oriented districts clustered around light-rail stops. Trains would run west to Cary and north to Triangle Town Center, with stops at key landmarks and destinations.
The sidewalk upgrades were not welcomed by all. Some residents of Lake Boone Trail near the Beltline protested that more foot traffic would raise the potential for crime.
City Councilman Bonner Gaylord, who represents the area, voted in favor of moving forward. He called sidewalks an important element of city planning.
Over the past 30 years, development patterns resulted in car-centric growth near the city’s big highway interchanges. But the focus is changing.
Raleigh will implement its first-ever pedestrian plan – a blueprint for improving sidewalks, crosswalks, crossing signals and trails.
Voters in October approved a $40 million transportation bond that includes only $15.1 million to plan, repave or improve city streets.
The other $24.9 million will be spent for better travel by bus, train, bike and shoe leather.
It was the first time Raleigh voters have been asked to approve a mix of transportation bonds for new sidewalks and sidewalk repairs, transit, bike lanes and greenways, along with general street resurfacing work. | <urn:uuid:73073265-a37b-4168-818e-41b614365faa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northraleighnews.com/2012/05/01/13093/seven-raleigh-streets-to-get-sidewalk.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947533 | 445 | 1.820313 | 2 |
By Marcin Sobczyk
When Madonna was about to start her show in Warsaw in August, lights were switched off for a moment for extra effect, and suddenly you could see that almost everyone in the crowd of 80,000 held a mobile phone in the hand, trying to make a photo. To think that 20 years ago people waited ages for a landline phone here (and I mean years, decades – not the millisecond kind of ages that we are used to now in the Internet era).
So there’s obviously a large customer base for a new feature to play with – digital mobile television. It’s already available in Warsaw, and for the time being it’s free of charge.
The Polish company Info-TV-FM has just launched its mobile television service with start-up costs estimated at 100 million zlotys ($34.6 million). According to my rough calculations, it will cost the first commercial users about 40 zlotys per month ($14) once the company starts charging for the service next year.
Info-TV-FM is required to provide signal coverage in 10 cities by the end of this year and in 31 cities by the end of 2011 covering areas with around 13 million residents (out of more than 38 million people living in Poland).
We’ve seen how texting can be a cause of accidents, and watching TV on your mobile may have a similar effect. Drivers, watch out. | <urn:uuid:0d25633f-c91a-4fda-8468-d3d8d9b66f21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2009/09/29/poland-gets-mobile-digital-television/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961124 | 295 | 1.710938 | 2 |
I shoot in RAW for portraits with a Nikon D90. I understand RAW photos are at 300 dpi, but when I look at the pictures after downloading, they appear to have been reduced to 72 dpi. I need my clients to have digitals in a format they can have quality prints made. Do I resize the photos to 300 dpi in Image Size? Will that work? Does it matter? Can we get great 8x10s with 72 dpi as long as the pixel size is appropriate? Help!
DPI = Dots per Inch and is used in printing. When talking about resolution of a picture PPI is used Pixels per Inch.
Raw files do not have a PPI, it is just raw data (pixels) The program you use to convert from Raw to another format (TIF, JPG etc) you should be able to set it up for bit depth, PPI etc.
In Adobe Camera Raw click on the blue line at the bottom to adjust the settings you require...
Do I resize the photos to 300 dpi in Image Size? Will that work? Does it matter? Can we get great 8x10s with 72 dpi as long as the pixel size is appropriate? Help!
In addition to the other answers, maybe for a better understanding for ppi you open a photo in Photoshop and choose from the menu Image / Image size.
Inhere you have pixel dimensions and the total amount of file size and pixel width and height.
At the bottom you have the option to resample the image. Be sure to have set this to off.
Now change the resolution to whatever you want and you will see that the width and height changes for the document but the pixel amount and file size stays the same.
As Curt stated, a screen shows 72 pixels per inch but for a print you need more. Whether you change the document size or the resolution, as long as you don't resample the file the amount of pixels stays the same and you be able to see it on screen as well as use for a print.
So the pixel amount and file size is important for the quality, the ppi setting can be variated without problems for the same file size. A screen usually auto adjust the size and in print dialog you can set the option to fit the page or other customized settings.
Nevertheless the whole world seems to be wanting the magic number of 300 dpi. And to please them just follow the link Paul provided for the ACR window and set your files to 300 ppi.
And as long as your not professional involved in publishing and printing you don't have to bother about calling it ppi or dpi, the vast majority does not know the difference either
Thanks, I was able to get a better understanding from all three answers I received, all very helpful...thanks guys! I found that RAW files are, on average, 12 mg each, some are up to 25 mg after photoshopping them...I didn't really want to give my client 25 pictures that size, so I wanted to reduce them and panicked when I found the 72 dpi might not be sufficient to print a portrait...I get it now...you guys are great to take time to help me. Thanks.
Europe, Middle East and Africa | <urn:uuid:0033038e-0f59-4cd9-b8f8-144d3a1c9bef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.adobe.com/message/4321922 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945599 | 675 | 1.601563 | 2 |
How To Shoot A Basketball Like Kobe Bryant
Learning how to shoot a basketball like Kobe Bryant is desirable for anyone who picks up a basketball and watches the game. Truly, Kobe Bryant is one of the best basketball players the sport has known. His work on the court offers a great deal of tips that anyone can pick up to improve their game. Take the following considerations into account to learn how to shoot a basketball like Kobe Bryant.
- Never stop working on the fundamentals. There is a good reason why Kobe Bryant is known as one of the most skilled athletes and clutch shooters of the game today. He has worked on his fundamentals in shooting, which accounts for his impeccable form and range on the court. The basics cannot be understated when you are working on your shot. Don't forget to pay attention to the little things, such as using your legs and keeping your shooting elbow in on the shot.
- Work on the fade away, if you're ready. One weapon of Kobe Bryant's is the fade away shot. He likes to use it in the post, or when going one on one. It is a versatile weapon. Only work on this shot if you have a good hold on the basics. Take it slow, utilizing it in one area, such as in the low post, at a time. Stay true to your shot and only make minor adjustments, such as a little more power or arc.
- Confidence is key. Kobe Bryant exudes confidence on the court. Stay confident in your shooting: it is perhaps one of the best tips that you can take from Kobe Bryant, no matter your basketball level. | <urn:uuid:45b21c7c-0d22-4d8d-9f13-a406dd2894b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-shoot-basketball-kobe-bryant.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972451 | 329 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Like I said - no legal system's perfect but where children are concerned, family law is generally built around protecting their well-being and, for this to be scrupulously fair, that has to be considered without emotional concerns playing into the equation. On that basis no child would ever be separated from the parent it loves 'most'. Whether or not they're a hopeless drug addict or delusional or alcoholic or whatever. Sometimes loving a child with all your soul isn't best for the child necessarily if you are yourself unwell or dysfunctional in some way - and may not realise it even. Think of the damage a loving but unmedicated paranoid schizophrenic parent might do to a child if the court listened with compassion to their impassioned pleas of competency and gave into spurious support from unqualified referees who come to their defence, making the whole sorry situation into a total circus?
If it was then courts would rarely separate children from their mothers regardless of whether the father might be the more competent and suitable parent. There has
to be substantiation of such serious allegations and this court has made an investigation and found none presumably. It's any family judge's duty to find out whether there's a case to answer and when it's international with full signatory countries to the Hague Convention, this means that both jurisdictions HAVE to work together to determine whether serious allegations against the parent having residential responsibility under the originating order are true before they send the children back into a potentially abusive situation. That really would be totally unjust. From what Del's saying other news reports have been citing some of the information the court had before it that does
support the father's position, including statements from (some of?) the children concerned, so there is another side to this beyond the children's traumatised behaviour when the crunch time came to leave the country. Of course they're screaming with terror - their mother's howling at them as well, so of course they'll be distraught.
The 'silent' father was probably required to be that way since most Hague Convention cases generally kick start in the country the children are taken to with them being made wards of court or some equivalent status. This means that the court assumes parental responsibility for the children when found, until such time as investigations are made and it can make a rational decision, with the help of the court and authorities in the other jurisdiction, on whether they get returned or not. They can and do veto the originating order where there's a valid reason for the children not to be returned under law that both jurisdictions recognise.
One of the conditions of making children wards of court is generally a blanket blackout of publicity, usually because police might be involved and involving the media might compromise their work. Or sometimes the other way around, but generally once the kids are found it goes back to being dealt with by the court in private, because it's not necessarily a criminal case and there are minors involved who have to be protected from prying eyes for the very reason you're seeing in this case. Who the hell deliberately wants their 9 year old daughter to be chased by TV crews and journalists around an airport?
This mother, wittingly or not, invited the press in and so of course the kids will be terrified...
Why has there been no details of what the father's supposed to have done to the kids? Because the court has probably placed an injunction on reporting any details of the case. If there was any credence, actual solid proof, of misconduct on this father's part then you bet that the papers would have put that in their reports if they had enough bottle and their lawyers were confident they'd not be sued out of sight for defamation - or at least for contempt of court. Maybe daddy's a bit strict or restrictive - Italians are protective of their womenfolk after all but if he'd been doing something really horrible then the Italian court wouldn't have let him have the girls in his care in the first place.
The consulate's part in this is peculiar I grant you, but they don't usually have family lawyers at their beck and call and their main field of expertise is in repatriating Australian citizens. The mother may have needed help to get her passport updated perhaps (or the children put on her passport maybe?) but I thought that initially she'd said she was taking the kids to Australia for a holiday? Which is why the father didn't object as he could have done, or even stopped her taking them out of the country in the first place. He didn't, because he thought they were coming back
. When they didn't he had to get this whole legal action rolling and it took him a year to achieve that whilst the mother was presumably 'hiding' the girls in some manner? All he's actually done is play things by the book, kept quiet and co-operated with the courts and not
entered into the one-sided mud-slinging scenario the mother's solicited. It's not beyond a stretch of the imagination that it's the publicity this has attracted that could primarily be what's causing the distress these girls exhibit and that's all down to mum and not dad isn't it?
If you're mostly only getting information from one source and that information's sensationalised, how can you be sure you're getting the full picture?
And yes, I'm repeating myself mostly now so I'm bored too! | <urn:uuid:8fdee1b7-c30b-475d-8808-750def16e682> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=248609 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981056 | 1,087 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Chinua Achebe: A Life In Writing-The Guardian
'Nigeria is once again on the brink of a precipice. We have to face up to our responsibilities before it is too late'
In January 1966 Chinua Achebe attended a meeting of the newly founded Society of Nigerian Authors. His 1958 debut novel, Things Fall Apart, had made him a literary celebrity abroad and an influential public intellectual at home. But six years after the celebrations and optimism that marked Nigerian independence, he says there were already "far too many indications that we might not be going to have a good time. There was theft, corruption and even some violence. It wasn't yet a complete failure, and we still thought we could get things right. But the SNA was sort of a trade union. We thought it would keep us writers safe."
The meeting that night was delayed because one of the members was late. "And then he burst through the door holding a book and shouting that I was a prophet. 'Everything in the book is happening,' he said, 'except the coup.'" The book was Achebe's fourth novel, A Man of the People, which was due to be published in London a few days later. Despite being set in an unnamed African state, it was clearly a satire on post-independence Nigeria detailing the greed and vanity of the slide into corruption and the cynical lip service paid to traditional values by aspirant politicians on the make. "I'd ended the book with a coup," Achebe explains, "which was ridiculous because Nigeria was much too big a country to have a coup, but it was right for the novel. That night we had a coup." The prime minister was murdered, along with key regional politicians and members of their families, as elements from the military took control. "And any confidence we had that things could be put right were smashed. That night is something we have never really got over."
The eerie prescience of Achebe's novel led to him being accused of having prior knowledge of the coup by the authorities. While this allegation was entirely untrue in its specifics, in a wider sense his work has always been closely informed by, and intertwined with, Nigerian politics as well as with its culture, history and literature. He is a novelist, poet, children's writer, critic, editor and essayist. His most recent essay collection, The Education of a British-Protected Child (Penguin), is published in paperback this week. Things Fall Apart told the tragic story of Okonkwo in late 19th-century Nigeria as Christian missionaries began their work in the region. No Longer at Ease (1960) features Okonkwo's grandson in the 1950s working for the British colonial civil service; Arrow of God (1964) went back to the early years of the century to interrogate relations between traditional and colonial faiths and power structures.
In 2007 Achebe was awarded the inaugural Man Booker International prize. The chair of judges, Elaine Showalter, said that in "redrawing the contours of African history" he had at the same time "redrawn the contours of the novel Joyce recreated for the 20th century, and illuminated the path for other writers seeking new words and forms for new realities and societies." Nelson Mandela said Achebe had "brought Africa to the rest of the world" and described him as "the writer in whose company the prison walls came down".
Achebe was 80 last month and is a model of the grand old man of African writing. But despite his status, he remains a contentious figure. Last month, on a rare visit to the UK, he gave a lecture at Cambridge University – an institution that turned him down for post-graduate study over 50 years ago – entitled "Nigeria's Painful Transitions". He opened by expressing the hope that his words would not be too offensive. The assumption was that he was warning the white members of the audience, but in reality his lecture was far more uncomfortable listening for the sizeable Nigerian contingent, including a slew of government and embassy dignitaries, as he spoke of "indolent kleptocrats" in the government, and "a cesspool of corruption".
Before the lecture there had been some rumblings within the university that if Achebe was too outspoken, in particular about the Biafran war and the ongoing secessionist dispute in that part of Nigeria which remains a painful subject 40 years after the war ended, then there might be protests against him. Extra security was discreetly deployed but in the end was not needed. Despite his robust language, Achebe was mobbed after the event by well-wishers who formed an alarming crush round his wheelchair – he was paralysed in a car crash 20 years ago – as they attempted to take photographs and ask him questions. This sort of rock-star treatment has become an increasingly regular occurrence and one that he says he "observes with some amazement and the hope that it will all end well. But I know it indicates a lot of love and respect, so it also makes me feel rather humble."
He explains that speaking about Nigeria in such critical terms is a painful duty, particularly because he lived the first part of his life "in a time of such hope, when the glories of Nigeria were very evident and independence could only crown our achievements. We had so many advantages: a large and youthful population full of energy and ideas and talent. After independence we would no longer be at the beck and call of the colonial master. We would be able to do what we wanted and achieve what we aspired to. This was not just our hope, it was our expectation. When I was young we had everything to look forward to."
Achebe was born in 1930 in the town of Ogidi in the south-east of the country, and christened Albert Chinualumogu Achebe by his evangelical Christian parents. One of his stock jokes is to ask what he and Queen Victoria have in common. "We both lost our Albert." He says there was some tension between his Christian upbringing and the traditional Igbo culture around him. "But my parents had the same sense of hope as I did, although we did not frame it in the same way, in that for them it would emerge out of our worshipping, literally, a different God."
As a precociously gifted schoolboy Achebe thrived in the colonial education system and enjoyed reading the English literary canon, even if Africans rarely fared well in its stories. "I took sides with the white men against the savages," he once wrote. He won a scholarship to the University of Ibadan where he read English, history and theology. After university he was employed by the Nigeria Broadcasting Service as a scriptwriter, which led to his first visit to the UK to attend a BBC training course.
"My first reaction to England was one of enlightenment. I realised they were really not so much better than us, and in some ways they were worse than us. But I also realised that they had their house in order in many ways we didn't. So the visit acted as a sort of correction to what I thought the world was, but also a realisation that we had to put our own house in order and not count on other people to do it for us."
A first draft of Things Fall Apart had received some encouraging assessments when he was in England, but he returned home to refine his story of the flawed and wronged Okonkwo and the arrival of European powers in the wake of the 1885 Berlin conference – "which took place without African consultation or representation" – that intensified the scramble for Africa. The book, the title of which comes from Yeats's poem "The Second Coming", has gone on to sell more than 10m copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages. Its splicing of English with Igbo rhythms, stories and proverbs was revelatory. Wole Soyinka acclaimed it as the "first novel in English which spoke from the interior of an African character rather than . . . as the white man would see him".
Achebe's decision to write in English has been a source of debate since the beginning of his career, with writers such as the Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o criticising his use of the colonial language. In 1965 Achebe wrote: "I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new African surroundings." It is a position that he has, broadly, stuck to, although he also points out that some of his best poetry has been first written in Igbo.
When independence came in 1960 "it was as if the rains had come after a long period of harsh winds and bushfires". Encouraged by the apparent successes of India (1948) and Ghana (1957), "we thought we would do well to part ways with Her Majesty's empire on which the sun never set, to which the usual rejoinder was 'because God couldn't trust an Englishman in the dark'. Not that we knew what independence was intended to be like. It had been given to us on a platter of gold, as our leader told us. Only later did we learn that you cannot grant freedom in that way, we should have taken it on our own terms. So year by year we found ourselves saying that we didn't like this, or weren't sure about that. We didn't have enough scepticism and should have known from simple human instinct that things were not shaping up the way they should. Then came the coup, and then the counter-coup and soon after we were engaged in civil war."
Nigerian writers and intellectuals, he says, had entered into a "new and terrifying phase", in that independence seemed "without substance. Of course the pathology of colonialism was deep-rooted, and the wounds manifested themselves in many unforeseen ways, and the cold war was lingering in the background, but we could no longer go on blaming others and absolving ourselves of the need to take action." Achebe supported and spoke for the secessionist region of Biafra during the three-year war (1967-70). He broke with friends on the issue. His family – in 1961 he had married Christie, a psychology professor, with whom he has four children – who had to leave Lagos in the wake of the 1966 coup, were forced to go into hiding. "It was a disaster. The Nigerian military was armed to the teeth by big foreign powers, and three million people, including many children, died in a conflict in which starvation was deployed as a weapon of war."
After the Biafran defeat Achebe entered party politics with the leftist People's Redemption Party, but his "sojourn" was marked by frustration and disappointment. "The majority of people I met were there for their own personal advancement." He went into academia, from where he has conducted his career ever since both as a teacher and writer.
His 1975 essay on Conrad's Heart of Darkness, in which Achebe accepted Conrad's depiction of colonialism but detected too little condemnation of its fundamental racism, has been a pivotal point of debate in the subject ever since. "I felt it was my duty as an African writer to reflect on the work of Conrad. But I won't return there although I am pleased it sparked so much discussion. It is good to show in stark outline what the real situation is, what the person at the other end of the whip is feeling. But I also understood that I must get on with my work and not dwell on one subject or book."
His most recent novel was Anthills of the Savannah, which was shortlisted for the 1987 Booker prize and dealt with the military regime that ran a west African republic. He is currently engaged in a "semi-autobiographical" work that will take in his engagement with Biafra, but he acknowledges that his five novels, four of which were written by 1966, make for a "limited harvest". He claims he would like to have written more fiction, but "I go at the pace of inspiration and what I can physically manage – although I have produced poetry and rather a lot of essays on this and that over the years."
Achebe's proposed solutions to Nigeria's ills are straightforward and practical. He speaks about a staged approach to building democratic institutions, holding free elections so as to put good candidates in office, developing a "justice system that can thrive and a flourishing free press that will exert checks and balances and put anti-corruption laws on a firm footing". A first step would be a freedom of information act, "as it is illegal to find out certain government financial information, which was a colonial law retained by the new independent state from a time when you weren't allowed to question the white man. We don't even know how much we lose each year."
He says the most recent estimates of the cost of corruption suggest that since independence "$400bn has been pilfered from the national treasury. That is greater than the GDP of Belgium and Sweden. They have stolen more than the entire economy of a European state, which makes it impossible for civic society to exist. Twenty-seven years ago I wrote a pamphlet called 'Trouble in Nigeria', which was about corruption. Today matters are worse because they have been allowed to get worse. Added to the mediocrity and ineptitude of our ruling class there was an oil boom, which has produced an unparalleled period of decadence and decline. If we took just one of our political or military leaders, put them on trial in Nigeria, showed how much money they had taken and sentenced them to an adequate punishment, from that point corruption would begin to end."
Last weekend he hosted the Achebe Colloquium on Africa at Brown University in Rhode Island, where he is now based. The event focused on Rwanda, Congo and Nigeria, and speakers debated issues of democracy, economics, the environment and regional cooperation. "We have endured a terrible failure of leadership – not just individuals, but a whole class of potential leaders, from which I do not absolve myself. The role of the intellectual is difficult. We should live by what we preach and we should speak out. In that way we always seemed to be superior to our former western leaders. For them, writers and painters just had to write and paint and keep out of politics. Leadership in all its forms is a sacred trust in a democracy, almost like an anointed priesthood.
"If there is a stridency in what I say it is because I believe Nigeria is once again on the brink of a precipice. We urgently have to face up to our responsibilities before it is too late." | <urn:uuid:8e409ce8-cc59-418a-a1c3-e6b6547e21a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saharareporters.com/node/10474/189682 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988203 | 3,056 | 1.75 | 2 |
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Washtenaw County Exploring How to Keep Union Business
Washtenaw County is exploring how to keep union business in the area, despite Michigan's new Right To Work laws which goes into effect in March.
Like many areas of Michigan, Washtenaw County has a lot of union relationships.
In fact, Washtenaw County Commissioner Andy Lebarre says some trade organizations have moved their conventions here because of the union-friendly atmosphere. “I believe", he says, "one group came here from Tennessee after Tennessee became a right to work state. And others have come here because of what they viewed as not a labor friendly local environment.”
Lebarre says three union-related conventions bring about 12 million dollars a year to county businesses. So, he says, “we want to send the message to labor groups that we remain friendly to them and that we understand the benefits they bring in.”
He says the challenge now is how to keep them from leaving.
Chris Zollars, Michigan Radio News | <urn:uuid:6d7bede2-77f4-485a-8efa-654ed86e790f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michiganradio.org/post/washtenaw-county-exploring-how-keep-union-business | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966156 | 232 | 1.570313 | 2 |
SPECIAL 2012 AMYGDALA INITIATION - The Master Switch to Love and Happiness
IMPORTANT: Please register only for yourself!
Your registration gives Jo Dunning permission to assist your life in a very powerful way. The laws of Free will require each person make this choice for themselves and complete their own registration as permission.
The Initiation of the Amygdala is one of the most exciting opportunities available to transform your worries, stress and unhappy thoughts into a whole new wonderful experience of life!
This exciting new Initiation has just been developed by Jo Dunning as a simple and rapid way for anyone in the world to change their life by merely shifting the part of the brain that solves their problems. This Initiation will turn on the Master switch in the Amygdala so it can send your worries and concerns directly to the highly intuitive, wise, enlightened part of the brain.
This switch creates a whole new perspective about life. Stress and worry will no longer be able to dominate your thoughts. You will finally have the opportunity to experience life as it is meant to be, filed with joy, happiness, confidence and playfulness. You will discover new creative and fun ways to handle the many experiences of life!
In the past it has required tens of thousands of hours of intense meditation to turn on this Master Amygdala Switch. Now it can be done by a simple Initiation!
This Initiation is being made available because of the dramatic changes taking place in our world right now. This changes require the Awakening process to be streamlined and accelerated so everyone can be better prepared for all that is ahead!
The Amygdala is a part of the brain that has a very important role in how we perceive and respond to all of life. It is small almond shaped area located on each side of the brain about one inch into the head from the temple. The role of the Amygdala is to receive all the information from the senses, emotions and thoughts and determine which part of the brain should make the choice of how to respond.
There are basically three choices the Amygdala has of where to send the information. The first location is to the rear of our brain called the reptilian brain. The reptilian brain takes care of digestion, heart rate and issues related to survival. It determines the fight or flight response based on the information it receives. This part of the brain knows nothing about social bonding, manners, playfulness or any higher levels of functioning. This part of the brain has been found to influence high levels of stress and worry as well as panic attacks, compulsive behaviors and other stress related conditions.
The next choice of where to send the information is to the mammalian brain also called the Limbic system. This portion of the brain deals with emotions, motivation and more basic patterns of behavior that are more evolved and available in mammals.
The third choice of where to send all of the information is forward to the frontal lobes of the brain. This is the area that contains higher consciousness, unlimited potential, Enlightenment, intuition, Universal love, joy, playfulness, creativity and so many of the other wonderful experiences.
Tibetan monks who spend many thousands of hours in meditation have a high level of brain activity in the frontal lobes when measured by an EEG. However, a normal human has most of its brain activity still in the reptilian portion of the brain. This means that the normal human consciousness, when measured by an EEG is still at the survival level and sees most of the world as a stress or threat to survival. Most of us still live in reptilian consciousness.
Of course, logically, we know that most things in our everyday life are not a real threat to our survival. We know that being late to an appointment, delays in traffic, unpleasant personal encounters, etc. will not actually threaten our life. Yet that is how it is perceived because the reptilian part of the brain is receiving the information from the Amygdala. This perception about life is what creates the ongoing stress we feel each day as we go to work, care for our families and live our usual lives.
As a result of this perception about life, many thousands of people feel overwhelmed by life, stressed and worried much of the time, suffer with panic attacks and are irritable and depressed. These and many other stressful responses to life are based on the limited view of life from the reptilian brain, which is survival.
Meditation can help a great deal with stress and to improve happiness and a sense of well being. This is because meditation begins to train the Amygdala to send the signals about life forward to the front part of the brain for evaluation and solutions, instead of back to the reptilian brain. Meditating can be very helpful, yet most of us do not choose to spend the several hours each day that it takes to accomplish this improvement in our life.
Now with the Initiation of the Amygdala, it is possible to turn on the switch in the Amygdala so it sends the information directly forward into the high functioning parts of the brain. These frontal lobes of the brain are very happy, resourceful and creative and can more easily handle the events of life in a simple and wise manner.
The frontal lobes are the part of the brain we would like to have caring for us all of the time. Once the Master Switch in the Amygdala has been turned on it will start directing the information forward to these wiser parts of the brain and life can begin to be much easier, smoother and more fun!
Consider receiving The Initiation of the Amygdala and turn on the Master Switch in the Amgydala. Let it send the information forward into the wisest parts of our brain.
Click here to join the mailing list and be notified about the dates of other opportunities ©. | <urn:uuid:eba0cd10-4651-4c3d-9bef-5d7c91d57199> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jodunning.com/utility/showArticle/index.cfm?objectID=564 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947158 | 1,181 | 1.539063 | 2 |
About a month ago, I accidentally came across a genealogy website called GenealogyBank. Ever since then, I get occasional email from them that tells me about resources that have been added to their website. They recently added 25 million new records.
GenealogyBank.com describes itself as “The Largest Newspaper Archive for Family History Research”. You can use the search engine on the website to start your search for information about your ancestors. Type in your ancestor’s first name and surname, and it will search over 6,100 United States newspapers and 1 billion records for you.
I originally came across GenealogyBank after following a series of links from some other genealogy website. I learned that you can search GenealogyBank for free, but, if you want to see the full results of your search it will cost you some money. I found this rather disappointing because the bread crumb trail of links I’d been following gave me the impression that GenealogyBank was a free website.
If you wanted to, you can get unlimited 30 day access for free, to check out their service. You can also join their newsletter for free. Those of you who want to start a paid membership at GenealogyBank might want to do it soon. Right now, they are offering their membership for $55.95. The website says this is 75% off their regular price. It appears that this offer ends September 7, 2012.
At the beginning of August, 2012, GenealogyBank added 17 million new records. Now, at the beginning of September of 2012, it seems that they have added “Over 115 Newspapers and 25 million new records”. This brings their total number of family history records to over 1 billion.
Newly added newspapers include: The Winona Post (Minnesota), Indianola Enterprise-Tosin (Mississippi), Amherst Village Messenger (New Hampshire), Newark Daily Advertiser (New Jersey), North Country Now (New York), and the Duplin Times (North Carolina). It also includes a newspaper called “The Farmville Enterprise”, which is from North Carolina. Rest assured that it doesn’t have anything to do with the Farmville game.
Image by NS Newsflash on Flickr | <urn:uuid:b0f557df-64fc-44e0-bdaa-86a0073bc1bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.families.com/blog/genealogybank-just-added-25-million-new-records | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9603 | 465 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Kompff, Philip H.
Philip H. Kompff started out primarily as a piano dealer and retailer in New York City just before the Civil War. He is first listed in 1859 at 203 Avenue #3, moving several times as his firm expanded over the next 30 years. By 1860 Kompff was building a small number of pianos under his own name while also retailing pianos by other makers. In the early 1870s, Kompff began building and retailing other musical instruments including drums, tambourines, brass instruments, and banjos. In 1876, he admitted his son William into the firm, changing the name of the company to 'Kompff & Son'. This was a short-lived partnership, and his son withdrew in 1877. Philip Kompff continued building pianos under his own name until the mid 1890s.Return To Brands
19th Century Advertisement For Philip H. Kompff, Piano Maker, New York City | <urn:uuid:22fbe22e-f277-42d9-aa04-467473c2ed5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://antiquepianoshop.com/online-museum/kompff-philip-h/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970183 | 203 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Ga. Criminals Sub for Immigrant Farm Workers
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal wants criminals to pick berries and peaches because of a farm-labor shortage being blamed on the state’s new law cracking down on illegal immigrants.
A state survey released yesterday reported that more than 11,000 agricultural jobs stand vacant during the height of the state’s fruit and vegetable picking season. Some of Georgia’s 100,000 probationers, of whom 25 percent are unemployed, can help, he said.
“The agriculture industry is the No. 1 economic engine in Georgia,” Deal said in a prepared statement. “It is my sincere hope to find viable and law-abiding solutions to the current problem our farmers face.”
Georgia’s immigration law, signed by Deal on May 13, is among five such measures enacted nationally in the past year, against opposition from civil rights groups, farmers and other businesses that rely on immigrant labor. Alabama’s Governor Robert Bentley signed the fifth law June 9.
The laws follow one championed by Arizona’s Jan Brewer in requiring local authorities to identify illegal immigrants. They require employers to use the federal E-Verify database to check immigration status, and set penalties for transporting or otherwise helping illegal workers.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued to block Georgia’s law, scheduled to go into effect July 1.
Farming is a $5.1 billion industry in Georgia, according to its Agriculture Department. About 28 percent of the state’s agricultural output in 2009 came from crops that require picking, according to a report from the University of Georgia’s Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development.
The law’s impact on farm labor was swift, said Bryan Tolar, president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council in Atlanta, which opposed the immigration law.
“We have always had some challenges trying to find enough workers at the right times to harvest crops, but the drop-off we’ve seen this year compared to last year is unprecedented,” Tolar said in a telephone interview.
Migrant laborers are skipping the state out of fear, he said.
Deal’s proposal to set unemployed probationers to harvesting is welcome among farmers, who are currently trying to bring in crops such as blackberries and peaches, Tolar said. The peak picking season ends in early to mid-July, he said.
“The old phrase ‘die on the vine’ is what we’re looking at here,” Tolar said.
‘Stoned, Drunk or Pregnant’
Farmers ask little about workers’ background, he said. “If you’re strong enough to do this work, you’re good, as long as you don’t show up stoned or drunk or pregnant.”
He said the agriculture industry considered Georgia’s law hasty, and that farmers watched in amazement when Alabama passed its version after the impact on labor was evident.
“It was like, ‘Good Lord, you people can’t be helped. Have you all not been paying attention?’” Tolar said. “As we say in the South, bless their hearts.”
Georgia’s Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens, Labor Commissioner Mark Butler and Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black will work to connect unemployed probationers with farmers who need labor, Deal said.
Those involved with probation are less pleased with the proposal than farmers, said Carl Wicklund, executive director of the Lexington, Kentucky-based American Probation and Parole Association. It’s a return to the days when convicts were sentenced to cultivate the land, he said in a telephone interview.
“In the old days, they had work farms,” he said.
The Georgia proposal will be of little help to probationers trying to improve their lives, he said, because the work is temporary.
“They’ll get no unemployment, no insurance and most of them aren’t going to be farm workers long term.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Newkirkin Atlanta at email@example.com.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions. | <urn:uuid:5e2e05a3-e471-4a4f-b6cc-cd6e22700d74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-15/georgia-criminals-sub-for-immigrant-farm-workers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946128 | 961 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Chinese barbecue pork, or “char siu” in Cantonese, is a standard item found in every Chinese deli and restaurant. Not so traditional is my family's rather unique way of making it.
With paper clips.
And the credit goes to my uncle, Kin Woo. Sticking with convention, my uncle prefers to marinate his char siu (often made from the pork butt roast) in a mix that includes hoisin sauce, plum sauce, sugar and curing salt; the last ingredient is what gives the meat its bright red hue. But it's not just what he bakes the pork in that matters. It's how he bakes it.
When he was a college student, my uncle wanted to experiment with making traditional char siu. He says that “in the old days” in China, people would cook the pork in a clay or brick oven with a wood or charcoal fire underneath. There were bars inside the oven with metal hooks that held the meat over the heat.
Wanting to simulate that technique, my uncle bought some hooks from a cooking supply store. They proved too big to be useful. So one day, as family lore has it, he started fooling around with a paper clip. When he bent both ends into an S-shape, he discovered the perfect hook.
My uncle also found that by hanging the strips of meat from an oven rack instead of laying them flat in a pan, the pieces cooked more evenly, much as they had back in the traditional ovens in China. And he was able to cook more at a time — as many as 20 strips of meat at once.
And so the paper clips have been a trademark of his char siu for more than 30 years.
During that time, my uncle has taught various relatives how to make — as my non-Asian friends dub it — “paper clip pork.” My mom recently taught me. So, while other families make grocery runs before dinner, our family occasionally must go to Staples.
But the paper clips really do make all the difference. It's almost guaranteed the pork will be perfectly cooked all the way through and have a consistent texture.
Just remember to remove paper clips before serving!
Paper clip pork
Kin Woo prefers to use curing salt in his recipe, which gives the meat its traditional pink color. For ease, we substituted kosher salt, which was just as delicious.
Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes (30 minutes active), plus marinating
3- to 4-pound pork shoulder butt roast
8.5-ounce jar hoisin sauce
1 cup white wine
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons kosher salt
24 large paper clips
Cut the pork lengthwise into 6 thick slabs. Cut each slab into 4 strips. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the hoisin, wine, sugar, hot sauce and salt. Mix well until the sugar has dissolved. Add the sliced pork and mix to ensure all of the meat is evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, or ideally 48 hours.
When ready to cook, set one oven rack at the highest point. Remove the remaining racks. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the pork from the refrigerator. Bend each paper clip, opening it to create a double-sided hook that resembles an S. One at a time, thread one side of a paper clip hook through one of the narrow ends of each strip of meat. If you hold one up by the paper clip, the meat should hang down vertically.
Open the oven and, using an oven mitt, pull the rack forward. Set a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil under it (it will rest on the door for the moment).
One at a time, use the paper clips to hook the pork strips onto the oven rack so they hang down from the rack's underside. When all of the meat is hung, push the rack and the rimmed baking sheet into the oven. Roast for 45 minutes. When the meat is cooked, carefully unhook and remove the paper clips before serving.
Per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 460 calories; 140 calories from fat (30 percent of total calories); 16 g fat (5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 160 mg cholesterol; 19 g carbohydrate; 51 g protein; 1 g fiber; and 1110 mg sodium. | <urn:uuid:f67caa76-a466-4f30-b9b0-a596c724434c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120724/LIVING/307249995/1037/FOOD | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946829 | 912 | 1.75 | 2 |
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U.S. CONGRESSMAN PLEDGES TO PUSH FOR ICC INDICTMENT OF BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT LUKASHENKA
Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
November 16, 2011 -
U.S. Congressman Pledges To Push For ICC Indictment Of Belarusian President Lukashenka
Is Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka fit for the ICC?
November 15, 2011
By Richard Solash
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission has pledged to call on the Obama administration to push for the indictment of hard-line Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
While the chances of an indictment are unlikely, the pledge by Representative Chris Smith (Republican, New Jersey) was a clear sign that U.S. lawmakers have not forgotten the egregious human rights situation in the country ruled by the man some dub "Europe's last dictator."
At a Helsinki Commission hearing that focused on Minsk's continuing crackdown on political opposition and civil society, Smith said he would send a letter to members of the Obama administration and the UN Security Council asking them to push for the indictment.
In an interview with RFE/RL, he later said, "When you commit atrocities for 17 years, as [Lukashenka] has done, the time has come."
"[Although] Belarus is not a signatory to the ICC, to the Rome Statute -- and nor are we, frankly -- we've done this before, and we did it with [President Omar al-] Bashir in Sudan. It will take a lot of work, but we need to begin that effort now to get the [UN] Security Council to make a special referral to begin that process," he said.
"I'm sure China and Russia will object, but that's worth the fight, because this man commits atrocities on a daily basis against his own people," Smith added.
U.S. Representative and Helsinki Commission Chairman Chris Smith
??The congressman made his pledge following the testimony of former Belarusian presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich, who is in Washington for the first time since his release from a detention center in Minsk on February 19.
Mikhalevich was one of seven opposition candidates and more than 600 people arrested during the regime's violent crackdown on protesters following Lukashenka's disputed reelection in December 2010. The official reaction to demonstrations drew widespread international condemnation and a coordinated sanctions program by Brussels and Washington.
The financial and travel restrictions were accompanied by a boost in funding for the country's beleaguered civil society, journalists, and activists.
As the one-year anniversary of the election approaches, watchdogs say the jailing and harassment of human rights defenders and protesters continues, while the independent media and judiciary face intense, often institutionalized, pressure.
Mikhalevich says he had to sign agreement on collaborating with the Belarusian state security forces, which are still called the KGB, in order to secure his release. He has since been granted political asylum in the Czech Republic.
Ahead of meetings with State Department officials and Washington-based NGOs, he told U.S. lawmakers that supporting Belarusian civil society -- and not holding out hope that Lukashenka will reform -- is the only way to effect change.
"I'm absolutely sure that Lukashenka is ready to defend his power by all possible means. Unfortunately, we can compare Lukashenka with [former Libyan leader Muammar] Qaddafi. So I urge the United States, the European Union, and the international community not to trust another game of liberalization badly played by the regime," he said.
"Cooperate only with independent civil society in Belarus: nongovernmental organizations, both unregistered and registered, independent newspapers and media, and democratic activists."
Analysts say Lukashenka has long employed the tactic of pledging to loosen to grip on the country in exchange for a reprieve from sanctions -- a tactic that has worked in the past.
Observers say he has also sought to capitalize on rifts between the United States and the EU, as well as between neighboring Russia and the West, to inhibit united action against his regime.
After testifying, Mikhalevich told RFE/RL that he hoped the United States would more fully take on the role of "bad cop" if the EU, which borders Belarus and relies on it as a transit country for gas from Russia, hesitates to do so.
"I'm absolutely sure than in order to succeed, the international community should have both the good cop and bad cop. Someone should play the role of the bad cop, and unfortunately, the European Union would not play this role. So I hope that the United States will be ready to do it," Mikhalevich said.
WATCH: Former Belarusian presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich talked with RFE/RL's Belarus Service in March 2011 about the "many international legal mechanisms" with which he hoped to pressure Minsk from abroad over detainee abuse:
Mikhalevich also offered a harrowing account of what he called "constant mental and physical torture" during his two months in custody, including being "stripped naked and forced to assume various positions."
"Our legs were pulled apart with ropes and we could feel our ligaments tear," Mikhalevich said in his prepared remarks.
Smith appeared visibly moved by account.
"Rather than calling them the KGB, it ought to be called the KGB 'P' for 'perverts.' Masked men who strip other men naked, and women, presumably, as well -- those are acts of perversion that should not go unnoticed by the international community," said the Congressman.
In July, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill sponsored by Smith that would strengthen existing sanctions against Minsk. It is awaiting consideration in the Senate.
Smith told RFE/RL that Western attention on the situation in Belarus had been "obscured" to some extent by the events of the Arab Spring, and especially by the global economic downturn.
He said that pushing for ICC action would be a sign that human rights are not "taking a back seat."
"I've been very much involved for years in the special [UN-backed] court that [U.S. prosecutor] David Crane oversaw for Sierra Leone, and what I learned from that, and from the Rwandan court, and of course from the Yugoslav court, which held [Slobodan] Milosevic and [Ratko] Mladic and [Radovan] Karadzic to account, is that these thugs are frightened by the fact that they may be held to account. And Lukashenka will fear it, I believe, if we make a very serious effort to hold him to account at the International Criminal Court," said Smith.
Mikhalevich told RFE/RL that he thinks the chances of ICC action against Lukashenka are slim, but that the prospect of such a move could help pressure the regime to release its political prisoners.
"I think that definitely, it's very difficult to organize any [such] political process unless thousands of people are being killed, but still, it's necessary to do all attempts," he said.
"And you never know how this regime will develop -- and how many victims we will have next year." | <urn:uuid:4fc83223-b1bc-4582-bc1f-0328b92e05a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=InNews.View&InTheNews_id=ca28f776-dce1-4298-891b-7f2256af4023&IsTextOnly=True&CFID=9723549&CFTOKEN=43406216 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969183 | 1,553 | 1.59375 | 2 |
School Tracks Students With Microchips, Some Refuse
October 11, 2012 by Bryan Nash
Since October, some schools in Texas have asked all students to wear microchips in an effort to cut down on truancy. Freedom-loving pupils have refused to do so, but not without suffering the consequences.
Students attending John Jay High School and Anson Joes Middle School are supposed to attend class with photo ID cards equipped with radio-frequency identification chips. The strategy is intended to help teachers know where students are at all times during the school day.
“I had a teacher tell me I would not be allowed to vote because I did not have the proper voter ID,” said Andrea Hernandez, a sophomore at John Jay High School. “I had my old student ID card which they originally told us would be good for the entire four years we were in school. He said I needed the new ID with the chip in order to vote.”
Deputy Superintendent Ray Galindo issued this statement to Hernandez’ parents: “I urge you to accept this solution so that your child’s instructional program will not be affected. As we discussed, there will be consequences for refusal to wear an ID card as we begin to move forward with full implementation.”
Some people feel that the chips have the potential of doing more harm than good.
“Using this information along with an RFID reader means a predator could use this information to determine if the student is at home and then track them wherever they go,” said Heather Fazio of Texans for Accountable Government. “These chips are always broadcasting so anyone with a reader can track them anywhere.” | <urn:uuid:c4ed642b-0aca-46d0-ae3e-70a6ccee85f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://personalliberty.com/2012/10/11/school-tracks-students-with-microchips-some-refuse/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=eb9f8a7f00 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972213 | 349 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Gypsy was found dead in her cage on the morning of August 21. She came to ACR&S in late 2008, surrendered by her owner with two other pigs. She was thought to be about 5 years old at that time, and was very aggressive with the owner’s other two pigs. As a result she lived alone until she arrived at the Sanctuary in December 2008 and was successfully paired with Stinky.
Gypsy showed no signs of illness at all prior to her death; her appetite was good and her weight had been stable. A necropsy revealed that the proximate cause of death was pericardial effusion, which is an abnormal buildup of fluid around the heart. However, the underlying cause of this was unable to be determined. There was no overt evidence of infection or lymphoma, which are the two most common causes of pericardial effusion.
She was a sweet girl and will certainly be missed by all who knew her.
August’s SAGP piggy is Dunkin from the North Jersey Guinea Pig and Hamster Rescue!
Dunkin came via owner surrender. He’s approximately 2 ½ yrs old and super sweet. Because he seemed to have labored breathing, NJGPRH took him to the vet only to find out he had previous internal injuries and some type of heart condition. This was complicated by pneumonia.
His lungs improve everyday with a course of antibiotics, but his heart will require medication for the rest of his life. He loves to eat – everything! – and is a super friendly little guy. He has a great disposition and his condition does not seem to keep him from doing what guinea pigs do – squeak and eat!
He will require monthly vet visits as well as 2 prescriptions 3X/day for the heart and lung condition. He will need follow-up x-rays to see if the medicines are helping with the fluid around his heart. So far, his medical cost since late May exceed $358 in vet visits, x-rays and prescriptions. Monthly meds will be approx $80 as well as a monthly check up with the vet costing approx $40. Follow-up x-rays will be needed eventually at the cost of $124. Our goal is to fundraise enough for two months of meds and two vet visits, reaching a total of $240.
Visit Sponsor a Guinea Pig or North Jersey Guinea Pig and Hamster Rescue to donate today! | <urn:uuid:c1b76dbe-59fb-46ae-8481-7f26398e2cd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.allcreaturesrescue.org/2009/08/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986841 | 504 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Old Fashioned Sour Mash Bourbon WhiskeyMarch 2, 2011
FRANKFORT, Franklin County, Ky (Feb. 22, 2011) – Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. will yet again leave his indelible mark on the whiskey industry. The man who introduced the first climate controlled aging warehouses, used a patented sour mash technique, and fought for the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 will have a line of premium whiskeys bearing his name. Buffalo Trace Distillery has recreated his traditional sour mash and produced a limited edition, one-time offering of Colonel E. H. Taylor Jr. Old Fashioned Sour Mash Bourbon Whiskey.
This faithfully reproduced bourbon was carefully aged for nine years and “Bottled in Bond” at 100 proof. The sour mashing technique for this small batch bourbon was derived from a meeting several years ago with some Buffalo Trace Distillery retirees who recounted a method for making old fashioned sour mash whiskey. The process replicated the way in which E.H. Taylor, Jr. made sour mash back in his day.
So in 2002 Buffalo Trace Distillery set to work making bourbon using Taylor’s original souring method. The end result was a bourbon delivering a character and body rarely found in whiskeys today. Taylor, a name synonymous with quality whiskey making, might have even said this whisky is “of Topmost Class.”
“Taylor was a true pioneer of the whiskey industry over a century ago,” said Mark Brown, president of Buffalo Trace Distillery. “We believe this whiskey is a tribute to him.” Taylor was the great-nephew of President Zachary Taylor, mayor of Frankfort, state representative to the Kentucky General Assembly and a member of the State Senate. In 1870 he first purchased the distillery and took on the daunting task of modernization. He later named the distillery O.F.C. and continued to invest large sums of money to make it an industry leader. Taylor over-extended himself financially in an effort to use the most modern equipment to make the finest bourbon whiskey available. Throughout his career, Taylor was responsible for the development of seven different distilleries in the area and is widely considered one of the founding fathers of the bourbon industry.
This Old Fashioned Sour Mash Bourbon is the first of several new E.H. Taylor, Jr. whiskeys to be released over the next few years. “All of the Taylor whiskeys will be distinctive. Most will be very limited,” said Kris Comstock, brand manager. Each offering will showcase a vintage label and canister, reminiscent of Taylor’s bottles nearly one hundred years ago. “We designed the current bottle to replicate antique bottles made by Taylor back in 1913,” adds Comstock. Each bottle will be packaged in a canister, much like something Taylor used during his day. Retail price for the E.H. Taylor Jr. Old Fashioned Sour Mash Bourbon will be available for around $70 per 750ml bottle. | <urn:uuid:e5c46590-73a7-4afb-a2c0-7b6be092e9d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nightclub.com/products/news/colonel-e-h-taylor-jr-old-fashioned-sour-mash-bourbon-whiskey-2974 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956378 | 632 | 1.757813 | 2 |
By Tim Ghianni
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Voters will be allowed to use Memphis library cards as photo identification in the November 6 election, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a blow to Republicans who wanted only ID issued by the federal and state governments to be allowed.
Tennessee is among a number of states that have passed laws requiring voters to show photo ID. Republicans say the laws are needed to deter fraud, while Democrats say they are aimed at depressing turnout by voters who typically support their party.
The Tennessee law, which took effect at the beginning of the year, requires people to show a driver's license, state-issued handgun carry permit, a U.S. passport or another form of government-issued ID to vote. Student IDs are not acceptable.
Memphis, which is a heavily Democratic city in the otherwise mostly Republican state, filed a lawsuit in July claiming the law would disenfranchise voters who used other valid government-issued IDs to vote.
The case went to the Tennessee appeals court, which ruled last week that the requirement that voters have photo identification is constitutional but that the Memphis library cards at the heart of the legal challenge were acceptable at polling places.
Tennessee's Republican Secretary of State Tre Hargett appealed the provision regarding the library cards to the state Supreme Court.
In its ruling on Thursday, that court agreed to hear Hargett's appeal but declined to set it aside in the meantime, saying that "the right to vote has profound constitutional significance" and ordering that the Memphis library cards be accepted for the upcoming election.
Mark Goins, coordinator of elections for Tennessee and a Republican, said his office had advised the county election commission to accept the cards following the ruling on Thursday.
"We continue to believe the General Assembly clearly intended for only state- or federally-issued photo IDs to be valid for the purposes of identifying voters and remain confident the Supreme Court will confirm our interpretation," Goins said.
Memphis is the only place in the state at which identification other than that issued by the state or federal government will be accepted, Goins said.
(Reporting By Tim Ghianni; Editing by Mary Wisniewski, Cynthia Johnston and Paul Simao) | <urn:uuid:5700f5d5-d6cf-4a86-bfdd-b6681559c89d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wixx.com/news/articles/2012/nov/01/memphis-library-cards-acceptable-as-photo-id-for-vote-court/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962509 | 455 | 1.789063 | 2 |
PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) – They were like old friends cut down in the prime of life. Dozens of trees, some more than 30 years old, were torn down in Plano on Friday, to make way for a luxury home development.
Residents knew the day was coming, but many still weren’t prepared.
“It’s looks like the debris after a tornado came through,” homeowner Deborah Gray said.
But the damage wasn’t from a storm. It was a backhoe that tore down all the trees along a south stretch of Baffin Bay Road.
“We thought they were going to leave the trees,” resident Veronica Chavez said.
Chavez captured video on her camera as one tree after another fell to the ground.
The trees had grown tall on farmland once owned by the Haggards, Collin County pioneers who bought the land in 1884.
Dean Delaune and his family, from Atlanta, just moved across the street from the trees two weeks ago.
“We didn’t know they were going to tear the trees down,” he said. “What bothers me is you have to destroy something to build something.”
Another lane and a green-way with new trees will replace those removed, all part of a luxury home development.
“It’s kind of sad to see them take them [trees] all down,” Chavez said.
Some neighbors don’t care about the old trees. They say most of them were Hackberry trees, with shallow roots, and many never recovered from last year’s drought.
Deborah Gray, has lived on Baffin Bay Road for 10 years.
“Anything’s an improvement. So, I think people will probably be happy after they plant something new,” she said.
Jean and Kent Harrington, who lived across from the trees for 31 years, felt differently.
There had been talk of trying to save the trees by putting them in a median but Jean said, “I don’t think they would’ve been able to withstand any more trauma to the roots.”
So, this was good bye.
Veronica Chavez said, “They’ll be missed.”
There were talks between the neighbors, Mr. Haggard and Toll Brothers Home Builders. Though not everyone thought that tearing the trees down was a good idea, most agreed to the new landscaping.
The new $400,000 luxury homes that will soon occupy the space are scheduled to be finished in the Spring of 2013.
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- Teacher Gets 5 Years For Having Sex With Students | <urn:uuid:58f7c085-4548-42d7-971d-8f92629836d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/08/20/north-texas-trees-leveled-for-new-home-development/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973426 | 618 | 1.585938 | 2 |
From Jeffrey Wright:
Islam means “Submit” and cannot tolerate any religion to exist independently. The “People of the book” (Jews, Christians” must also submit to Islam, in the form of dhimmitude, and pay the “jizya” (Think mafia protection money, which protects you from harm, by them) and then there will supposedly be “peace”. The command for all to submit to Islam comes directly from Allah. He demands this be a muslim world. Period. No man is above the law of Allah, all human made laws are secondary.
Given those facts, perhaps we will look at those ridiculously smug “Coexistence” designs and see them as the politically correct charades they are. Those who do not submit to Islam are infidels. Allah demands that ALL his creation covert, submit or die. Infidels remain ignorant at our own peril.
Know Islam, by it’s very own words.
Few historians know of the heartwarming friendship between French Reformation theologian John Calvin and English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the latter of whom may or may not have been real, considering he was not even born yet.
The perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for Presbyterian in your life.
Don Salyards compares the recent Haiti earthquake with the one in Gujarat, India in 2001. An excerpt:
Like in Gujarat, buildings in Haiti were poorly-designed concrete structures that simply “pan caked” down, crushing most of the inhabitants. On my hard drive I’ve got photos taken by some of my friends who quickly traveled to assist survivors of the Indian quake; photos of little kids’ hands sticking out of concrete slabs, mothers crushed with their babies; all of which look resoundingly similar to the images coming in from Haiti. Those photos are heartbreaking.
No country deserves an earthquake. Statements by Christian Ayatollah Pat Robinson to the effect that the Haitians “swore a pact to the devil” and are being punished by God are neither useful nor responsible. I’ve never been to Haiti, but I’ve spent weeks and weeks in Gujarat. The Guajarati’s are predominantly Hindu. I have lived, eaten, and worshiped with them. I know firsthand that God loves them as much as he loves any people on this earth, and he loves the Haitians as well. Natural disasters are a part of the natural order. Like floods, hurricanes, and tornados, earthquakes kill some people and spare others; there is no grand plan as to who dies and who survives.
From their HFC Editorial Style Guide:
So evidently BC and AD are a big no-no with the NPS. They never say why. But this is what they say at the beginning of their style guide:
References often disagree—that is why style guides exist—and questions of style must be decided with the public foremost in mind. This is the audience for whom National Park Service public media are produced, not scholars, historians, scientists, or bureaucrats. It is important that the editorial style used throughout your publication, exhibit, web page, podcast, audiovisual production, or other media be consistent.
Yeah, you and your friends and everybody you know uses BCE and CE, right? Sheesh . .
Here's their Contact Form if you want to tell them how you feel.
via Gotiska Klubben
The sort of question you'll find here and nowhere else. | <urn:uuid:8c0a1dc5-53aa-4d25-8809-4c281443e0f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tommcmahon.net/religion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955593 | 734 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The high volume of traffic makes it difficult to get in and out for drivers, pedestrians and nearby neighborhood residents.
Last week, restaurant owner Voz “Vanelli” Kapenekas again asked the Tupelo City Council to consider a light at Spicer Drive to make things safer for drivers to turn left and allow pedestrians to cross safely between hotels and restaurants.
“These are the kind of things that can get forgotten,” Kapenekas said.
Drivers may see some relief. On Friday, Tupelo Water & Light crews adjusted the timing on the lights at Lakeshire and McCullough to see if they could provide a gap for drivers, said TW&L director Johnny Timmons.
“Maybe that will help,” he said.
Despite the congestion, the area isn’t as bad as it could be.
“We really haven’t had that many accidents compared to the volume of traffic,” said Cpl. Philip Sanderson of the Tupelo Police traffic division.
Since Sept. 1, Tupelo Police Department records show five accidents at the Lakeshire and Spicer intersections. No accidents were reported at Pinecrest Drive. Those statistics don’t include accidents that occur outside the intersections.
At some point, the city likely will seek a traffic study to consider how to address the congestion on the busy North Gloster stretch.
“The traffic light issues – that’s not off the table,” Timmons said.
Because North Gloster is a state highway, the city must conduct a traffic study and then ask the Mississippi Department of Transportation for permission based on the study’s results. Earlier this year, the city traffic committee recommended waiting to complete the northern loop, which will connect west Tupelo with the Barnes Crossing retail district.
It’s important to move with consideration, Timmons said.
“You can fix one problem and create another,” he said. | <urn:uuid:0e42bb00-5a24-4442-93a7-a8f3f25ff5f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://djournal.com/view/full_story/21091656/copyright_policy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935305 | 407 | 1.539063 | 2 |
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Concerns continue as Great Bay permits loom
Saturday, December 8, 2012
DOVER — The Great Bay estuary was a topic of concern again this week, at both a Coalition meeting in Rochester on Thursday and at the State of our Estuaries Conference in Portsmouth on Friday.
John Hall, a Washington, D.C., environmental attorney, joined Dover’s environmental consultant Dean Peschel, on Thursday evening in Rochester, prior to the conference, to update community members and local legislators on the health of the Great Bay, the worry of its high nitrogen levels and to remind the communities surrounding the estuary that permits are beginning to be distributed, requiring multimillion dollars in upgrades to waste water facilities.
Peschel said he has been working with the Great Bay Municipal Coalition, consisting of officials from Dover, Newmarket, Portsmouth, Rochester and Exeter, for more than three years now to come up with a plan where a permit would not be needed and that natural science would take care of lowering the estuary’s nitrogen level from upward of 20 milligrams per liter down to 8 milligrams per liter. Dover hired Wright-Pierce Engineering to design a plan to decrease the nitrogen levels earlier this year, who said reductions to 8 milligrams per liter would address the troubled health of the estuary.
The state Department of Environmental Services and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, however, are requiring levels of nitrogen to be reduced to 3 milligrams per liter, a number so low it would need methanol and ethanol to maintain.
“I don’t care how much you spend, $10 billion, bring levels down to zero,” Hall said. “You could remove all the nitrogen if you’d like, but no, it’s not going to do anything in terms of transparency in the Piscataqua River.”
During the State of our Estuaries Conference in Portsmouth, data prepared by the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership and their partners, reported that between 2009 and 2011, the total nitrogen load to the Great Bay estuary was 1,225 tons per year and that there appeared to be a relationship between total nitrogen loads and rainfall.
The study shows that nitrogen is necessary to life in the estuary, but that high levels cause problems. It enters the bay through fertilizers from lawns, farms, septic systems and air pollution and from sewer treatment plants. Population growth and development are major contributors to the high levels at this point, according to the study, which has continued to increase throughout the region over the past three years. The study shows that since 1990, impervious surfaces, such as roadways and parking lots, have increased by 120 percent and population has grown by 19 percent.
The objectives of the Great Bay Municipal Coalition are to protect estuary resources, follow applicable regulatory process and invest in effective solutions. They have applied these to the lawsuit they filed against NHDES, where the judge decided to not rule one way or the other since he believed it to be a federal issue, stating the decision was ultimately the EPA’s because they will be the issuers of the permit.
At this point, the Coalition, along with Hall, are asking state representatives and other local legislators to step in and order a peer review with a formal rulemaking to follow and to work together to obtain results that will not “bankrupt communities,” Hall said.
A 2010 Piscataqua Region Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan was addressed at the conference, which is a 10-year strategy plan for protecting the estuary, recommended investing in clean water through infrastructure upgrades as one of the ways to move ahead from where the estuary is at this point.
“The watershed is not just New Hampshire, it is in Maine, too,” Hall said. “It’s not just the communities that are in the coalition, it is everybody that is in this watershed that is affected by the regulatory actions that are ongoing right now.”
Rivers flowing from 52 communities in New Hampshire and Maine actually form the Great Bay and Hampton-Seabrook estuaries. According to the 2013 State of our Estuaries study, the watershed covered 1,086 square miles.
Hall reminded the audience on Thursday of Newmarket’s final nitrogen discharge permit for its wastewater treatment plant, distributed earlier in November, which he said ignored all updated scientific information and included nonpoint source and stormwater control requirements.
“In three to five days, Exeter is expecting their permit. I’m not sure how soon the Dover permit will come out,” Hall said, adding that Portsmouth may be the only city along the estuary that has a less stringent permit because of its location.
Peschel said communities will likely spend a total of $1 billion in updates, with wastewater plant upgrade costs for 3 milligrams a liter for the coalition communities alone to be $588,000,000 over a 20-year period.
“Your future is hanging by a thread with these permits coming out,” Hall said. “You are going to spend more money than you can possibly imagine on nitrogen control and it is not right.” | <urn:uuid:7c19fd71-2773-481a-9d46-657b4b83e09f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121208/GJNEWS_01/121209399/0/FOSnews01 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959085 | 1,097 | 1.632813 | 2 |
A Plot Twist
where the main character plays an assassin and is betrayed by the organization they work for, or at least their mentor. A common component is it turns out that the main character has been assassinating members of their own organization, as a ploy for Mission Control
to gain power.
In order to keep the main character sympathetic, this is almost inevitable when the main character doesn't betray them first.
Often an example of You Have Outlived Your Usefulness
. Oftentimes, this betrayal takes the form of a Contract On The Hitman
Related to Murder Inc
, Professional Killer
Warning: Due to this trope's nature as a Plot Twist, spoilers may be unmarked!
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
- In Darker Than Black season one it turns out all the various organizations hiring contractors do so with the express purpose of killing said contractors.
- In Wanted, Wesley is only recruited by the Fraternity so he could kill his own father for them, and he is betrayed immediately after doing so.
- The Bourne Series starts with the titular character being hunted down by his organization after he botched an assassination. Interesting in that both sides think the other betrayed them.
- In Crank it turns out near the end that Chev Chelios' assassination was planned by Verona.
- Kill Bill:
- The Bride seeks revenge after her organization tried to kill her.
- Budd is killed by Elle using a black mamba in the Suitcase Full Of Money.
- Mr And Mrs Smith is a double example of this, since both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are betrayed by their respective agencies.
- In Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country, the two low-rank crewmen who actually carried out the assassination against Gorkon and many of his aides are in turn shot with a phaser on stun right against the temples by the orchestrator on board the Enterprise, Lieutenant Valeris, killing them without setting off the weapon discharge alarms. Valeris almost suffers this fate as well as a second assassin tries to clean up loose ends after our heroes thwart the attempt on the Federation President's life at the Khitomer accord.
- Double-subverted in Death of Achilles: Achimas thinks his contractor betrayed him (as he expected from the start) but it turns out that it was just his liaison who tried pocketing Achimas' payment. His contractor lets Achimas kill the liaison and thanks him for a well-done job.
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
- Nikita left Division after they had her civilian fiance killed, ostensibly to protect the secret.
- In Dishonored you are betrayed by Admiral Havelock, who attempts to poison Corvo and kills most of his Loyalist allies so that he can seize control of the city. And depending on your Chaos level, Samuel the boatman may betray you as well.
- In the original Hitman: Codename 47, Ort-Meyer, the client who ordered the assassinations, is really trying to capture 47, whom he created as a "perfect human". The last assassination he ordered is in fact a trap, and the others were a test of his skills as well as eliminating dead ends.
- Inverted in Hitman Absolution. Agent 47 actually betrays the Agency, leading to them hunting him down. However, he does this for the sake of the game's Morality Pet, Victoria, who is a genetically-altered child just like him, and he doesn't want anyone else to turn out like he did.
- Metal Gear Solid:
- In MSG1 first Master Miller reveals Naomi to have ulterior motives for helping Snake, and implicates that she only assisted in the mission as revenge for Snake killing her adoptive brother. Then Master Miller turns out to be Liquid Snake, the Big Bad.
- In MSG2 Raiden is betrayed by Mission Control, and thus learning that the entire mission was an experiment.
- Inverted in MSG3, where initially The Boss betrays Snake, and America with him, until near the end where it turns out she was acting on orders to infiltrate Volgin's group.
- In Mark Of The Ninja most of the second half is determining whether you have been betrayed, or have instead gone insane.
- The Elder Scrolls:
- Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood storyline eventually has Lucien Lachance arrive to tell you that your last several marks were in fact members of the Brotherhood's upper echelon, due to a mole tampering with the dead drops where you got your orders.
- Skyrim does it again with the Brotherhood. When trying to assassinate the Emperor, you are sold out by Astrid, who is trying to spare the Dark Brotherhood by making a deal with the target.
- In Assassins Creed it turns out Al Mualim has sent Altair to assassinate the other leaders of the Templars in order to get the piece of Eden himself. | <urn:uuid:0a0ba5d1-17c4-4286-b7b5-796dda6faf44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=s9f0bmzyrirpsjc7xl5fcb41 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954729 | 1,014 | 1.5 | 2 |
US 5398248 A
First and second independent communication systems are linked across an intersystem interface by a virtual circuit constituted by a land line linking the central stations of both systems. Occasionally both central stations may attempt to simultaneously use the virtual circuit, which cannot be done for digitized speech because in that case the virtual circuit operates as a simplex link. A method of resolving this conflict is disclosed, whereby one of the central stations is issued a token by the other entitling the holder of the token to use the virtual circuit. After the transaction is completed, the token is then returned. Two algorithms are disclosed, one based on the last user of a token giving it to the other user, and the other of which takes into account the number of registered secondary stations in each system.
1. A method of resolving conflicts between two communication systems of equal status and which are linked by a virtual circuit providing at least a simplex communication path; each of said systems comprising a central station and at least one secondary station having transceiving means, the central station including a system controller and base station transceiving means, said method comprising the steps of:
(i) transmission by the central station of a first of said systems of a token request to a second of said systems by way of the virtual circuit, for authorization to set up a calling path by way of the virtual circuit between the first system and the second system;
(ii) checking by the system controller of the second system to determine if there is a request from a secondary station in the second system to make a call by way of the virtual circuit;
(iii) granting of said token request by the system controller of the second system if the determination made in step (ii) is in the negative; and
(iv) in response to the granting of said token request, setting up by the central station of the first system of a point to multi-point calling path from the first system to the second system by way of the virtual circuit.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the event that the central stations of both systems transmit token requests to each other substantially simultaneously, said method further comprises granting the token request of the system other than the one from which a call was last transmitted by way of the virtual circuit.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the event that the central stations of both systems transmit token requests to each other substantially simultaneously, said method further comprises deciding which request to grant by taking into account the relative numbers of secondary stations which are registered in each of said systems and from which system a token request was last granted.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising maintaining, by the system controller in each system, of lists of home secondary stations and visiting secondary stations which are registered with the relevant system.
5. A combination comprising:
two communication systems of equal status, each comprising a central station and at least one secondary station having transceiving means, the central station including a system controller and base station transceiving means;
a virtual circuit interconnecting the central stations of the two systems and providing at least a simplex communication link there-between;
the central stations of the two systems being adapted to transmit token requests to each other by way of said virtual circuit and said base station transceiving means, a token request being a request for the granting of a token to authorize use the virtual circuit;
the system controller of each central station being adapted, in response to reception of a token request, to check whether a secondary station in its own local system has issued a transmission request requiring use the virtual circuit, and if not, to grant the received token request; and
the system controller of each central station being further adapted, upon the granting of its token request, to cause said central station to set up a point-to-multi-point calling path to the opposite one of said systems by way of said virtual circuit.
6. A combination as claimed in claim 5, wherein the system controller of each central station is adapted to (i) record whether it granted a token request last received thereby, and (ii) in the event that a token request is currently received substantially simultaneously with the sending its own token request, to grant the currently received token request if the last previously received token request was denied, and to deny the currently received token request if the last previously received token request was granted.
7. A combination as claimed in claim 6, wherein the system controller of each central station is adapted to take into account the relative numbers of secondary stations registered in its system and in the other of said systems in deciding whether or not to grant a received token request.
Referring to FIG. 1, two digital trunked private mobile radio systems A and B operate within their own radio coverage areas, the boundary between these coverage areas being termed the intersystem interface ISI. Each system A,B comprises a central station CSA,CSB comprising a system controller SC and base station transceivers BS1A,BS2A and BS1B,BS2B, respectively, a dispatcher DA,DB connected to its respective central station CSA,CSB and a plurality of secondary stations A1 to A6 and B1,B2 comprising mobile or portable radio units, at least some of which are able to roam relative to their respective central stations CSA,CSB into and out of their radio coverage areas. A land line or virtual circuit VC interconnects the central stations CSA,CSB.
Communication between each central station and its secondary stations may be by TDMA or FDMA. Any suitable access protocol may be used by which the secondary units can gain access to the system, for example dynamic framelength slotted Aloha.
In a group call situation a single radio user, say secondary station A1, wants to be able to communicate simultaneously with members of a group comprising say the central station CSA and secondary stations A2 and A5. This is referred to as a point to multipoint call.
Trunked private mobile radio systems are in general semi-duplex, because although they use different frequencies for transmit and receive, the actual speech communication can only be in one direction at any given time. Where two radio users, say two mobile secondary stations try to transmit at the same time on the same radio channel there is conflict (which may also be known as contention). With a trunked private mobile radio system employing a central station, the actual transmitting by a secondary station can be controlled by the instigation of a signalling system which requires the secondary station to request permission to transmit from the system controller in the central station. The resolution of conflict of truly simultaneous requests to transmit is dealt with by, for example, dynamic framelength slotted Aloha techniques.
In analogue trunked private mobile radio systems if more than one radio channel is available then the received signals can be received on the different channels and mixed to form a composite audio signal. This case is also true where the received signals are spatially separated such that they do not interfere and would in this case be received by different base stations. The spatial separation may spread over more than one trunked radio system, the central stations of which are connected nominally by a land line. As long as the connection is duplex and a mixing technique is employed there is no conflict for the resource across the intersystem interface. Such a technique provides a multipoint to multipoint call.
In a digital trunked private mobile radio system in which low bit rate speech encoders are utilised, the nature of the speech codec, which synthesises the human vocal tract, means that it cannot deal satisfactorily with multiple voices. Thus the concept of group call has to be restricted to being point to multipoint calls only. Although the conflict resolution for resources on one system is handled quite adequately by the transmit request technique described above, a problem arises when there is a group call to be distributed across two systems A,B, each with its own central station CSA,CSB of equal status, as neither central station has an automatic right to assign transmit permission or otherwise on the other system. Because the group call is restricted to being point to multipoint only by virtue of the speech codec, only one call at a time may be accepted across the intersystem interface (ISI). Thus it is irrelevant whether the ISI is physically a duplex link, a semi-duplex or a simplex link, it has to be regarded simplistically as being only a simplex link. Accordingly, conflict or contention occurs when both central stations CSA,CSB simultaneously have calls requiring use of the virtual circuit VC.
In accordance with the present invention this conflict is resolved by one central station, say CSB, giving, on request, the other central station, say CSA, a token which gives that central station (CSA) the right to use the virtual circuit. More particularly, assembled that secondary station A5 wishes to set up a call from system A to system B by way of the virtual circuit VC. Secondary station A5 initially gains access to its oven central station CSA, which in turn contacts the central station CSB by way of the virtual circuit VC and requests a token to use the traffic channel of the virtual circuit VC. Assuming that the required resources are available, the central station CSB grants the token to the central station CSA and the call from the secondary station A5 proceeds. When the transmission from this secondary station ceases, the central station CSA contacts the central station CSB and returns the token.
The issuing and returning of tokens where no contention occurs is illustrated by the flow charts of FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively.
Referring to FIG. 2, blocks 10,12 indicate the starting of systems A and B. Block 14 denotes the receiving of a transmission request by the central station CSA from one of its secondary stations to make a call via the virtual circuit VC. Block 16 indicates the question "Is there a token in?". If there is not (N), the central station CSA rejects the transmission request, block 18, and the process is ended, block 20.
If the answer to the question in block 16 is "Yes"(Y), then the central station CSA sends a token request, block 22, which is received by the central station CSB, block 24. The central station CSB checks to see if it has any requests for transmission from secondary stations registered with it, block 26. If it has none (N), it then checks to see if the token is in, block 28. If it is not (N), then the token request is rejected, block 30, after which the process is ended on system B, block 32. Block 34 indicates the receiving of the rejection of the token request by the central station CSA. This rejection is transmitted by the central station CSA to its secondary station, block 36, and thereafter the process is terminated, block 38.
If the answer to the question in block 28 is "Yes"(Y), then the central station CSB grants the token, block 40, which is received by the central station CSA, block 42. Both central stations store an indication that the token has been granted, blocks 44,46, and the central station CSA transmits the grant of the transmission permission requested to its secondary station, block 48.
FIG. 3 relates to the return of the token by the central station CSA. Block 50 indicates the question "Has the transmission ended?". If the transmission is still in progress (N), the question is repeated subsequently. If the transmission has ended (Y), the central station CSA returns the token to the central station CSB, block 52, which is received by system B, block 54. the central station CSA transmits an acknowledgement of receipt of the token, block 56, which is received by the central station CSB, block 58. Both central stations note that the token has been returned, blocks 60,6.
If now, say secondary stations A2 and B1 transmit substantially simultaneous requests to their respective central stations CSA,CSB, which requests both require the use of the virtual circuit VC, then when both central stations substantially simultaneously request the other to grant a token in accordance with the procedure shown in FIG. 2, conflict occurs which requires resolution.
One method of resolving conflict is to issue the token to the system which did not have it last. This method is illustrated in the flow chart shown in FIG. 4.
Blocks 10,12 indicate the starting of the systems A,B. Blocks 64,65 denote the respective central station CSA,CSB receiving a transmission request from one of the secondary stations registered on their system. Each central station checks to see if the token is in, blocks 66,67. If it is not (N), the transmission request is rejected, blocks 68,69, and the transaction is ended, blocks 70,71.
If each central station has a token in (Y), it sends a token request to the other central station, blocks 72,73, which request is received, blocks 74,75. A check is made to see if the respective central station has received any local requests, blocks 76,77 (which are equivalent to block 26 in FIG. 2). If the answer is No(N) then the flow chart in FIG. 2 is followed. However if the answer is Yes(Y), then a check is made as to which central station was granted the last token, blocks 78,79. In this example it will be assumed that system A received the last grant. The answer to block 78 is yes(Y) and to block 79 is No(N). Accordingly the central station CSA grants the token to system B, block 80, whilst the central station CSB rejects system A's request for a token, block 81. The receipt of the rejection and the grant is received by each system, blocks 82,83.
The flow chart of FIG. 4 assumes a substantially even handed issuing of grants by each station. However this even handed approach may be unfair if one system has a significantly larger number of secondary stations than the other system, for example in the ratios of 2:1 or 3:1.
Accordingly a second method of resolving conflicts which takes this inequality in the number of secondary stations into account makes use of an algorithm which reflects on the number of secondary stations, including visiting stations, currently registered on each system. FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the algorithm but before referring to it some background information will be given.
Let the number of secondary stations currently registered on systems A and B be X and Y respectively, where the total numbered registered is Z(=X+Y).
During normal transmissions, system A has been granted the token P times and system B has been granted the token Q times. Referring now to FIG. 5, the algorithm commences at block 84 by calculating P' and Q' where P'=P-X and Q'=Q-Y, block 84. In block 86 the question is asked "Is Q'<0 and P'>=0?". If the answer is Yes(Y), system A grants the token to system B, block 88. Alternatively if the answer is No(N), then in block 90 the question is asked "Is P'<0 and Q'>=0?". If the answer is Yes(Y) system B grants the token to system A, block 92. If the answer is No(N) then in block 94 the question is asked "Is P'<=0 and Q'<=0?". If the answer is No(N) the flow chart moves to block 118 where P is set equal to P' and Q is set equal to Q' after which the algorithm is restarted at block 84. If the answer to block 94 is Yes(Y) then a check is made to see if P'<Q', block 96. If it is Yes(Y), then system B grants the token to system A, block 98. If it is No(N) then a check is made to see if P'>Q', block 100. If it is Yes(Y), then system A grants the token to system B, block 102. If it is No(N) then a check is made on the number of secondary stations registered in each system by first checking to see if X>Y, block 104, if the answer is Yes(Y) then the system B grants the token to the system A, block 106. If the answer is No(N) then a check is made to see if X<Y, block 108. If the answer is Yes(Y) then the system A grants the token to the system B, block 110, but if the answer is No(N), then a check is made to see if X=Y, block 112. If it is, Yes(Y), then the last grant procedure (blocks 78 to 83 of FIG. 4) is followed, block 114. Block 116 denotes the termination of the algorithm.
From reading the present disclosure, other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. Such modifications may involve other features which are already known in the design, manufacture and use of communication systems and component parts thereof and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already described herein.
The present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block schematic diagram of two digital trunked mobile radio systems having central stations linked by a virtual circuit,
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a first central station issuing a token to a second central station, without there being any contention for the virtual circuit,
FIG. 3 is a flow chart relating to the return of a token at the end of a call,
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a first method of resolving contention for access to the virtual circuit, and
FIG. 5 is a flow charge of a second method of resolving contention for access to the virtual circuit.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to resolving conflicts when making point to multipoint calls involving first and second communication systems of equal status and which are linked by way of a virtual circuit has particular, but not exclusive, application to resolving conflicts in digital trunked private mobile radio systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Insofar as avoiding conflicts with respect to access of both analog and digital trunked private mobile radio systems is concerned, a well known technique is dynamic framelength slotted Aloha as described and claimed for example in British Patent Specification 2 069 799B (PHN 9693). A source of conflicts which cannot be resolved by such an access protocol, however, is when two digital trunked private mobile radio systems have to communicate with each other by way of a virtual circuit across an intersystem interface and each system wants to use the virtual circuit at the same time. An example of such an arrangement is two regional police forces A and B, each having a central communication station, including a system controller and base station transceivers, and a plurality of secondary stations (mobile and portable radio units) which communicate with the central station, the respective central stations being interconnected by a virtual circuit formed by landline which constitutes the intersystem interface. Such a conflict may occur in a vehicle pursuit situation where a car from police force A crosses the regional interface into police force B's area. Whilst the pursuit was within region A communication between the pursuit vehicle, the central station and other secondary stations is controlled by the system controller at the central station in region A. Thus the system controller avoids conflicts by assigning physical channels according to predetermined procedures. However, in the event of a car from police force A entering police force B's radio coverage area, force B's central station has to provide a channel for communication between police force A's secondary station and force A's central station by means of a radio channel from force A's secondary station and force B's central station to a link between the two central stations. Additional resources may also be allocated to facilitate communication between the two central stations and with force B's secondary stations. It can occur that, within the operational parameters of each system, substantially coincident transmissions are attempted via each central station to the other central station. If the respective transmissions are of equal priority then a conflict situation arises and since there is no central arbiter, a method of resolving this conflict is desirable as an alternative to each central station instructing its secondary station to retry at a random interval later which is less efficient.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of resolving conflicts between first and second communication systems of equal status which are linked by way of a virtual circuit. The system wishing to make a call by way of the virtual circuit transmits a token request to the other system, which checks to see if it has a request generated locally therein to use the virtual circuit, and if not, it grants the token request.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a combination of first and second communication systems, each system including a central station which communicates by radio with secondary stations registered with the central station, and a virtual circuit interconnecting the central stations of the first and second systems. Each central station has means for communicating with the other by way of the virtual circuit, and means for responding to a request from the other central station for granting a token permitting the other central station to use the virtual circuit.
By using a method whereby a receiving central station grants a token entitling a transmitting central station to use the virtual circuit, a potential conflict can be resolved effectively without the need for a central arbitration stage.
In the event of a conflict occurring when both central stations wish to use the virtual link simultaneously this may be resolved by the system which last used the virtual circuit granting a token to the other system. Thus a conflict is resolved in a simple, even handed manner.
Such a method, however, does not take into account the respective size of each system as determined by the number of secondary stations currently registered with a central station. If there is a large difference between the sizes of the first and second systems, this may be taken into account when each central station decides whether or not it should grant a token to the other central station when a conflict occurs. | <urn:uuid:b4211ff8-c1a2-42f6-a675-7ad20e2b866b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.google.com.hk/patents/US5398248 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948637 | 4,578 | 1.539063 | 2 |
A good tip tho is that if you want the finished product to be shiny like factory gold cad plating, then you should polish the parts before handing then over. A dull finish on the metal before plating means it'll be dull yellow after.
thanks i would not think of that. definitely good to know.
The plating is essentially transparent, so it's a bit like spraying a yellow clearcoat over the part, so you do have to shine them up with some scotchbrite or actual metal polish, which means you have to remove any corrosion with a wire brush first.
It's not like chrome, where relatively speaking, a thick layer goes on top of the metal.
No Kev, you are eating a duck fetus. | <urn:uuid:338eb6b9-7d4c-4587-8951-30042d665de8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=78146 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944685 | 153 | 1.796875 | 2 |
This is really cool. The guys that brought you the JanusVM Internet Privacy Appliance are about to release instructions on how to make a hardware privacy adapter. What is a hardware privacy adapter you ask?
Via Hack a day:
“It’s a small two port router. You just plug it in-line between your computer’s switch and your internet connection. It will then anonymize all of your traffic via the Tor network. You can also use it with OpenVPN. The hardware appears to be a Gumstix computer mounted to a daughtercard with two ethernet ports. It will have a web configuration just like a standard router. This looks like a great plug-n-play privacy device.”
Once you buy all the parts you can build your own for about $250. Not too bad for an easy way to anonymize all of your traffic over the Tor network or a VPN. Tor and Privoxy can sometimes be a real pain to configure so something like this would be fantastic to just plug in and configure once. It’s also nice that is can use OpenVPN as well.
My only issue with Tor is that it can be *really* slow for web surfing depending on what relays you connect to and there are some warnings you should be aware of. Also, your Tor installation needs to be updated frequently as the development team is always making updates and improvements. However, Tor is better then nothing if you are concerned with online anonymity.
Kudos to the JanusPA team…looks like I might have a hardware project to work on next year once the instructions get released. | <urn:uuid:97e6bfb3-dcc6-483c-b9e6-eab08600a4e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spylogic.net/2008/12/januspa-hardware-privacy-adapter/ | 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 | 0.93731 | 334 | 1.75 | 2 |
Teddy Roosevelt Terrier Dogs
The Teddy Roosevelt Terrier is a very versatile, well-adjusted and adaptable dog who can be quite laid-back for a terrier. He is an excellent ratter but settles into family life equally well and some can even be content with a quiet lifestyle. That said, it is healthful and helpful to keep your TRT active, particularly with activities that include both of you. They are very attached to their owner and their family and prefer time spent with their people over time spent with other dogs. They tend to be aloof with strangers.
Teddy Roosevelt Terrier Pictures
- 10 - 25 pounds
- 8 - 15 inches
Ideal Human Companions
- Firm, alpha leaders
- Interactive owners (TRTs are very people-oriented)
- Families with children of any age
- Apartment owners
Teddy Roosevelt Terriers on Dogster
44 dogs | see profile pages
- White with black patches
- Tall, V-shaped ears
- Docked tail (though natural bob tails are acceptable by AKC standards)
- Compact, small, muscular body
What They Are Like to Live With
Teddy Roosevelt Terriers make good watch dogs (perhaps because of their distrust of outsiders) and are game for sports such as agility. Their combination of intelligence and desire to please makes them highly trainable.
Things You Should Know
There is not a good deal of health data recorded for Teddy Roosevelt Terriers. Their cousin, the Rat Terrier, tends to have skin allergies, Dysplasia and bite problems. A serious congenital defect called Ectopia lentis (the misplacement of the eye’s lens) has been seen in Rat Terriers and may be found in TRTs, though this is not well documented. These terriers often live as long as 15 or 16 years.
Because the TRT has a sturdy body and short legs, he can be prone to obesity. This is especially true if he is not exercised sufficiently. As he prefers praise over a treat, it is not difficult to keep his weight in check.
Teddy Roosevelt Terrier History
The Teddy Roosevelt Terrier is descended from the terriers brought to America by British working class immigrants. After years of inter-breeding different types of terriers, two types of the Rat Terrier emerged - the Rat Terrier itself and the "Short-Legged Rat Terrier." It was thought that this latter terrier was owned and developed by Theodore Roosevelt, but that turned out to just be a rumor. Nevertheless, this short-legged terrier was named after the president.
Teddy Roosevelt Terriers were accepted into the United Kennel Club in 1999 as a separate breed from the Rat Terrier. However, in other places, the TRT is lumped in with the Rat Terrier. The UKC sets the standard for the TRT. In the US, it is considered a rare breed.
The Look of a Teddy Roosevelt Terrier
The Teddy Roosevelt Terrier was, and is currently, bred to be a working dog. This means his working traits, such as his muscular build and agile gait, are prioritized over his look. This is likely to change as TRTs become mostly companion dogs.
The most common color is white with black patches but TRTs are seen in solids and other color combinations. They are stocky dogs with short legs with a length to height ratio of 10:7 to 10:8. They can be quite small at as little as 10 lbs. or a bit larger at up to 25 lbs. Their weight is proportionate to their height.
Talk About Teddy Roosevelt Terriers
Very, very clever dogs!
My Teddy Roosevelt Terrier is one of the smartest dogs I've ever owned. Be prepared for a high-energy dog. He is only a lap dog on the rarest occasion. TRTs love to play and are extremely tenacious. On the other hand, this breed is low maintenance as far as their coat goes. The best diet for them would be high in fiber.
TRT's are probably not the best dog breed for small children not unless they have grown up together. My dog does not care for rough housing children-he will bite. Overall, they are smart, aggressive and extremely playful.
~Carol G., owner of a Teddy Roosevelt Terrier | <urn:uuid:b71c3a07-ca7f-4305-8d41-79513ef52f92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dogster.com/dog-breeds/Teddy_Roosevelt_Terrier | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96835 | 896 | 1.734375 | 2 |
BOULDER -- Boulder County commissioners on Thursday approved a proposed pipeline that will deliver water from Carter Lake in Larimer County to the city of Boulder, the Left Hand Water District, the Longs Peak Water District and the Town of Frederick.
But the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which is heading up what's called the Southern Water Supply Pipeline Project II on behalf of the entities that will be getting the water, will have to comply with nearly three dozen conditions that Boulder County is attaching to its approval.
The project's representatives expressed particular concerns about two of those conditions.
One, as recommended by Boulder County Land Use staff, will require the applicants to pay for a county-retained "project overseer" who'd monitor and inspect the work while it's under way and would have the authority "to alter, direct and/or stop any activity that will result in adverse environmental or safety conditions" or violations of various county permits or "accepted construction standards."
Project proponents indicated discomfort over giving someone the ability to stop all work over issues they said could be resolved without bringing everything to a halt.
County commissioners agreed to add language that the overseer couldn't act arbitrarily. But they said some situations might require emergency work stoppages, rather than awaiting dispute resolution.
Pipeline project applicants also objected to a
Rosi Dennett of Strategic Planning Inc., a consultant for the applicants, said requiring that second project-paid overseer, in addition to the first monitor, seemed "unreasonably excessive," since the applicants are committed to implement the land and environmental mitigation and reclamation measures also being required by the county.
Commissioner Cindy Domenico, chairwoman of the county board, said it's the commissioners' responsibility, as stewards of the public lands, to make sure they're protected.
Northern Water's Carl Brouwer, the project manager, said participants will now meet to work out a timetable for the phased construction of the pipeline, whose advocates have said is needed to improve the quality of the water being delivered, provide a year-round water supply and meet projected increases in demand. Brouwer said it's been estimated that the work will about $35 million or more once it's completed.
At least some of the new underground pipeline will replace Northern Water's and water recipients' reliance of the portion of the current delivery system that channels water through exposed open-air canals that are closed in the winter and that can be polluted by storm runoffs and other surface sources.
The new pipeline would run roughly in parallel to the old canal system between Carter Lake and a point near Longmont's Vance Brand Municipal Airport. From there, it would run southwest to Boulder Reservoir. An eastern spur from the main pipeline would run from a point north of Longmont and go east to Frederick.
Northern Water originally applied for Boulder County approval of the project in May 2009, but the county staff objected to what they said was its potential to cause environmental damage. In April 2011, Northern Water resubmitted its application and provided more information. The county commissioners initially heard the proposal last January -- along with their staff's recommendation it be denied -- but delayed making a decision at that point.
Conditions the county has attached to its approval -- to be spelled out more formally in a resolution expected to be adopted at a county board meeting within the next few weeks -- are focused on preventing environmental degradation, minimizing the loss of agricultural productivity, and restoring the land's surface and soils to pre-construction conditions while protecting wetlands and wildlife habitats. | <urn:uuid:4eccffcf-fe7b-4d07-8f9f-afa20cc558fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timescall.com/news/longmont-local-news/ci_20909863/boulder-county-oks-carter-lake-boulder-water-pipeline | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95979 | 721 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Singapore, 14 March 2011 – The legacy of Singapore Zoo’s most iconic resident, Ah Meng, continues to grow with the recent birth of her first great grandson earlier this year. Chomel, Ah Meng’s granddaughter, gave birth to the male orang utan on 31 Jan at about 4.20am. Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) is inviting Singaporeans to pick his name via an online voting system on Facebook.
The Zoology team at the Singapore Zoo has shortlisted four names for the newborn and is asking members of the public to choose their favourite. The names are:
1. Ah Boy: A common term of endearment for many boys at home in Singapore
2. Bino: Meaning ‘Brave’ in Bahasa Indonesia
3. Terang: Meaning ‘Bright’ in Malay
4. Xing Xing: In Chinese, this means both ‘star’ and ‘ape
The contest on the WRS Facebook page is open to everyone who is a fan of the page. Voting will end 31 March 2011 and the name which earns the most number of ‘likes’ on Facebook will be the chosen name for the baby orang utan.
A lucky participant will be selected at random from the winning votes and will win a dining experience for five at Singapore Zoo’s Jungle Breakfast with Wildlife. The winner will also have the opportunity to take an exclusive photo with mother and baby.
The little orang utan made his public debut in February during Jungle Breakfast with Wildlife with mother Chomel, and will make regular appearances at this special wildlife breakfast programme. Singapore Zoo, operated by WRS which also runs other award-winning parks such as the Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, and the upcoming river-themed attraction River Safari, is the only zoo in the world that offers this unique dine-with-wildlife experience, which allows visitors to get up close to animals like orang utans and snakes during a breakfast buffet.
In celebration of the baby orang utan’s appearance on Jungle Breakfast with Wildlife, one child dines for free with every two paying adults from now until 20 March 2011.
The newborn is the 36th orang utan and the fourth descendant of Ah Meng to be born at Singapore Zoo. Keepers say he is a very amiable and expressive baby, and always looks like he has a smile on his face.
A total of 26 of these charismatic apes live at the zoo and are displayed as a large social group in a spacious naturalistic enclosure. Singapore Zoo is the first zoo in the world to create free-ranging areas for these arboreal creatures to swing, climb and play. These exhibits comprise tall trees, thick branches, abundant foliage and vines which replicate the animals’ natural environment.
There are two species of orang utan – Bornean and Sumatran. The population of Bornean orang utan is estimated at 55,000 while there are only 7,500 Sumatran orang utan left in the wild, making this species critically endangered. Ah Meng was a female Sumatran orang utan that was smuggled illegally into Singapore and given a home at the Singapore Zoo in 1971. She lived to a ripe old age of 48 (or approximately 95 orang utan years) and was the first to host the Zoo’s Breakfast with Ah Meng programme.
To vote, please visit: | <urn:uuid:4466a4a5-0d5c-4f9f-9e7e-0d3d64d1c60a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wrscomsg.wordpress.com/tag/wildlife-breakfast-programme/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930643 | 716 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Seats Available for October, November Hunter Education Classes
Many hunter education classroom and online/field day courses still have seats available. Classes are listed on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ website at www.iowadnr.gov/training
along with information on how to sign up.
Classes can fill quickly so anyone needing to take a hunter education class is encouraged to sign up soon.
Iowa law requires anyone born after January 1, 1972 to have successfully completed a hunter education course to purchase a hunting license. Children as young as 11 may enroll in the course, but their certificate of completion will not become valid until their 12th
For more information
contact Megan Wisecup, Recreational Safety Programs Supervisor, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 515-238-4968. | <urn:uuid:0f180865-a5bf-4eb4-ae4e-52c725c357da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iowadnr.gov/idnr/destinations/ctl/detail/mid/2810/itemid/1022 | 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 | 0.944285 | 162 | 1.734375 | 2 |
We live in a society that’s driven by fear, yet people freak out and complain over stupid (poorly designed) movie posters. Go figure.
The poster campaign for the DVD release of horror movie Final Destination 5 has been banned in the U.K. by the Advertising Standards Authority for upsetting children, reports THR.
The ad watchdog ruled that the poster, which shows a skull being shattered by steel rods driven through its mouth and eye sockets, must not appear again in its current form after upholding a slew of complaints from adults with upset children.
The Warner Bros. release has been advertised by the imagery on posters on the side of buses and on billboards on the London Underground tube network. The campaign ran in August this year ahead of its August 26 rollout and the ASA received (a measly) 13 complaints that the poster was distressing and unsuitable for children to see.
Three people who complained claimed that their young children had become visibly upset when they saw the ad on a bus. These people are overprotective morons, IMO. ASA said in its ruling that it “considered the image was likely to catch the attention of children, especially because it was shown on a poster on the Underground, where it was an untargeted medium.”
Because very young children might view the ad depicting violence, “it was likely to cause fear and undue distress to children,” ASA said.
Warner Bros. argued that the skull was a “fantasy image” and the poster “accurately reflected the content of the film in an appropriate manner without causing excessive fear or distress.”
Despite WB’s protestations, ASA said the ad must not appear again in its original form. The ban won’t affect box office as it is after the theatrical rollout. | <urn:uuid:eb7e2dc5-b7f4-407f-96b9-582295f3071c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/27479/pfffft-final-destination-5-poster-banned-in-uk-because-it-makes-kids-visually-upset/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976382 | 375 | 1.734375 | 2 |
TOKYO (AP) — Heavy rain triggered flash floods and mudslides in southern Japan on Thursday, causing at least 15 deaths and leaving 11 more people missing.
Television footage showed residents wading through muddy, knee-deep water on streets. Others shoveled out mud from their homes.
Local officials said damage was concentrated in Kumamoto and neighboring Oita states on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. Most victims were in their 70s and 80s.
Hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged, and tens of thousands of people had to evacuate the area threatened by swollen rivers and mudslides.
The Meteorological Agency said as much as 50 centimeters (20 inches) of rain fell overnight. It predicted up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) of rainfall through Friday.
Rescue workers and defense troops have been sent to the region to help. Some residents trapped in inundated areas were airlifted by helicopters.
The heavy rains also disrupted local train services, blocked off roads and left about 22,000 homes without electricity. | <urn:uuid:b1bc2b15-1499-4b35-8678-4c3969788ba8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weather.yahoo.com/rain-causes-flooding-mudslides-japan-15-dead-152248508.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975663 | 215 | 1.523438 | 2 |
MLK Lecture Series Features Dyson
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series is coming to UWG with guest speaker Dr. Michael Eric Dyson on Thursday, March 27, at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom.
Dyson is a nationally recognized African American scholar, author and minister who received his doctorate in religion from Princeton University. He has gained star appeal on shows such as “Rap City,” “Def Poetry Jam” and “The Colbert Report.” Dyson also hosts his own syndicated radio show, “The Michael Eric Dyson Show,” which addresses social, cultural and political issues in a contemporary venue.
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson
Essence magazine named Dyson as one of the 40 most inspiring African-Americans and Ebony magazine hailed the professor as one of the 100 most influential black Americans.
The event is free and is hosted by the Center for African-American Male Research, Success and Leadership (CAAMRSL.)
“The lecture series helps inspire UWG students,” said Dr. Said Sewell, associate professor of political science and planning and director of CAMMRSL. “By bringing Dr. Dyson, we continue to fulfill our duty to motivate students and the surrounding community. Dr. Michael Dyson will help us persevere in our endless journey of greatness.”
While Dyson has taught at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities, including Brown and Columbia Universities and University of Pennsylvania, his influence extends beyond the academy and into political conventions, union halls, prisons, bookstores, church sanctuaries and lecture stages across the world.
Dyson’s accomplishments as an author includes Martin Luther King, Jr.’s radical legacy in “I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.” and issues of racial conflict and black identity in “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line.”
His other publications include “Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur” and “Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster.” The UWG Bookstore has several titles available for purchase and will have the books on sale at the event.
Sewell opened the CAMMRSL in 2005 to develop and implement programs that help African American males have a successful transition from high school to post-secondary institutions. For more information, call 678-839-4997.
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- Other News | <urn:uuid:5ae2d132-781b-46bd-a7a9-71e69ad06b9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westga.edu/~chronicl/archive/40-04/articles/dyson.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94314 | 560 | 1.742188 | 2 |
GLYEB GAVRILOVITCH SMIRNOV, a land surveyor, arrived at the station of Gnilushki. He had another twenty or thirty miles to drive before he would reach the estate which he had been summoned to survey. (If the driver were not drunk and the horses were not bad, it would hardly be twenty miles, but if the driver had had a drop and his steeds were worn out it would mount up to a good forty.)
"Tell me, please, where can I get post-horses here?" the surveyor asked of the station gendarme.
"What? Post-horses? There's no finding a decent dog for seventy miles round, let alone post-horses. . . . But where do you want to go?"
"To Dyevkino, General Hohotov's estate."
"Well," yawned the gendarme, "go outside the station, there are sometimes peasants in the yard there, they will take passengers."
The surveyor heaved a sigh and made his way out of the station.
There, after prolonged enquiries, conversations, and hesitations, he found a very sturdy, sullen-looking pock-marked peasant, wearing a tattered grey smock and bark-shoes.
"You have got a queer sort of cart!" said the surveyor, frowning as he clambered into the cart. "There is no making out which is the back and which is the front."
"What is there to make out? Where the horse's tail is, there's the front, and where your honour's sitting, there's the back."
The little mare was young, but thin, with legs planted wide apart and frayed ears. When the driver stood up and lashed her with a whip made of cord, she merely shook her head; when he swore at her and lashed her once more, the cart squeaked and shivered as though in a fever. After the third lash the cart gave a lurch, after the fourth, it moved forward.
"Are we going to drive like this all the way?" asked the surveyor, violently jolted and marvelling at the capacity of Russian drivers for combining a slow tortoise-like pace with a jolting that turns the soul inside out.
"We shall ge-et there!" the peasant reassured him. "The mare is young and frisky. . . . Only let her get running and then there is no stopping her. . . . No-ow, cur-sed brute!"
It was dusk by the time the cart drove out of the station. On the surveyor's right hand stretched a dark frozen plain, endless and boundless. If you drove over it you would certainly get to the other side of beyond. On the horizon, where it vanished and melted into the sky, there was the languid glow of a cold autumn sunset. . . . On the left of the road, mounds of some sort, that might be last year's stacks or might be a village, rose up in the gathering darkness. The surveyor could not see what was in front as his whole field of vision on that side was covered by the broad clumsy back of the driver. The air was still, but it was cold and frosty.
"What a wilderness it is here," thought the surveyor, trying to cover his ears with the collar of his overcoat. "Neither post nor paddock. If, by ill-luck, one were attacked and robbed no one would hear you, whatever uproar you made. . . . And the driver is not one you could depend on. . . . Ugh, what a huge back! A child of nature like that has only to move a finger and it would be all up with one! And his ugly face is suspicious and brutal-looking."
"Hey, my good man!" said the surveyor, "What is your name?"
"Well, Klim, what is it like in your parts here? Not dangerous? Any robbers on the road?"
"It is all right, the Lord has spared us. . . . Who should go robbing on the road?"
"It's a good thing there are no robbers. But to be ready for anything I have got three revolvers with me," said the surveyor untruthfully. "And it doesn't do to trifle with a revolver, you know. One can manage a dozen robbers. . . ."
It had become quite dark. The cart suddenly began creaking, squeaking, shaking, and, as though unwillingly, turned sharply to the left.
"Where is he taking me to?" the surveyor wondered. "He has been driving straight and now all at once to the left. I shouldn't wonder if he'll take me, the rascal, to some den of thieves . . . and. . . . Things like that do happen."
"I say," he said, addressing the driver, "so you tell me it's not dangerous here? That's a pity. . . I like a fight with robbers. . . . I am thin and sickly-looking, but I have the strength of a bull. . . . Once three robbers attacked me and what do you think? I gave one such a dressing that. . . that he gave up his soul to God, you understand, and the other two were sent to penal servitude in Siberia. And where I got the strength I can't say. . . . One grips a strapping fellow of your sort with one hand and . . . wipes him out."
Klim looked round at the surveyor, wrinkled up his whole face, and lashed his horse.
"Yes . . ." the surveyor went on. "God forbid anyone should tackle me. The robber would have his bones broken, and, what's more, he would have to answer for it in the police court too. . . . I know all the judges and the police captains, I am a man in the Government, a man of importance. Here I am travelling and the authorities know . . . they keep a regular watch over me to see no one does me a mischief. There are policemen and village constables stuck behind bushes all along the road. . . . Sto . . . sto . . . . stop!" the surveyor bawled suddenly. "Where have you got to? Where are you taking me to?"
"Why, don't you see? It's a forest!"
"It certainly is a forest," thought the surveyor. "I was frightened! But it won't do to betray my feelings. . . . He has noticed already that I am in a funk. Why is it he has taken to looking round at me so often? He is plotting something for certain. . . . At first he drove like a snail and now how he is dashing along!"
"I say, Klim, why are you making the horse go like that?"
"I am not making her go. She is racing along of herself. . . . Once she gets into a run there is no means of stopping her. It's no pleasure to her that her legs are like that."
"You are lying, my man, I see that you are lying. Only I advise you not to drive so fast. Hold your horse in a bit. . . . Do you hear? Hold her in!"
"Why . . . why, because four comrades were to drive after me from the station. We must let them catch us up. . . . They promised to overtake us in this forest. It will be more cheerful in their company. . . . They are a strong, sturdy set of fellows. . . . And each of them has got a pistol. Why do you keep looking round and fidgeting as though you were sitting on thorns? eh? I, my good fellow, er . . . my good fellow . . . there is no need to look around at me . . . there is nothing interesting about me. . . . Except perhaps the revolvers. Well, if you like I will take them out and show you. . . ."
The surveyor made a pretence of feeling in his pockets and at that moment something happened which he could not have expected with all his cowardice. Klim suddenly rolled off the cart and ran as fast as he could go into the forest.
"Help!" he roared. "Help! Take the horse and the cart, you devil, only don't take my life. Help!"
There was the sound of footsteps hurriedly retreating, of twigs snapping -- and all was still. . . . The surveyor had not expected such a dénouement. He first stopped the horse and then settled himself more comfortably in the cart and fell to thinking.
"He has run off . . . he was scared, the fool. Well, what's to be done now? I can't go on alone because I don't know the way; besides they may think I have stolen his horse. . . . What's to be done?"
"Klim! Klim," he cried.
"Klim," answered the echo.
At the thought that he would have to sit through the whole night in the cold and dark forest and hear nothing but the wolves, the echo, and the snorting of the scraggy mare, the surveyor began to have twinges down his spine as though it were being rasped with a cold file.
"Klimushka," he shouted. "Dear fellow! Where are you, Klimushka?"
For two hours the surveyor shouted, and it was only after he was quite husky and had resigned himself to spending the night in the forest that a faint breeze wafted the sound of a moan to him.
"Klim, is it you, dear fellow? Let us go on."
"You'll mu-ur-der me!"
"But I was joking, my dear man! I swear to God I was joking! As though I had revolvers! I told a lie because I was frightened. For goodness sake let us go on, I am freezing!"
Klim, probably reflecting that a real robber would have vanished long ago with the horse and cart, came out of the forest and went hesitatingly up to his passenger.
"Well, what were you frightened of, stupid? I . . . I was joking and you were frightened. Get in!"
"God be with you, sir," Klim muttered as he clambered into the cart, "if I had known I wouldn't have taken you for a hundred roubles. I almost died of fright. . . ."
Klim lashed at the little mare. The cart swayed. Klim lashed once more and the cart gave a lurch. After the fourth stroke of the whip when the cart moved forward, the surveyor hid his ears in his collar and sank into thought.
The road and Klim no longer seemed dangerous to him. | <urn:uuid:9099d5d4-27fa-41b2-bcb6-2bce19647e9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.online-literature.com/anton_chekhov/1137/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986665 | 2,303 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Israel — “To whom are you leaving the country?” entreats one poster for Balad, an Arab party, showing a photo of Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party. The party has proposed stripping Arabs of their voting rights if they refuse to pledge loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state.
But the pitch seems to be falling on deaf ears. Members of the country’s Arab minority are poised to stay home in record numbers in the country’s January 22 parliamentary election, according to recent polls. The phenomenon, if borne out in the election, would signal growing alienation among the one-fifth of the citizenry that is Arab. Analysts say it would also help perpetuate right-wing rule. Some critics of the trend say it raises tough questions about how democratic Israel is.
“‘People are in despair,” said Yusuf Khawish, a former high school psychology teacher in this town east of Hadera in northern Israel. “Their psychological situation doesn’t encourage voting. Who votes? Only he who thinks he can benefit.”
In a packed local shawarma shop where Quranic verses adorn the wall, Rami Sawaied, a 27-year-old lawyer, dismissed the election’s significance for himself and other Arabs as he munched on a sandwich during his lunch break.
“I am not going to vote. I don’t think that if I voted it would change anything,” he said.
Like many potential voters interviewed by the Forward in Arab areas of northern Israel, Sawaied perceives national politics as an Israeli Jewish game in which Arabs cannot be real players. They blame entrenched discriminatory attitudes. “This is a Jewish country, and they don’t give the Arab people a chance to live,” Sawaied said.
Another diner, Samir Auweisat, 34, said he would vote but did not believe it would make a difference. ‘’We can’t change the situation, because all the government is Jews,” said Auweisat, an Arabian horse trainer. “They won’t have [Arabs] in the [government] coalition.”
His point is a historically accurate one. Throughout Israel’s history, both left and right governments have shunned Arab parties, which oppose the Zionist conception of Israel, as coalition partners. Various ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, which also oppose Zionism, have served frequently in Israeli governing coalitions. But the Arab parties have been viewed differently,
During the course of 32 governments, only one Muslim cabinet minister has ever been appointed — Ghaleb Majadale of the Labor Party, who was appointed Minister of Culture in 2007. And under Israel’s political system, it is from within the government, not the Knesset, that real power is wielded.
The burgeoning sense of nonbelonging was reinforced this past December, when the Central Elections Commission nullified the candidacy of Haneen Zoabi from the Arab nationalist Balad party. The Supreme Court overturned this decision 9–0, but Likud party legislator Danny Danon is vowing to introduce legislation to bypass the court ruling and prevent Zoabi from serving if she is re-elected.
Zoabi is reviled by right-wing Israelis for joining in 2010 with pro-Palestinian activists on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which tried to break Israel’s long-running blockade on goods and materials entering Gaza. Israel imposed the blockade, which included heating fuel, many food goods and civilian essentials, in an effort to squeeze Hamas, the Palestinian faction that governs Gaza. The group has sponsored attacks on Israeli civilians and launched rockets from Gaza on Israel. But in Baqa, Zoabi’s banning was seen by many as anti-Arab and as an attack on Zoabi’s freedom of expression.
“She was banned because she speaks the reality, the truth about the situation of the people,” said Imad Mowasi, a local baklava seller.
Khawish, the former high school teacher, predicted that lingering anger over Zoabi’s aborted banning might push some to vote who otherwise would have stayed home — but not enough to significantly stem the tide of abstention.
The looming stay-away comes despite there being a great deal at stake for Arabs in the election. In late October, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the ruling Likud party merged his party’s Knesset candidates list with that of Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, a faction in many ways to the right of the already right-wing Likud.
Yisrael Beiteinu, for example, advocates stripping Israeli citizenship from hundreds of thousands of Arabs who live near the so-called Green Line that separates Israel from the occupied West Bank and handing them and the land on which they reside over to be part of a Palestinian state as part of a peace agreement. In exchange, Israel would annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
But the sense of Arab alienation is economic as well as political. According to the Adva Center, a social affairs think-tank in Tel Aviv, 53% of Israeli Arabs live below the poverty line, compared with 14% of Israeli Jews. In Umm al-Fahm, a crowded, sprawling town near Baqa, residents singled out lack of land for housing as one of their most important problems, something for which they blame the zoning practices of the government.
“There is a lot of racism, in housing, in how you are treated in offices. There is no equality at all,’’ said Ahmad Mahajane, who works as a waiter in Tel Aviv.
The government says it is committed to reducing such social and economic inequalities. But few Israeli Arabs believe that whom they vote for will have any impact on their situation.
Alienation was not always this deep. Voter turnout among Israel’s Arab minority was 70% during the contest that brought Yitzhak Rabin of the Labor Party to power back in 1992. After the election, Rabin struck an alliance with Arab legislators who gave him a blocking majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat parliament. This kept his government from being toppled by the right as he pursued the Oslo peace agreement for Palestinian self-rule in the occupied territories.
Arab voter participation peaked at 75% during the election that brought Labor’s Ehud Barak to power in 1999. But the alliance between Arab politicians and the ruling Labor Party unraveled during Barak’s tenure, especially after the outbreak of the second intifada uprising in 2000 and the killing by security forces of 12 Arab citizens during protests.
In 2009, Arab turnout for parliamentary elections sank to an all-time low of 53%. A poll taken in October by the Abraham Fund, a group promoting coexistence, suggests it will tumble below 50% this time.
Mohammad Darawshe, co-director of the Abraham Fund, blamed both Jewish and Arab political leaders in Israel for Arab electoral alienation.
The political leaders of Labor and of Jewish centrist parties have failed to engage the Arab electorate during the current campaign, Darawshe said. And no mainstream party, he added, has committed itself to including Arab parties in its coalition should it come to power.
Labor Party officials declined to respond to this criticism. But Kassam Grifat, head of Arab affairs for the centrist HaTnua party, led by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, said his faction was actively campaigning for Arab votes. Polls pointing to low turnout in this sector were due to “failed government policy,” he said, which HaTnua would reverse.
Darawshe cited findings in the Abraham Fund’s October survey to argue that Arab politicians were also failing Arab citizens. According to its findings, the Arab public wanted the three Arab-oriented parties in the Knesset to set aside their ideological and personal differences and run a united list emphasizing education, poverty and employment. But Balad and Hadash, the two secular Arab parties, and Ra’am Ta’al, whose orientation is Islamist, could not overcome their differences.
Sawaied concurred that Arab Knesset members were out of touch with people’s concerns: “The Arab members in the Knesset don’t talk about our problems, like unemployment and socioeconomic problems,” he said. “All the time they talk about how the Palestinians have to get a country, but they don’t talk about our problems.”
On this point, Sawaied’s views appear to agree with those of Danon, one of the Likud’s more aggressive right-wing lawmakers. “The main reason they don’t want to vote is that their leaders, instead of worrying about the public that elected them, chose to take care of enemies, and to board the Marmara and participate in incitement,” Danon said.
Yossi Sarid, who served as Rabin’s education minister, said that a very low Arab turnout would only help perpetuate right-wing rule by reducing the number of seats won by the left. And Darawshe warned that a further decline in Arab voters would have negative implications not just for Arab citizens, but also for the Israeli state as a whole. “A democracy that cannot create space for 20% of the population to find its political role is a failing democracy,” he said.
Some leading rightists feel quite differently. David Rotem, a legislator from Yisrael Beiteinu, said, “It is their problem how and what they vote. If they choose not to vote despite having the right to do so, then Israel is perfectly fine. It is no problem at all.”
Contact Ben Lynfield at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:8098cead-bde6-4f56-906b-4e7be8dfa766> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forward.com/articles/169111/israeli-arabs-gripped-by-election-apathy/?p=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968154 | 2,082 | 1.742188 | 2 |
DALLAS-- You've heard of the big-box store. Get ready for the store in a big box. 7-Eleven Inc. "built" a new convenience store in Dallas in just five days. A more appropriate word would probably be "assembled," said a Forbes magazine report featuring Project Frog, the San Francisco startup behind the 7-Eleven location's speedy construction.
The store, in the convenience retailer's home town, opened in December, according to a report by KERA Radio.
Project Frog is "dragging a 19th-century industry into the future with stylish, energy-efficient buildings that can be built in less time and as much as 50% cheaper," Forbes said. The five-day assembly time is at least a month faster than for a conventional "stick-built" store, it said.
The magazine described the transition from box to store as it happened:
"The construction site consists of tidy stacks of flat-packed, prefabricated wall units, roof panels and other jumbo components trucked from Michigan and labeled and numbered like parts for a giant Ikea Akurum cabinet. What look like supersize bento boxes contain neatly packaged plastic bags of bolts, clips and other hardware. A pair of bathrooms, complete with toilet roll dispenser and baby-changing table, are being lowered by crane into the 3,000-square-foot store's shell, where they'll be plugged in to the plumbing."
The six-year-old company, which raised $30 million in venture backing from General Electric and other investors, has built 16 buildings totaling 75,000 square feet and has 300,000 square feet in the pipeline for 2013, said the report. Revenue quadrupled in 2012 to more than $25 million, and the firm is nearing profitability, thanks largely to outsourcing its component construction to contractors.
"We design a common chassis or platform for different types of buildings that people can reprogram according to their needs," CEO Ann Hand, a 44-year-old former executive with BP, told Forbes.
According to the startup's website:
Project Frog created a high performance, wood-based retail structure for 7-Eleven. The first of its kind, the convenient store is designed specifically for high-traffic use. The column free space with a 18-foot-high ceiling in the center section allows for a versatile interior that feels good to be in and to buy in. Perfect for retail stores of this type nationwide, the interior and exterior flexibility of the Frog system allows clients to capture the essence of their brand, allows for optimal merchandise placement and spatial efficiency while also providing significantly more natural daylight than traditional buildings through the use of clerestory windows and skylights. Opening in December 2012, the c-store will include energy-efficient systems throughout the building, an office, bathrooms, storage, checkout area, coffee and beverage bar and have a gas station on site. Located in Dallas, the 3,000-square-foot structure was successfully assembled in five days by the build team led by Project Frog and Lend Lease.
Project Frog "is on a mission to revolutionize the way buildings are created by applying technology to overcome the inefficiencies of traditional construction," it said. It provides component buildings that assemble easily onsite, giving architects and builders a fast and cost-effective way to create buildings.
7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses more than 9,700 7-Eleven stores in North America. Globally, there are approximately 49,000 7-Eleven stores in 16 countries. During 2011, 7-Eleven stores worldwide generated total sales close to $76.6 billion. | <urn:uuid:e56cba31-7f1c-49ce-b803-f272720dfe03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cspnet.com/news/corporate/articles/7-elevens-out-box-experience | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952608 | 750 | 1.507813 | 2 |
As I’ve frequently noted in my Airport Security Newsletter, intrusive screening of everyone is inherent in the TSA’s current approach to airport security, which treats all air travelers as equally likely to be a terrorist threat. The only feasible way to remove body-scanning (or the intrusive pat-down alternative) as standard procedure is to change TSA’s screening model to one that is risk-based. In practice, that would mean separating air travelers (other than those on the No-Fly list, who are automatically denied passage) into three basic groups:
- Trusted Travelers, who have passed a background check and are issued a biometric ID card that proves (when they arrive at the security checkpoint) that they are the person who was cleared. This group would include cockpit crews, anyone holding a government security clearance, anyone already a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Global Entry, Sentri, and Nexus, and anyone who applied and was accepted into a new Trusted Traveler program. These people would get to bypass regular security lanes upon having their biometric card checked at the airport, subject only to random screening of a small fraction.
- High-risk travelers, either those about whom no information is known or who are flagged by the various Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intelligence lists as warranting “Selectee” status. They would be the only ones facing body-scanners or pat-downs as mandatory, routine screening.
- Ordinary travelers—basically everyone else, who would go through metal detector and put carry-ons through 2-D X-ray machines. They would not have to remove shoes or jackets, and could travel with liquids. A small fraction of this group would be subject to random “Selectee”-type screening.
This type of risk-based screening would focus TSA resources on the travelers that should receive the most scrutiny by reducing the use of resources on low-risk travelers. It would also save considerable sums of taxpayer dollars, reducing screener payroll and equipment costs - no more body scanners would be purchased since TSA already owns enough to use only for the secondary screening needed for the above program.
As for TSA claims that Trusted Traveler would be too risky, they cannot make that claim with a straight face, for two reasons. First, their parent agency DHS operates the three border-crossing programs noted above (Global Entry, Sentri, and Nexus) which operate on exactly the same principle. Second, TSA itself applies this principle for the hundreds of thousands of people who work at airports and need access to secure areas to do their jobs. Those people must pass an FBI criminal history background check, which entitles them to an ID card giving them unescorted access to secure airport areas. Some of these people have access to planes on the tarmac, which means they could do damaging things to those planes. Yet TSA accepts this risk trade-off. | <urn:uuid:96dbe3e8-a02f-4dba-8c82-51585b5b5d56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.org/blog/printer/tsa-needs-a-risk-based-approach-to | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968568 | 602 | 1.820313 | 2 |
High temperatures yesterday put firefighters on alert, broke some long-standing records, sent vulnerable people to the hospital and made for crowded local beaches.
Forecasters expect the heat to continue today, though coastal areas could find some relief from a weak marine layer. The National Weather Service canceled its excessive heat watch yesterday when temperatures and humidity did not reach the heights predicted.
A flow of moisture from the southeast could produce thunderstorms and flash floods in the mountains through Tuesday, with some drifting west of the mountains tomorrow, the weather service said.
Yesterday, temperatures reached 86 degrees at Lindbergh Field, short of San Diego's all-time July 15 high of 90 set in 1984, but other records fell throughout the county.
The 108-degree temperature recorded at the Wild Animal Park near Escondido far outpaced the old mark of 100 degrees set in 1980. It was 104 in El Cajon, six degrees higher than the previous record, also from 1980.
La Mesa and Ramona met or exceeded heat records set in 1978. La Mesa tied its previous record, at 99 degrees, while Ramona, at 106 degrees, topped the old mark by 1 degree.
Vista, at 98 degrees, also bested its old high of 96, set in 1984.
Firefighters spent the day yesterday putting out hot spots at the 120-acre fire in Pine Valley. They expected to have full control of it by 8 this morning.
“They have a line around it, so now they're going to work in the interior of it to make sure it's totally out,” said Audrey Hagen, a spokeswoman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Firefighters contained the fire about 8 a.m. yesterday, Hagen said.
The fire started about 2 p.m. Friday after a truck went off Interstate 8 west of Pine Valley Road, tumbled down an embankment and caught fire. The driver, who had fallen asleep, was not seriously injured.
Firefighters quickly surrounded a 20-acre blaze on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border near Tecate yesterday, another spokeswoman said.
A fire broke out east of Lake Henshaw about 4 p.m. The blaze, believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike, burned 260 acres north of Julian between state Route 79 and county road S2. Ten engines and four fire crews contained it at about 7 p.m., according to the CDF.
San Diego firefighters put out a small grass fire at the Pomerado Road exit of Interstate 15, a dispatcher said.
At 2 p.m., it was 107 degrees in Alpine, said Debbie Elliott, a supervisor at the Heartland Fire Department, which handles emergency calls over large parts of East County.
“People are having a hard time handling the heat,” Elliott said.
Many callers were complaining of heat exhaustion and other ailments.
The heat is due to a large dome of high pressure over Southern California, and it shows no signs of letting up soon.
Authorities cautioned people to stay out of the sun, to drink plenty of fluids, and not to leave children or pets inside a vehicle, even for a short time.
Many people escaped the heat by heading to the beach.
“It's hot, but it's a beautiful day,” Guy Souza, a lifeguard at Silver Strand State Beach, said yesterday. “The beach is crowded, the water's nice. It's a beautiful day.”
Staff writer Jennifer Vigil contributed to this report.
Onell Soto: (619) 293-1280; firstname.lastname@example.org
Elizabeth Fitzsimons: (619) 542-4577; email@example.com | <urn:uuid:8cec461f-7d68-4f3c-a938-2bb6628c6f7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060716/news_1m16weather.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941824 | 788 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Google launched its much awaited and highly anticipated social networking platform today to a limited number of users. Dubbed Google+ (Plus), the service may take its cue from social networking giant Facebook, but in the end it is about the harsh reality of Google saving and enhancing its core franchise — Google Search. It is search (and, by extension, advertising) that made Google a company that has run afoul of the Federal Trade Commission because of its huge size and influence.
At the time of Google’s founding, search was broadly defined as a sifting through a directory of websites. As the web grew, search became all about pages. Google, with its PageRank, came to dominate that evolution of search.
Today, search is not just about pages, but also about people and the relevance of information to them.
Google’s senior executives — long dismissive of the idea of importance of social to search — were contrite during their briefing earlier this week. “It is about time we have come to the realization,” said Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product with Google, “If you don’t know people, then you can’t organize the information for people.”
Google’s realization — however late – that it needs to use social, location and other signals to enhance its core search platform is welcome. “Google needs to understand these relationships and basically use those to make search better,” said Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president for Social in an hour-long briefing earlier this week.
Why? Because the the internet (and information) are expanding with such rapidity that there is no room for assumptions, and as such our systems need to adapt to this world of no (or alternatively infinite) assumptions. Google needs to adapt, and getting social and location signals is important for the company. Search is now search relevant to you in the context of your world — and that is where Google+ comes in.
What is Google Plus?
Is Google+ a destination like Facebook.com? Is it a social network? Is this an identity play? The answer to those questions is yes and no. Google’s Gundotra said that this is the first step by the company in its long social journey, which is going to evolve.
Today, you can get to Google Plus by visiting a website – Google.com/+. But it also travels with you across different Google web properties, thanks to a Google Toolbar. The toolbar is personal to you and allows you to share and send photos, videos, links or just simple messages. A notification icon informs you if others have shared stuff with you.
Google, Gundotra says, has leveraged its infrastructure to offer an array of services, and at the same time the company is attacking Facebook’s noticeable shortcoming — granular privacy that average folks can understand. More importantly it is trying hard to not be compared with Facebook.
Some of Google + Features:
In order to use Google +, you need to have a Google account, though it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to have a Google Mail account. Once you set-up your Google account, you can use your address book to invite people to your network and use that as a starting point.
Circles: Google has come up with the concept of circles — you can create a circle of contacts that are family, friends, work friends, former co-workers and so on. With these groups or circles you can define who gets to see what kind of updates. Facebook currently doesn’t offer the ability to control who sees what goes in our life that we share online.
Hangout: This just might be the killer feature of Google + effort. It is essentially group video chat done right. You click on the Hangout button and invite members of a certain group by sending them a notification. If there is no one around, all I could do is hang about without much drain on the system waiting for someone to show up. So theoretically I could invite all members of team GigaOM circle and have a quick video chat. In the demo at least, Hangout felt intuitive and easy to use (Google uses its own video codec and not Adobe Flash for this feature).
Huddle: This is a mobile group-chat service that is very much like Beluga, the fast-growing service that was snapped up by Facebook weeks after it was launched and is now said to be part of a major new communications push by Facebook. I think this is a great little feature and frankly, if Google was smart they should be rolling this out to all Google Apps for the Enterprise customers.
Instant Uploads: It has also come up with a new approach to mobile photos & videos. Google calls it Instant Uploads. Take a photo and it uploads to your Picasa or YouTube account and then you can share those videos via Google+ to specific “circles.”
Sparks: It is a new feature that allows you to create topics of interest and use them as source of information and then share it with various different groups. For instance, I could share results of Top Gear with my “petrol head” friends. These “interest” or “topic” packs offer a lot of content and not surprisingly YouTube videos. Circles, Hangout and Huddle are about personal sharing and personal communications. Sparks on the other hand is devoid of that connection and stands out as a sore thumb.
Google Plus + Chrome + Android
A few months ago, I wrote about how Google could beat Facebook, pointing out that it was not going to be on the web, and instead on the mobile.
I’ve always maintained Google has to play to its strengths – that is, tap into its DNA of being an engineering-driven culture that can leverage its immense infrastructure. It also needs to leverage its existing assets even more, instead of chasing rainbows. In other words, it needs to look at Android and see if it can build a layer of services that get to the very essence of social experience: communication.
However, instead of getting bogged down by the old-fashioned notion of communication – phone calls, emails, instant messages and text messages – it needs to think about interactions. In other words, Google needs to think of a world beyond Google Talk, Google Chat and Google Voice.
To me, interactions are synchronous, are highly personal, are location-aware and allow the sharing of experiences, whether it’s photographs, video streams or simply smiley faces. Interactions are supposed to mimic the feeling of actually being there. Interactions are about enmeshing the virtual with the physical.
The ability to interact on an ongoing basis anywhere, any time and sharing everything, from moments to emotions – is what social is all about. From my vantage point, this is what Google should focus on.
I am glad to see Google is thinking along these lines and is building products with a mobile-first point of view, a concept that former CEO Eric Schmidt has often talked about.
While I was given a demo by the Google executives on a notebook computer, the heavy use of HTML5 makes Google Plus an experience that could easily work on Android tablets and Android phones. Instant Uploads, Circles, Huddle and Hangout can work on these mobile devices without much textual input, making them easy to use on the touch-centric mobile platforms. Google at the same is also making Google Plus available as an app – for Android and the iPhone platform – ensuring that it is getting the experience right.
Facebook Has Nothing To Worry About
I don’t think Facebook has anything to worry about. However, there is a whole slew of other companies that should be on notice. Just as Apple put several app developers on notice with the announcement of its new iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion, Google+ should give folks at companies such as Blekko, Skype and a gaggle of group messaging companies a pause. I personally think Skype Video can easily be brought to its knees by Google Plus’ Hangout. And even if Google+ fails, Google could easily make Hangout part of the Google office offering.
One of the reasons why I think Facebook is safe is because it cannot be beaten with this unified strategy. Theoretically speaking, the only way to beat Facebook is through a thousand cuts. Photo sharing services such as Instagram can move attention away from Facebook, much like other tiny companies who can bootstrap themselves based on Facebook social graph and then built alternative graphs to siphon away attention from Facebook. Google, could in theory go one step further – team up with alternative social graphs such as Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr and use those graphs to create an uber graph.
Build it, But Will They Come?mostly because of company’s DNA. Based on a briefing and a demo, I am not yet ready to change my opinion.
Google needs this social effort to work — it needs to get a lot of people using the service to create an identity platform that can rival Facebook Connect. It needs the people to improve its search offering. Of course, the Google’s biggest challenge is to convince people to sign-up for yet another social platform, especially since more and more people are hooked into Facebook (750 million) and Twitter. I don’t feel quite compelled to switch from Facebook or Twitter to Google, just as I don’t feel too compelled to switch to Bing from Google for Search.
I can easily see services such as Hangout and Huddle get traction, but will that be enough to get traction with hundreds of millions of people? Doubtful, though I am happy to be proven wrong, for it would surely be nice to have a counterbalance to Facebook. | <urn:uuid:473e0756-26d0-4f50-ad41-35c0da8f13c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gigaom.com/2011/06/28/why-google-plus-wont-hurt-facebook-but-skype-will-hate-it/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957483 | 2,017 | 1.703125 | 2 |
CgiParser is a Cgi parser library written in C++, which can be used as a stream class,
thanks to operator overloading. CgiParser supports both GET and POST methods, and does so automatically
just as it does for everything else.
All one has to do to write cgi programs using this library is the
include this header, and create an object of this class. The object can
be used with the << operator to print variables from HTML forms. | <urn:uuid:9ba219b6-6c68-44cb-b701-f9f3bf9ba036> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cfour.sourceforge.net/cgiparser.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946554 | 99 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Summer Camp Albums
click on the album covers to see the lyrics inside the album
Recent Summer Camp News:
Countdown to summer camp - Wed, 22 May 2013
With the school year coming to a close, busy parents will soon be faced with one of life's more important questions: How do they entertain children and keep them out of trouble now that school's out? Fortunately for those same parents, Oviedo, Winter ...
ANN ARBOR: Registration under way for August's Mostly Music Camp - Wed, 22 May 2013
It is never too early to register for summer camp.
Summer camp safety - Wed, 22 May 2013
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Planning to send your kids to summer camp? You may soon be better equipped and know who is watching them. As CBS 12's Lynn Gordon reports that's because the state is pushing for a database to show whether camp workers and volunteers have undergone background checks. ...
M'lore: Summer camp on basics of linguistics inaugurated - Mon, 20 May 2013
Mangalore, May 21: A summer camp on the basics of linguistics was inaugurated here at the World Konkani Centre on Monday May 20, by renowned scholar, linguist and editor of Tulu lexicon, Dr U P Upadhyaya.
Camp will go on despite loss of federal funds - Wed, 22 May 2013
Organizers of a summer camp for children of military families say the program will go on this summer at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore despite losing federal funding.
Related Information for Summer Camp:
» Summer Camp are a London based duo formed in 2009. Having formed by accident after deciding to cover The Flamingos’ I Only Have Eyes for You, the band did not initially reveal their identities, claiming to be six Swedish teenagers, but a report by independent music newspaper The Stool Pigeon revealed that they were solo artist Jeremy Warmsley and journalist Elizabeth Sankey.
» We present 5 different Summer Camp lyrics and remixes all listed in alphabetical order. Besides Summer Camp song lyrics you can also browse Summer Camp images/album covers. You can choose to translate lyrics to Summer Camp to different languages as well. Please feel free to submit corrections you have for Summer Camp songs and comments you have for meaning to Summer Camp lyrics | <urn:uuid:00ea4220-89d4-465f-a72a-8bcbac0be726> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elyrics.net/song/s/summer-camp-lyrics.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939434 | 477 | 1.625 | 2 |
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
(AP) - Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan had a blazing fastball, the first ever clocked at 100 mph, during 27 seasons that included 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters. Mariano Rivera has used a devastating, bat-cracking cutter for a record 608 saves to be part of five World Series championships with the New York Yankees.
R.A. Dickey? He mastered one pitch, the knuckleball, and at age 37 became an All-Star for the first time.
Then Yu Darvish came to America this year with an array of different pitches, at least seven and maybe more depending on how you might classify his repertoire. The Japanese ace won 10 games for the Texas Rangers before the All-Star break.
"Everything from the velocity to the way he spins the ball is impressive. ... He can do a lot of different things with the baseball," Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "When he needs to make a pitch, he has a lot of different things he can do."
There are fastballs, sliders, curves, slurves, palmballs, splitters, forkballs and even the infamous gyroball. The curve has nicknames like hammer, deuce or Uncle Charlie.
But are there really that many more pitches these days? Or are things more specific because of all the advance scouting and modern technology that can track the speed and movement of every pitch?
"Now you're talking about two-seamers, four-seamers and cutters. That can be three pitches off the fastball, where before it was just a fastball," said Arizona manager Bob Melvin, a former big-league catcher. "I think with video and bats and breaking things down and analyzing now, now you're just getting a little more complex where those pitchers might have been there in the past, but now they're designated all as different pitches."
More than the typical fastball, curve, slider and change of the past.
"I put down one (finger) and got whatever they threw me," said Melvin, who played in the majors from 1985-94.
Like Darvish with his wide variety of pitches or Dickey and his specialized toss, every pitcher who has ever stood on a mound is trying to do the same thing: Get the guy out.
Seattle right-hander Kevin Millwood, who last month threw the first six innings of a combined no-hitter, is in the 16th season of his major league career that began in Atlanta when he was on a staff with four-time Cy Young winner Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.
"I guess you can have as many pitches as you want as long as you can control them and know where they're going. I have a hard enough time with four," Millwood said with a chuckle.
"I watched Glavine win a lot of ballgames throwing pretty much two pitches, Smoltz was pretty much the same way," he said. "Maddux, he would use three different pitches really and might mix in a curveball here and there. But for the most part he was fastball, changeup and a little cutter."
Satchel Paige had his bow-tie pitch, which was a neck-high fastball sure to back batters off the plate. Christy Mathewson threw his fadeaway pitch that was later known as a screwball and thrown so effectively by Pedro Martinez and Fernando Valenzuela.
Dickey, the New York Mets right-hander, baffles batters and sometimes his own catchers. He is the only current major leaguer whose primary pitch is the knuckleball, a pitch with little or no spin is hard to hit because it floats and can unexpectedly dart or move in any direction. It's also supposed to be hard for pitchers to control.
Now there is Darvish, who won 93 games and had a 1.99 ERA as a two-time MVP and five-time All-Star over seven seasons in Japan before signing with Texas last winter.
"He really throws seven, eight different pitches," said All-Star starting catcher Mike Napoli of the Rangers. "Yu's stuff, all of his pitches are pretty good."
Texas manager Ron Washington is quick to point out that Darvish is still learning the different hitters in his new league.
"We may not see the real Yu Darvish until toward the end of the year and going into next year," Washington said. "He's doing things on the fly. He's in a tough situation and his still thriving. ... He's got stuff and he's going to figure out how to package it and use it."
And he still already has five games with at least 10 strikeouts this season, matching Dickey's total before the All-Star break.
Conn. zoo officials don't know how this baby came to be born.
To find their Mr. Darcy, one theater in Minn. has turned to a Mad Man.
Emma Watson revels in her post-"Potter" freedom at Cannes.
How did a photographer get an inside view of a bear's mouth? (Video) | <urn:uuid:d176166c-0e11-4b75-80fb-7de62d8d5fcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wtop.com/484/2939519/Darvish-variety-to-Dickey-mastery-for-same-results | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984561 | 1,080 | 1.5 | 2 |
Switch to Forum Live View I guess this shows how serious people are about self identification, how we all wish to...
|1 year ago :: Apr 14, 2012 - 4:42PM #1|
I guess this shows how serious people are about self identification, how we all wish to recognized for who and what we consider ourselves to be and how all of our views as to who we are shape our world view. Or, I am reading too much into a nice little article.
‘Don’t call us Arabs’
04/05/2012 13:40 By AVIVA BAR-AM
The Maronites in Gush Halav are loyal to the Jewish state. They also offer guided tours of their fascinating village.
. . .
Within minutes of meeting our host, Shady Khalloul, I learned how mistaken I had been. Most of the people who live in Gush Halav are Maronites: Christians who have been followers of a hermit known as Mar Maroun since the end of the fourth century. They are most definitely not Arabs, stressed Khalloul, who asked me never again to refer to Gush Halav as an Arab village.
Like Father Abraham, he told me, the Maronites originated in Aram (an enormous area stretching from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean Sea) and dispersed throughout the Middle East. When the Arabs swooped into the region early in the seventh century, they tried to force Islam on the Aramaic population in general and the Maronites in particular. Yet despite immense pressure, the Maronites, like the Jews, refused to abandon their faith.
Since then Aramaic Maronites have been continually persecuted by the Arabs. Most of the area’s Maronites eventually moved for safety into the Lebanese mountains, where they tilled the rocky hills. Thousands were killed in a bloodbath that took place in the mountains in 1860.
. . .
CONSIDERING THE long-term Jewish presence in Gush Halav, it is not surprising that it sustained at least two synagogues. The ruins of one were incorporated into the foundations of a Greek Orthodox church perched at the very top of Gush Halav. The other was right on our path, on the slopes inside an olive grove.
We found the synagogue, which functioned from the fourth century to the sixth, very similar to another located on Mount Arbel. Khalloul pointed out the sculpted eagle on its lintel, a decoration found all over synagogues in the Galilee and Golan Heights, and a column with barely decipherable letters that read, in Aramaic: “Yosa Ben-Nahum made this.
May he be blessed.”
. . .
During the summer Gush Halav will be holding a festival with Aramean music, food, tours and all kinds of goodies. For information about the festival, visiting the village, staying overnight, or getting a guided tour see www.aramaic-center.com, write to Shady Khalloul at aram.maronite.center@ gmail.com or call him at 054-753- 1785. | <urn:uuid:4521dc10-2088-4d88-8bba-6cf16c11dccd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://community.beliefnet.com/go/thread/view/44011/29061733/?pg=last | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953385 | 659 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Trout for Scouts on the Gunflint TrailThe American flag and the Troop 129 Boy Scout flag had just been placed in mounds of snow on Moss Lake. The troop’s flag ceremony was about to begin when another flag pre-empted the formalities.
By: Sam Cook, Duluth News Tribune
MOSS LAKE, NORTHWEST OF GRAND MARAIS — The American flag and the Troop 129 Boy Scout flag had just been placed in mounds of snow on Moss Lake. The troop’s flag ceremony was about to begin when another flag pre-empted the formalities.
“Tip-up!” one of the Scouts yelled.
Sure enough, a tip-up flag had snapped into vertical mode, signifying that a lake trout had taken the minnow dangling on the line.
You may recall that a Boy Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. They’re also quick, especially when they see a flag flying on a tip-up.
Joshua Baumann of Virginia, a senior patrol leader, was the first one at the flag. He gave the line a tug. Nothing.
“He’s gone,” said Baumann, 14.
Baumann was one of 11 Scouts from Troop 129 in the Britt area taking part in this third annual escape to Moss Lake, just off the Gunflint Trail north of Grand Marais last weekend. They stayed at cabins on Aspen Lake, courtesy of Golden Eagle Lodge on nearby Flour Lake. The Moss Lake Adventure — the Scouts will earn an embroidered patch for this — is a good learning experience, says Scoutmaster Patrick Baumann of Virginia.
“It’s just far enough for them to get an appreciation for how big our world is,” he said. “And it’s close enough for them to understand our world is shrinking, and we have to take care of it.”
The Scouts had risen at 5 a.m. Saturday and marched over the one-third-mile portage to Moss Lake. Several parents drove snow machines and pulled sleds full of fishing gear. The temperature was about 18 below zero. Clouds of exhalation hung in the morning air as the Scouts hiked up the portage.
The Scouts had to hike another three-quarters of a mile across Moss Lake to the designated fishing hole. By the time they arrived, Ben Kalinowski, 13, of Chisholm was wearing white frost on his eyelashes. Avery Frazee, 12, of Tower looked like an old man with his blond hair frosted white.
It was nippy.
After the flag ceremony, the patrol leaders gathered up their troops and got down to work. Some gathered wood. Some set up a fire area on shore. Others readied a lunch spot. Troop 129 is a finely tuned bunch. They had met the night before to go through their duties.
Power augers buzzed. Heaters were coaxed to life. Parents erected fishing shelters and started jigging.
Heed the call
At intervals, the cry would ring out: “Tip-up!” A couple of Scouts would scurry across the ice to check a tip-up. Whether you’re a Tenderfoot or an Eagle Scout, racing to a sprung tip-up is an exercise in great expectations. That little flag tells you that something in the darkness beneath 2½ feet of ice has toyed with your minnow. The fish, presumably a lake trout, may have simply snatched your bait. Or he may be swimming away with your hook in his toothy jaws.
Still panting, the Scout would lift the tip-up from the hole. He would grab the line and pull gently, hoping for resistance. Most of the time, the fish was not there. Upon inspection, the Scout would find the minnow stolen.
How do trout do that?
Ben Haurunen, 13, of Iron scored first. His airplane jig was in stall mode in 30 feet of water when a lake trout came by and impaled himself on it. Haurunen knew what to do, and soon he had the fish dangling from his line for inspection by his fellow Scouts.
That started a streak of steady, if not fast, action through the morning, and in time the Scouts managed five keeper lake trout of about 2 pounds and released a few more small ones.
Ice fishing is a novel experience for some Scouts, Patrick Baumann said.
“Maybe half of them fish,” he said. “A few of them have never done ice-fishing before.”
The day was cloudless and warmed into the mid-20s. In lulls between fishing, the Scouts gathered in small groups to discuss the merits of various snowmobiles. Some went for a long hike up the ridge among the old white pines.
Bill Keute, 13, of Virginia and Alex Adams, 13, of Virginia found they could break off plates of crusted snow and stand them vertically in random rows to create art. It looked like a white-on-white cluster some ancient civilization might have left behind. Keute knew what to call it: “Snowhenge.”
By noon, when the fire was kindled, the boys were ravenous. They clustered around the fire to roast hot dogs on sticks. Some found it hard to wait until the dogs were fully cooked.
When Justin Schutte, 11, of Virginia pulled his dog out of the fire, it appeared it had just come out of the package. He took a bite of it right off the stick. Someone asked him how it was.
“Cold,” Justin said. “But good.”
After lunch and a closing flag ceremony, Troop 129 shouldered its packs and headed for the portage. Along with their gear, they carried good memories of the day.
“It’s really fun, mostly because of the fishing,” Schutte said. “I had never seen a lake trout before.”
“It’s a fun time to be with everyone else. You connect with them,” Kalinowski said. “And it’s relaxing, being a normal boy, rough-housing.”
Only one member of the entourage suffered a setback climbing the steep hill out of Moss Lake on the way out. Ascending the hill on his snow machine, Scoutmaster Patrick Baumann lost two of the lake trout when they bounced out of his sled.
Not to worry. Baumann’s nephew and one-time Eagle Scout Zachary Baumann, 21, of Golden Eagle Lodge went back to pluck the lost lake trout from the portage.
Proving that a Scout is helpful. And kind. And loyal. | <urn:uuid:a25dc669-c438-4be2-b942-375c26871151> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/260881/group/Outdoors/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968771 | 1,455 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Paper subway maps and cut-out coupons are about to become things of the past on the Seoul Subway.
Seoul Metro has introduced a new multi-function machine called "Digital View" that offers services including top news headlines, information about popular tourist spots and stock and weather updates. It may look like an ordinary screen but it is actually an internet phone.
What sets it apart from other public phones is that commuters can dial anywhere within Korea free of charge, while a square touch-screen beside the dial acts as a notepad.
Users begin by opening a digital map of the station where they are located. Once they decide where to go, they touch the logo of the cafe or shopping mall they wish to visit and the screen pops open another window that shows how far it is and how long it takes to get there as well as general information such as the store's phone number and address.
Another special feature is the "road view." It allows users to search the exact distance from the station to their destination using a 3D road map. Unlike the previous map, this one can navigate through streets and show a 360 degree view of anywhere in Seoul.
Aside from the more basic functions, with the Digital View users can also purchase movie tickets with their public transport cards, and take snapshots of digital coupons with their cell phones to get discounts at nearby stores.
More than 900 of these machines have already been installed at over 100 subway stations around Seoul with more than 15 of those units being set up at some of the city's busiest sites. | <urn:uuid:46e925ba-45aa-4efe-9835-d8e086a30cc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/02/19/2010021900782.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958383 | 312 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Moral men and women will deny women equal rights.
Seeking and demanding sanctity is one of the main five best rules of morality. Those rules shown below closely resemble most religious rules. For humankind to give an idea sanctity they must give sacrifice to it. The sacrifice that we must all do is deny women equality and give men a lower position in rulership. Men must bend the knee to women and elevate them to our ultimate sovereign. Those women and men who do not demand this are not in the best moral state of mind and should try to move to it.
We are all natural animals and follow the hierarchical rules of those species which have Alpha males. The main survival strategy of such a species is that the Alpha males will fight to the death to insure that the Beta females live.
Females, as the incubators of life and the most important within that species, must have the highest protection to insure that they will survive to continue the life of that species. Men, being the most physically powerful and having a more natural tendency to rule, must take a leadership role to insure this continuity. The Alpha of any species fights to insure that the Beta always has the highest position. The Kings and all other men IOW, must rule as the power behind the throne but the Queen is the one who must always sit on that throne and rule over the King.
The research done by Mr. Haigt shows that the right wings of religions and politics show more concern with tribalism than do the left wings. It appears then that if we are to move to the most advantageous moral position then it is to the right wings to promote it. As an esoteric ecumenist and Gnostic Christian, I am the left of center and not in the best camp to sell the view that women should rule even as I recognize that they should. The right has been given a wakeup call thanks to president Obama being re-elected. FMPOV then, the right needs a new platform if they are to survive, as they should to balance the political spectrum.
Generally speaking only; women are the weaker of the sexes and are better places to know what the requirements of survival are and should thus rule. Women should then demand the full protection and sacrifice of the Alphas males as that is the natural order of hierarchical species and must be to insure survival. This sacrifice gives sanctity to our species and insures it’s longevity. The religious and political right seem better suited to lead towards this end.
In my opinion, men and women who do not agree with this premise are not taking the best moral position for families or for society at large. This issue is more in the hands of men than women and in that sense men would be more immoral than women if they do not deny women equality and place women above themselves.
Should the religious and political right take up this best moral position and demand that equality be denied to all women and demand that they be given their rightful and natural position above men?
Please see the research and logic behind this premise. | <urn:uuid:a8664a2c-c888-40f3-9e29-56b0f10a4066> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.centerforinquiry.net/forums/viewthread/15233/P0/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956033 | 620 | 1.601563 | 2 |
A landing gear part that fell from the sky into a suburban Seattle neighborhood came from a ABX Air jet, the cargo airline formerly known as Airborne Express, the company said on Monday.
The part, about the size of a refrigerator door panel, narrowly missed a parked car in Friday's incident. No one on the ground was hurt and the plane landed safely.
ABX Air spokesman Paul Cunningham confirmed reports that the object was a landing gear panel from one of its Boeing 767s, which was arriving in Seattle from Cincinnati.
The plane was manufactured in 1985, records showed.
"We are very concerned about this sort of thing," Cunningham told CNN. "We have programs and procedures that we use to try and ensure the safety and reliability of our operations. This is quite an unusual thing."
The Federal Aviation Administration, which declined to identify the owner of the plane, recovered the part, Cunningham and witnesses said.
The FAA said it was investigating and Cunningham said ABX was cooperating.
"We have no information yet to determine what the causes were related to this. It could have been any number of things," he said.
Resident Leah Dermody told CNN affiliate that neighbors claimed to have heard a plane pass very low over the Seattle-area neighborhood just before the part fell. | <urn:uuid:b48fe3a4-dd69-4a3a-bba6-e947aa101bb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clickondetroit.com/lifestyle/travel/Landing-gear-part-fell-from-plane-over-Seattle/-/2305824/16549794/-/lplj3yz/-/index.html | 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 | 0.985214 | 265 | 1.757813 | 2 |
HB 1495 -- Missouri Universal Health Assurance Program
This bill creates the Missouri Universal Health Assurance
Program. The program is a publicly financed, statewide insurance
program that will provide comprehensive and necessary health care
services for Missouri residents.
The Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services is
required to divide the population of the state into six regional
health planning and policy development districts. An advisory
council of 13 members will be established for each district. The
advisory councils will assist the Board of Governors of the
program in creating an annual comprehensive state health care
plan as well as developing a transportation plan for indigent,
elderly, and disabled clients.
The program will be administered by a 23-member Board of
Governors, of whom 14 members will be appointed by the Governor,
with the advice and consent of the Senate. The directors of the
departments of Social Services, Health and Senior Services, and
Mental Health will be ex-officio members; and the board will
include representation of minority and disabled individuals. The
board will be responsible for monitoring expenditures, adopting
rules, employing staff, and studying methods for incorporating
institutional and long-term care benefits into the program. The
board is also required to submit an annual report to the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tem of the
Senate, and the Governor which recommends changes in health
insurance and health care laws.
The bill requires that prior to the implementation of the
comprehensive plan, the board is required to appoint advisory
subcommittees of health care researchers and ethics experts and
to conduct public hearings. The comprehensive plan is required
to seek and secure the delivery of the most cost-effective health
The bill also establishes the Missouri Health Care Trust Fund
which will be used to finance the program. Revenues held in the
fund are not subject to appropriation or allotment by the state
or any political subdivision of the state. Various accounts are
created within the fund for specific purposes.
Every person who is a resident of Missouri, regardless of
pre-existing conditions, will be eligible to receive benefits for
covered services. Persons who are not residents, but who are
employed in Missouri will be eligible for benefits if a health
premium surcharge is paid. The board is required to request that
the program be made available to federal employees and retirees
while they are residents of Missouri. Certain health care
services are excluded from coverage.
The bill requires the program to pay the expenses of
institutional providers of health care, and each provider is
required to negotiate an annual budget with the program which
will cover anticipated expenses. The program will reimburse
independent providers of health care on a fee-for-service basis.
Other insurers and employers may offer benefits that do not
duplicate those offered by the program.
To finance the program, the bill requires every Missouri resident
to pay a health premium surcharge which will be collected by the
Department of Revenue and deposited into the Missouri Health Care
Trust Fund. The surcharge, in addition to the state income tax,
will be imposed on a resident's adjusted gross income.
No later than 30 days after the effective date of the bill, the
Department of Social Services is required to apply to the United
States Secretary of Health and Human Services for all health care
program waivers that would enable the state to deposit federal
funds into the Missouri Health Care Trust Fund. The department
is also required to identify other federal funding sources.
Specific sections of the bill will become effective April 1 of
the year following the award of a waiver by the United States
Department of Health and Human Services. Notice of the receipt
of the waiver must be given to the Revisor of Statutes. The bill
will be submitted to the voters for approval or rejection on the
first Tuesday in November 2004.
Copyright (c) Missouri House of Representatives
Missouri House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 23, 2004 at 11:15 am | <urn:uuid:2d64ddde-7c16-4ff7-a7b2-d2de0eeba9f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/bills041/bilsum/intro/sHB1495I.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93192 | 849 | 1.84375 | 2 |
A DSLR’s shutter will eventually fail
Just as with any piece of mechanical equipment, a camera has a lifetime that is based on the number of shutter actuations otherwise known as shutter clicks or the shutter count…. Sooner or later, your DSLR’s shutter will wear, slow down and eventually stop functioning.
Biggest inventions for Canon cameras in 2012
In March of 2012, Canon U.S.A. Inc. celebrated its 25th anniversary of the launch of its first EOS SLR – the EOS 650 along with the introduction of three interchangeable EF lenses. Furthermore, in April of this year, six Canon DSLR products received the “Best Product 2012” awards in Europe from the …Technical Image Press Association (TIPA), including:
Since 1987, Canon has widened its DSLR product base, and this year of 2012 is no exception.
Canon Inc.’s introduction of the EOS 5D… in 2005 truly met its marketing claims of giving a revolutionary digital camera experience. This full frame DSLR sought to gain a market share among photo hobbyists, and with the subsequent releases of the Mark II and III models, it certainly has.
Canon USA, Inc. has announced a firmware update for the Canon EOS 7D… that improves functionality and increases flexibility of use. Updated features from this firmware upgrade offers: a faster burst rate, more in-camera post processing features, better photo sorting options, more ISO settings and greater control of audio settings. | <urn:uuid:5748bbdc-1379-49b3-bdae-698b7ea5d215> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canon5dtips.com/2012/07/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942088 | 311 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Dr. Ellen Jorgensen is a molecular biologist and a passionate advocate of citizen science. Her research interests have encompassed such diverse areas as free radicals in disease, DNA fingerprinting, virus protein structure/function relationships, and cancer biomarkers. She grew up in New York City and attended both Columbia University and New York University. During her 30-year career she has held a variety of R&D positions in the biotechnology industry. In 2009 she turned her back on the for-profit world and co-founded Genspace NYC, the world’s first community biotechnology laboratory. Its mission is to promote science literacy and demystify the latest advances in biotechnology and synthetic biology though education, outreach, and engaging the general public in a hands-on manner. Genspace’s unique concept of a stand-alone lab not connected with a university or corporation results in vibrant cross-disciplinary projects not possible in traditional spaces. In 2011, Genspace’s groundbreaking programs communicating synthetic biology and biotechnology to non-scientists were awarded the prize for Best Social Study in Synthetic Biology at SB 5.0, the leading international synthetic biology conference. Last summer Dr. Jorgensen’s Genspace-based team of undergraduates from Cooper Union and Columbia University won a gold medal in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. She has spearheaded many of Genspace’s outreach programs such as the collaborative effort between Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Genspace to mentor students competing in the Urban Barcode Project via the use of DNA-based species identification technologies. She has served as Genspace’s president for the past two years, and her efforts to develop Genspace into a haven for entrepreneurship, innovation and citizen science have been chronicled in Nature Medicine, Science, BBC News, Discover Magazine, PBS News Hour, and the science section of the New York Times. | <urn:uuid:5447ad32-6d75-4889-b4af-54f6ef95929d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/participants/ellen_jorgensen | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931338 | 391 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Being the first Sunday of the month we had a `chant Sunday` at the 10.30 Mass. The first Sunday of the month is also the Sunday when the young people do the readings and take the collection. Today the first two readings were read by children while adults helped with the parts in the Passion reading. The children today used a hand-held microphone which greatly improved their audibility. I too have improved mine by discovering a few weeks ago that a portable microphone has to be directly in front of the mouth instead of round the side of the chasuble neck. This puts an end I hope to `Fr Brown: the Inaudible Years` which have gone on for quite a while now.
This time before Mass Dorothy, our organist, led the congregation in a practice of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei of Mass 18. I`m glad to report that there were definitely people singing the Agnus Dei but the Sanctus may take a little longer to become familiar. Still, Rome wasn`t built in a day. During the distribution of Communion, Ian sang the Vexilla Regis as a solo before the congregation sang `The Servant King`. When people are not familiar with chant it naturally takes time to learn anything new but I hope by incorporating it with a lot of familiar hymns the shock will not be as great. In the meantime I must get into school with some simple chants as I`ve said I`d do. I was trying to find a recording of Mass 18 to take in for the teacher but on the occasions I`ve looked I`ve not found anything suitable.
Many thanks to Ian and Dorothy for their labours. | <urn:uuid:6a522e11-60e6-4c42-bbdc-373e5f285e15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forestmurmurs.blogspot.com/2007/04/chant-sunday.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969536 | 346 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Chris Van Horne, NBC 5 Fort Worth Reporter
Fort Worth is preparing for a second weekend of ground spraying for West Nile virus mosquitoes targeting the northern part of the city where standing water is an issue.
The city of Fort Worth decided Wednesday afternoon to conduct more ground spraying -- this time in a section of the city's north side, east of Interstate 35W.
The spray area will be in the 76137 zip code and will be limited to streets around Arcadia Trail Park, Park Place Park, Mesa Verde Park and Arcadia Trail Park North. The spraying effort also will use off-road vehicles to spray in the parks and greenbelts.
On Tuesday night, the city held an informational meeting for residents to discuss the possibility of ground spraying or other alternatives to combat the disease. The 76137 and 76244 zip codes have seen an increase in human cases and mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile virus.
The positive results in the 76137 zip code were found around those parks, which are bordered by Basswood Boulevard on the south.
City officials said on Thursday that the 76244 zip code is still being monitored and mosquito sample results should be back by early next week. At that time officials will decide whether ground spraying is needed there.
Spraying will take place between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights but could be delayed by a day if there is bad weather.
The city is still awaiting test results on the 76104 and 76110 zip codes, where city workers sprayed last weekend. The results will tell how effective that spraying was.
Test results take several days to receive from the collection process to the results. The Tarrant County Public Health Department is only one of four laboratories in the state that can test for West Nile virus. Officials there say they are receiving dozens of mosquito samples each week from the 20-plus cities in Tarrant County involved in the collection process.
"We are looking for the Culex species, the common house mosquito," said Kayleen Thomason, a health department environmental specialist. "Then, the females we run down to the lab because they're the ones that carry the virus, so I pitch the males and keep the females."
Thomason sends dozens of test tubes to the lab each week. The process takes 16 to 24 hours to complete. County lab workers first grind the mosquito specimens to create a liquid mosquito pool. That liquid is then refined in an automated machine for 90 minutes. Workers then create a reagent, which is then mixed with the samples. The samples are then placed in machines which give live results to a computer that show whether a sample may be positive or negative.
"This technology allows us to rapidly detect positive mosquitoes and that information can then be used by cities and our environmental health division, here at Tarrant County Public Health, the to focus our efforts for control," said Dr. Guy Dickson, laboratory services manager for public health.
Dickson said the number of positive mosquito samples peaked several weeks ago, saying they're now seeing a decline. The reasons why are unclear, it could be because people are being more proactive, weather conditions may have changed, or birds, which carry the disease and give it to mosquitoes, have left the area. | <urn:uuid:be972fa4-03f2-48b5-a525-c6cdf35f95d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Fort-Worth-Plans-New-Ground-Spraying-167107815.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948481 | 669 | 1.796875 | 2 |
I know that a lot of John Bogle's criticisms of ETFs come down to the basic premise that allowing such easy trading of stock indices in real-time causes excessive speculation. His argument is that such activity becomes the enemy of returns.
And, of course, the stock market is supposed to act as a mechanism for allocating capital, not as a casino. Incidentally, if ETFs have a weak point, I think it's that it is unclear how the voting power associated with the large holdings of companies' share capital will be exercised. Perhaps some readers would care to share their views on this point.
But, in general, I believe that consenting adults should be allowed to do as they please with their money, including, if they wish, making twenty trades a day in leveraged ETFs. All the odds tell me that your chances of remaining solvent for a year (or a month) doing this are not great, but that won't stop people trying.
I also subscribe to the first law of regulation - that is, that there's no problem in the financial markets which can't be made worse by the regulator's rulebook. The evidence to back this up is overwhelming: take the institutionalisation of the credit rating agencies under the NRSRO label (Nationally Recognised Statistical Rating Organisations), something that was initially supposed to help investors, but which led directly to the credit bubble and the corruption of the ratings system; take the short-selling ban, which has led to a deterioration in equity market trading conditions; and take the current proposals to stop the creation of "naked" CDS positions - something that in my view will make corporate bond liquidity even worse, and intensify the credit crunch.
Maybe one day there will be a radical reversal in the trend towards excessive bureaucracy. Perhaps we will also see the abolition of the "too big to fail doctrine" in the financial markets, something that has in my view also led directly to the current crisis.
If this seems highly unlikely at the moment - politicians' knee-jerk reaction is, after all, to try and save insolvent banks while bringing in more rules - I see it as a hopeful sign that the ultimate bailer-out of the bailers-out, the IMF, is apparently running out of money.
But here we are talking about very long-term changes, trends in society that may take years or decades to play out.
For the time being, and despite the increasing complexity of some exchange-traded products, I think it's great that investors now have a terrific choice available to them, whether they want to speculate, diversify, protect themselves from inflation or economic downturns, or set up long-term savings plans. | <urn:uuid:4cf57905-9cde-47ba-942f-c01d881afdca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indexuniverse.eu/blog/5319-the-first-law-of-regulation.html?year=2009&month=01&Itemid=127 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965204 | 554 | 1.664063 | 2 |
There are some sections within the movie where Michael Dukakis comes into view.
- The television
- The argument between Eddie and Elizabeth
What is the purpose of Dukakis and politics within Donnie Darko?
I remember from viewing with audio-commentary, that Kelly said in the first appearance of such a scene, that he didn't want to take any side. So I think he included it to narrow down the timeframe. There are many other indicators that show, that the movie takes place in the 80s. It seems normal, that in a time of an upcoming presidential election the candidates will be discussed (and will be shown in TV sometimes).
The appearance of the election seems to be just a representation of the times and possibly a direct parallel to the feelings of Donnie himself. An election represents uncertainty and balance shifts whereas Donnie's life seems to mirror that setting of an uncertain youth. Battling with bipolar disorder having his balance shifted a lot of the time combined with his new 'realization' that the world is going to end.
A simpler explanation that goes back to it being just a showing of the time era is the Father's obsession with Dukakis being shown that he is just a republican father and sarcastic person, the second also noted by his obvious sense of humor while the kids are fighting at the dinner table. | <urn:uuid:313a996b-36bb-46de-a0ad-d7e01b0ac20f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/783/what-is-the-significance-of-dukakis-in-donnie-darko/800 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972917 | 274 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Acu Life Nasal Aspirator
It is important to keep our nostrils clean and dirt free because that is where we intake air and oxygen. It is perhaps the most important function that is performed by our noses and any pollution in the nose can be harmful for us. Now you can literally breathe easy. The nasal Aspirator is the perfect solution for you and your entire family. It is important to ensure that you keep your nasal tract free from germs and allow your body to breathe fresh air. This Nasal Aspirator does just that and much more.
The Nasal Aspirator has multiple functions. It helps to clear mucus from the nose and therefore the Nasal Aspirator helps in efficient breathing. Now you can breathe easy and fresh without worrying about anything else! It can be used by anyone and everyone in your family and will keep them all healthy and fit. Now you can say hello to fresh air and goodbye to pollution. Now you can keep your nasal tract free of mucus of any kind and ensure that only fresh and clean air and oxygen goes into your lungs.
The nasal Aspirator is designed in such a way that it can be used by any age group. It helps you and your entire family stay fit and healthy. It is small and easy to carry. No matter where you are going it will simply fit in your bag or purse and you can take it with you wherever you go. So this way you never have to be without fresh and healthy air.
Features And Benefits
- It helps in breathing easily.
- It is beneficial for blocked noses.
- It helps clear mucus from the nostrils.
- It can be used by anyone. | <urn:uuid:3959d34a-6317-4630-bdd6-01e7062479ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthkart.com/product/nasal-aspirator/ACUL007 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960636 | 348 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Bold steps needed for Afghan peace: Karzai aide
KABUL AFGHAN government efforts to bring the Taliban into peace talks are stumbling and bold steps were needed to ensure that a council spearheading the reconciliation process can win the trust of insurgents, said a presidential advisor on Sunday.
Assadullah Wafa also expressed concern that Afghans, who have been subjected to one conflict after another, were losing hope that peace was possible from a process that so far has been shrouded in secrecy and conflicting views of likely success.
The government has made some contacts with the Taliban, who have made a strong comeback after being toppled by a US invasion in 20 01, but there are no signs that full-fledged peace talks will happen anytime soon.
US diplomats have also been seeking to broaden exploratory talks that began clandestinely in Germany in late 2010 after the Taliban offered to open a representative office in the Gulf emirate of Qatar, prompting demands for inclusion from Kabul.
“The talk about peace talks is just futile,” said Wafa, an advisor to President Hamid Karzai and a former governor in some of Afghanistan’s most volatile provinces.
Karzai set up a 70-member High Peace Council two years ago, with Wafa as a member, to try and negotiate an end to the war, now dragging into its eleventh year. It is meant to represent all ethnic and political alliances in a bid to reach out to the Taliban leadership, as well as convince grassroots insurgent fighters to join the government.
Wafa, however, questioned its effectiveness, and said its wide makeup actually made it difficult for the government to reach out to militant groups.
“I have told President Karzai and he promised that there would be repair of the peace council. I am not afraid to speak out, but it doesn’t much bear fruit.
There must be a review,” he told in an interview.
“I think genuine people aren’t part of the peace council, or there are individuals who the Taliban fought in the past or some communist baqaya (remains) in the council, because of whom the Taliban aren’t interested in talks.” Wafa, one of the Afghan government’s most experienced bureaucrats, said a reorganisation of the council could help kick-start talks in Qatar, where the Taliban has set up an office to build contacts with the United States, or elsewhere.
The stakes are high.
Failure to lure the Taliban to the negotiating table could mean perpetual instability, or even another civil war, once NATO combat troops withdraw in 2014.
Wafa’s scepticism extends far beyond the High Peace Council. He accused regional power Pakistan — seen as critical to efforts to end the war — of playing a double game, promising to work for peace while using the Taliban and other groups as proxies to advance its interests in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is known to want access to Taliban leaders, including Mullah Omar, belonging to the so-called Quetta Shura, named after the Pakistani city where it is said to be based.
They would be the decision makers in any substantive peace negotiations. “They (Pakistan) say one thing and do another. There is no doubt that Taliban leadership and Mullah Omar are in Quetta. | <urn:uuid:c40e8643-c98c-47a8-a5e6-c562aeb75b7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.qatar-tribune.com/data/20120220/content.asp?section=southasia1_1 | 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 | 0.967801 | 678 | 1.734375 | 2 |
That he ne halp a quantite holynesse to wexe:
Some by bedes biddynge and some by pilgrymage
And other pryve penaunce, and somme thorugh penyes delynge.
...Clennesse of the comune and clerkes clene lyvynge
Made Unitee Holy Chirche in holynesse stonde.
-- from The Vision of Piers Plowman, ca. 1375
The book is out!
Bedes Byddyng: Medieval Rosaries and Paternoster Beads (81 pages, $4.50) is my short introduction to the history and social history of rosary beads before 1600 in Western Europe. Contents include: the origin and spread of Christian prayer beads, the words used to describe them (bead, paternoster, rosary), a short history of the prayers, how to identify prayer beads as distinct from other beads, and how the beads were made, worn, and used. An appendix has complete instructions for making your own medieval-style rosary.
Bedes Byddyng is issue #135 of the journal The Compleat Anachronist. Copies can be ordered here, and media-mail postage is free. (Click on the link to page 14 on that site, and it's issue #135, down at the bottom of the page. Bulk discounts are also available.)
Writing it was definitely an interesting experience. It took me nearly three months to produce about 22,000 words, and at times I thought it would never be done! It's by far the biggest writing project I've ever undertaken, even though it's only about a third as long as a "real" book. (How do all those authors do it?)
It's generally been getting good reviews, some of which have made me giggle. Some of the material will look familiar to those of you who read this blog, but I also discovered some new things and happily included them. (And eventually will probably blog about most of them as well.) It has diagrams and illustrations, but alas, no photos -- the illustrations are "fake" woodcuts I created by cutting and pasting bits of real woodcuts published as "clip art," which was great fun (and neatly avoided any copyright hassles).
I hadn't seen the manuscript since I turned it in six months ago, and I am now grimacing over the usual quota of typos, formatting mistakes and bits of authorial disorganization that made it into the printed version. I'll do better next time: but I'm happy to have it to offer.
I'd be interested in anyone's comments once you've read it. Critiques, too.
(And P.S. I do have a few review copies available; if you write for publication and would like to publish a review, please e-mail me.) | <urn:uuid:4e170c02-692d-4c3d-8d31-2a5b6926e283> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paternosters.blogspot.com/2007/11/bedes-byddyng.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953988 | 607 | 1.828125 | 2 |
ROME — Art experts and conservative clerics are holding an unusual “trial” in Leonardo da Vinci’s hometown aimed at sorting out fact from fiction in the “The Da Vinci Code” after many readers took the smash hit novel as gospel truth.
The event in Vinci, just outside of Florence, began Friday with an opening statement by Alessandro Vezzosi, director of a Leonardo museum. He said he will produce photographs and documents as evidence of the mistakes and historical inaccuracies contained in Dan Brown’s best seller.
“Leonardo is misrepresented and belittled,” Vezzosi said in a telephone interview hours before the event began. “His importance is misunderstood. He was a man full of fantasy, inventions and genius.”
Outcry from Christian conservatives
The novel’s contentious allegations — namely, that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and sired a bloodline — have provoked unprecedented protest among Roman Catholic and Protestant conservatives, who claimed that Brown’s characters inaccurately malign Christianity.
The book portrays Roman Catholic leaders as demonizing women for centuries and covering up the truth about the Holy Grail, which the novel says is Mary Magdalene herself.
Vezzosi said he will produce evidence through 120 photographs based on documents and paintings with the aim of “reassessing and disclaiming the author” of the mystical thriller, a mix of code-breaking, art history, secret societies, religion and lore.
Vezzosi said one example of the mistakes contained in the book is the statement that the Mona Lisa was made in Leonardo’s image.
“There’s a very big difference between Mona Lisa’s and Leonardo’s noses, mouths, eyes and expressions,” he said, adding that he will compare two portraits to prove it.
Brown in the past has not said much about the controversy surrounding the blockbuster book, but he told NBC’s “Today” in June 2003 that while the novel’s main character, Robert Langdon, is fictional, “all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact.”
Organizers said there would be nobody speaking in the book’s defense and the “verdict” would be contained within the presentations of the speakers.
But that does not mean the book will be completely hung out to dry: Hundreds of fans were expected to attend the trial.
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“This initiative has received a lot of interest with people calling to confirm their attendance,” Vezzosi said.
“The Da Vinci Code” has sold more than 7.5 million copies worldwide and is expected to be made into a movie. Its success has inspired guided tours in Paris that take fans to sites described in the novel, and it also has spawned a cottage industry in books seeking to debunk it.
More than 10 books have been written trying to discredit the historical and theological content of Brown’s novel.
Monsignor Renato Bellini, vicar of Vinci, said the book reveals nothing about religion and contains a mystifying and inaccurate portrait of the conservative Roman Catholic movement Opus Dei.
“This book depicts the movement as a mysterious center of political and economic power that tries to hide the historical truth on Jesus and Magdalene, which is absurd,” Bellini said.
A representative of Opus Dei is participating in the mock trial in an attempt to reassess the historical truth about the movement, Bellini said.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:0dc2ba78-625b-4cc1-966d-ed1153642f88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.today.com/id/6997686/ns/today-entertainment/t/experts-sort-out-fact-fiction-da-vinci-code/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943815 | 879 | 1.828125 | 2 |
The Other Side of the CAFA Effect: An Empirical Analysis of Class Action Activity in the Oklahoma State Courts
University of Oklahoma College of Law
December 17, 2009
When Congress passed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), its stated purpose was to shift nationwide state-law class actions from state court to federal court in order to combat allegedly abusive state-court practices. While the Federal Judicial Center has documented an increase in class action filings in federal court, it has been quick to point out that it cannot say that CAFA has caused a shift in class action filings from state court to federal court. That conclusion would require parallel data about state-court class action filings to see if there has been a corresponding decrease. This paper provides that data for Oklahoma, a state many saw as a target of CAFA due to its having a reputation as a class action friendly forum. This study documents a significant drop in class action filings in Oklahoma post-CAFA. At the same time, though, federal filings in Oklahoma have also dropped. This across-the-board decrease suggests that CAFA has shifted nationwide class actions from Oklahoma state court to federal courts in places other than Oklahoma as plaintiff's class action lawyers now learn to forum shop the circuits as they did the states pre-CAFA. This paper also provides interim data on various aspects of Oklahoma class action practice including how often motions to certify are made, how often they are granted, and the outcomes of certified cases.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 36
Keywords: CAFA, class actions, civil procedure
JEL Classification: K4working papers series
Date posted: December 19, 2009
© 2013 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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OKMM recently debuted a new workplace education initiative, Workplace Money Matters, to empower employers to provide important money management training for staff. Research shows many adults lack a basic understanding of financial principles, which leaves them feeling stressed and struggling to meet day-to-day living expenses. This stress often leads to health problems, job dissatisfaction and lower productivity in the workplace.
Promoting student success in higher education requires effort from all players in the academic realm. This year, OCAP and GEAR UP are proud to bring you a new name and expanded format for the annual fall conference, Access360. Our one-of-a-kind conference is known for bringing Oklahoma's broad spectrum of higher education partners to the table to discuss relevant issues and promote student success.
Remind furloughed federal employees that while their student loan payments are just as important as their rent, car payment or other fixed expenses, they may have more options available to help with their student loans than they do with other household expenses.
UCanGo2 helps students and their families prepare, plan and pay for education after high school.
Oklahoma Money Matters (OKMM) helps K-12 schools, higher education campuses, businesses and community partners develop or expand educational services that empower Oklahomans to make positive financial choices.
Ready Set Repay works with student loan borrowers and Oklahoma higher education institutions to help students make smart borrowing decisions and successfully repay their student loans.
icon indicates a link to an external website. | <urn:uuid:ec433dda-caf4-44d8-b7ab-1571e0b95d39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ocap.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957658 | 302 | 1.617188 | 2 |
A controversial program that seeks to stop bullying and create acceptance in schools will not be held in Collier County public schools until the district completes its own review of the program.
After hearing reasons why it should continue and be discontinued in the school, the Collier County School Board has asked Schools Superintendent Ray Baker to review the Challenge Day program, which came to Collier County last year.
The move came after Dr. Frank Schwerin went to the board recently, concerned about the program, which seeks to tear down walls within schools and urges acceptance.
"I ask that you prohibit Challenge Day at any school pending a safety check. And I urge you to check other school districts like Seattle, which have asked the program not to return," he said. "If it harms one child, is it worth it?"
A majority of the board members took Challenge Day officials to task over the program, which was held in Collier County over four days in November and December.
Board Vice Chairman Steven Donovan said the program should have been brought before the board for review before going into the schools.
"We review reading programs before we put them in the district. We didn't review this. It makes me wonder why you didn't bring it to us first," he said. "We will be the ones who will be responsible if something happens."
Donovan said while he was sure Challenge Day organizers meant well, he was troubled by some of the questions he heard were being asked of students.
Dede Poeltl and Joyce Jacobs, who organized Collier County's Challenge Day programs, spoke of the positive feedback they had from students, parents and school officials over the program. They argued that the program, which has been performed around the country and in three other Florida school districts, has made great strides in creating safer, more positive school environments.
Jacobs said the principals at each of the three schools where Challenge Day was held - Golden Gate High School, Immokalee High School and The Community School of Naples - had to approve the program's coming to the school.
"They saw a need in their school," she said.
Baker said he supported the principals' decision to bring the program to the schools.
"They would not put students in harm's way," he said. "But I agree that if this is going to be a districtwide program, it is the responsibility of the superintendent to look at it and bring it to the board for review."
The Challenge Day program is run not by the adults, but by older students who have chosen to "Be the Change." That means they lead the discussions and act as examples for the Challenge Day movement. They impress their knowledge on between 75 and 100 freshmen. The hope is that, as the freshmen go through high school, they will "Be the Change" for other students.
The highlight of the program was a game called "Crossing the Line." All of the participants stand on one side of a room. When one of the leaders reads a statement, participants are asked to cross the line to the other side of the room if the statement applies to them.
The statements run from "Cross the line if you are a woman" and "Cross the line if you have ever lost a member of your immediate family or a close friend" to "Cross the line if gunshots are a part of your everyday life" and "Cross the line if you have ever teased, belittled or hurt someone because you were jealous."
The purpose of the exercise, which is performed in silence, is to teach the participants about oppression and that everyone is in a minority.
But board member Linda Abbott said one of the problems with the program is that it is asking children to take on this responsibility with a delicate situation. She talked of a student who was a facilitator and spoke about the girls who had crossed the line when asked if they had been teased because they were overweight.
"That was a student, a young man, a teenager, a child and he went back to his school and did something this program is trying to prevent," she said. "I think this is bordering on the edge of dangerous and it doesn't have a place in school."
Board member Pat Carroll, who was the only member of the board to attend a Challenge Day, asked her fellow board members to keep an open mind.
"I ask that you not judge this until you experience it. What you are hearing is not what I experienced. I thought it was a well-thought-out program," she said. "I saw the change in the students. It was amazing the way these students connected with each other, with their parents."
Carroll said she thought it was a program some students needed to have. She stressed that students had to get parent permission before participating in the program.
Board Chair Kathleen Curatolo said she thought the principals should be allowed to make site-based decisions for the school. Although she stressed that she would not support one side or the other, she added that programs such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters elicit help from volunteers who are not professionals, but those people still make a difference.
Board member Dick Bruce was the most vocal about keeping the program out of the schools.
"The Collier County Public School System is not the proper venue for this type of program. While we have some children in our schools with problems, we have a responsibility to protect those children," he said. "We have a captive audience in our children and we need to be introspective in what we expose those children to."
Although the Challenge Day organizers are precluded from holding another Challenge Day in the Collier County public schools until a review has been completed, it cannot keep them from holding another Challenge Day at The Community School of Naples, which is a private school and is not under the jurisdiction of the Collier County School Board. | <urn:uuid:62c23223-aaf0-4577-a0cd-033f5a63d749> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rickross.com/reference/general/general797.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986829 | 1,197 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Google for this:
The “Legalize Love” campaign officially launches in Poland and Singapore on Saturday, July 7th. Google intends to eventually expand the initiative to every country where the company has an office, and will focus on places with homophobic cultures, where anti-gay laws exist.
Google’s Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe outlined the initiative at a Global LGBT Workplace Summit in London earlier today. “We want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do in the office. It is obviously a very ambitious piece of work.
Their strategy involves developing partnerships between companies and organizations to support grass-roots campaigns.
I wonder if they intend to campaign heavily in the homophobic red states across America. | <urn:uuid:d23f8195-53fa-4109-87de-0b0dd4cb4912> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2012/07/best-persons-in-the-world-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956905 | 158 | 1.601563 | 2 |
I recently came across this tidbit of local news. The conservative political party in my small town is up in arms because the ruling liberal political party is allowing the practice of “civil baptism”. Of course they are not arguing the reasonable point that the term is self contradictory; they are more concerned that the practice is offensive to The Church. I don’t think it’s offensive so much as it’s a reminder of the decline The Church is suffering in Spain.
It’s easy to imagine how someone came up with the idea for a “civil baptism”. Spanish baptisms are very much like Spanish weddings; they are huge parties with lots of family and friends and good food and wine. It’s great and healthy to celebrate the good events in your life with family and friends.
It is becoming more and more popular for marriages in Spain to be “civil”, done at the town hall, rather than religious, done in the church. Starting in 2009, the majority of Spanish weddings have been non-religious town hall ceremonies.
When you add these two things together, the fact that people are accustomed to and love to have parties to celebrate the birth of a child, and the fact that many people don’t see what a celibate man in robes who actually thinks he can, and should, turn wine into blood by uttering magic words has to do with celebrating family events…you get somebody suggesting that a government official should say some inspiring words to a crowd of a newborn’s family members.
I wonder if they use official government water? No I’m kidding. I looked it up. Apparently a civil baptism is a ceremony to celebrate a new Spaniard getting citizenship. The ceremony usually includes a reading of several articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the UN in November 1989:
Article 6 – 1: States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.
Article 6 – 2: States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.
Article 12 – 1: States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
Article 12 – 2: For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.
Article 27 – 1: States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
Article 27 – 2: The parent(s) or others responsible for the child have the primary responsibility to secure, within their abilities and financial capacities, the conditions of living necessary for the child’s development.
Article 27 – 3: States Parties, in accordance with national conditions and within their means, shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to implement this right and shall in case of need provide material assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.
Article 27 – 4: States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to secure the recovery of maintenance for the child from the parents or other persons having financial responsibility for the child, both within the State Party and from abroad. In particular, where the person having financial responsibility for the child lives in a State different from that of the child, States Parties shall promote the accession to international agreements or the conclusion of such agreements, as well as the making of other appropriate arrangements.
I remember the mountain of paperwork I had to fill out and drive to various government offices around my province after my daughter was born to get her “into the system” so she could suckle the socialist teat. It’s a big hassle, one worthy of a glass of champagne upon completion.
To me, a civil baptism deciding what country a human has allegiance to, before he is able to think for himself, based solely on the geography where he escaped the womb and allegiances of his parents is just as immoral as deciding what religious beliefs he should hold based on the same criteria. But most people don’t really put that much meaning into it. It’s really just a party for a happy reason, which is something I can get behind. | <urn:uuid:fb893318-79cc-4a3f-a708-7835dfd8454e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://erikras.com/2011/12/19/civil-baptisms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959975 | 934 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Carnivalesque XXVI: A Very Carnivalesque Carnivalesque
Welcome to the newest early modern edition of Carnivalesque, which is the modern way to love the pre-modern. For this edition, I thought I would remind Carnivalesque of its roots. So the links of this Carnivalesque focus on food, on drink, on violence, on sex, on spectacle and pageantry, on the startling and the surprising, on chance and vicissitude, with some other things thrown into the mix.
Gavin Robinson's Investigations of a Dog regularly has some of the most interesting discussions of historical causation, use of evidence, and historiography that can be found on a weblog, using issues in military history as a case study. The post, The Lucases of Colchester, is no exception, using an English Civil War memorial as an occasion to discuss the complications of historical causation, and the dangers of reductionism in historical accounts. It also includes a bit of the violence needed for the carnivalesque.
Strange Maps discusses the lead-up to, and aftermath of, the curious 'Aroostook War', a border dispute over the precise boundary between the District of Maine and New Brunswick in 1838/1839. Since it's a war that wasn't a war, it's certainly a case of carnivalesque subversion of expectations.
When I decided to host this edition of Carnivalesque, I knew immediately that I would have to see what Carolyn Smith-Kizer has been cooking up. Smith-Kizer's weblog, 18thC Cuisine, explores the world of early modern cooking from the perspective of a habitante of eighteenth-century Nouvelle France. The delight for this carnival is a 1716 recipe for biscotins.
Reflecting on the recent earthquake in Kent, DrRoy of Early Modern Whale was reminded of Gabriel Harvey's amusing account of the 1580 earthquake.
In the topsy-turvy world of Carnivalesque, the complex interplay of fiction and fact in our sense of history is an ongoing theme. "Greenman" Tim Abbott of Walking the Berkshires discusses a case in which historical fiction has begun seeping into historical account, in which "Jumping" Jack Flashman teaches us the age-old and oft-needed lesson of carnival festivities, that not all that glitters is gold.
Gillian Polack's Food History post about Henri D'Andeli's La bataille des vins is perhaps more suited to a medieval edition than an early modern edition; but where both wine and carnivalesque are involved we laugh at trifles like chronology. Plus, history is not simply identifiable with chronology; and studying one era may provide a clue to understanding a later one. Readers of French might like a taste of the original poem.
At The Long Eighteenth David Mazella contemplates the the history of women's writing, and Susan Staves's argument that it is in women's non-fiction, rather than women's fiction, that the least ideologically constrained images of women will be found.
At Facetation, devoted to the history of engineering, George Goodall discusses the historical role of the mathematical practitioner.
If you want to know anything about the history of rosaries, Chris Laning of Paternosters is the person to look up. In her post on the five wounds rosary Laning discusses a rosary that makes its appearance in a number of early modern engravings and woodcuts.
Daniel Mitsui of The Lion and the Cardinal posts pictures of the Dance of Death from the Oratorio dei Disciplini in Clusone. He also recently posted images of St. John's Heads; a St. John's Head is a devotional image, which began to be popular in the fifteenth century, of the head of St. John the Baptist on a platter above Christ emerging from the tomb.
At Giornale Nuovo, that perpetual treat of images curious and curiouser, misteraitch presents us with etchings by seventeenth-century printmaker Stefano Della Bella.
At Victoria's Cross, we find a post about the life of Zebulon Pike.
Bryant T. Ragan has a guest post at The Cipher discussing the historiography of sexuality; he suggests a shift in how we handle the historical study of sexuality.
Here at Siris I recently had a post on James Beattie's distinction between the ludicrous and the ridiculous. Beattie's attempt to get a handle on the ludicrous, or, as we would call it, the comic, was one of several early modern attempts to give a solid philosophical account of the sense of humor.
April sees the festival of Vaisakhi, when Sikhs all over the world celebrate the formation of the Khalsa, the Sikh community, in 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh. Since festivals and holidays are one of the vehicles of historical memory, it seems fitting to link to sikhnewspaper's selection of links related to coverage of Vaisakhi celebrations in the British media.
And that closes this edition of Carnivalesque. The next edition, an ancient/medieval edition, will be hosted at Aardvarchaeology. Don't forget to submit your posts!
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Posted by Tom
on November 21, 1999 at 13:45:46:
In Reply to: Meals and High Blood Pressure posted by Audrey on October 08, 1999 at 21:36:16:
: My blood pressure has been running around 174/104 after meals, could anyone please tell me why this would happen
I too have noticed an increase in BP after a meal, especially when eating a normal sized meal.
I think that as the stoumach fills with blood and other things to digest the food, the BP goes up. | <urn:uuid:4d260b0c-c00b-400c-8bab-1cce04604d9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthboards.com/high-blood-pressure/292.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981774 | 113 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Five months ago when Forbes
ranked the world's most expensive
houses (in terms of current listings) only three of them clocked in at over $100 million. And in fact, one of those, Leona Helmsley's Dunnellen Hall
in Greenwich, CT which started out at $125 million had already been reduced to $95 million by the time the list was published (it's currently being offered
at $75 million). The other, Fleur de Lys
in Beverly Hills listed at $125 million, was therefore the world's most expensive and one of only two $100 million-plus properties officially on the market.
Re-surveying the field now we've decided it's time for a new World's Most Expensive list, mainly because despite the recession - or, perhaps, because of it - there are now seven properties in what we've dubbed the Hundred Million Club (N.B. - those listed at only $100 million don't make the cut), three of which are in the U.S. These are the modern-day equivalents of the magnates' great estates
we wrote about back in February.
Some recent market activity which regular Luxist readers will be aware of makes a new ranking imperative. For starters, last month Candy Spelling listed her Holmby Hills mega-mansion
at $150 million, making it the world's most expensive estate. Then just last week a mansion at No. 10 Belgrave Square in London hit the market
for around the same price - £100 million, or about $149 million (depending on exchange rates), while a second Belgrave Square property finally completed renovations
and has been listed
at £80 million, or about $120 million.
We also received confirmation this week that an incredible 40-room private mansion in Paris
' Place des États Unis (above), built in 1890, has been listed
at €105 million, or about $138 million. Fleur de Lys, whose "world's most expensive" status (though not its "legendary estate"
status) was also usurped by the $135 million Manaplan Residence
in Palm Beach now languishes in 5th place (sorry, Mariah
Here is our new ranking of the world's most expensive estates (in terms of current verifiable listings), all members of the Hundred Million Club:
1. The Manor
- Holmby Hills, CA: $150 million
2. No. 10 Belgrave Square
, London, UK: $149 million
3. Place des États Unis
, Paris, France: $138 million
4. The Manalapan Residence
, Palm Beach, FL: $135 million
5. Fleur de Lys
, Beverly Hills, CA: $125 million
6. No. 31 Belgrave Square
, London, UK: $120 million
7. Updown Court
, Surrey, UK: $110 million | <urn:uuid:6ad40992-ffb6-471f-bcbc-c1366b6c6592> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.luxist.com/tag/worlds%20most%20expensive/page/3/ | 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 | 0.932836 | 611 | 1.65625 | 2 |
US Intelligence has conducted an 11-month investigation into Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, concluding that both should be shut out of the US market.
In a document, drafted by the US House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee, both Huawei and ZTE are said to pose a serious espionage threat, both to individual consumers' privacy and to the national security of the US.
"(Huawei and ZTE) cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems," the document reads.
It’s unclear from the document whether the report is referring to handsets – a growing sector for both Chinese companies – or simply routers and other telecoms equipment of which Huawei and ZTE recognised global manufacturers.
Huawei, as might have been expected, reacted angrily to the document releasing the following statement to Reuters:
"Baseless suggestions otherwise or purporting that Huawei is somehow uniquely vulnerable to cyber mischief ignore technical and commercial realities, recklessly threaten American jobs and innovation, do nothing to protect national security, and should be exposed as dangerous political distractions from legitimate public-private initiatives to address what are global and industry-wide cyber challenges."
ZTE too has since responded to the document - due to be released today - saying it should not be the sole focus of any investigation.
"ZTE should not be a focus of this investigation to the exclusion of the much larger Western vendors," the company wrote in a letter to the US committee.
While relations between the US and China have been problematic in the past, it will be interesting to see what a blanket ban for Huawei and ZTE products would mean for the UK. Would we follow suit? | <urn:uuid:b89cdf6f-5745-4954-8cb8-d1c9bf0162de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/117603-huawei-and-zte-pose-security-threat-according-to-us-intelligence | 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 | 0.949862 | 347 | 1.625 | 2 |
It’s about more than just chicken, people.
This Chick-fil-A debate has been around longer than the past month; the company’s policies are no secret.
Chick-fil-A’s chief operating officer and president, Dan Cathy, created the WinShape Foundation in 1984. WinShape is the charitable facet of the restaurant company.
In 2009, WinShape donated almost $2 million to anti-gay groups, including the Marriage and Family Legacy Fund. The MFLF was created with help from Chick-fil-A’s senior vice president, Donald Cathy. MFLF is the “implementation and funding arm” of Marriage CoMission, a coalition of groups to counteract the “downward spiral of marriage and the traditional family in America.”
WinShape also donated to groups that discriminate or express hate toward the gay community, like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the National Christian Foundation. Those groups then also donate funds to anti-gay groups such as Focus on the Family.
What makes a group anti-gay and not just Christian? Focus on the Family once posted on its website that “the homosexual agenda is a beast. [It] wants our kids.”
But these are just groups that a side foundation supplies funds. What about the chicken?!
Chick-fil-A’s website states:
“The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our Restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.
Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
I understand that this company was started under Christian beliefs and concepts; we’re all familiar with the pangs of waffle fry hunger on a Sunday, only to be left disappointed and hungry. I also understand that the individual stores are run by managers who don’t necessarily apply the Bible to their customers.
But how can such a large and successful company claim to support every person on this planet while donating millions of dollars to groups that do the exact opposite?
It’s that hypocrisy that bothers me.
If you are going to be a bigot, then be a bigot by all means. Just be honest about it.
This recent kerfuffle started up when Dan Cathy said in a July article in the Baptist Press that Chick-fil-A is “guilty as charged” in supporting only heterosexual marriage and “the biblical definition of the familly unit.”
Now that we’re all on Twitter and Facebook, there was a small uproar against the man and his company.
This outrage was met with a response of support that was somewhat led by former Gov. Mike Huckabee. He declared Aug. 1 “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.” That became code for I’m-a-conservative-who-hates-gay-people.
Sarah Palin posted a photo of her and her husband, Todd, with the caption: “Stopped by Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business.”
Even Michele Bachmann posted a video to YouTube that gave a brief endorsement of a company that “stands with families.”
Reports say Chick-fil-A stores had record-setting sales on “Appreciation Day.”
Reports also say that 67 percent of Americans are obese or overweight.
Congratulations. Your hatred and ignorance helped make you fat. | <urn:uuid:9add0b33-206a-45a5-b6fe-a245ff42c827> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://interroblog.tumblr.com/post/28915289769/chick-fil-a-debacle-not-just-free-speech | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953497 | 798 | 1.625 | 2 |
February 1, 2013
QUESTIONS FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW COUNCIL JUDGE MEMBER
By: Christopher Reinhart, Chief Attorney
JUDICIAL REVIEW COUNCIL
The Judicial Review Council investigates and resolves complaints involving misconduct, disability, or substance abuse of state judges, family support magistrates, and workers' compensation commissioners. It consists of 12 regular members and 13 alternates. Six regular members and three alternates are members of the general public; judges and practicing attorneys are each represented by three regular and two alternates. Commissioners and family support magistrates are each represented by three alternates.
Virtually all complaints are dismissed without investigation. When one goes forward, the council investigates to determine whether probable cause exists to believe that judicial misconduct has occurred. The investigation is confidential unless the judicial officer being investigated (“the respondent”) requests that it be public.
If the council determines that the evidence has not established probable cause of judicial misconduct, the complaint is dismissed. If the council determines that no misconduct has occurred, but that the judicial officer has acted in a manner that creates the appearance of impropriety or constitutes an unfavorable judicial practice, it may issue an admonishment to the judicial officer.
If the preliminary investigation indicates that probable cause exists that the judicial officer is guilty of misconduct, the council holds a public hearing to determine the respondent's guilt or innocence. If the judicial officer is found guilty of misconduct, the council may impose a range of sanctions: public censure, suspension without pay for a period of up to one year, or a referral of the matter to the state Supreme Court or the governor with a recommendation of suspension for more than one year or removal from office.
1. What made you interested in serving as a council member?
2. The law requires the council to have 12 regular and 13 alternate members. In your view, does having a group of this size make it more difficult to complete tasks?
3. In most cases, the law requires complainants to file complaints within one year of the act that generated the complaint. On the other hand, there is no statute of limitations for filing grievances against attorneys with the Statewide Grievance Committee. What do you see as the pros and cons of having a relatively short limitation period?
4. The statutes provide for the removal, suspension, or censure of judges, magistrates, or commissioners whose temperament adversely affects the “orderly carriage of justice.” What type of temperament would you consider this to be?
5. The statutes provide for removal, suspension, or censure of judges for incompetent performance of judicial duties. What type of evidence would you look for to determine whether a judge's performance was incompetent?
6. Legislation has been proposed in the past to allow the council to fine respondents, in addition to imposing a range of sanctions already permitted. What do you think of this idea?
7. Among the things the council considers in its deliberations are whether the evidence submitted and a review of its records shows that an action that is the subject of a complaint reveals a pattern of inappropriate conduct. In your opinion, can a respondent be found guilty based on a single incident?
8. In your opinion, to what extent does a judge, commissioner, or magistrate's personal life affect his or her ability to adequately perform his or her duties? Would it be appropriate to sanction a respondent for something that occurred in his or her personal life, whether it affected his or her official duties?
9. How would you handle a complaint alleging that a respondent had a substance abuse problem?
10. Do you believe that frequent demeaning references to ethnic or racial minorities, members of religious minorities, or women should be grounds for action? What would the appropriate action be?
11. In the last several years, state courts have adopted policies to improve public access to court proceedings and records. Some argue that the public's confidence in the fairness of the council's deliberations has been undermined by procedures that require (1) its initial investigations to be conducted in secret, (2) exclusion of the public from probable cause hearings, and (3) various records to be kept confidential. Is this a legitimate concern? How would you balance the conflicting beliefs in the public's right to know against the right of judicial confidentiality?
12. Other concerns are based on the infrequency with which the council conducts probable cause hearings and the fact that it exonerates virtually all respondents. For example, the council's annual report for fiscal year 2012 shows that it did not hold any public hearings and dismissed complaints against all 136 of the judicial officials whose conduct had been the source of a complaint. What might explain the high dismissal rate? | <urn:uuid:0bbebc26-60d5-4e3d-89f2-f879047d2f5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cga.ct.gov/2013/rpt/2013-R-0115.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955819 | 960 | 1.835938 | 2 |
posted on Thursday, September 06, 2007 3:24 PM
Columnist: Fines Too High for Working Alarm System
Kathleen Merryman, columnist for The News Tribune, says fines are too high for alarm systems that – gasp – call the police when the sensors say something is amiss. Excerpts taken from Merryman’s September 1, 2007 column titled “A high fine for alarms is what’s truly
In the 20-plus years we’ve lived in our home, we’ve been burgled and prowled at least eight times.
We call 911. We wait outside for a deputy. We ask neighbors if they’re OK, and if they saw anything. We give the deputy a tour of the mess and an idea of what’s not there any more.
We listen to the deputy tell us our stuff probably won’t be coming back. And we should buy an alarm system.
The first one wasn’t connected to a call center. It just made a lot of noise, enough to alert neighbors. It didn’t work, because the jerk who broke in picked a time when the neighbors were gone.
Buy an alarm system connected to real people, the deputy advised.
So we invested in the system and make the monthly payments on it.
At first, it did what every new system does. It revealed its little problems and the things we did not know about it. It went off when a Valentine mylar balloon migrated to the dining room. A friend with a key forgot the code.
We pay. We learn how not to set off a false alarm. We’re pretty typical.
Now our system is working as we hoped it would: It has gone off for no apparent reason.
By that I mean that it scared away the bad guy, or guys.
The problem is that whoever was trying to steal our stuff was not kicking in a door. He was jimmying a screen. Smart criminal. Anyone driving by would notice someone trashing a door. But a guy fiddling with a window could be making repairs.
We found the screen, reported it and avoided a fine.
We were lucky. The burglar left a clue.
Had he not, we’d have been out $250. Though the alarm did what it was supposed to do, it would have been ruled false.
But I object to fining people for installing alarms. They pay for these systems because officers tell them it’s the right thing to do, for their protection and that of the community.
Then, when the alarms work and scare off the bad guys, they get a bill.
The Pierce County Council members will consider reducing the false alarm fine from $250 to $100 at its Sept. 25 meeting. When they do, they should ask whether these are sloppy calls, or the alarms doing their job.
They should vote against fining people who are doing what they can to fight crime. | <urn:uuid:04291b11-7e6b-4e6b-ba25-e4dc2fd36e83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.emergency24.com/blogs/industry_news/archive/2007/09/06/457.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967553 | 622 | 1.632813 | 2 |
CALGARY — Twenty-five years on, Calgary’s Olympic legacy still shines bright.
Former Olympians, dignitaries and curious spectators gathered at the Olympic Oval on Wednesday to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1988 Winter Games.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, former Canadian Olympic Committee president Roger Jackson and Olympic speedskater Kristina Groves led a mini torch relay to light the original cauldron from 1988, which now sits just outside the Olympic Oval — a flame that will be burning for the next 16 days.
Many shared their memories of 1988, where they were and what they were doing, while stressing that looking back on Calgary’s legacy is also about looking forward to the city’s future as a community of volunteers.
“We’ve all been blessed by the legacy and all these beautiful buildings left by the games,” said Nenshi.
“But the legacy of proving what we can do as a community and as volunteers and what we can show the world is the true legacy of 1988.
“Let’s continue to do that as we build the next great city of Calgary.”
The event’s crowd was dotted with the famed multi-coloured Sunice jackets worn by volunteers in 1988, as well as the fringed red-and-white parkas worn by the Canadian Olympic team.
“It’s just so great to be out here wearing this again and having all of these great memories flood back,” said Anna Stevens, who worked as a ski hill volunteer in 1988.
Frank King, former chief executive of the Winter Games, says because of the legacy of Calgary’s facilities, including the Olympic Oval which has since produced more than 150 world record skating times, Calgarians continue to ask him whether our city could host again.
“People ask why don’t we do it again, and I say we could because we have the facilities,” he said.
King admitted the International Olympic Committee tends to favour cities that have never before hosted, always wanting to see newer, high-tech facilities being built.
But King did say if a city that won a bid had to turn away their host status, for whatever reason, whether because of lack of funding or a change in government, Calgary could quickly take its place.
“If that ever did happen, it would be automatic for Calgary. It would come back to us because we are the place that has the best intact facilities.”
King says the only other time it happened was back in 1976, when Denver, Colo. backed out of its host status, allowing Innsbruck to be awarded the Games again, only 12 years after hosting the 1964 Games.
Colorado residents were worried about rising costs and negative impacts to the environment, and voted to give the Games to another city.
“Calgarians would love it, they have the spirit where we know they would be ready to go.”
Catriona Le May Doan, speedskating gold medallist who spent more than 10 years training in Calgary soon after the Oval was built, talked about her early training days.
“I remember when I was still in Saskatoon, where we would train in the freezing -30C weather, looking at the plans of this building and thinking “wow, this will never happen.
“But not only did it happen, it was the place that became my life. It was the place that allowed all of my Olympic dreams to come true, being able to listen to the national anthem on a podium two times.”
Le May Doan won a gold and bronze medal in speedskating at the 1998 Nagano games and another gold medal in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Olympics.
Calgary’s Olympic Oval held the first indoor Olympic speedskating competition, and is still home to hundreds of Canadian athletes who train there year round.
Canada Olympic Park — recently upgraded to become the Canadian Centre of Sports Excellence — is also still the training ground for bobsled, luge and skeleton athletes, while the ski jumps, now out of date for competition, still serve as training jumps for younger competitors. | <urn:uuid:71d7c83d-fb29-440a-a230-4fc532cf5f17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/lacrosse/Calgary+celebrates+legacy+1988+Winter+Olympics/7961936/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975816 | 874 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Gaelic's stars are currently subjected to urine testing, but 10 years after establishing its world-leading anti-doping programme, the Irish Sports Council (ISC) has revealed that it is rolling out blood testing for all Irish sports in the next year.
And GAA players will not be able to escape it, despite their amateur status.
Some elements of the GAA were against drug-testing when they first signed up for it in 2002, but the association had no choice as it was mandatory in order to access government funding.
GAA players are only tested after matches, or at training and are not subjected to any random testing outside team training or games.
Yet there were still some initial teething problems when players raised complaints.
Some initially even refused to sit tests, which, technically, is the equivalent of failing one, but the ISC took a softly-softly approach until it was fully established and now describes the GAA as "totally on board" with their current drug-testing regime.
The notion of players now facing mandatory blood-testing will attract further opposition, even though the Sports Council argue that it is, in some ways, even less problematic.
The ISC stressed yesterday that they will initially prioritise "high risk sports" which means GAA players are unlikely to face blood testing until next year at the earliest.
"It (blood-testing) is in the early stages and I don't expect it for the GAA this year but I don't see why the GAA should have a problem with it," said Dr Una May, the ISC'S Director of Anti-Doping.
"Their players have always been very supportive of our work and will probably find that blood tests are less intrusive." | <urn:uuid:d871a06e-0976-47cc-b120-b6aafbd45f6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/gaa/gaa-stars-will-have-to-give-blood-samples-28539595.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984478 | 360 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Waterton Canyon will be closed until April 23 at 7 a.m. while a Denver Water contractor removes a 75-ton dredge and other equipment from Strontia Springs Reservoir. The canyon reopened briefly last month after being closed for dredging since August 2010. The current closure marks the final phase of the dredging project required in the aftermath of the Buffalo Creek and Hayman fires.
During the closure, Denver Water took the opportunity to improve the popular recreation area. Included among the subtle changes are new mini-shelters to escape sun and rain, more parking spaces and improved signs with information about wildlife and the canyon.
Warm-water fishermen are reminded that Bonny Reservoir in Yuma County has been drained in order to fulfill compliance with the Republican River Compact. There is no longer enough water to sustain a fishery, and the former state park has become part of the South Republican State Wildlife Area. Some primitive camping remains.
Scott Willoughby, The Denver Post | <urn:uuid:316a0069-b92b-4ba7-8547-804b0063b749> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.denverpost.com/outdoors/ci_20319788/waterton-shut-down-again | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944194 | 201 | 1.757813 | 2 |
|1st appearance:||Careers in Science|
|Voice Artist:||Paul Boocock|
Jonas Venture is the father of Rusty Venture and Jonas Venture Jr. He was a brilliant superscientist who was also the founder of the original Team Venture. Jonas is primarily modeled upon Benton Quest, though Silver Age comics figures like Nathaniel and Reed Richards, as well as film heroes Indiana Jones and James Bond, could be cited as additional sources for the character, all ultimately deriving from the pulp magazine scientist-adventurer Doc Savage to some degree. In the episode Orb, it is suggested that he was killed by Kano to prevent him from activating the Orb; as a result Kano has subjected himself to silence ever since. (although later it's revealed the Orb has been useless ever since Sandow broke it in the early 1900s, thus meaning Jonas' died in vain)
Perception versus reality
Most of what is known about Jonas Venture is revealed to the audience by his son's drug (and absorbed fetus)-induced hallucinations and what amounts to hero worship by the current generation of super-scientists, costumed adventurers and even villains. There is no shortage of material evidence attesting that Jonas was the premier super-scientist of his day, having invented human cloning, a nuclear-powered supersonic jet aircraft, a shrink ray and a self-sustaining orbital colony. Furthermore, Jonas Venture was instrumental in the negotiations between the Guild of Calamitous Intent and the general community of heroic adventurers that ensured the safe and honorable treatment of prisoners.
Relationship with Rusty
Although presenting an aura of perfection and supreme masculinity, Rusty's flashbacks to his childhood suggest Jonas was actually a demanding and emotionally-distant father who alternated between exposing his son to extreme (and often unncessary) danger on self-aggrandizing adventures and mostly ignoring him while at home; for example, the "sleep learning beds" used by Hank and Dean were invented by Jonas in order to avoid having to actually interact with his son in a domestic context. At various points, Rusty also recalls painful memories such as a key party at his house in which his father and his "date" ended up drunkenly crushing him in his bed, being forced to kill rampaging natives while propped on Kano's shoulders in order to save his father's life, and being awoken by the Action Man clicking the empty chamber of a pistol against his forehead and muttering "Not today, Rusty". He also recalls seeing his father blithely exposing his unusually large penis at the breakfast table (although this may be a metaphorical recollection of Jonas' overbearing masculinity). At some point in Rusty's childhood, Jonas apparently recognized some of these issues and agreed to participate in therapy sessions with a counselor, although he would let Rusty start to talk and then sneak out of the room, only sneaking back in near the end of the session in time to dismiss his son's problems as ingratitude for all the adventures and opportunities Jonas had taken him on.
Evidence of this 'science first, people second' attitude was shown in the episode What Goes Down Must Come Up. After M.U.T.H.E.R flooded the underground bunker with mood enhancing drugs and everyone goes onto a fear-induced hallucinations, Dr Venture rescues his team and then seals the visiting children within the bunker and makes no attempt to retrieve them at a future date.
Physical appearance
Jonas Venture is clearly symbolic of the failed promise of the Baby Boom generation when compared to their heroic forebears of the World War II generation, and this metaphor is communicated visually. In contrast to his much less accomplished firstborn son, he is taller, athletically built, has a full head of hair and better posture. Jonas is most often seen in a three-piece pinstriped suit under a lab coat or in his adventurer's gear, once again contrasted with Rusty's adherence to his "Speed-Suit" and cabana wear. Jonas Jr. more closely resembles his father than does Rusty, albeit being under 3 feet in height and having a deformed (later mechanical) arm.
- Dr. Benton Quest from Jonny Quest
- Indiana Jones
- James Bond
- Doc Savage
Episode Appearances
- Careers in Science
- The Incredible Mr. Brisby
- Ghosts of the Sargasso
- Are You There God? It's Me, Dean (mentioned)
- Past Tense
- Return to Spider-Skull Island
- Powerless in the Face of Death
- Hate Floats (voice only)
- Escape to the House of Mummies Part II (mentioned)
- Twenty Years to Midnight
- Fallen Arches (mentioned)
- Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part 1) (voice only)
- Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny (mentioned)
- The Doctor is Sin
- The Buddy System
- Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman
- What Goes Down, Must Come Up
- Now Museum - Now You Don't!
- The Lepidopterists (picture only)
Aboard the X-2 | <urn:uuid:4157ec3a-9cc0-44cb-8d99-fd8db18cc3af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.venturefans.org/vbwiki/Dr._Jonas_Venture | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967807 | 1,053 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Taking a vacation... Ahh... Clear blue water and sandy beaches. Or maybe hiking, ziplining, kayaking. Even a “staycation,” hanging out in your hometown, relaxing reading, checking out local spots you’ve always wanted to try. Any way you go with your vacation, it is a break from your everyday routine. Vacations are a great ways to relax, recharge and refresh your body, mind and spirit.
But they can also sabotage your healthy habits. You might indulge in foods or drinks you don’t ordinarily. You might skip your workout routine, stay up late, sleep in late. While these things are fine to do on occasion, after a week or more of doing this, you are changing your rhythm, your pattern, your habits.
This is why it can be so difficult to come back to “reality” after a trip. Here’ s what I recommend you do during your trip and after your trip to keep yourself on track.
During your Trip:
- Try to go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time you usually do, give or take 40 minutes or so. One late night won’t throw you off, but staying up till 1am when you usually go to bed at 10pm will reset your internal clock if you do it for more than a few days.
- Try to maintain healthy eating habits, for the most part. This can be challenging if you have to eat out at every meal. I try to stay in a place that has a little fridge and stove top if possible, so I can prepare some simple things. If this isn’t possible, at least keep fresh fruit and nuts in your hotel room to snack on. Again, one or two high fat /sodium or sugary items shouldn’t completely throw you off course, but indulging too much will.
- Keep up your exercise routine. Even if you have to modify it or shorten it, do something. Jumping jacks, pushups, squats, crunches and some deep stretches will go a long way to keep you in shape on your vacation.
- Take time to center yourself, be fully present and breathe on vacation. Don’t stress about little details or try to do too much.
After your trip or at the end of summer vacation:
- Set a schedule. Write it out. Days and times to exercise. Healthy meals and snacks for the week. And give yourself one or two days to eat out or order pizza. Put the schedule where you can see it. Follow it.
- Go on a Post Vacation Diet Detox. When we return from vacation, my husband and kids know that for two or three days, we are going to eat TONS of veggies, fruit, beans and whole grains. We avoid dessert, meats and dairy during this time. This is our way of “cleansing” after our few not-so-healthy meals from vacation.
- Have a marathon exercise week. Do some sort of exercise every day. Push yourself hard for a whole week, then back off just a bit - maybe 4 or 5 days the following week. Sometimes throwing yourself into exercising can help re-establish a habit.
- Start a meditation practice if you don’t have one already. Taking even five or ten minutes a day to center yourself, breathe and be present will be like taking a little mini- vacation each and every day, no matter how busy you are. | <urn:uuid:660e18bf-10c7-47ea-ab04-391f3851f144> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthybodypeacefulsoul.com/whats-new/2011/8/22/post-vacation-detox-recovery.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940754 | 722 | 1.625 | 2 |
Should Michigan's governor sign a bill on is desk that would allow concealed weapons in former no-gun zones, like schools?
The question is timely for two reasons:
- Under legislation that passed the House and Senate in Michigan this week, gun owners with concealed weapon permits could carry a gun into schools, daycares, hospitals or public arenas if they get extra training. The bill is awaiting Gov. Rick Snyder's signature, according to MLive.
- And on Friday, a gunman opened fire in a school in Newtown, CT, killing at least 27 died in a shooting an an elementary school, including 18 children.
What do you think of the legislation? Should the governor sign it? Answer our poll and tell us in comments. | <urn:uuid:d8b494eb-fa24-4d51-a818-f53d7722361a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westbloomfield.patch.com/articles/should-snyder-sign-bill-allowing-concealed-weapons-in-schools-3c2bd009 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968756 | 151 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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