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ATLIS in The Early Years
Just under 15 years ago, ATLIS’s founder and entrepreneur, Mark Brooker, envisioned that Geographical Information Systems will eventually be adopted into mainstream business operations. He knew that in order for businesses and governments to take advantage of this information, the content had to be current, accurate and feature rich.
In March 1995 ATLIS (Aerial Technologies & Land Information Services) was created by Mark Brooker and co-founder Diane Brooker with a vision to become Canada’s leading provider of innovative geospatial products and services. The company was established as Central Canada’s only professional aerial survey and mapping firm and offers a wide range of professional mapping capabilities with a team of professionals who over 100 years of combined experience.
Three short years later ATLIS was dedicated to providing a local presence to for their client base, therefore a branch office in Saskatoon, SK was established in 1998, followed by a Calgary office in 2001.
We invested in new equipment..
therefore this content is being updated!
ATLIS Today and to Come…
Today, ATLIS has grown into a highly respected mapping firm, focusing on helping companies achieve their full business value by leveraging the capabilities of aerial survey. Clients such as AECOM, McDonalds Restaurants of Canada, and Shaw Communications rely on ATLIS’s solutions to help increase business value with the most accurate, current and feature rich geospatial content.
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Gurdjieff called his work “school” work. The individuals don’t count. The whole school together is needed.
To me, each individual is enough unto himself. He lacks nothing – just a little understanding of himself, a little awareness, a little more consciousness, of which everybody is capable.
And this is the purpose of my having a world tour – to make you aware that you are not dependent on anyone, that you are not part of any school work, that my approach is individualistic, that I want each individual to be absolutely independent in his spiritual growth.
And it is far easier than school work, but it depends on what kinds of methods are used. Gurdjieff was using the methods he had collected from the Sufis – they are all school methods: the individual has to surrender completely to the group. The group evolves, and with the group the individual evolves. If the group is stuck, then the individual is stuck. Then there is no way for the individual to find his own way, because from the very beginning it was a kind of collective growth.
My work differs totally from Gurdjieff’s. It is individual from the very beginning. Even though you are living in a commune, it is not that you are part of the commune – no. On the contrary, the commune is simply a name: it has no existence of itself. Because you love each other and you feel to be together…it is just living together.
But your work remains individual.
Your growth remains individual.
And remember this, that the final freedom is possible only if from the very first step you are free. If you are not free from the very first step, you cannot hope for the last step to be out of freedom, because the last step is essentially the growth of the first step. What was a seed at the first step has come to a flowering at the last step.
No sannyasin needs to feel that he is stuck in the middle. But right now the feeling may be there because I removed all the structure that was created to have a centralized system about everything – erasing individuality, dissolving it into collectivity. So there is a gap right now.
So I want to meet all the sannyasins around the world to tell them, “You need not be worried at all. Wherever you are you can start growing individually.”
And it is beautiful not to depend on others. It is dangerous to have a centralized system. It is efficient, but it is dangerous. It is efficient like any machine, but it reduces human beings to robots. Their individuality is not respected. They are respected as a part, as a cog in the wheel, but in themselves they are just a cog, of no use. Their use is only in the wheel. If they fit in the centralized system completely, then they are useful, and they will be praised, and they will be rewarded.
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Lets discuss Wano Country.
The country in which the Legendary Samurai Ryuuma hails from is known as a powerful country called Wano. Wano being based off isolated Japan is strong enough to keep the World Government and possibly the Yonkou from ruling over them. Wano is also the first named location in the One Piece Series, being named several years before One Piece first came out in Oda's one shot Monsters.
What is your intake/theories/predictions/knowledge on this subject?
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A young Briton wounded in shooting in an armed robbery in Nairobi two years ago, took the first steps up Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, at the weekend to publicise the need to engage young people in crime prevention.
Mr. Tim Challen, 33, said he hoped to raise at least 50,000 US dollars from the climb: “I have been waiting for this day to come. I strongly believe in turning my misfortune into raising awareness to the problems of crime.”
In May 2003, Mr.Challen, a staff member of United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU, was shot in the leg and badly injured by armed robbers in Nairobi. After extensive surgery and a long period of rehabilitation, he decided to help address some of the harsh realities of crime in East Africa and try to make a positive change.
The initiative grew substantially with support from UN-HABITAT's Safer Cities Programme that is working with cities to create a culture of prevention and safe environments. The initiative is also geared in support of “Sports for Vulnerable Youth” as part of the UN Decade Campaign on Sports for Peace and Development.
Mr. Challen, said he wanted to conquer the 5,896-metre snow-capped summit to raise funds for new community crime prevention projects in East Africa: “If this climb can inspire one person not to give up on their dreams and to believe that their life can improve, I feel our climb will have succeeded.”
“This is the first effort of its kind on behalf of Safer Cities and we are proud to work with Tim and UNFCU to continue to strengthen civic responsibility within communities, engage youth and prevent crime,” said UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, who saw the expedition off with Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner, Mr. Mohammed Babu.
The UNFCU sponsored 10 youths on the expedition, and another was sponsored by the
Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Mr. Challen said funds raised by the climb would go towards grassroots projects. These include the renovation of a soccer field in the Nairobi’s Kibera slum, start-up money for small businesses run by youths to help fund neighbourhood night security patrols, and a water project in Kiluvya ward in the district of Kinondoni in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He said the sales from the water project would fund a security-watch group. UN- HABITAT will oversee disbursement of the money.
The 30-strong expedition is led by General Mirisho Sarakikya, the former Permanent Representative of the Republic of Tanzania to UN-HABITAT and UNEP. The former Tanzanian defence chief, he was the first person to raise the Tanzanian flag on the “roof of Africa” when his country gained independence. The team also includes the chief executive officer of UNFCU, Mr. Michael Connery.
“Tim conceived of the idea to discourage young people from getting sucked into anti-social welfare activities. The climb represents a mission of hope and true lesson in overcoming adversity,” Mrs. Tibaijuka said.
The aims of the Kilimanjaro Initiative are to raise awareness of the problems linked with crime, to offer hope to those affected by crime, and to show that something can be done to improve security for everyone. It also seeks to use sports as an approach towards addressing crime-related problems in East Africa as part of the UN Decade for Sport for Peace and Development.
For further information on the Safer Cities Nairobi and Dar es Salaam projects, see http://www.unhabitat.org/safer cities. For additional information on the Kilimanjaro initiative, see http://www.kilimanjaroinitiative.org/
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Yes campaign event covers issue of putting power in one person's hands
AN elected mayor could be a strong voice for the city – or a dictator with no-one to rein them in, a debate organised by 'yes' campaigners heard.
The government has yet to reveal exactly what powers a directly elected Bristol mayor would have, leading to uncertainty as to whether the city leader would be too powerful – or not powerful enough.
Last night's event, held at Bristol Grammar School, started with a lecture by Dr David Sweeting of Bristol University on the history of directly elected mayors and the possible powers a mayor would have. This was followed by a debate involving a panel of people who support a directly-elected Bristol mayor.
They included architect and potential candidate George Ferguson, city council Tory group leader Peter Abraham, Bristol University Students Union president Gus Baker, James Durie from Business West and Labour alderman Paul Smith.
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Questions were also taken from the audience of around 70 people.
In leaflets advertising the event organisers had said that Ray Mallon, the current mayor of Middlesbrough, would take part in the debate. But the former police officer once nicknamed RoboCop for his successful "zero tolerance" crime policy, did not attend as he was campaigning elsewhere.
One of the main issues discussed was what sort of powers a directly elected mayor would have.
Mr Ferguson said he thought there would still be a need for a council chief executive, whereas Mr Abraham argued that there would not.
One audience member voiced concern that a mayor could be like a "single dictator" and asked how this could help the city.
Mr Ferguson said he believed a "strong, confident leader would be able to devolve power back to the people".
"I don't believe the people of Bristol are going to have some mini-Hitler in the mayoral position," he said.
Mr Baker said he believed mayoral elections would prompt a higher turnout of the electorate than council polls, making the process more democratic.
Mr Durie said: "A mayor could strengthen the city – the current system does not allow the kind of time scale to get things done."
Organisers said they had invited representatives from the campaign against an elected mayor but no-one had come forward.
Leading 'no' campaigner and Lib Dem cabinet councillor Tim Kent told the Post: "We regarded this as less of a debate and more of a rally for the 'yes' campaigners.
"It was organised by them and before they invited us they were already advertising five of their own speakers. We have no gripes with them holding this event but we will only participate if there is a chance for an equal discussion."
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The Special International Crimes Office investigates criminal acts committed abroad and has, since its establishment in 2002, opened investigations into 237 cases.
The crimes in question have taken place in about 30 different countries in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. A majority of them have taken place in Ex-Yugoslavia, the Middle East, Afghanistan and Rwanda, which all have been areas of conflict for a number of years. About 1/3 of the cases have been reported to SICO by the Danish Immigration Service, when they have suspected, either based on an asylum applicant's former position or his/her own statement to the Danish authorities, that the person in question could have committed a serious crime in his/her native country. As a starting point SICO does not institute an investigation unless it is decided that the asylum seeker in question is able to stay in Denmark, either on a residence permit or an exceptional leave to remain. SICO is also prepared to assess if there is reason to prosecute quota refugees whom Denmark is occasionally asked to receive.
Through our website, a mulitlingual folder as well as media exposure, SICO has received reports from private persons. Investigations on SICO's own initiative have also resulted in several new cases. Various interest groups have reported foreigners who are on short stays in Denmark as conference participants or guest lecturers, for crimes committed in their home country. This of course requires a special investigation that has to be conducted very quickly. Finally foreign head of states or ministers get reported even though they have no connection to Danish Territory and even though they at present can't be prosecuted because of their position.
Investigations led to a person being sentenced in 2004 for robbery and abduction in Uganda. Grounds for an indictment were found in the case of an Iraqi army commander who has since absconded, and also in a case concerning abduction and sexual assault. As far as the latter is concerned the suspect has passed away. A decision whether to prosecute is taken according to Danish guidelines, i. e. whether a conviction is probable.
One person has been held in custody for participation in genocide in Rwanda but was on August 10, 2007 released. Action in the case has since been dropped as prospect of conviction was lacking. On December 20th 2007 a Danish citizen of Pakistani origin was acquitted of having murdered his spouse during a stay in Pakistan. In his direction to the jury, the presiding judge referred to the lack of credibilty of testimonies from another culture group. In December 2010 a person was charged with participation in the genocide in Rwanda and remanded in custody. The suspect has now been indicted and the trial was due to start on 1 May in the Court of Roskilde. On 2 March 2012 the Rwandan Prosecution Service asked for the suspect to be extradited for prosecution in Rwanda and the Danish trial therefore awaits the outcome of that request.
In 219 cases there has been no basis for prosecution in Denmark for either one or several reasons. E.g. some of the suspects are no longer living in Denmark which leaves no reason to institute or continue an investigation. The Special International Crimes Office can only prevent a person’s departure if there is sufficient evidence to establish a case for which a court order for preliminary detention can be obtained. So far this has only been the instance in the case against the former Iraqi army commander, the man from Uganda, a Danish citizen of Pakistani origin and two persons from Rwanda.
Investigations of "piracy" is a new type of cases, which is characterized in that the offence is committed on "the high seas". Prosecution in Denmark is only possible if the attack is directed against Danish vessels or committed by a Danish citizen. If the attack takes place in foreign territorial waters, the offence also has to be punishable in the country in question.
The criminal liability could also be statute-barred, which has been significant in cases concerning torture, where criminal liability is statute-barred 10 years after the crime has been committed. Criminal liability for homicide however is not statute-barred. With effect from the 1st of July 2008 the Danish Penal Code has been amended, so that criminal liability in cases concerning torture is no longer subject to any statute of limitation.
If the country in which the crime has been committed cannot confirm that e.g. an "admitted" arson causing loss of life has taken place, there is no reason to continue the investigation and the case will be closed. Sometimes evidence of a crime is procured and it turns out that the suspect had nothing to do with it, or the crime was committed at a time when the suspect was not old enough to incur criminal liability. In one incident the alleged victim of a homicide turned out to be alive and well.
Also, the crime itself may be of such a limited nature that it is not proportional to the difficulties involved in carrying out a trial and its expected sentencing. This was the instance in a case concerning a corporal who forwarded orders from General Headquarters to commit assaults on civilians.
There are also cases where suspicion arises against someone living in Denmark because the person in question bears the same name as a wanted person, and in which cases further inquiries show that the suspect has not committed a criminal offence.
The informer will be contacted by SICO when the investigation is discontinued. If the case has been reported by the Danish Immigration Service, it will then assess whether or not to resume asylum procedures for the person in question. In cases where it has proved impossible to gather information on the criminal act , the suspect will often admit during interrogation that he made up the incident in order to improve his chances of obtaining asylum.
Annual reports (in Danish) of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007,2008, 2009 and 2010-2011 cover issues that are of significance to the Special International Crimes Office and provide further information. The reports of 2005 and 2006 include summaries in English.
15 cases are still under investigation, including the case against a fugitive former commander-in-chief of the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein. Of the rest of the cases, two were received in 2008, five in 2009, three in 2010 and four in 2011.
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MARQUETTE - With a goal of eating five cups of fruits and vegetables per day, participants for the Healthy Lifestyle Journal: Community Wellness Challenge 2013 are always looking for creative ways to incorporate the five cups into their daily meals.
And Deb Sergey, RD, IC, Supervisor at MGHS Wellness Center, recently offered a list of what she calls "power foods" to continue with the HLJ motto "making the healthy choice, the easy choice."
"I think it's important to know what foods pack a wallop," Sergey said.
She emphasized that stepping out of comfort zones and trying new foods is important. While compiling the list of power foods, Sergey said she aimed for foods that are high in fiber and phytochemicals that are vital for health and can't be achieved by simply taking a vitamin supplement.
She added that since the HLJ began, there has been a great deal of improvement in participants food choices.
"We had a sharing session at the Marquette site recently and people talked about eating a piece of fruit first thing instead of skipping breakfast, so that's a step in the right direction."
She added that they also swapped ideas on how to get creative with fruits and vegetables.
Sergey's list of power foods include: dark greens, broccoli, onions, tomatoes, avocados, berries and legumes. She also highlighted certain spices such as turmeric, ginger and chili powder that individuals can use liberally to flavor food and which may help cut down the amount of salt used.
"In fact, toss together the combination of foods listed with an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing, and you will have a powerhouse salad!" Sergey said.
She also offered tips on how to add the foods listed above, such as eating broccoli raw with a low fat dip or salsa or mashing some avocado with some plain low fat yogurt and spices for guacamole dip or a sandwich spread.
And there is no better time to try these foods according to Sergey, with March designated as National Nutrition Month. The slogan this year is, "Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day," which Sergey said fits perfectly with the HLJ.
Sergey said there are so many opportunities to eat unhealthy food, it takes some planning to get the right nutrition.
"Taste is important, but I think if you find the right vegetables and fruits and try something new each week, you'll find ones you really enjoy and gravitate more often to those instead of potato chips."
She added that people can still join the HLJ challenge at anytime. To learn more about the HLJ or to register, visit www.fitup.org. For more information on National Nutrition Month visit www.eatright.org/nnm/.
Abbey Hauswirth can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 240.
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Why Hollande Won’t Make A Big Difference For Europe
Let’s just put it bluntly: anyone who still believes a victory of Francois Hollande in today’s French presidential elections is going to change even the tiniest little thing about Europe’s crippling debt crisis is completely deluding themselves. If the events of the past three years have taught us anything, it is that politicians do not rule Europe — financial markets do. It was true when Mitterand came to power thirty years ago, and it is even more shockingly true today.
Much more important for the future of the continent will be the inevitable Greek bankruptcy. For the constitution of the European Union will not change through timid reform, but only through radical institutional measures imposed in response to total social chaos. While Hollande has promised to renegotiate the eurozone growth and stability pact, it won’t be until a full-blown Greek default that we might start seeing the emergence of a real alternative to austerity.
This is why, even though both Greece and France are going to the polls today, I refuse to read the news. Not because I do not care about politics — I have made a point of studying it for most of my life — but because I do not believe that the outcome of either of those elections will make a very big difference for the future of our continent. Yes, of course the outcome may be an important indicator of the social mood and the rising resistance against the politics of austerity. But in the grand scheme of things, it won’t be Hollande or Sarkozy calling the shots — it will be the powerful institutional investors who do.
Lest I be accused of political apathy, let me clarify straight away that I am neither misanthropic nor deterministic about Europe’s future. The future remains to be written, and popular resistance against the politics of austerity will be crucial for shifting the dynamics away from the neoliberal assault on social welfare and democratic principles. But today, in the 21st century, the decisive battles for the future of humanity are no longer fought in Parliaments and Ministries; they are fought on the trading floors and in the streets.
There are multiple reasons why the election of the Socialist candidate will fail to make a big impact on the future course of the eurozone debt crisis. First of all, French banks still hold the majority of Greek debt. They will exercise enormous pressure on Hollande not to renegotiate the austerity pact — and they will win. Secondly, Germany, the unquestioned European hegemon, will do the same — and they, too, will win. While Orwellian concessions might be made, such as the inclusion of an emphasis on “investment and growth”, the institutional coordinates of the crisis-ridden eurozone will remain the same.
The only thing these elections are likely to change is the popular perception of the system. By talking about growth, jobs and investment, Hollande might — just like the Argentine President Kirchner before him — help to sustain the illusion that the ills of the capitalist system can still be fixed through a change in policies. As the neo-Keynesian economist Paul Krugman so simplistically put it in the New York Review of Books, “The truth is that recovery would be almost ridiculously easy to achieve: all we need is to reverse the austerity policies of the past couple of years and temporarily boost spending.”
Obviously things are not as “ridiculously easy” as Krugman or Hollande would have it. The truth is that Europe’s problems, at the end of the day, are structural. This crisis is not the result of “bad” policies, nor can it be solved through “good” policies. Ultimately, the crisis is a logical outgrowth of the financialized capitalism of the neoliberal era combined with a dysfunctional institutional set-up that hopelessly seeks to balance deep economic integration at the European level with the survival of archaic representative institutions at the national level.
The eurozone debt crisis arose out of the internal contradictions of global capitalism — stagnating wages feeding into a capital surplus that had to be recycled by financial institutions, which in response bought up profitable but ultimately unproductive assets, like Spanish and Irish mortgages or Greek, Portuguese and Italian bonds. Solving the debt problem would require a massive restructuring of these bad loans (i.e., an unprecedented mass default) combined with a currency devaluation for the crisis-ridden periphery (i.e., a euro exit).
Hollande hasn’t proposed anything along these lines — and that in itself is no surprise. Social democrats are not particularly known for their radical bravado, and representative democracy as such was never really designed to produce radical solutions to structural crises. A more existential question is whether nation states can do anything to govern global markets to begin with. In this respect, Hollande’s campaign slogan, “le changement c’est maintenant”, rings about as hollow as Obama’s “change you can believe in.”
The elections in Greece are only marginally more interesting; not because Greek politicians can be presumed to have any form of policy autonomy (as it stands, the Greek government is in a state of total dependency on its foreign creditors to be able to keep paying its public employees), but rather because, as Costas Douzinas recently put it, “This is the first time a radical left government has been seriously on the cards in Europe.” Even though such a radical left coalition is highly unlikely to be formed, the formation of the next government will probably be mired in chaos.
The outcome of today’s elections in Greece is unlikely to yield any absolute majority, nor a very straightforward coalition. This means that the country may literally become ungovernable. A technocratic caretaker government may be called for by the President, but it is questionable how effective it will be in carrying out the demanded austerity measures — in particular in the face of continued popular resistance in the streets. Ironically, therefore, Europe’s only hope for a genuine alternative hinges on the very real possibility that Greece — a critical link in the chain — may simply descend into chaos.
At that point, a Greek default and euro exit could finally force the type of institutional change that “anti-austerity” leaders like Hollande are so terrified of proposing today. Sadly, it seems, in today’s era of broken dreams, our political representatives govern only through their incapacity to govern.
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Archive for Sexual Abuse
More Than Five Children Die As A Result of Child Abuse Every Day In the U.S
Every day in the United States, more than five children die as a result of child abuse. Child abuse includes verbal, emotional, physical and sexual as well as neglect.
Child Abuse occurs in every socioeconomic status, across all ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions, including clergy within these religions, educators, and by people of every education level. While April is designated as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, it is lip service at best and misleading at worst. The rest of the year everyone pretends that only children in the ghetto or uneducated parents abuse their children.
If a disease killed or maimed as many children as abuse does; the AMA would declare a pandemic; Pharmaceutical companies would be awarded billions of dollars to develop a vaccine or pill to numb the pain or body parts are cut out—and it is a well-known fact—vaccines, pills and cutting out body parts cures nothing.
Sadly, child abuse, is not a platform that you will find popular with politicians or a topic of conversation at social gatherings. However, having guns in the hands of every citizen that frequently ultimately kill innocent people, including children is a hot topic.
More children die each year at the hands of their parents than from irresponsible gun use. I am not advocating that gun management is unnecessary; I am illuminating the crisis of child abuse in contrast to the hot topic of gun management.
The after effects of child abuse are devastating, far-reaching and the dots of cause and effect of the devastation is seldom considered when the after effect symptoms are expressed in so-called physical and mental diseases.
Child abuse After effects include poor academic performance, difficulty maintaining healthy relationships, Anxiety, Panic, Depression, Bi-polar, Post Traumatic Stress, Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Cancer, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Migraine Headaches, and Arthritis are just a few of the after effects child abuse survivors cope with. See the extensive list of effects here…
Healing is possible. It is important to work with a practitioner, who can address these complicated after effects through a process of Emotional, Physical and Spiritual Transformation (EPST) a highly effective protocol to Transform the root cause of all issues and symptoms. EPST is direct, focused and combines creating health while transforming the past. It is precise, powerful, virtually effortless and an accurate method to change the landscape of your inner and outer mind, body and spirit. EPST allows you to access your past, present and future – as well as your subconscious to clear negative energy on all levels (beliefs, thoughts & feelings) – Mind, Body and Spirit. ###
About the Author:
Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, Metaphysician – Certified Hypnosis and Regression Practitioner, Author and Speaker. Dr. Dorothy facilitates clearing blocks, fears and limiting beliefs as well as restoring your Mind, Body and Spirit back to vibrant health. You can live the life you desire. She facilitates Past Life Regression, Life Between Lives and Future Life Progression. She is featured in the documentary The Business of DisEase. She was a World Regression Congress faculty member in the Netherlands, India, Braziland Turkey. http://www.drdorothy.net http://facebook.com/DrDorothyNed http://teamasea.com/drdorothy http://empowernetwork.com/drdorothy
Undated booking photos, (not shown here) taken by the national police in The Netherlands and provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, show Robert Mikelsons, who was sentenced in Amsterdam on May 21, 2012, to 18 years in prison for abusing dozens of babies and toddlers. A child pornography investigation, which began when a Massachusettsman sent a photo of a young Dutch boy to an undercover federal agent in Boston, led to the arrests of 43 men in seven countries, including Mikelsons, and helped uncover a child pornography network.
DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press
BOSTON— The men came from different walks of life on two continents: a children’s puppeteer inFlorida, a hotel manager inMassachusetts, an emergency medical technician in Kansas, a day care worker in theNetherlands. In all, 43 men have been arrested over the past two years in a horrific, far-flung child porn network that unraveled like a sweater with a single loose thread.
In this case, the thread was a stuffed toy bunny.
The bunny, seen in a photo of a half-naked, distraught 18-month-old boy, was used to painstakingly trace a molester toAmsterdam. From there, investigators made one arrest after another of men accused of sexually abusing children, exchanging explicit photos of the attacks and even chatting online about abducting, cooking and eating youngsters.
Authorities have identified more than 140 young victims so far and say there is no end in sight as they pore through hundreds of thousands of images found on the suspects’ computers. They are also working to determine whether the men who talked about murder and cannibalism actually committed such acts or were just sharing twisted fantasies.
The still-widening investigation has been code-named Holitna, after a river in Alaskawith many tributaries.
“They are the worst of the worst,” said Bruce Foucart, agent in charge of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agency’s Homeland Security Investigations unit inBoston. “This isn’t just a child that’s nude and someone’s taking pictures of him; this is a child that’s being raped by an adult, which is horrific.”
Agents forwarded the photo to Interpol, the international police organization, and to several other countries.
An investigator for the Dutch police recognized the stuffed bunny as Miffy, a familiar character in a series of Dutch children’s books. She also traced the boy’s orange sweater to a small Amsterdam store that had sold only 20 others like it.
The boy’s photo was broadcast on a national TV program similar to “America’s Most Wanted.” Within minutes, friends and relatives called the child’s mother.
Robert Mikelsons, a 27-year-old day care worker who baby-sat the boy, was arrested. On his computer were thousands and thousands of images of children being molested and raped, including the boy holding the stuffed bunny.
Photos and online chats found on computers owned by Diduca and Mikelsons led to more than three dozen other suspects in seven countries, including Canada, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Mexico. The oldest victim in the Netherlands was 4, the youngest just 19 days old.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, whose office prosecuted Diduca, said the demand for photos of sexual assaults of young children, including babies and toddlers, has increased sharply in recent years.
“This demand leads to the abuse of children, yet there is this misconception that somehow, viewing child pornography is a victimless crime,” said. “It clearly is not.”
Diduca pleaded guilty to child porn and sexual exploitation charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. His lawyer, Richard Sweeney, said Diduca was sexually abused as a child by a Boy Scout leader. “He gets it, he knows he needs to be punished, he knows what he did is wrong,” Sweeney said.
Mikelsons also received an 18-year sentence, followed by indefinite psychiatric commitment, after confessing to sexually abusing more than 80 children.
The horror did not let up after the Mikelsons case.
In May, authorities arrested Michael Arnett of Roeland Park, Kan., after finding pornographic photos he allegedly produced. Agents discovered the pictures when they searched the computer of a Wisconsin man who had been chatting online with Mikelsons.
What they found on Arnett’s computer was unlike anything some of the investigators had ever come across: long, graphic, online chats about his desire to abduct, kill and eat children. They said he had also made photos of a naked 2-year-old boy in a roasting pan inside his oven. The child and two other boys Arnett allegedly abused and photographed were later identified and found alive.
In July, authorities arrested four men they say had online discussions with Arnett about kidnapping and eating children. Those arrested included Ronald Brown, a children’s puppeteer from Largo,Fla. (A YouTube video shows Brown during an appearance on a Christian TV kids show in the 1980s. In the video, he tells a child puppet that he did the right thing by refusing to look at “dirty pictures” some other youngsters tried to show him.)
In excerpts of an online chat between Arnett and Brown from 2011, the two men appear to be discussing their desire to cook a child for Easter.
“he would make a fine Easter feast,” Arnett says.
“yes, his thighs and butt cheeks would be fantastic for Easter,” Brown responds.
A lawyer for Arnett would not comment on the allegations. Brown’s lawyer did not return calls.
Prosecutors said Brown acknowledged his online conversations but said that it was all a fantasy and that he would never hurt anyone.
“Obviously the discussions regarding their claims of cannibalism are disturbing and a concern to our agency,” said ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein. He said agents are following all leads “to make sure these individuals didn’t follow through on any of their claims.”
To find the young victims, investigators carefully studied thousands of photos, read hours of Internet chats and worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They also employed some forensic wizardry.
After finding a video on Diduca’s computer of a bound, 2-year-old boy being raped, investigators enhanced the images of furniture and carpet and determined the attack took place in a motel room in Bakersfield,Calif.
Then they pinpointed the date by way of a TV that was playing in the background in the video, figuring out exactly when a particular episode of “Family Matters” aired along with a certain Pepperidge Farms commercial.
A man from Black Forest, Colo., was arrested and is awaiting trial.
Similarly, in the Arnett case, investigators discovered that a water bottle in one of the photographs carried the name of a swim and scuba center in Overland Park, Kan. With the help of teachers at an elementary school, they identified three children shown in the photographs, including the toddler posed in the roasting pan.
The mother of one of the boys said she initially did not believe the allegations against Arnett, a family friend for about 15 years. She said her son, now 7, and several nephews often spent weekends at Arnett’s home four or five years ago.
“Well, when we first got the phone call, we thought there’s no way. You guys got the wrong guy,” she said. The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual abuse or their families.
But then investigators showed her photos Arnett had allegedly taken of her son with a shirt and no pants.
“Regret? For sending my son with a sick-minded guy, that’s the only regret I have. I had no idea,” she said. “It’s depressing.”
For the agents working on the case, the leads never seem to end.
Last week, they arrested another Massachusetts man after finding child pornography and photos of what appeared to be dead children on his computer. He allegedly had online chats with Arnett and Brown.
More arrests are expected.
“The agents that work for me are extremely driven on this type of investigation,” said Bart Cahill, assistant agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations inBoston. “They really believe that they are taking out horrific violators and saving kids.”
Associated Press writers Maria Sudekum inKansas City,Mo., and Matt Sedensky inWest Palm Beach,Fla., contributed to this report.
No doubt like me; you are sickened by the Penn State child-sexual assault; as you were no doubt sickened by previous mass incidents of child sexual assaults by Priests, Clergy, Rabbis. The non-reporting and cover-up syndrome at Penn State is no different than clergy covering up for sex offenders within the religious fabric of society.
While the media, professionals and collegiate officials debate how to handle thePenn State tragedy, including the systemic cover-up by university leaders, others; like myself want the public to know how such abuse impacts children’s lives.
You no doubt heard commentators make innate and blatantly calloused comments: ‘What’s done is done,’ ‘There’s no one left to go after,’ ‘Why punish the students and the athletes by placing sanctions on Penn State?’
“It’s time to heal those who bear the aftermath, and it is time for society to pull their heads out of the sand about sexual child abuse and sex offenders,” says child advocate Dorothy M Neddermeyer, PhD whose book “If I’d Only Known…Sexual Abuse In Or Out Of The Family: A Guide To Prevention (http://drdorothy.info/?page_id=9 ) details the stark aftermath of sexual child abuse and how to prevent it in or out of the home. “If these commentators, professionals or collegiate officials were the victims, or their children were, I know they would demand restitution and changes going forward so that a tragedy of this nature would be prevented,” Dr Neddermeyer stated.
Hearing the supporters of the university’s football program nullify the damage is reminiscent of a society that is in denial about the full scope and magnitude of sexual child abuse aftermath. PennState’s board could do the noble gesture and make it easy for themselves by self-imposing the ‘death penalty’ option – temporarily shutting down the embattled football program.
“As horrific as sexual child abuse is, left untreated by a protocol specifically focused on sexual child abuse recovery, the volume of lifelong negative consequences is worse than the initial assault,” Dr Neddermeyer said. “Children often hear the voice of their abuser in their minds—telling them they’re bad, they’re ugly, they’re worthless, that no one would believe them, or no one would care or they wanted and/or liked the sexual assault—long after the abuse occurred and/or was reported. The emotional torture continues until the recovery process is in an advanced stage.”
Without a recovery process specifically focused on sexual child abuse the lasting scars, include, but are not limited to:
- Difficulty managing emotions. One of the strongest signs of well-being is the ability to manage adversity, to keep emotions balanced. “For sexual abuse survivors, a lasting legacy is the opposite of well-being.” Sexual abuse survivors usually have difficulty expressing feelings, which are then bottled up, often leading to sporadic periods of depression, anger and anxiety. Many survivors use excess alcohol and/or drugs to numb the pain.
- Feeling a core sense of worthlessness, dirty or damaged. The physical side of sexual abuse is one aspect, what haunts survivors is the voice of the abuser, constantly reinforcing a lack of personal value. As time passes the survivors mature into adults, who are unable to invent in themselves. With a deep sense of being damaged, they often feel incapable or unworthy of career success and higher-paying positions.
- Difficulty trusting relationships or people on any level is omnipresent. 80% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by family members, 19% is perpetrated by people the child knows and trusts– family friends, church leaders, teachers, sports coach, scout leaders, et al. Children who can not feel secure within the family, the most fundamental relationships, develop deep and pervasive trust issues. Relationships are often doomed because the survivor trashes good relationships, fearing their partner will ultimately control, hurt or abandon them as was the case with the trusted perpetrator. More often than not, survivors are drawn to an abusive person because they do not know what a healthy relationship feels like or entails.
“When I hear the ‘Yeah, but,’ argument from people who are in denial and defend and thereby allow sexual child abuse to continue, whether it is the tragedy of Penn State, the Catholic Church, Judaism, Protestant or Mormon Church, my convictions that society needs to do more to raise awareness about sexual child abuse rises another octave. Society needs to raise awareness on how sex offenders are created; how sexual abuse offenses can be prevented; and enforcing the law, which requires professionals and persons in authority to report the abuse when the person first suspects there is reason to believe an adult is on the verge or already has sexually abused a child.
No more denial. No more cover-ups. No more excuses or reasons for any child being sexually abused by someone who has authority or responsibility for the child’s well-being.
Dealing with Domestic Violence:
Cure or Cover-up?
By Jordan Riak, June 7, 2012
When lawmakers claim they want to address the problem of domestic violence, i.e, wife beating by husbands, but remain silent about educator violence, i.e, pupil beating by teachers, can they be taken seriously?
We must remember that teachers who punish schoolboys by smacking them on the buttocks with a stick are preparing them to become abusive husbands. And similarly-mistreated girls are learning to become submissive wives.
As trained, certified experts, teachers represent a standard for the general community – a standard that is etched into the public mind (for good or for ill) beginning in the earliest years. Conveniently substituting the word “discipline” for “violence” doesn’t change the substance of the matter; and making one’s 18th birthday the magic moment for achieving equal protection under the law against assault and battery is, to say the least, arbitrary and unreasonable.
Credit goes to those reform-minded legislators who are leading the crusade against domestic violence. More power to them. But somebody needs to remind them that real reform can only begin after they’ve honestly examined the root of the problem. Anything short of that is self-deception.
Nashville trying to reduce domestic violence, By The Associated Press, The Daily Herald, May 21, 2012
The mainstay for the majority of parents is telling the child what not to do – Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Unfortunately, more often than not; parents fail to tell the child what to do. You were indoctrinated and conditioned to not do this or that without adequate guidance how to make a decision on ‘what to do.’ Now you have difficulty deciding what to do. In the absence of not knowing ‘what to do’—-you can do the following until you know what you desire to do.
• Avoid spending time with naysayer people.
• Avoid running from your problems. – Face them head on.
• Avoid lying to yourself. –You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself and be successful. M Scott Peck
• Avoid putting your own needs on the back burner. No one can do what you need to do for your needs.
• Avoid working on being someone you’re not.
• Avoid holding onto the past.
• Avoid being scared to make a mistake. So called ‘mistakes’ can lead to the solution.
• Avoid berating yourself for perceived mistakes. They lead to the solution.
• Avoid thinking you can buy happiness. Bigger houses or cars never create a bigger person.
• Avoid exclusively looking to others for happiness.
• Avoid being idle.
• Avoid thinking you’re not ready. Readiness is a decision. Decide
• Avoid getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons.
• Avoid rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work.
• Avoid competing against anyone.
• Avoid being jealous of others.
• Avoid complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. What goes around comes around. – What you complain & whine about is what comes back.
• Avoid holding grudges. Grudges prevent you from seeing clearly for your best interest.
• Avoid letting others bring you down to their level.
• Avoid doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.
• Avoid overlooking the beauty in the moment.
• Avoid working to make things perfect. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder. You aren’t the only beholder.
• Avoid following the path of least resistance. The best fruit is on the highest branch.
• Avoid blaming others for your travail. What goes around comes around. – What you blame others about is what comes back.
• Avoid being everything to everyone.
• Avoid worrying. Worry is an endless loop. What goes around comes around. Focus on what you desire.
• Avoid focusing on what you don’t want. – What goes around comes around. Focus on what you desire.
• Focus on TRUST, FAITH, BELIEF moment to moment all ways always.
• Focus on being grateful for all things big and small – the small things add up to big things.
I wish you well on your journey of deciding what to do. ###
Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, Metaphysician – Certified Hypnosis and Regression Practitioner, Author and Speaker. Dr. Dorothy facilitates clearing blocks, fears and limiting beliefs. You can live the life you desire. She facilitates Past Life Regression and Future Life Progression. She was a World Regression Congress faculty member in the Netherlands, India, Brazil and Turkey. http://www.drdorothy.net http://facebook.com/DrDorothyNed http://myasea.com/drdorothy
Finland: Corporal punishment fades into history
Yle Uutiset, May 16, 2012
New generations of parents in Finland are less likely to physically punish their children. Today ten percent of parents say corporal punishment is acceptable, down from 50 percent in the 1980s.A survey conducted by the Finnish Central Union for Child Welfare suggests Finns’ attitudes toward corporal punishment have changed. Today the physical chastisement of children is generally considered unacceptable.
Heikki Sariola, a senior advisor at the organisation, said the results were surprising.
”This signals a major shift in Finnish culture,” he explained, adding that many of today’s parents were themselves raised without fear of physical violence at home.
Finnish law has prohibited the corporal punishment of children since 1984.But many parents still legitimise milder forms physical punishment, including hair-pulling, slapping, whipping and knuckle-rapping. Nearly 40 percent of parents admitted to pulling kids’ hair and 20 percent have slapped hands.
“It’s problematic that parents don’t think this qualifies as violence, or then they may just be defending their own actions,” Sariola surmises.
Few respondents directly condoned the physical punishment of children. The union said it appears as if the no-hitting philosophy has seeped into the national psyche. Today 97 percent of those surveyed were aware of the law, up from 94 percent in 2004.
The union polled around 1,000 Finns between 15–79 for the survey.
OF SPANKING CHILDREN Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children was published in 1994 and last revised in August 2002. Copyright is waived on this publication and it may be freely reproduced and disseminated. For readers’ convenience, a PDF version of this publication may be viewed and downloaded at www.nospank.net/sdsc.pdf. For further information about corporal punishment of children, visit www.nospank.net and, for information specifically about its sexual implications, visit www.nospank.net/101.htm. Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Direct all inquiries to PTAVE, P.O. Box 1033, Alamo, CA 94507, e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org or call (925) 831-1661.
Noted child advocate underscores historical roots of ‘whoopings’
By Lu Ann Franklin, Times Correspondent
nwitimes.com, April 28, 2012
GARY | Every three minutes of every day, a black child is abuse or neglected, and one dies from that abuse or neglect at the hands of parents or parental figures.That cycle of corporal punishment in black families has historical roots, according to Stacey Patton, who was keynote speaker at Friday’s 22nd annual forum on child abuse and neglect at Indiana University Northwest.
The forum was sponsored by the IUN School of Public and Environmental Affairs in observance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Continuing education credits were available to foster parents and licensed social workers who participated.
A noted author, scholar and child advocate, Patton knows firsthand about the trauma of physical abuse. Born in Montclair, N.J., Patton spent the first five years of her childhood in foster care before being adopted by abusive parents.
At age 12, she ran away from home and spent the next few years being shuttled between foster homes and youth shelters before winning a full scholarship to Lawrenceville Prep School near Princeton, N.J.
In 2007, Patton published a book about her experiences, “That Mean Old Yesterday.” The book includes a discussion of the historical roots and impact of physical discipline of children in African-American families. In April 2011, she launched an online portal designed to teach alternatives to physical discipline of children.
“My adoptive mother would say ‘I whoop you because I love you’ before and after her beating rituals,” Patton said.
The history of African-Americans in America has “conditioned us to accept that having somebody control and beat us when we are young is somehow at the heart of our success and ability to become law-abiding productive adults,” she said.
It’s a style of parenting that is passed on from generation to generation, Patton said.
“The fact that so many black people legitimize abuse as a form of responsible parenting, effectively demonstrates how the intergenerational transmission of trauma continues to mentally shackle us and perpetuates rampant abuse which feeds a disproportionate number of young into the foster care and juvenile justice industries,” she said.
Helping black families — both biological and foster — break that cycle involves learning important parenting skills such as patience, empathy, communication skills and the ability to solve problems, Patton said.
She urged child welfare professionals to appreciate why some parents are incapable of nurturing their children in healthy, nonviolent ways.
“To fight child abuse, it’s not enough just to remove children from dangerous situations, or to investigate allegations of child abuse,” Patton said. “Social service professionals and others engaged in the fight need to become culturally competent by developing a stronger understanding of the link between child abuse and the history of personal and cultural trauma.”
— Agencies in Salina reach out to families to try to curb violence against children
By Erin Mathews
Salina Journal, April 29, 2012
It’s a sobering fact about Salina: In the past seven months, authorities allege that two children who lived here were killed by abuse in their homes.Representatives of agencies that work with families with young children expressed frustration and horror that 14-month-old Clayden Lee Urbanek and 18-month-old Bre’Elle Ciara Jefferson may have been fatally abused.
“It makes me sick,” said Charyl Zier, program coordinator for Heartland Programs, which administers Early Headstart, Headstart and Parents as Teachers. “How did we miss them? Why didn’t they know about us, or if they did, what could we have done to engage them?”
Vicki Price, education director of Child Advocacy and Parenting Services, said she and her co-workers know they are making a difference in the lives of children whose parents seek CAPS assistance to learn new parenting skills.
But they also know there are other families they are not reaching before irreparable harm is done.
Elaine Edwards, executive director of Salina Childcare, said she hopes that new United Way grant funding received by a coalition of 13 local organizations over a three-year period starting in July will help institute some new approaches that include more of the families who aren’t currently receiving services.
The goal of Partners in Early Childhood Education, or PIECE, is to help children enter school on track developmentally in the areas of literacy and social, emotional and intellectual skills.
“We’re trying to come up with different ways of reaching parents so we can expand services to other families who aren’t able to bring their children into existing programs,” she said.
Price said she hopes the deaths awaken an awareness of the need for change in Salina that will result in improvements in the living conditions and opportunities available for children. She also encouraged anyone who suspects sexual or physical abuse or neglect of a child to report it to authorities.
“If the community gets enraged, that’s when something could happen,” she said. One example of a new level of community involvement occurred Saturday, when a walk to raise awareness of the problem of child abuse organized by two young Salina women took place in honor of Clayden, who died Oct. 4, and Bre’Elle, who died April 10. Funds raised at the event were donated to CAPS.
The damage violence causes
Price said research has proven the damage caused by striking a child. “If kids don’t see their parents hitting them or hitting each other, and no one thinks of that as a tool in their parenting toolbox, it would be like a dinosaur and become extinct,” she said. A generation raised in homes free of abuse would mean many more children who grow up to be “capable, healthy and strong,” she said.
Nationwide, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System reported an estimated 1,770 children died — about one every five hours — from abuse and neglect in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available. In Kansas that year, 10 children were killed by abuse-related homicide, according to a report by the Kansas State Child Death Review Board.
According to a BBC investigation released in October 2011, 66 children under the age of 15 die from physical abuse or neglect each week in the industrialized world. Twenty-seven of those deaths occur in the United States, which loses more children to abuse and neglect than any other country.
Saline County statistics
Between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2011, in Saline County, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services “screened in” 608 reports of abuse and neglect for further assessment. Of those, 42 were found to meet the state’s standard of “clear and convincing evidence” that abuse or neglect occurred.
Statewide during that time, 20,353 reports of abuse and neglect were screened in, with 1,823 being substantiated.
Price said some of the biggest contributing factors toward child abuse are alcohol and drug use, mental illness and a perpetrator who experienced abusive rearing as a child. Stress and an immature, impulsive response to anger can trigger violence, and whether the recipient is a colicky infant who is shaken or an older child who is struck or kicked, the effects can be lifelong and devastating, she said.
Breaking the abuse cycle
Carolee Jones, executive director of CAPS, said the agency has helped many people who have ultimately overcome crisis and broken out of the cycle of abuse. She said CAPS mentors help families navigate the systems and find services to assist them. CAPS assists families of any income level with children of any age.
She said one client was a father who received custody of his daughter after she was sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend. CAPS helped the man work through problems such as temporary homelessness and supported him as he learned how to parent, she said. “He called two or three times a day because he didn’t know what to do,” she said. “He doesn’t call anymore. His daughter’s gone from truancy to taking summer school and successfully completing the next grade.”
Another former CAPS client is now involved in assisting with the agency’s Child Advocacy Center, where child victims of sexual abuse are interviewed, she said. “The support and advocacy she was given kind of rewrote the story of her life,” she said. CAPS and Early Headstart home visitors teach the importance of nurturing and bonding with infants, knowledge of child development and parental coping skills. They encourage social and family connections and provide a resource for support to prevent maltreatment of children from occurring.
It takes commitment
Among Heartland’s services are 90-minute weekly in-home visits in which Early Headstart employees educate low-income pregnant women and mothers of children up to age 3 on an array of child-raising subjects. The goal is to get at-risk kids ready to learn by the time they are old enough for kindergarten, Zier said.
“It takes commitment,” Zier said. “The first thing people do is revert back to how they were raised. We try to teach them there are other ways that work better and support them as they go through the issues. We share with them the latest and greatest research.” She said home educators build up a relationship of trust with families and help them build on their strengths. They talk to parents about their beliefs and thoughts concerning discipline techniques and steer them away from corporal punishment.
Spanking is not OK
She said a big topic of discussion is developmental milestones so that families don’t expect too much of their children at too young of an age. That frustration can sometimes trigger abuse.
“Sometimes people don’t have realistic expectations for their child,” Zier said. “We tell them a 2-year-old will bite and this is what you do. A 3-month-old will not sleep through the night and this is what you do. People have a lack of knowledge about how bad things can go wrong. They have a lack of knowledge of how easily a child can be injured.”
Another dangerous period for abuse is during potty training. She said often parents believe children are being defiant when in reality they simply aren’t developmentally ready to go without diapers.
CAPS mentors work with families to help shield kids from abuse, and they discourage spanking. Price said the fact that there is a special word for hitting children on the buttocks makes it seem like an acceptable discipline technique. It isn’t, and there are much more effective ways to teach a child to change behavior, she said.
“Spanking teaches kids that those who love you can hurt you, and that’s acceptable behavior in our society,” Price said.
– Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by email at email@example.com.
Hurts Me More Than It Hurts You has been awarded second place for Interior Design and Honorable Mention for Parenting in the Royal DragonFly Book Contest.
Great work, Nadine Block and Madeleine Y. Gomez!
And many, many thanks to the children who contributed their artwork and unique words to make this book a reality. It can be ordered at Amazon.com, linked near the bottom of this page. All proceeds benefit the Center for Effective Discipline.
This Hurts Me More Than It Hurts You: In Words and Pictures, Children Share How Spanking Hurts and What To Do Insteadis not another parenting tome by an ivory-towered theorist. This eye-opening book is written and illustrated by those most affected by spanking — children. Their words and drawings show that spanking doesn’t result in the behaviors parents and teachers desire. Instead, it sows seeds of pain, despair, humiliation, confusion, anger — and the continuation of a cycle of violence. Ohio girl age 12 “Would you like to be spanked? No, of course not. It hurts and nobody likes to be hurt. Do you really want a child to be scared when they make a mistake or would you rather have them learn something from it. Once the spanking is over it’s easy to forget what they even got in trouble for. The punishment is just too quick. The child doesn’t even have time to think about the mistake they made” NH boy age 14 “When a child is getting hit, he feels like he is hated and no one loves him. Over time, children start putting up bricks around their heart. When they get older, they may become a cold and callous person who can’t love. “The children also share what disciplinary tactics are effective. Parents, educators and child-care professionals may be shocked to find that reasoned discussions, loss of privileges, “timeouts,” and the opportunity to atone for misbehaviors work better than spanking. Ohio girl age 14 “When I make mistakes my parents will say, ‘Well what are you going to do about it?’ Sometimes they will force me to think for myself. That tells me they think I can do it. Whenever I think my parents think so highly of me, it makes me feel real good!” Illinois boy age 13 “Adults can teach children without spanking by using punishments or just talking to them. The way my parents punish me is by taking my video games and my cell phone to. Now, that’s a punishment because I love my phone. Right now I don’t have my phone because of a punishment.” The editors include a section for parents and professionals on questions and answers about spanking and helpful books, video, and internet resources. The book is edited by Nadine Block MEd, a school psychologist, and Madeleine Y. Gomez, PhD, a clinical psychologist, who have spent decades studying the effects of physical punishment on children. The editors will donate book sale proceeds to non-profit organizations working to end corporal punishment of children and promote non-violent child discipline.
About the Co-editors
NADINE BLOCK has worked as a teacher, school psychologist and consultant to mental health organizations. She founded the Center for Effective Discipline in l987 and served as its executive director until 2010. The organization is dedicated to ending corporal punishment of children through education and legal reform. She has developed policies and directed legislative action to ban corporal punishment of children in schools at state and national levels. In l998, she initiated SpankOut Day April 30th to provide information about the effects of physical punishment of children and alternatives to its use. More than l2,000 parents have attended SpankOut Day programs. The observance has been adopted by organizations in several countries. She coordinated a coalition of 50 Ohio organizations which finally achieved a legislative ban on school corporal punishment in Ohio public schools in 2009. Her commitment to ending all corporal punishment of children stems from a firm belief that children are entitled to the same freedom that all other citizens enjoy, to be free from physical assault. Nadine has received many awards and has been interviewed on Larry King Live, Hannity and Comb, ABC News, New York Times, USA Today, Good Morning America, BBC Channel 4, London, CBS 48 Hours, Redbook, Reuters Health Network, NBC Today, and by many other media sources.
MADELEINE Y. GOMEZ, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and president of PsycHealth Ltd., a certified minority and women’s behavioral health-care organization established in 1989. PsycHealth Ltd. has received URAC Gold and Bronze Awards as well as a Global Communications League of American Communications Professionals Bronze Award. Dr. Gomez is widely respected in her area of specialty—children, families, and abuse. A published researcher, presenter, and assistant professor at Northwestern University, she is also a lifelong human rights advocate. The Southern Poverty Law Center recognized her “outstanding dedication to human rights and equal justice,” and the Chicago Board of Education honored her with its Voices of Freedom Award for her work promoting nonviolence and “continuously supporting the self-esteem” of students in Chicago Public Schools. In 2010, Dr. Gomez received the National Psychologist Award from the Dorland Group for her work dedicated to nonviolence, serving the underserved, and promoting quality care.
Nadine and Madeleine are parents and grandparents.
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SIGCAS Making A Difference Award 2002
2002 SIGCAS Making A Difference Award Recipient
DONALD GOTTERBARN, East Tennessee State University
The SIGCAS Making a Difference Award is given annually to an individual nationally recognized for work related to the interaction of computers and society. The recipient is a leader in promoting awareness of ethical and social issues in computing. The recipients of this award and the award itself encourage responsible action by computer professionals.
Dr. Don Gotterbarn is a professor of Computer Science at East Tennessee State University, where he heads the Software Engineering Ethics Research Institute. He is a prolific writer, with papers in Communications of the ACM, IEEE Computer, The Australian Journal of Information Systems, Computers and Society, The Journal of Systems and Software, Studia-Leibnitiana, and The Journal of the History of Philosophy, to name only a few. He is an invited speaker nationally and internationally, with recent appointments as a visiting scholar in Australia and the United Kingdom. Dr. Gotterbarn's vita reflects a wide variety of interests, and a seemingly limitless energy.
Dr. Gotterbarn's success in combining computing and ethics may be in part due to his combination of scholarly work in philosophy and practical experience in computing. He received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Rochester in 1971, and also worked as a computing consultant. His consulting work included developing software systems for the U.S. Navy and the Saudi Arabian Navy. He has worked on databases, vote counting software, and missile defense systems. Of late, with support from the National Science Foundation, he and Simon Rogerson have been developing SoDIS, a CASE tool for discovering and documenting the ethical impact of a software development effort.Dr. Gotterbarn's scholarship, his publications, and his tireless advocacy for computer ethics all make a positive difference. But perhaps his most influential contribution thus far to the goals of SIGCAS is his leadership in the development and promotion of the Software Engineering Code of Ethics. Don was the chair of the executive committee of the joint ACM/IEEE Computer Society task force that produced a code of ethics eventually approved by both organizations. The intellectual and political challenges of that effort were considerable, but Don was tenacious and, ultimately, successful. After the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society accepted version 5.2 of the Code, its influence has grown dramatically. Today the code is translated or being translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Italian. Companies and organizations interested in software development are adopting the code in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Croatia, China, and Israel. The Code, like so much of Dr. Gotterbarn's work, required scholarly rigor, political skill, and practical sense. That combination makes a difference.
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Art Carden, Contributor
I'm an economist interested in the ordinary business of life.
Note: This article is co-authored with Steven G. Horwitz, the Charles A. Dana Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at St. Lawrence University.
With the Republican victory on November 2 fading into the distance and the new Congress preparing to get to work, and with little prospect of really meaningful change on the horizon, we do well to think about the allegedly superior worldviews of those who criticized the Tea Parties responsible for November’s change in power. It is apparent that the blue state elite sees the Tea Partiers as modern-day “Know Nothings” wallowing in the ignorance produced by a steady diet of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and their internet echo chambers. This contrasts, of course, with the sophisticated, rational, and scientific worldview of their leftist critics.
But how scientific are these critics? For a group that sees Tea Partiers as “Know Nothings” and prides itself on a rational, scientific worldview, it’s interesting to see how little they know about economics. Without the economic way of thinking, you are almost certainly framing the issues incorrectly. That’s not to say economics is sufficient to answer important social questions, but we would argue that is necessary. Left-wing elites’ inability or unwillingness to engage the economic way of thinking often turns them into the enemies of both social science and good critical thinking, not to mention those they claim to be helping.
Soft-heartedness won’t make up for soft-headedness, and a lot of the policies people support on humanitarian grounds actually hurt the people they are enacted to help. For example, consider how many on the left think about working conditions and wages. On these issues, a lot of our friends on the left unwittingly expose themselves to their own critique by failing to seriously consider what economics has to teach.
Consider sweatshops, the icons of capitalist imperialism. Yes, it is true that people working in what we call sweatshops earn atrocious wages by our standards. By local standards, however, these sweatshop jobs are the best opportunities available.
Consider what happened in South Africa after the government decided to be strict about enforcing minimum wages. Those who protested were the workers themselves who didn’t know what they would do without their less-than-minimum wage jobs. This, we should note, is why minimum wage (“rate for the work”) laws were part of the original apartheid legislation passed by white South Africans. They knew that minimum wage laws would hurt lower-skilled workers and the lower-skilled black South Africans who opposed the laws knew that wage competition and capital accumulation were the real paths to higher pay. Whether we like it or not, minimum wages create unemployment for the poorest among us.
“But why,” you ask, “does this have to be the best of all these workers’ options?” It’s a good question, and it’s one we ask ourselves. Our answer is that it doesn’t have to be: if we eliminate restrictions on immigration, competitive pressure would raise wages for workers worldwide. The great thing is that since immigrants’ skills tend to be complements rather than substitutes for native workers’ skills, native workers’ incomes will tend to rise, as well. This, after all, is the story of how the standard of living as grown by a factor of perhaps 30 or 40 (that’s a factor of 30 or 40, not 30 or 40 percent). since the industrial revolution. Understanding what economic historian Deirdre McCloskey calls “The Big Fact” is the starting point of any scientific analysis of how free markets benefit the average person.
Judging a policy by its advocates’ stated intentions and values is an unscientific habit common to the left and the right. Thinking that we can just mandate higher wages or better working conditions as if we were waving a magic wand and thereby reduce poverty is indulging a belief in magic, not science. Higher standards of living took time to develop in the Western world and they will take time elsewhere–albeit a lot less time—thanks to the very capital that markets created in the West.
Another unscientific habit is the tendency to think critically about markets but uncritically about governments. Leftist critics fall too easily for the fallacy that the imperfections of markets ipso facto mean government intervention will improve matters. By so doing they commit the grievous error of acknowledging that while markets might not be perfect, governments are usually less perfect.
A truly scientific worldview is one that takes account of the economic way of thinking and recognizes that the imperfect humans who populate the markets are the same ones populating the government. That simple truth is one that many Tea Partiers do know, at least implicitly, and that their elitist critics on the left are prone to unscientifically ignore.
This is the third in a trilogy of articles about the Tea Party movement and its discontents. The first two installments are here and here. I’ve mentioned that one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to make better use of Twitter. You can follow me here.
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FRESHMAN DEBATING CLUB HOLDS FIRST MEETING
Plans to Stimulate Discussion in Matters Peculiarly Affecting the Student -- Organization Committee Appointed by Debating Council
The first meeting of the Freshman Debating Club was held last evening under the auspices of the University Debating Council. R. S. Bowers '24, president, and Philip Walker '25, vice-president of the Council spoke, outlining in general the plans for the coming year, and explaining the purpose of the club.
The purpose of the club, it was stated, is not to hold formal debates, but to stimulate discussions of matters which peculiarly concern the student and which will prove of interest not only to those men interested in debating, but to men not affiliated in any way with the system of formal debates.
It was decided not to elect officers at this meeting, but to defer such election until a later meeting. To take charge of the work of organization and to propose plans for the next meeting, however, a committee was appointed by the president of the Council to consist of the following men: H. M. Hart '26, chairman; W. P. Exton '26, and F. S. Tupper '26, all of whom are members of the Freshman squad which is preparing to meet preparatory schools in February.
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I understand the scheduler allocates a time for each program to run and then constantly switches between them. However, I don't understand how the scheduler can make the guess that a program is no longer responding.
The only thing I can come up with is every loop in the program must check in with the scheduler before it enters. Then check out after it exits the loop. Then the OS has a counter and if that counter for how many times a program is swapped by the scheduler without checking in/out. Once that counter hits a limit it just guesses the program might be unresponsive? Is this how it actually works?
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Trauma recovery is tricky; however, there are several key principles that can help make the process safe and effective. This book gives self help readers, therapy clients and therapists alike the skills to understand and implement eight keys to successful trauma healing: mindful identification of what is helpful, recognising survival, having the option to not remember, creating a supportive inner dialogue, forgiving yourself for not being able to stop the trauma, understanding and sharing shame, finding your own recovery pace, mobilising your body, and helping others. This is not another book promoting a new method or type of treatment; rather it is a necessary adjunct to self-help and professional recovery programmes. After reading this book, readers will be able to recognise their own individual needs and evaluate whether those needs are being met. They will have the tools necessary to put themselves in the driver's seat, navigating their own safe road to recovery.
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Flower arrangements always look so lovely when you walk into a room. Many times they become the focal point, pushing everything else to a back stage position. But you can't always find a show stopping flower arrangement, and sometimes they're just not budget friendly. So I visited H.J. Benken Florist and Greenhouse
to learn the secrets behind making gorgeous flower arrangements.
My teacher for the day was floral designer Vickie Wenstrup. Standing next to Vickie as she taught me how to arrange flowers was a bit intimidating. She has a natural eye for flowers and can perfectly arrange them in a matter of seconds; whereas, I couldn't even get past the part of cutting flower stems with a knife. How embarrassing. But if I'd had a pair of scissors, I would have mastered the floral technique. Alright, I would have been better at it. Arranging flowers takes skill, but Vickie's advice is so good you almost don't need it.
Here are the steps Vickie used to teach me how to make beautiful flower arrangements, and they're much simpler than you would think.
Step: 1 Pick Your Flowers.
Choosing the right flowers is a critical step. The best flower arrangements start with a good combination of flowers. So here's what you should look for:
Texture. Pick a variety of different textured flowers for your arrangement. For example, mix flowers with a single bud on a stem with flowers that have multiple buds on a stem. Also, look at how many petals are on each flower. Mix flowers with few petals with flowers that have numerous petals. Using a variety of different textured flowers will give your flower arrangement more depth and character, according to Vickie.
Step 2: Put Greenery in Your Vase.
Color. Make sure the colors you choose blend well together. Vickie suggests picking flower colors the same way as you pick clothes when you dress in the morning. If the colors clash, don't use them.
Greenery is placed first in the vase because it creates a web that holds the flowers up when you put them in. As you put in each piece of greenery and the flowers when that part comes, make sure to remove the bottom leaves from the stem. You should not have any leaves in the water. Also, cut the bottom of the stems at an angle. It will help the flower absorb water better.
Step 3: Add the Tall, Structural Flowers.
Structural flowers are the tallest flowers in your arrangement. Putting the tallest flowers in first allows you to create the shape of your flower arrangement and gives you a guide for where to put the other flowers.
Placement. When putting the flowers in the vase, think in terms of odd numbers. Groups of three and five look better than groups of two or four.
Step 4: Add Filler Flowers.
Shape. Try to make your flower arrangement look like a dome. That way it can be enjoyed from all sides.
Balance. Try to evenly disperse the flowers throughout the flower arrangement. Keeping the flowers spread out and balanced gives the flower arrangement a pleasing look.
Filler flowers are shorter than structural flowers, and fit nicely in the gaps between the foliage and the structural flowers. Filler flowers can be big in size such as lilies, or small like babies breath. Using a couple different filler flowers will give your flower arrangements more interest. When adding filler flowers to your arrangement, look for empty spaces and stick them in there.
Step 5: Add Spilling Fillers.
Spilling filler flowers are flowers or greenery that droop away from the floral arrangement. Using spilling fillers gives your flower arrangements a finishing touch and helps to lead the eye throughout the arrangement. When inserting spilling fillers, keep them towards the bottom of your arrangement. That way they accent the floral arrangement without weighing down the other flowers.
Step 6: Empty Your Vase.
That's right, once you're done arranging your flowers you need to take them out of the vase. I know, it seems counterproductive. But to keep your flowers lasting as long as possible, you should completely empty the vase, wash it out and refill it with clean, lukewarm water and flower food. Then put your flowers back in. If you don't empty your vase, the leaves that fall in the water as you make the flower arrangement will shorten the life of your flowers. To learn more about how to extend the life of your flowers, read the Flowers post.
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Etta James (January 25, 1938 - January 20, 2012) was a highly acclaimed soul-R&B singer who is famous for her smooth yet impassioned rendition of "At Last" (1961). Her many other hits also included "All I Could Do Was Cry" (1960), "Don't Cry Baby" (1961), "Trust In Me" (1961), "Pushover" (1963), and "Tell Mama" (1968).
Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, she began singing gospel music at age 5 at her church and on the radio. She was discovered at 14 by bandleader Johnny Otis who came up with "Etta James" as her stage name (by reversing the syllables in her first name). Otis produced her first hit, "The Wallflower," which topped the Billboard R&B charts in 1955. This song, which James co-wrote, was an answer song to Hank Ballard's chart-topping "Work with Me, Annie." (1954).
Etta James' career took off in 1960 when "All I Could Do Was Cry," "My Dearest Darling," and "If I Can't Have You" (with Harvey Fuqua) all became hits on both the Billboard R&B and Billboard Hot 100 charts. In 1961, she had a hit with the lushly orchestrated and romantic "At Last," a song dating back to 1942 when it became a pop hit for Glenn Miller. Over the years, "At Last" became Etta James' signature song and helped to establish her as a pop cultural icon. Her long string of hits continued through the late 1970s, and she continued recording and performing extensively to well into the 21th century.
Etta James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and she was inducted into both the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2001. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and won many Grammys. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked her at #62 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. She has been a key influence on many R&B singers over the years, and acclaimed producer Jerry Wexler named her "the greatest of all modern blues singers."
The song(s) featured on this page are on:
To listen to a song clip, click any song title that has a speaker icon. This will take you to a list of links to CD and/or MP3 product pages from one or more online merchants that have sound samples.
- All I Could Do Was Cry 1960
- Don't Cry, Baby 1961
("Don't Cry, Baby" later also charted for Aretha Franklin in 1962.)
- My Dearest Darling 1960
- Something's Got A Hold On Me 1962
- Stop The Wedding 1962
- Tell Mama 1968
- Trust In Me 1961
("Trust In Me" previously charted for Chris Connor (1957) and Patti Page (1959).)
Previous Artist | Next Artist
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Corn futures recovered to close in positive territory, while soybean prices recouped some losses, after crop estimate revisions from Informa Economics - in a report which one broker said "fired up controversy" - defied expectations of upbeat data.
Informa Economics had been expected, in the latest of a
series of crop numbers from brokers, to suggest that official data for the
domestic corn and soybean harvests were too downbeat.
"The trade anticipates bearish numbers with Informa using
better corn and bean yield estimates in their weekly updates," Benson Quinn
Commodities said ahead of the data.
US Commodities said: "The trade is braced for bearish yield
and production estimates," adding that the Informa data will "get more respect"
than broker data put out earlier this week, as the analysis group "uses
The spree of estimates has been prompted by the prospect on Wednesday
of the US Department of Agriculture's monthly Wasde crop report, a key part of
the agricultural commodities calendar.
However, Informa, in its pre-Wasde forecasts, cut its
forecast for the US corn yield to 119.8 bushels per acre, and for production by
28m bushels to 10.310bn bushels.
|Informa pre-Wasde estimates for US crops, and (change on previous)|
Corn - yield: 119.8 bushels per acre, (-0.9 bushels per acre)
Harvest: 10.310bn bushels, (-28m bushels)
Soybeans - yield: 35.4 bushels per acre, (-1.8 bushels per acre)
Harvest: 2.639bn bushels, (-52m bushels)
Both figures are below the current USDA estimates.
On soybeans, it reduced its estimate for the yield
to 35.4 bushels per acre and for the harvest to 2.639bn bushels, numbers which were
also below government figures.
Soybean yield estimates have come under particular scrutiny
since broker FCStone this week pegged the soybean yield at 36.7 bushels per
acre, above the government estimate, and suggesting that rains since last month
had fostered some crop recovery.
However, as they have sometime done previously, Informa also
issued separate - and higher - estimates for where they believed the US crop
figures would end up in final estimates - of 11.030bn bushels for corn and
2.791bn bushels for soybeans, although the data were given short shrift by some
"Informa really fired up the controversy this
morning," Darrell Holaday at Country Futures said, saying that the
publication of two estimates "sounds crazy".
"My point is that if the final crop is going to 11.03bn
bushels, the USDA figure will not be 10.3bn bushels next Wednesday," in
the Wasde report.
Informa "did the same thing back in 2009 by indicating
that the crop would be down in the estimate, but increase 400m bushels in the
In fact, the full-year estimate "was not correct as the
crop size continued to decline".
Recovery, then retreat
Indeed, in Chicago, investors largely ignored the higher number to fuel a revival in corn and soybean
futures, which had fallen earlier on poor US export data.
Weekly corn export sales came in at a net 25,000 tonnes,
once a slew of cancellations from the likes of China, Japan and South Korea
were factored in, well below forecasts of at worst 200,000 tonnes.
Soybean export sales, at a little over 525,000 tonnes, were
down more than one-quarter week on week, and compared with forecasts of a
figure of at least 700,000 tonnes.
However, the rally faded in late deals, to see December corn close up 0.25 cents at $7.99 ½ a bushel in late morning deals.
Soybeans for November finished 0.7% lower at $17.36 ½ a bushel.
The recoveries in row crop values added extra momentum to a
rally in wheat futures too, which gained support from fears for Argentine and Australian crops, and from firm US export data.
Export sales, at 573,000 tonnes, came in towards the top of
the range of market forecasts, and were up one-quarter week on week.
Chicago wheat for December delivery added 1.5% to $9.05 a
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A quick burst of 14 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team
They were considering setting up an international capital market for government finance. In previous games you could, as a mayor, issue bonds to raise money for projects (the interest rate would increase depending on how indebted you were). This time around, the team considered creating an online market buying and selling these bonds, raising the prospect that a city could face a debt crisis, could go bankrupt and could, in turn, cause a financial collapse across the entire global economy (of SimCity cities).
"We were kicking it around," said Quigley. "We even thought about having credit ratings. But then we figured: let's worry about roads and bridges first off, and worry about secondary stuff later."
No fusion reactors, apparently.
In 2007 I was involved in a trial where I used an early NFC phone to get access to London's transport system and pay for a coffee or a sandwich.
The experiment was hailed a success by the companies involved, but although you can now use NFC credit cards on London buses, there is no sign yet of travellers being allowed to swipe in via their phones.
Still, the GSMA now believes there is enough momentum and enough real-world examples of the technology that millions of us will soon be using it - even if we don't know it.
So convinced were the organisers of Mobile World Congress that they encouraged visitors to get an NFC pass for speedier entry to an event where security involves showing photo ID.
Sadly, the people I met told me that it proved to be a slower way of getting in than the old fashioned non-NFC pass.
(Thanks @challengingviews for the link.)
Half of our sample was exposed to civil reader comments and the other half to rude ones -- though the actual content, length and intensity of the comments, which varied from being supportive of the new technology to being wary of the risks, were consistent across both groups. The only difference was that the rude ones contained epithets or curse words, as in: "If you don't see the benefits of using nanotechnology in these kinds of products, you're an idiot" and "You're stupid if you're not thinking of the risks for the fish and other plants and animals in water tainted with silver."
The results were both surprising and disturbing. Uncivil comments not only polarized readers, but they often changed a participant's interpretation of the news story itself.
In the civil group, those who initially did or did not support the technology -- whom we identified with preliminary survey questions -- continued to feel the same way after reading the comments. Those exposed to rude comments, however, ended up with a much more polarized understanding of the risks connected with the technology.
Simply including an ad hominem attack in a reader comment was enough to make study participants think the downside of the reported technology was greater than they'd previously thought.
It all goes to show you can't be too careful.
Samsung Electronics' public literature, like that of many leading global corporations, appeals to investors' growing scrutiny of companies' social impact: the first line of its code of conduct states that the world's biggest technology group by sales complies with "all laws and ethical standards".
Such claims, however, are now being put to a rare legal test in France.
Samsung was last week sued by three French rights groups that accuse the South Korean company of misleading investors and consumers, amid allegations of labour abuses at its and its suppliers' factories in China.
The essence of the complaint being that if there were labour abuses, then Samsung engaged in "deceptive trading practices" by making the claims of complying with all laws and ethical standards. Deep waters.
What to do with a Raspberry Pi (the new $35 computer that could replace your Opac terminals) >> The Digital Shift
In what must certainly rank as one of the least expensive plans ever proposed to replace a library's aging online public access catalog terminals, White Plains Public Library (WPPL) will soon roll out terminals built in-house using $49 APC or $35 Raspberry Pi computers. Currently, the library's OPAC terminals are 10-year old Gateway-brand PCs with Windows XP running Google Chrome in kiosk mode. This is the only application these computers are used for, so performance and speed has not been a problem, said Information Technology Manager John Lolis.
OPAC is "Online Public Access", and simply shows the catalogue of materials held by the library or group of libraries.
Judge strikes $450m from $1bn damages award in Apple v. Samsung: second trial needed >> FOSS Patents
Part of the reason why a new damages determination is needed is that Judge Koh disagreed with the notice date concerning certain patents-in-suit. The jury based its award on the notice date provided by Apple, which Judge Koh now believes was too early because only one of the patents, the rubber-banding patent, had actually been listed in a presentation Apple gave to Samsung in 2010.
Whenever it will ultimately be held, the second damages trial over the 14 products with respect to which the jury award has been vacated (Galaxy Prevail, Gem, Indulge, Infuse 4G, Galaxy SII AT&T, Captivate, Continuum, Droid Charge, Epic 4G, Exhibit 4G, Galaxy Tab, Nexus S 4G, Replenish, and Transform) could result in a figure that is lower or higher than (or, theoretically but unlikely, identical to) the one reached by the jury in August. There will have to be a new jury.
Corey Marttin, who works in government IT in Washington DC:
Every government has a complex hierarchy that makes little sense to most citizens. Their web sites often reflect this, requiring people to figure out which agency handles a particular subject matter.
GOV.UK turns this typical scenario on its head, allowing people to navigate by topic or service. Sure, someone can find out what agency is behind this, but many won't care. The citizen has been connected with a government service without needing to understand an org chart.
Very quietly and thoroughly, gov.uk is integrating everything.
Considering MySQL? Use something else. Already on MySQL? Migrate. For every successful project built on MySQL, you could uncover a history of time wasted mitigating MySQL's inadequacies, masked by a hard-won, but meaningless, sense of accomplishment over the effort spent making MySQL behave.
Thesis: databases fill roles ranging from pure storage to complex and interesting data processing; MySQL is differently bad at both tasks. Real apps all fall somewhere between these poles, and suffer variably from both sets of MySQL flaws.
Android activations themselves, of course, are a somewhat murky data point. It has never been entirely clear (to me at least) how devices that are activated twice (for the growing second hand market, for example) are treated. On the other hand the great majority of Android devices sold in China, which are probably a third of the total, come with no Google services installed, including no Google Play, and hence are not even included in Google's activation numbers, since signing into Google Play is what counts as 'activation'. Even some Motorola phones are sold in this state. Such devices are invisible to Google.
In other words, asking Google about Android activations is a little like asking Microsoft about the Windows install base: it has some idea, but not a very precise one. Over time, with the proliferation of Kindle Fires, Android Car DVD players and all manner of other things, it might be a little like asking Linus Torvalds how many Linux devices there are: how should he know?
Note that IDC and Gartner include as "Android" those phones sold in China which don't connect to Google; they're somewhere between a quarter and a third of the "Android" figure quoted in, say, quarterly stats..
Evernote's Operations & Security team has discovered and blocked suspicious activity on the Evernote network that appears to have been a coordinated attempt to access secure areas of the Evernote Service...
In our security investigation, we have found no evidence that any of the content you store in Evernote was accessed, changed or lost. We also have no evidence that any payment information for Evernote Premium or Evernote Business customers was accessed.
The investigation has shown, however, that the individual(s) responsible were able to gain access to Evernote user information, which includes usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts and encrypted passwords. Even though this information was accessed, the passwords stored by Evernote are protected by one-way encryption. (In technical terms, they are hashed and salted.)
While our password encryption measures are robust, we are taking additional steps to ensure that your personal data remains secure.
If you were hoping to see a revelatory smartphone from Motorola in the near future, you might want to tone down those expectations. Google's Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President Patrick Pichette today said that products in Motorola's pipeline are "not really to the standards that what Google would say is wow -- innovative, transformative." The surprisingly honest admission came during Pichette's session at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference.
When questioned on where things stand with Motorola at the moment, Pichette didn't mince words. "We've inherited 18 months of pipeline that we actually have to drain right now, while we're actually building the next wave of innovation and product lines," he said. Google executives have mentioned these prior commitments in the past, and Pitchette's comments suggest we've yet to reach the pipeline's end. "We have to go through this transition. These are not easy transitions."
Just as well Google didn't spend $12.5bn buying Motorola for a bunch of patents that have only caused it woe in the courts with tellings-off by the FTC and EC.. oh.
Mary Jo Foley:
Another potential Surface form factor Microsoft has yet to add into the pipeline is the "mini." There seems to be some softening in Redmond's stance that Windows 8 and Windows RT didn't belong on mini-tablets, or basically any device with a screen smaller than 10.6 inches (the size of the Surface devices). The Microsoft stance has been that tablets are PCs, thus they must be able to do all consumption and creation tasks that "real" PCs can do.
But, more recently, there's been a new "let's see what users want" response by Microsoft management when asked about smaller screen sizes, making me hopeful we could see a mini-Surface, after all. There already have been rumors of an Xbox Surface, supposedly some kind of entertainment-optimized tablet. Maybe this device is closer to reality than we previously thought.
And also she suggests making a tablet that's a tablet, and an ultrabook.
On Wall Street, of course, the attitude is: What have you done for me lately? For speculators like Einhorn and David Tepper, another noted hedge-fund manager who bought in during the past couple of years, the answer is nothing good. According to a piece on Forbes.com, Einhorn and Tepper paid an average of about five hundred and seventy-seven dollars for their shares, which suggests that they are each sitting on a paper loss of close to a hundred and thirty million dollars. Naturally, they aren't pleased, but their predicament isn't Cook's responsibility.
In buying Apple shares last year, when the stock was heading for seven hundred dollars, investors were willfully ignoring the law of large numbers and the laws of supply and demand.
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Archive for the ‘Theology’ Category
A couple of weeks ago, I assigned my students one of the hymns by the Wesley brothers to talk about Protestant challenges to the Eucharist (“Victim Divine, Thy Grace We Claim”). In their journals, many of my students reflected on how refreshing it was to read a hymn, even one that was so richly theological and complex as this one. As one student wrote, “Songs can be theology too.”
Indeed they can. This is one of the reasons I love studying the Medievals like Thomas Aquinas. Although Aquinas is known most for his Summa Theologica (which I think is a remarkably beautiful work even if it is intellectually rigorous), Aquinas also did theology in other forms besides the Scholastic disputational method we see in the Summa. For example, he wrote commentaries on Scripture, sermons, prayers, and yes, even songs. One of the most beautiful and most commonly sung is the “Tantum Ergo”:
Tantum ergo Sacramentum
et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui:
praestet fides supplementum
laus et iubilatio,
salus, honor, virtus quoque
sit et benedictio:
procedenti ab utroque
compar sit laudatio.
Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o’er ancient forms departing,
newer rites of grace prevail;
faith for all defects supplying,
where the feeble sense fail.
To the everlasting Father,
and the Son who reigns on high,
with the Holy Ghost proceeding
forth from Each eternally,
be salvation, honor, blessing,
might and endless majesty.
It is uncommon today for a theologian to do more than dapple in such a range of theological genres as someone like Aquinas, as my colleague Jana Bennett bemoans over at catholicmoraltheology.com. There are a lot of reasons for this (which she identifies), including time, ability, and tenure track requirements. One reason, however, that we do not witness the same aesthetic pursuit in academic theologians today as we did in the Medieval period may have to do with the way we think of wisdom.
In our post-Kantian world, wisdom is purely a matter of intellect. The wise person is the smart person, the educated person, the person who can make and win rigorous intellectual arguments. For the Medievals, wisdom is an intellectual virtue, but it is an intellectual virtue with a strong affective component. Take, for example, the following discussion from Denys the Carthusian’s Prefatory Questions on the Sentences:
Just as, then, those heroic men who are perfect in love, through the gift of wisdom that they have according to a perfect degree, are as it were the counselors, and secretaries, and the familiar friends of God, from whom they are strongly illuminated as they stand in a certain contact with the sun of uncreated Wisdom, and who by a supernatural and abundant internal taste know and taste the divine things to be believed and who judge well and certainly about the same things through the conformity and connaturality of their affections for them, so through the gift of understanding by which they are adorned to a perfect degree they understand most clearly, most certainly and most subtly those things that belong to our faith, and they also understand the connections and order of things to be believed and the supernatural reasonableness of the Catholic truth. . . Hence, this illumination is not given only to students in theology and to all of them, or to people who have great natural abilities, but to those who more stand out in their purity of heart and in their charity. One of these is the holy Brother Giles, who did not with say ‘I believe in God’ but rather “I know God.’ And another was the Seraphic Saint Francis.
Wisdom, it seems, is not just based in the intellect, but is based rather in “a supernatural and abundant taste of divine things to be believed.” Denys is appealing here to the etymology of wisdom [sapientia] which is rooted in sapor [to taste].
For Aquinas, wisdom is the gift of the Holy Spirit discussed in the context of his treatise on charity, a virtue rooted in the will. Aquinas treats wisdom both as an intellectual virtue (and intellectual gift), and as virtue with a strong affective component, rooted not just in the activity of the intellect, but also, and primarily, in the loving relationship (a connaturality) with God:
Wisdom denotes a certain rectitude of judgment according to the Eternal Law. Now rectitude of judgment is twofold: first, on account of perfect use of reason, secondly, on account of a certain connaturality with the matter about which one has to judge. Thus, about matters of chastity, a man after inquiring with his reason forms a right judgment, if he has learned the science of morals, while he who has the habit of chastity judges of such matters by a kind of connaturality (II-II, 45.2).
Returning to the quote from Denys, Aquinas would agree that the unschooled St. Francis was wise, not as a result of rigorous philosophical and theological study, but rather, because of the indwelling of grace that had brought him into union with God who is Wisdom himself. For Francis and others who possess such wisdom, their theological writings may lack the intellectual character of a figure like Aquinas, but are nevertheless still works of genuine wisdom. Francis did not need to study to be wise; the source of his wisdom was not learning but love.
What is the lesson here? As a theologian and an academic (like Thomas in kind but not in degree) I am firmly convicted that the study of theology is important for the development of wisdom. It is important to engage in disputation, to explore in depths the principles of the faith, and to deduce conclusions (especially ethical conclusions) from those principles. But it is also important, perhaps even more important, to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” The liturgy is a powerful source of this sapor, where the music and the psalms and the incense and the light infiltrating in through the stained glass all culminate in the reception of the Eucharist as the senses, intellect, and will are all brought into union with Christ who presents himself bodily at the altar. From this sapor, a different sapientia flows forth in poetry and song: “Sing, my tongue, the Savior’s glory, of His flesh the mystery sing,” as we sing with Thomas in the Pange Lingua.
The taste of this wisdom depends also on our ability to let ourselves be passive recipients of the God who offers himself to us. For Aquinas, wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit, a free gift of grace. Our inability to taste is often, I think, rooted in our desire to feed ourselves, rather than to let ourselves be fed. In the Anima Christi, we pray, “Blood of Christ, inebriate me,” indicating, I think, that we need to let our guard down, lose a little of our self control, and be rendered vulnerable to the working of the Spirit who offers us a foretaste of that Divine Banquet where “ we shall be drowned, lost in that ocean of divine love, annihilated in that immense love of the Heart of Jesus!”
If you study theology, you have probably already know that a committee of the US Bishops Committee on Doctrine recently raised a series of red flags about Sister Elizabeth Johnson’s most recent book Quest for the Living God: Mapping frontiers in the Theology of God. The committee suggested that the book should not be in used in Catholic schools and universities because it conflicts with church doctrine:
The Committee has concluded that this book contains misrepresentations, ambiguities, and errors that bear upon the faith of the Catholic Church as found in Sacred Scripture, and as it is authentically taught by the Church’s universal magisterium. Because this book by a prominent Catholic theologian is written not for specialists in theology but for ‘a broad audience’, the Committee on Doctrine felt obliged, as part of its pastoral ministry, to not these misrepresentations, ambiguities, and errors.
The bishops’ first critique is a methodological one. The bishops write that theology must begin from faith and proceed within the heart of the Church:
Theologians must therefore, first lay hold of the content of God’s revelation, the auditus fidei, as proclaimed in Scripture and taught within the Church, through an act of personal faith. Only then are they properly equipped to inquire into the content of that faith, the intellectus fidei, seeking a greater understanding and clearer expression of it.
In the footnotes, the Committee cites Thomas Aquinas: in saying that “just as other sciences accept as a given the first principles of their particular science, Christian theology ‘does not argue in proof of its principles, which are the articles of faith’” (ST I, q. 1, a. 8).
The Committee then accuses Sr. Johnson of beginning not with faith but with a critique of the orthodox doctrine of God, particularly regarding God’s immutability, incorporeality, impassibility, omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.
I don’t want to comment on Sr. Johnson’s book or the Committee’s critique in any specificity. The ladies at WIT, bloggers at dotCommonweal, and the moral theologians at Catholicmoraltheology.com have done a much better job than I could in evaluating the merits of the criticisms. I, however, want to challenge the singular definition of theology the Committee provides us as “seeking a greater understanding and clearer expression” of the first principles of faith. Understanding and clarifying is one understanding of theology, which Peter Aureoli, student and commenter on Aquinas, calls “declarative theology.” In declarative theology, one starts
with some proposition about which it has been determined what has too be believed and held by faith, and then reasons for believing it are brought forth, and then doubts concerning it are dissolved, and terms expressing it [are] been explained. . .(Commentary on book I of the Sentences, Proem, section 1, q.1)
It is declarative theology according to Aureoli which can properly be considered a theological habit. But it is not the only way to do theology. He provides other ways:
The fist takes place when you draw your conclusions from one proposition that is believed and another that is necessary. A second is based on two believed premises. A third is based on one believed premise and another probable one. A fourth type of conclusion is based on two probable premises. A fifth way, depending on two necessary premises, is equivalent to the first procedure [where you arrive at a known metaphysical conclusion such as is God one? or is God infinite?], where you end up with a known conclusion, not just one that has to be believed.
In other words, theology can lead to metaphysical conclusions when it addresses demonstrative knowledge of truths that are based on necessary propositions that are naturally known, as we see in Book VI of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. This does not fit the Committee’s definition of theology as clarifying and understanding the principles of faith, but metaphysics is nevertheless a way to study theology.
Theology can also include simple conclusions of faith, “where you employ one premise held by faith and another necessary premise” such as when you conclude that Christ has two wills based on the fat that every intellectual nature has a will and Christ has two natures. The conclusions of this deductive theology are conclusions of faith, not “the habit of theology” according to Aureoli. Nevertheless, deduction from faith is a part of the study of theology, and indeed, a major part of Aquinas’ own theology.
Significant for Johnson’s book, theology can also lead to conclusions of opinion “if you ask what has to be believed in regard to some doubtful proposition in the are of faith”:
In these cases you do not acquire any habit that is different from opinion. And these make up the opinions of the doctors of theology in many of their questions.
Theological opinion is gained when we reflect on things like what Jesus was like as a kid, how the gifts of the Spirit contribute to sanctification, and what the nature of purgatory is like. Theological opinion is important, and indeed, can be very good, very persuasive, and very true. But the habit that such theological reflection leads to is nevertheless still opinion.
This seems to be what Sr. Johnson is doing in Quest. She is beginning with principles that are only probable, namely, with the experience of the living God. She is not beginning with the first principles of theology, the articles of the faith, because she is not doing deductive or declarative theology. Her contribution is still a theological contribution, just not in the narrow way the Committee has defined theology.
Now, to the Committee’s credit, they are trying to watch out for the faith of “little ones” who might think that the conclusions in Sr. Johnson’s book are doctrinal, but that same goal could have been achieved by distinguishing the different ways in which people do theology. Aquinas clearly is awesome, but he did mainly declarative and deductive theology (as well as some metaphysics thrown in for good measure). Augustine, one the other hand, did a lot of theological opining. How much worse off would the Church be if we didn’t have Augustine’s Confessions? Or Abelard’s Letter to Heloise? Or Von Balthasar’s theological aesthetic? Johnson’s Quest, I would say, should be considered an analogous work as these great theological opinions. As such, it is good to point out that people need not accept her conclusions, but that does not mean they need not read what she has to say.
Those who are familiar with Thomas Aquinas know that he begins the Summa Theologica (his magnum opus) with the question as to how one can go about studying theology. In article two of that question, he asks whether theology is a science, and to answer, he makes a critical distinction so that he can answer that theology is, in one way at least, a science, thus making the Summa itself a work of science:
Sacred doctrine is a science. We must bear in mind that there are two kinds of sciences. There are some which proceed from a principle known by the natural light of intelligence, such as arithmetic and geometry and the like. There are some which proceed from principles known by the light of a higher science: thus the science of perspective proceeds from principles established by geometry, and music from principles established by arithmetic. So it is that sacred doctrine is a science because it proceeds from principles established by the light of a higher science, namely, the science of God and the blessed. Hence, just as the musician accepts on authority the principles taught him by the mathematician, so sacred science is established on principles revealed by God.
In other words, theology is a science, Aquinas says, if we understand it as a sort of “subalternated” science which derives its first principles from another science. Unlike other subalterated sciences like music or optics, however, theology derives its first principles from a non-demonstrable science. Godfrey of Fontaines explains why this is so:
[I]f theology were truly and properly a science after the model of a subalternated science in relation to a subalternating one, it would be necessary that the principles of theology that are had in this life be certain by the certitude of evidence at least in regard to knowledge that such is the case, and it would be necessary that there would be knowledge of why it is the case in the science the blessed have of these principles . . . So, in order that theology be science and that not only would there be faith regarding the conclusion of theology as there is regarding the principles, then regarding its principles it is necessary that they be not only believed but be known and evident. For, the type of evidence the principles have will determine the parallel type of evidence that the conclusion will have. For although a conclusion may be drawn from principles that are only believed and the consequence or the necessity of the consequence can be scientifically known, still the consequent and its necessity cannot be known scientifically from such principles (Quodlibet, IV, q. 10, 1287).
In other words, we might call music or optics a subalternated science because it derives its first principles from another science (arithmetic or geometry), or is subjected to other more proper sciences. Thus, an optician may proceed to study optics without having proper knowledge of the first principles of his science, which are derived from geometry. However, the optician may study geometry and in doing so, gain a more perfect knowledge of optics. Optics is thus subordinated or subalternated to geometry, but not in such a way that prevents a more perfect knowledge of optics through gaining a more perfect knowledge of its first principles through the study of another science.
Theology, as Godfrey points out, is not like this. Theology is based on first principles which do not come from another human science which may be studied, but rather from the science which exists in the mind of God and is consequently beyond all human understanding. “Science,” Godfrey tells us, is “a sure habit possessing both the certitude of evidence and the certitude of conviction,” which theology can never have because it is based in principles which are not certain but accepted on faith. In contrast to science, faith, Godfrey writes, is “a sure habit having only the certitude of conviction, not the certitude of evidence.” Faith may be stronger than opinion (which lacks both the certitude of evidence and conviction), but for Godfrey, because theology rests on revealed first principles which cannot be proved, it can only be faith and never science.
Is there a difference between Thomas and Godfrey? Maybe, but on the subject of theology as science, perhaps they can be reconciled. Thomas, like Godfrey, knows that the first principles of theology rest on faith. Such principles like the Trinity, Incarnation, and Eschaton cannot be proved, only believed. For Thomas, belief comes as a gift not only of intellectual propositions, but the gift of an actual relationship with God. The object of faith, while not convincing to the non-believer, is actually more certain than sensory knowledge because it is a knowledge based not only on the discursive intellect, but also the affections (as elevated by the gifts of the Holy Spirit). However, from those first principles, rational and logical conclusions can be drawn which enhance the knowledge one has of the first principles, and on this, Thomas and Godfrey are not in such disagreement. Godfrey writes:
So, when theology is posited as science, it is necessary that its principles become in some way evident and known or understood. In fact, evidence has to be of a kind that respects the excellence of its subject matter and the weakness of the human knower. Thus, to one instructed in theology, it is much more evident than to the simple layman that Christ, God and man, has risen, and how this is possible and not impossible. . . Therefore, even though such things are not as evident as are the principles of other sciences because of their lack of proportion to our intellect, still they are known by a kind of evidence that is sufficient. . . Concerning he kind of knowledge we have in theology, Augustine, in Book XIV of his De Trinitate, says: “Many of the faithful are not strong in this science, even though they are strong in the faith itself. For it is one thing to know what a man must believe in order to gain the blessed life; it is another thing to know how that which is believed may help the pious and be defended against the impious.”
So, both Aquinas and Godfrey show us that by studying theology, we are not making scientific arguments that will be convincing as science to the non-believer. However, by studying theology scientifically, that is, by logically deducing conclusions from revealed first principles, we do get a sort of science which is important, not because it makes our beliefs more convincing to the non-believer, but because we become more convinced, even in light of the opposition of non-believers. Thus, theology does enhance knowledge if conducted scientifically, even if we still might not be able to call theology a proper science.
This seems to me incredibly important today when so many believers, when faced with a materialist and empiricist scientific worldview, feel the need either to doubt or abandon their faith or to withdraw into a sectarian, anti-scientific stance. For this latter group, recovering the Medieval concept of theology as a science can help Christians engage the scientific community in a spirit of dialogue rather than polemics, and by incorporating the sciences into the study of theology, they may actually become better believers.
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Her Light Is Not Her Own Nor Is Her Path
Her light is not her own, nor is her path,
Yet she bears witness to a crimson will.
Her brother's a solitary blaze, she a lamp
Directing tides though mortal stone.
He by flame illumines earthen ages.
She by timeless spirit time apportions,
Translates his shafts to high geometry.
Though cold she hides the hunted, lights their way.
He shines the same on all indifferently,
His radiance warming though he be unseen.
Moved among stars she surveys the bowers.
He, an unmoved mover, never strays,
Intending, releasing his limbs by fiery showers.
Seen she remains a mystery.
He speaks not of her though she clocks his hours
Bathed in pale humility,
Appearing night and day, he day alone.
Yet his empire reaches toward infinity
Like fire itself or thought or Rome,
Streaming outward far beyond his throne,
Her moving midpoint and dominion Earth alone.
If both celestials prophesy,
He flawless light outpouring, she dark
Like the non-being of mind,
He a center, she circumference,
He far, she near, he a giant, she slim and spare,
Whence the hermeneutic of the sky?
For he, the source of light and life down here,
Deflects attention from the world above.
Who looks too long at him sees naught.
Who moves too close he'll scorch and slay.
She, recalling an ethereal height,
By gossamer attire entices sight,
By thought number, and dares to remind
That she ever nurtures mind's desire;
Who aims too high through him goes blind.
Yet he carries God within his beams
As Francis says, and even plants acknowledge
When they pray, turning to him with silent,
Unknown love, such as mortals' healed of daily pains
By his medicinal, muscular rays,
The seat and fountain of all that is.
Bespeaking double rule they point to One,
Not hers, not his. Near opposites
They seem to bid us seek beyond semblance
Why to human eyes they look the same
In size, in distance, in skies traversed, in light,
The one commanding day, the other night.
© 2008 by Sam Gold
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School equity concerns abound
A survey of area school superintendents revealed that all educational opportunities for each Minnesota student are not equal.
Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at Macalester College and an education columnist for ECM Publishers and Sun Newspapers, contacted superintendents to see what their priorities were for this new legislative session.
While top school officials don’t hold out much hope for changes this session, they agree the school aid formula is broken.
The biggest complaint is that while the basic state aid per pupil is the same for each student, the formula and the state laws enable some districts to provide more aid per student. The range of revenue per student in Minnesota can be anywhere from $7,000 to $11,000.
For example, those districts that can pass levy referendums where the tax base is substantial have more money than districts like North Branch that cannot pass such a levy referendum.
So the formula for state aid allots North Branch students less money than students receive in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Superintendent Vern Koepp of Rush City says that: “The inequality of the current funding formula has created an educational system in which some schools struggle to provide basic educational opportunities for students while other schools provide extras.”
In New York Mills where a special technology levy was passed, iPad technology is being introduced. Many other students don’t have that opportunity.
As Nathan points out: “Nations around the world with the highest average achievement don’t make funding dependent on which community a youngster lives in.”
Another major problem for school districts is the Legislature held back over $2 billion in state aid, 40 percent, to be paid this year. This means many districts borrowed money and paid the interest costs in order to operate until the state pays them the held-up money.
Superintendent Bruce Novak of Cambridge-Isanti notes: “It is very difficult for school districts to operate on 60 percent of the revenues during the current fiscal year without borrowing money to meet the everyday operational expenses.”
The Legislature this year at least should fix the law so that charter schools have the same access to borrowing money for the holdback as the regular schools have. Lisa Hendricks, director of Partnership Academy in Richfield, said: “Our school will have to spend nearly $30,000 in fees to cover the holdback.”
(Legislators did provide $50 more per pupil to pay for the borrowing costs, but that’s not enough for some districts.)
Legislators at least should pay more for special education, because school districts are taking millions out of their general funds to subsidize the cost of this mandated education.
Legislators complain that not even they can understand the complex formula to aid students. They don’t have the will to tackle a formula which gives more money to districts losing students and poverty aid to urban schools.
Meanwhile, students in schools like North Branch attend school for four days each week and hope for better days. Their Superintendent, Deb Hinton, says the formula has created winners and losers in public education.
“As a state we need to make sure all students receive the same opportunity to grow and succeed,” she said. — Don Heinzman, ECM Publishers
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|Morisette, Alanis biography|
Morisette, Alanis Biography
Alanis Morissette's 1995 international debut Jagged Little Pill became one of the most successful albums of all time. The raw intensity of the album's first single, 'You Oughta Know', led Morissette to be labeled the 'first lady of rage', though the album itself contained only two songs that hinted at any sort of anger or resentment. Since the extraordinary success of Jagged Little Pill, Morissette's popularity has waned as singers such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera gained attention, though she is still one of the industry's premiere female singer/songwriters. Her latest album, So-Called Chaos, on which she received sole writing and co-producing credits, sold over 115,000 copies in its first week of release.
The early years
Morissette showed a love for singing and songwriting at an early age. When she was 9 years old, she went to the home of singer Olivia Newton-John, one of her early idols, and said over the intercom at the front gates: 'Hi, I'm Alanis. I want to meet you one day and I want to be famous, just like you.'
In that same year, Morissette wrote her first song, 'Fate Stay With Me', at the age of 9:
With the help of her childhood mentor Leslie Howe, Morissette released 'Fate Stay With Me' when she was 11 years old. A year later, Morissette auditioned for a role on the Canadian children's television show You Can't Do That on Television, shot in Ottawa, her hometown. Morissette became a recurring cast member, but left after one season.
With the support of her parents and a relentless desire to succeed, Morissette traveled with Howe to New York City to meet with record executives, an experience that she would later write about in songs such as 'UR' (from the album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie):
Alanis and Now Is The Time
In 1990, Alanis Morissette signed with MCA Records and released her debut full-length album, Alanis, in 1991. At the time, Morissette was credited simply as 'Alanis' to avoid possible confusion with fellow Canadian singer Alannah Myles. The album went double platinum, and its first single, 'Too Hot', reached the Top 10 on the Canadian charts:
In 1992, Morissette was nominated for three Juno Awards: Single of the Year, Best Dance Record, and Most Promising Female Vocalist (which she won). In the same year, she released Now Is The Time, her follow-up to Alanis. The album attempted to move Morissette away from her debut album's dance-pop sound. However, Now Is The Time sold less than half the number of copies of her debut album, and Morissette lost her recording contract with MCA Records.
Moving to Los Angeles
In 1993, Alanis Morissette moved from her hometown of Ottawa to Toronto. Living alone for the first time in her life, Morissette met with a bevy of songwriters, but the results frustrated her. A move to Nashville a few months later also proved unfruitful.
Morissette began making trips to Los Angeles and working with as many musicians as possible, in the hopes of meeting a collaborator. During this time, Morissette met with producer and songwriter Glen Ballard.
According to Ballard, the connection was 'instant', and within 30 minutes of meeting each other, they had begun experimenting with different sounds in Ballard's home studio. Despite Morissette's naïveté, Ballard knew he was dealing with a woman wise beyond her years.
The turning point in their sessions was the song 'Perfect', which was written and recorded in 20 minutes. Morissette improvised the lyrics on the spot to Ballard's delicate guitar strums. The version of the song that appeared on Jagged Little Pill was the only take the two had ever recorded. With 'Perfect', the floodgate was opened, and soon Morissette's thoughts and emotions began pouring onto paper at a frenzied pace.
In Los Angeles, Morissette lived in a small, one-room apartment. On the way home from the supermarket one afternoon, she was robbed at gunpoint. A man rummaged through her bag while another held a gun to her head and made her lie face down on the pavement. Morissette later revealed that her only concern was for the book of lyrics she was carrying in her bag. To her relief, the lyrics were untouched. They would eventually make up the bulk of Jagged Little Pill.
She would later write about her move to Los Angeles in the song 'Unprodigal Daughter' (from the album Feast on Scraps):
Ballard and Morissette recorded the songs on Jagged Little Pill literally as they were being written. According to Morissette, Ballard was the first collaborator who had encouraged her to express her emotions completely and fully without any any fear of shame or embarrassment. As a result, Morissette unabashedly shared everything, from her buoyant love of life ('You Learn'), to her warm infatuations ('Head Over Feet'), to her darkest, most ruthless revenge fantasies ('You Oughta Know'). Morissette drew inspiration for her lyrics completely from personal experiences. For example, as Morissette began meeting with record labels, she wrote and recorded 'Right Through You' about the patriarchy she encountered in the music industry (from the album Jagged Little Pill):
The word 'shake' referred to the record executive's handshake, which was not warm and firm, but cold and slippery. All was well, however, by the spring of 1995, when Morissette inked a deal with Maverick Records.
Jagged Little Pill era (1995-1998)
In 1995, at age 20, Alanis Morissette released her first international album, Jagged Little Pill (lyrics (http://www.angelfire.com/mi/wojtkiewicz/jagged.html)). Expectations for the album were low, and Morissette's manager and long-time friend Scott Welsh would later admit that he didn't expect the album to sell any more than around 250,000 copies. The album debuted at number 118 on the Billboard 200 chart.
'You Oughta Know' instantly garnered attention for its use of the word 'fuck', one of the first times the word was used by a playlisted female artist. (The caustic lyrics were supposedly inspired by a bad relationship with Full House star, Dave Coulier.) The video went into heavy rotation on MTV and radio. Listeners were shocked, unnerved and delighted by the song, which emerged during a time when testosterone and male rage (in the form of grunge) dominated the airwaves. As one fan put it: 'Finally, someone who's speaking for me'.
While 'You Oughta Know' was a hit, it was the seemingly endless series of singles following it that sent Jagged Little Pill on its meteoric rise to the top. Second single 'Hand In My Pocket' showed a calmer, mellower Morissette reflecting on her life, while third single 'All I Really Want' made a casual reference to the Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations:
Jagged Little Pill's fourth single, 'Ironic', went on to become Morissette's biggest hit. She received heavy criticism for the lyrics, however, which asked the listener after every verse, 'Isn't it ironic?', even though the verses described situations that some argued were not ironic:
Jagged Little Pill was a phenomenal success. It went on to sell 16 million copies in the United States alone, over 30 million copies worldwide, and its singles have become some of the most recognizable songs of the decade. A backlash, however, was quickly brewing.
Morissette was dismissed by some as a record industry puppet. She was attacked for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Glen Ballard, though Morissette was responsible for all of Pill's lyrics and much of the album's music, and such a collaboration was not uncommon for many solo artists at the time.
Others called her sudden image change 'calculated', 'manipulative' and 'greedy', while fans countered that such criticisms failed to acknowledge the possibility that Morissette may have grown artistically since she was a 17-year-old.
Despite this backlash, the album was nominated for six Grammy Awards. At the 1996 ceremony, Morissette performed a moving rendition of 'You Oughta Know', one that all but drained the anger from the song, leaving only an air of sorrow and remorse. That night, Morissette won awards for Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album.
Later that year, Morissette embarked on a one-and-a-half year world tour in support of Jagged Little Pill, beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. The DVD Jagged Little Pill, Live chronicled the bulk of this tour.
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie era (1998-2002)
In 1998, Alanis Morissette recorded 'Uninvited', a song from the soundtrack to the motion picture City of Angels. The track was never officially released as a single, but nevertheless received widespread radio airplay.
Later that year, she released Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (lyrics (http://www.angelfire.com/mi/wojtkiewicz/supposed.html)), an experimental album with a wordy title and lyrics to match. Morissette once again collaborated with Glen Ballard, but this time she helped produce the album as well.
Fans and critics alike were shocked. Morissette didn't release Jagged Little Pill, Pt. 2, which would have been the commercially savvy thing to do. Obviously, Morissette was no longer pursuing commercial success. Most of the songs on the disc challenged 'traditional' song formulas, including 'The Couch':
and 'I Was Hoping', which recounts several experiences that shaped Morissette's life, including an encounter in a restaurant with a chauvinistic waiter:
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, breaking the record for the most albums sold in a single week by a female artist. As a follow-up to Jagged Little Pill, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie had very little staying power. Its wordy, personal lyrics turned many fans off, and after only 38 weeks, it left the Billboard 200, selling 'only' 2.5 million, a huge drop from Jagged. In 1999, the song 'Uninvited' won two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The first single, 'Thank U', was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. That same year, Morissette released the live acoustic album MTV Unplugged.
Many critics wrote off the album as a flop; however, repeating the incredible success of Jagged Little Pill was an almost impossible task that Morissette never expected nor set out to do. Many fans now consider Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie to be Morissette's strongest work to date.
In 1999, Alanis Morissette expanded her résumé by delving into acting. She appeared as God in the motion picture Dogma, directed by Kevin Smith. Smith, who claimed to be a big fan of Morissette, asked her to be in the film several times. She had to turn down the female lead, and by the time her schedule allowed her to participate in the film, only the role of God, which involves virtually no speech and appears at the very end of the film, was left.
Under Rug Swept era (2002-2004)
In 2002, after a four-year absence, Alanis Morissette released her third international studio album Under Rug Swept, with the notable absence of Jagged Little Pill and Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie collaborator Glen Ballard. For the first time, Morissette took on the role of sole writer and producer.
The album spawned the hit single 'Hands Clean'. The song's multi-layered lyrics told the story of a young Morissette's affair with an older man from two points of view:
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and sold close to a million copies in the United States alone, even though only one song from the album received any substantial radio airplay. Despite eleven very well-received songs, Maverick Records only released two of them as singles, a move criticized by many fans.
In December 2002, Morissette released a dual CD/DVD combination package, Feast on Scraps, which included live concert footage and eight previously unreleased songs from the Under Rug Swept recording sessions. The album was nominated for a Juno for Music DVD of the Year.
In September 2003, Morissette made headlines for supposedly exclaiming, 'Thank you, Brazil!' after a show in Lima, Peru. Morissette and her concert attenders later indicated that she had in fact said, 'Thank you, bless you', but by then the damage to her reputation had already been done.
So-Called Chaos era (2004-present)
In response to the Super Bowl halftime controversy that occurred earlier in 2004, and the stricter Federal Communications Commission regulations that followed, Morissette changed the first line of her song, 'Everything', from 'I can be an asshole of the grandest kind' to 'I can be a nightmare of the grandest kind' for radio.
In April 2004, Alanis Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004, which was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Sporting a short, new hairdo, Morissette looked like a drastically different person from the angry, long-haired woman who once wrote and sang 'You Oughta Know'.
At the event, Morissette satirized the public outrage caused by Janet Jackson's breast-baring incident during the Super Bowl. Stepping out of a nightgown and wearing a semi-nude bodysuit, Morissette said, 'We live in a land Canada where we still think the human body is beautiful and we're not afraid of the female breast.'
The joke was, however, that Morissette was still forced to 'remove' her pasted-on nipples and pubic hair because they were not allowed to be shown on public television.
Morissette's music video for the single '8 Easy Steps' featured various video clips spanning her career in music, film and television. Beginning in present day and passing through former videos, movie and T.V. clips and eventually childhood footage, the clips were digitally edited to make it appear that Morissette was singing the song at all of those times.
In May 2004, Morissette released So-Called Chaos. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart to generally favorable critical reviews. On May 18, 2004, the cable channel Oxygen taped an unprecedented eight hours of live footage, showing Morissette in New York City promoting the release of her new album.
In July 2004, Morissette appeared in the motion picture De-lovely, a tribute to composer Cole Porter. She performed the song 'Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love', and had a brief acting role as an anonymous stage performer.
Stage and film
This biography is published under the GNU Licence
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- Vancouver, British Columbia - Back when Occupy Wall St. began, there was a lot with the movement that I identified with, even if the idea of camping out in tents for a long period of time wasn't really my thing. Many have derided the movement for failing to have a singular leader, as well as for not having a specifically defined goal that they wish to achieve through their protest movement. The fact that I identified with this movement at all is unique, since generally speaking, I find protests to be limited in practical or useful terms beyond simply allowing a group of people to gather of a like-minded belief or outrage towards a common issue or problem. And if I'm to be quite honest, I find many protests irritating. However, what drew me to the Occupy Wall St. movement was that their not-very-explicitly-stated point of contention was that many people, such as Wall St. bankers and politicians in Washington, who were in fact responsible for the collapse of the American economic system, and thereby the financial ruin of many hard-working Americans, were allowed to walk free without having to face any recourse through the justice system, despite their risky business moves or the lack of proper financial regulation by the government, while the rest of us have to pay the penalty for their idiocy. This, in the opinion of yours truly, is what is most disgusting about this entire financial meltdown that greedy men and women have been able to ruin the world economic system for everyone else, despite these individuals typically already enjoying incredible wealth.
Entries in peaceful protests (2)
- Vancouver, British Columbia - Democracies in North America have often been maligned by their lack of voter turnout, or voter apathy. Some suggest that voters simply don't care, nor do they value their democratic freedoms, when millions around the world would cherish the right to vote for once in their lives. When voters don't turn out, the blame is more often than not laid at the feet of the voters, or better said, those who didn't vote at all. I have been one of those accusers in the past, but recently, I've been asking myself if I've been correct all of these years. While I'm not about to go join one of the Occupy Wall St. protests in Vancouver, the dialogue that they have been able to force upon the mainstream discourse has been impressive, as they've caused normally political inactive citizens to think about what the movement is saying. Certainly, it is challenging to say what exactly the Occupy Wall St. movement wants changed about society, but it is clear that they are protesting a system that they view as being broken and benefiting the "1%," while taking advantage of the "99%."
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Friday, January 14, 2011
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Change the conversation, change your thinking, change your life.
…(M)aybe the audience creates the performance. Maybe the listening creates the speaking. Maybe citizens create leaders, maybe employees create bosses, maybe students create teachers and children create parents. Maybe the purpose of problem solving is to build relationships.
The only way the future gets created … is through invitation.
I’d rather have two people in the room who chose to be there than a thousand who were sent.
…(T)he idea of invitation is very powerful. What constitutes a powerful invitation? One that says, “Please come, and if you come here’s what’s required of you.” Most invitations are too soft, there are elements of begging: “Please come, it’s going to be great, nothing much will be required of you, it’s not going to take long, we’ll be fast, it’ll be organized, Robert’s Rules of Order, there’ll be food, there’ll be drink, the seats will be comfortable, and if you can come late, come at all, leave early, whatever, please come. God bless you.” A powerful invitation is one that says, “We want you to come! Now if you choose to come, here’s what will be demanded of you. You’ll have to show up. You’ll have to engage with your peers in powerful conversations. You’ll have to leave your interests at the door. We didn’t come together to negotiate; the future’s not created through negotiation, it’s created through imagination. It’s created from a dream… (A) possibility creates an alternative future. We’re not coming to negotiate. Leave your interests at home. You’re coming to engage in the primary actions between you and other citizens, you and other people who came. If you’re willing to live by these requirements, please come.”
To me servant-leadership… is a leadership that confronts people with their freedom.
… (T)he act of love is to confront people with their freedom, is to assemble, lead, in a way that says the choice resides in all of us. What greater gift can you give somebody than the experience of their own power, the experience that they have the capacity to create the world?
The skill of servanthood to me is to get good at questions that no matter how you answer them, you’re guilty. No matter how you answer this question you’re on the hook for being a creator of the future. You’re on the hook for being accountable. You create questions so people will choose accountability. We can’t hold each other accountable. We think we can legislate accountability. We can do performance management, we can have rules of the road that we’re (going to) enforce, but people talk about empowerment when all they really want to talk about are boundaries and limits, what will happen to me; we talk about consequences, there’ve got to be consequences; all of these are forms of patriarchy and they have no power. They have no power to create an alternative future. They have no power in the world. The question is, “How do I engage people so they choose to be accountable?” Well, questions do that. There are certain questions that if you start to answer them, you’re in trouble. No matter what you answer, you are responsible for creating an alternative future. The task of servant-leadership, in my mind, is, “Change the conversation, change the future.”
…(T)he questions have to be ones that have embedded in them the notion that choice resides in the world. It doesn’t reside in leaders; it doesn’t reside in the cause. It’s not in the performer, in the parent, in the teacher; cause resides in people’s connectedness to each other, in individuals.
Most of our organizations and communities are parent-child, boss-subordinate, mayor-citizen conversations — we think that matters. We think the boss-subordinate relationship matters, but I don’t think it does.
We think bosses are responsible for the emotional well being of their subordinates. If they have a depressed, low-morale team, it’s their fault! ...Maybe people are responsible for their own emotional well-being. What would it be like to be in a world where individuals were responsible for their own emotional well being, and we didn’t pretend that the boss was cause and subordinate was effect?
Here are some thoughts about conversations that have the power to create an alternative future. One’s the conversation of possibility. What’s the possibility I came here to live into or to create?
There’s a conversation of ownership. Take whatever you’re complaining about and say, “What have I helped do to create that situation?” Beautiful question. “What’s my contribution to the problem? What have I helped do?” It means I’m an owner. Whatever I complain about, let me turn that question and say, “How have I created that thing?” It’s a conversation of ownership.
There’s a conversation of commitment. Commitment means, what’s the promise I’m willing to make with no expectation of return? That’s a commitment. …“What’s the promise you’re willing to make with no expectation of return?” … Now who do I make the promise to? To peers. If you’re in a leadership spot and you want to create choice, engagement among people working for you, then you say let them make promises to each other. Let them sit in witness of those promises, peers, and say, “Okay, is that enough?” and that shifts the focus from boss-to-subordinate to peer-to-peer.
(W)hy not ask each individual, “What are you here to create? What’s the vision you have?” Now people get nervous: “Suppose we don’t have agreeable, compatible visions,” but I’ve never heard a vision that wasn’t embraceable. I’ve never heard an individual say, “The possibility I’m living into is to walk over people. To succeed at the cost of others.”
“Well, suppose my only purpose in leading would be to bring the gifts of the margin into the center. I just love that thought. I have no idea what it means, but I love the thought. And suppose when we come together we agree for the next six months we’re only going to talk about gifts. And we do it in the moment. We do it with each other and say, “You know, here’s the gift I’ve gotten from you in the last ten minutes.” And you teach people to breathe that in. Most people, when they’re given love or given a statement of gifts, exhale. And they begin a story. And so that’s the thought. And then you devise ways of doing that. So the gift conversation has a lot of power to it.
…(H)elp is just a subtle form of control. People want to give advice to each other. They want to tell you what they did when they were at your stage of life. They have an answer for you, and it’s called generosity; for me it’s mostly a conversation stopper. Whenever you engage people in powerful questions you have to set them up very carefully and tell them, do not help each other. Do not give advice. Do not mask your advice in questions: “Have you thought of this, have you thought of that?” Do not tell them what you did at this stage.
I want you to substitute curiosity for help. Every time you have the instinct to be useful, helpful, to have an answer, to give advice... Ask the other person, “Why does that matter to you? What’s the meaning that that has to you? What’s at stake for you?” In a deeper sense you say, “I came here to serve you by valuing meaning over speed. Meaning over efficiency. Meaning over problem solving.” People say, “I’m a problem solver.” I know you are, but it’s only a part of who you are. You have to inoculate people against the search for the quick answer, by asking them: “What does this mean? Why does it matter to you?”
Monday, December 27, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Even pulling the Bible out of the picture, this has been an ongoing philosophical battle for decades in the US. I am a big fan of Ayn Rand and her Magnum Opus: Atlas Shrugged. It is perhaps the most comprehensive philosophical and narrative argument for Capitalism. However, it is an idealized Capitalism, not an actual one. I struggle with her theories in my head because that is the only place her reality has existed. Socialism, on the other hand, shares much of the same story. Socialism DOES NOT = COMMUNISM. There is a difference. I think that socialism is another "ideal" that has yet to be realized. Both, in my humble opinion, have their strengths and flaws in the utopian philosophical arguments.
However, CNN has a post that puts these two ideas in debate. I DO beyond a doubt think this is a great discussion for Christians and the Church to have. However, as much as I like this conversation, I must remember that Jesus was BEYOND either systematic thesis. The Kingdom of God (again IMHO), is bigger than this. But, if we want to bring about the Kingdom of God on this earth, then we have to do so with the systems that are in place. Wether it means subverting a specific system or embracing it, we have to use the best of it to heal while we in turn, heal the broken parts of our system.
It seems to many (I'm not sure I agree) that our government is sliding into a more socialist identity. While this is not a political blog, I'm not sure that some synthesis of the best parts of a socialist and capitalist mindset are truly at odds. A government's job in the USA is to protect and care for it's people. I'm not sure how you can do this with an Ayn Rand type of Capitalism. Then again, we have yet to have a truly successful Socialist experiment without the corruption and disenfranchisement of the people. Yet as a Social Conscious Christian, I find myself asking, "in what areas would a more Capitalist/Socialist approach truly do things like:
Alleviate corruption in government (this must be done, not to be political, but because to truly heal a situation, the system itself that is causing or at least allowing oppression, must be fixed).
End World Hunger
Give equal rights to all men and women
AND THE LIST GOES ON......
In any case, as always I have more questions than answers to offer. So in my offering I give you the link to the following debate/article and the video clips.
Enjoy, and please feel free to leave comments.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
But what I’ve noticed over the many years in the church, in spirituality, in Christianity, is that the nastiness in religious domains is more subversive. Christians, I’ve concluded, generally want to be nice, sincere people of faith. They would never want to hurt anybody.
So when something upsetting happens to them against their will, rather than get consciously angry, mean, manipulative or deceitful, they drive these unpleasant thoughts and feelings deep underground and cover it all in a sentimental spirituality laced with ultimate concern for the church, God’s will, and mission.
What actually happens is this psychologically separates the unconscious drives from the conscious ones, allowing the unconscious ones to bloom with full sanction under the guise of genuine concern. Anyone with any discernment can see the monstrosity of the person’s thinly veiled ulterior motives, lack of honesty and integrity. But the person himself is completely blind to them. His spirituality won’t allow him to recognize it. He lacks integrity. In other words, he is not an integrated person. He is not integrating his unconscious with his conscious, his dark side with his light, his sinner with his saint.
To address the issues head-on would fall on shocked, offended and deaf ears. It is useless. Unless a close friend or relative points it out. Then maybe. Otherwise, from my experience, it takes the mortifying trauma of an understood bad dream, a revelation, self-awareness, or realization (whatever you want to call it) for it to be addressed. Plus humility.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Up for review for theooze.com: Colors of God: Conversations about Being the Church
FROM THE PUBLISHERS:
OK, so the Church is broken, now what?
If you’re like me, you’ve read a lot of books containing theory as to the why and the what of church problems and solutions. But what if we had a collaborative effort of church theorist-practitioners who produce solid paradigms, but do so in the context of sharing and testing in a local congregation? We do: It’s called The Colors of God.
This memorable collaboration, involving Dave Phillips, Quentin Steen and Randall “Peg” Peters takes readers on an unforgettable intellectual and practical exploration of the Christian faith as it is lived out in neXus church in Abbotsford, BC.
In Colors of God, the three authors utilize a unique conversational style to raise key questions and challenge theological assumptions about what constitutes Christian faith and how to embody that within a local church community. This book finds itself within the ‘emerging church’ stream and yet moves beyond simple theological arguments.
Instead, the authors attempt to lay out a useful framework for what it means to practically live out one’s faith in light of the Kingdom of God. Using colors to depict the different aspects of the Kingdom, they move beyond creed and belief into color, art, action and grace. Something I especially appreciate is their seriously playful effort to incorporate the grace-soaked insights of Episcopal priest Robert Farrar Capon into the DNA of their congregation.
Colors of God is the perfect book for anyone who questions aspects of their beliefs and longs to integrate better assumptions with a holistic faith community.
http://nexuschurch.com - the congregation these authors started
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
It is interesting to me how we are wired and how empathy is in our nature. In fact it seems to be our default. As my wife said, "this all makes sense and is nothing earth-shattering", yet somehow it is. Why? Because we find empathy so hard! We fight against our very NATURE, the IMAGE in which we were created (IMAGO DEI).
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We created Pandora to put the Music Genome Project directly in your hands
It’s a new kind of radio –
stations that play only music you like
Having taken up the piano at age seven, Hancock quickly became known as a prodigy, soloing in the first movement of a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony at the age of 11. After studies at Grinnell College, Hancock was invited by Donald Byrd in 1961 to join his group in New York City, and before long, Blue Note offered him a solo contract. His debut album, Takin' Off, took off indeed after Mongo Santamaria covered one of the album's songs, "Watermelon Man." In May 1963, Miles Davis asked him to join his band in time for the Seven Steps to Heaven sessions, and he remained there for five years, greatly influencing Miles' evolving direction, loosening up his own style, and, upon Miles' suggestion, converting to the Rhodes electric piano. In that time span, Hancock's solo career also blossomed on Blue Note, pouring forth increasingly sophisticated compositions like "Maiden Voyage," "Cantaloupe Island," "Goodbye to Childhood," and the exquisite "Speak Like a Child." He also played on many East Coast recording sessions for producer Creed Taylor and provided a groundbreaking score to Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blow Up, which gradually led to further movie assignments.
Having left the Davis band in 1968, Hancock recorded an elegant funk album, Fat Albert Rotunda, and in 1969 formed a sextet that evolved into one of the most exciting, forward-looking jazz-rock groups of the era. Now deeply immersed in electronics, Hancock added the synthesizer of Patrick Gleeson to his Echoplexed, fuzz-wah-pedaled electric piano and clavinet, and the recordings became spacier and more complex rhythmically and structurally, creating its own corner of the avant-garde. By 1970, all of the musicians used both English and African names (Herbie's was Mwandishi). Alas, Hancock had to break up the band in 1973 when it ran out of money, and having studied Buddhism, he concluded that his ultimate goal should be to make his audiences happy.
The next step, then, was a terrific funk group whose first album, Head Hunters, with its Sly Stone-influenced hit single, "Chameleon," became the biggest-selling jazz LP up to that time. Now handling all of the synthesizers himself, Hancock's heavily rhythmic comping often became part of the rhythm section, leavened by interludes of the old urbane harmonies. Hancock recorded several electric albums of mostly superior quality in the '70s, followed by a wrong turn into disco around the decade's end. In the meantime, Hancock refused to abandon acoustic jazz. After a one-shot reunion of the 1965 Miles Davis Quintet (Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, with Freddie Hubbard sitting in for Miles) at New York's 1976 Newport Jazz Festival, they went on tour the following year as V.S.O.P. The near-universal acclaim of the reunions proved that Hancock was still a whale of a pianist; that Miles' loose mid-'60s post-bop direction was far from spent; and that the time for a neo-traditional revival was near, finally bearing fruit in the '80s with Wynton Marsalis and his ilk. V.S.O.P. continued to hold sporadic reunions through 1992, though the death of the indispensable Williams in 1997 cast much doubt as to whether these gatherings would continue.
Hancock continued his chameleonic ways in the '80s: scoring an MTV hit in 1983 with the scratch-driven, proto-industrial single "Rockit" (accompanied by a striking video); launching an exciting partnership with Gambian kora virtuoso Foday Musa Suso that culminated in the swinging 1986 live album Jazz Africa; doing film scores; and playing festivals and tours with the Marsalis brothers, George Benson, Michael Brecker, and many others. After his 1988 techno-pop album, Perfect Machine, Hancock left Columbia (his label since 1973), signed a contract with Qwest that came to virtually nothing (save for A Tribute to Miles in 1992), and finally made a deal with Polygram in 1994 to record jazz for Verve and release pop albums on Mercury. Well into a youthful middle age, Hancock's curiosity, versatility, and capacity for growth showed no signs of fading, and in 1998 he issued Gershwin's World. His curiosity with the fusion of electronic music and jazz continued with 2001's Future 2 Future, but he also continued to explore the future of straight-ahead contemporary jazz with 2005's Possibilities. An intriguing album of jazz treatments of Joni Mitchell compositions called River: The Joni Letters was released in 2007. In 2010 Hancock released his The Imagine Project album, which was recorded in seven countries and featured a host of collaborators, including Dave Matthews, Anoushka Shankar, Jeff Beck, the Chieftains, John Legend, India.Arie, Seal, P!nk, Juanes, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Chaka Khan, K'NAAN, Wayne Shorter, James Morrison, and Lisa Hannigan. He was also named Creative Chair for the New Los Angeles Philharmonic. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi
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Choosing the right baseball/softball glove for your beginning player
Today’s guest post is downright practical if you have a child getting ready for spring baseball. Have you ever wondered out how to pick out a glove for your little leaguer? Mindy Tan, a Vinci Pro Consultant, gives some guidelines.
Having kids that are new to baseball can be overwhelming, especially for a parent who didn’t play the game. Aside from learning the game itself, there’s a lot to know when it comes to selecting a glove.
Gloves differ in design, size, quality, and for different positions. The glove your child starts with will likely not be the last glove you purchase even though they can last for many years. As the years progress, the needs of a player change and the size of a player’s hands grow, resulting in the need for glove upgrades.
The first consideration when selecting a glove is the position being played. For example, a catcher’s mitt will have more padding and be reinforced for heavy and hard play. First base mitts are longer to help players catch balls from infielders more easily, and have less padding. Infielder and outfielder gloves have five-finger stalls; but the pocket in an infielder glove is shallow to allow players to catch and release quickly while the outfielder’s glove has a deeper pocket and a longer length to extend reach and range.
Personal preference plays a large part in which glove is right for your young player. Some players like to have their entire hand fit inside the glove while others like the glove to fit with part of the hand outside of the glove back. Younger kids tend to prefer the entire hand to fit inside the glove, but even some professional players will play with the glove fitting the other way.
Trying on the gloves prior to purchase is recommended for a beginner to get an idea of the size needed. No two eight-year-olds are exactly alike so following general size guidelines blindly is not a good idea.
Fastpitch gloves and baseball gloves are somewhat interchangeable early on, but by the age of ten a player should be using the glove made specifically for either softball or baseball because the gloves are made to accommodate a different size ball. However, because softball gloves are made more often with Velcro backs, they can be an alternative for really small hands that need that extra adjustment.
The glove back and web style can be chosen based on personal preference. Conventional or open back gloves have a wider hand opening. Closed-back gloves have a smaller opening and feature a finger hole which gives the player better grip. While there are several types of web styles, they basically all fall into one of two categories; open or closed web. Open web means that there is space between the pieces of leather in the webbing and closed web gloves have a tighter weave in the webbing.
Remember when selecting your child’s first glove that the glove should fit snugly enough that it will not fly off mid game. The leather of the glove will loosen up a little as time goes by, so account for that as well.
Vinci Pro Baseball has been making high quality baseball gloves since 1997.
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Luxury homes are often a launching point for technology, such as home automation, security, lighting management, and entertainment systems, that could become commonplace throughout the residential market. In the meantime, contractors providing electrical installations in today’s luxury homes are becoming well-versed in automation and recessed electrical systems that are better hidden than those of the past. The most successful contractors, according to automation technology vendors, take the role of upselling products to their clients—explaining what automation technology is available and why it might be worth the money, even if the homeowner didn’t ask.
However, the recession has altered the growth of many automation technologies, and such systems have been harder to sell in the past few years. In some cases, homeowners have been putting the latest innovations on the back burner as they looked for ways to save money.
“Luxury homeowners of today live full lives. People are busy with careers, family and all the commitments that come with everyday life,” said Rob Doherty, Crestron Residential Lighting Controls’ regional sales manager, Rockleigh, N.J.
Therefore, they are looking for conveniences, safety features and anything that may simplify their lives. But as the economy improves, more luxury homeowners are shifting back to quality (read: expensive) versus more economical systems. New apps on the latest tablets and smartphones make it simple for homeowners to manage the home remotely, and that is likely to move the automation industry into more mainstream houses.
High-end residential installations often begin with a single automated piece that could be placed into something greater. For example, many homeowners install an entertainment system in one room, with plans to integrate lighting controls or thermostats in the future. With such customers in mind, contractors recently have been learning how to put an automation backbone in place ahead of a completely integrated system. To help contractors stay up-to-speed with the technology they potentially sell and install, manufacturers offer a variety of online and in-person training courses and programs. They aim to help electrical contractors who, in high-end residential installations, often are requested to select brands or design systems, including architectural or custom lighting, landscape lighting and home theater/sound systems.
Manufacturers and integrated systems contractors report that, in the past six months, they are seeing a growing demand for automation and alternative lighting, loads and sources.
James Sherman, director of marketing, residential, Leviton Manufacturing Co., said that, when it comes to lighting, “A lot of the products are developed taking this into consideration.”
Leviton, a global manufacturer of electrical devices based in Melville, N.Y., offers universal dimmers that enable homeowners to control a variety of lighting hardware. Leviton has developed controllers that can function with traditional incandescent lighting and the latest lamp innovations such as dimmable compact fluorescent (CFL) and light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, without sacrificing performance. The new devices give electrical contractors the ability to offer a single lighting control capable of properly dimming next-generation lighting sources, while remaining backward-compatible.
Leviton’s universal dimming devices also address performance issues, such as flickering, reduced dimming range and low-level startup, which are experienced when incandescent-only dimmers are paired with dimmable LED and CFL lamps. Users may adjust for any dimmable LED or CFL lamps.
This kind of technology serves the inevitable transition of LED lighting being installed in homes, and the phase-out of the incandescent lamp. Crestron continues to test LED lighting on its existing lighting control products, so the company can adjust and create reliable solutions to properly dim LEDs.
“Clients today look for speed with their computer networks, high-quality video pictures, and their own music when and where they want it,” Doherty said.
Remote access to control and monitor their home through their mobile devices is also another must-have. Energy management, he added, is a focal point for many. Controlling lighting with a time clock reduces energy consumption. An “away” button shuts off certain lights and adjusts the thermostat.
Crestron provides an integrated home technology solution that is used in both the high-end residential application and the more mainstream homes. The ability to start with a single system where the client has an easy-to-use remote to control the audio, video and lighting in a room, for example, provides the foundation to add more lighting control, controllable smart thermostats, and music and video distribution throughout the whole home at a later date.
“Our wireless radio frequency system (infiNET) has been popular over the past few years with the downturn in the new construction marketplace,” Doherty said. “Because our infiNET dimmers and switches replace existing switches on the wall, clients can start with a few controllable dimmers and grow the system as they wish.”
The dimmers also can function as keypads, so the user can control a single light or groups from one location. infiNET can communicate with any Crestron system being installed.
Some companies also are connecting tablets with homes. Savant, Hyannis, Mass., offers the industry’s only Apple-based control, automation and media system. It enables users to connect to their home’s lighting switches, thermostats or personal media players using their Apple devices. The automation and media system works for both residential and commercial markets.
Doherty predicts home automation growth as manufacturers and partners fine-tune apps to make them easier to use. And, the growing familiarity with apps has spurred homeowners to ask contractors about automation possibilities.
The high-end contractor purview
Since contractors in the residential market often work directly with their customer—the homeowner—there is a great opportunity in specifying products.
“Specifically, there are opportunities for contractors to add value to their offering by providing lighting control and energy management solutions. Some of our electrical contractor partners also have an A/V division to provide all the ‘value added’ solutions Crestron has to offer,” Doherty said.
Furthermore, contractors install most of the lighting control systems in homes today—both new and retrofit wireless systems.
“It seems a fit for these contractors to provide product and service, as well as programming,” Doherty said, adding that Crestron also has independent programmers that the contractor can retain for support if needed.
Contractors should bear in mind that technology companies, such as Crestron, offer training courses, design and quoting support, and local sales support to assist them in becoming successful at installing lighting controls and energy management systems.
Learning to sell a product, however, can often require a change in mindset for contractors, said Jeremy Kleinberg, residential systems product manager at lighting control company Lutron Electronics Co. Inc., Coopersburg, Pa. Lutron offers automated shades, dimmers, thermostats and full systems such as the RadioRA II and Homeworks. Homeworks provides a tabletop keypad that can control an entire home including the dimming panels, enabling the creation of multiple zones of light in a room or throughout an entire house.
To contractors, Kleinberg said, “Don’t assume a homeowner will ask about these systems; they often need someone to explain the systems to them.”
He said the Lutron training programs attract electrical contractors who want to move further into automation technology.
“It helps for them to be able to explain the system options to their customers. Really, it’s up to the contractor to lead the conversation,” he said.
Providers join contractors
Premiere Systems, a home automation company for low-voltage lighting controls and integrated home theaters, recently joined the electrical contracting business. It made sense, said the Chicago company’s president, Ken Johnson. He sees a natural convergence between automation dealers and contracting. Premiere may be one of the early companies in a trend of combining installation services and the technology itself from that side of the business. In most cases, it’s the electrical contractor who is moving into low-voltage installations.
“More and more, we were seeing the advantage in starting our own electrical contracting business,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, that only works with a medium to large business. In the meantime, when it comes to high-end residential installations, his installers find that nearly all include lighting automation, motorized window treatments, and automation-infused entertainment systems.
“When I used to sell a system, I’d have to sit down and explain what it would provide,” Johnson said. “Now even elderly clients are very comfortable with what apps can provide and how they can be used in the home. When you meet with someone today, home automation is something they ask for, not something you have to talk people into.”
Johnson also sees a growing interest in recessed products, such as lighting that can be installed in ways it cannot be seen. That kind of installation requires more drawings and more project management than systems of earlier years and decades and fits right into the electrical contractor’s wheelhouse.
As the high-end residential market adopts automation technology, the solutions will become more affordable and can be expected to move further into middle-class homes.
“With technology’s growth and the increasing adoption, you’ll see the technology moving down the spectrum to the more affordable homes,” Kleinberg said.
SWEDBERG is a freelance writer based in western Washington. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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|Fines for unruly behavior during Carnaval season|
|Wednesday, 09 January 2013 17:44|
For this short, but intense Carnaval 2013 season the Aruba Police Force is once again issuing warnings that they will be acting accordingly against those who act in a manner that can endanger the safety of the people enjoying the different activities and events.
Aruba's Carnaval has the reputation of being one of the safest and friendliest in the world and authorities are determined to keep the island's good reputation for tourists as well as locals.
At Saturday's Torch Parade police were well prepared in areas surrounding the parade's route as well as on the route; the well-trained K9 Unit was included in the surveillance and actions, Commissioner Trudy Hassell confirmed. She explained that a fine for misconduct and other transgressions is no less than Afl. 750. Depending on the situation, some people have ended up paying over Afl. 1000 in fines.
The preventive measure introduced during the 2012 Carnaval season, where police are allowed during a certain period of time and in a certain area to search persons on possession of weapons - including firearms and white weapons - helped greatly last year in preventing incidents. This measure will be applied during this Carnaval season as well.
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Prepared Remarks by Ray Kammer
Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Opening Remarks: Electronic Book Conference
October 8, 1998
- Let me welcome you to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and to the first government sponsored conference on Electronic Books. This is the first conference ever where major portable electronic book developers have gathered in one place for this kind of discussion. I understand that we expect a total of well over 300 participants in this conference, which is really remarkable!!! It says something about the future of electronic books. Perhaps what it says is that the future is now. Let's just look at some data:
- U.S. book sales totaled over $21 billion in 1997, reflecting a 2.4% increase over 1996, according to the Association of American Publishers. Couple those statistics with the fact that 55 million people in the U.S. over the age of 12 use the World Wide Web [International Communications Headcount Website], and it is easy to envision the potential market for Electronic Books eventually reaching $70 billion a year. [Veronis, Suhler, and Associates]
- For those of you who haven't been to NIST before or who have not worked with us, I'd like to briefly tell you about our efforts. Our mission is to promote economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards. As they say, "easier said than done."
- We work through a portfolio of four programs:
Measurement and Standards Laboratories, which include the Information Technology Laboratory -- the main force behind this conference. Our labs focus on the technical infrastructure underlying new and mature technologies. We work in areas ranging from electronics and advanced manufacturing to physics, chemistry and fire and building research. We have hundreds of laboratory research who serve as technical experts taking part in the voluntary standards process.
- In particular, the Information Technology Laboratory has focused in areas of technology important to the diverse technical stakeholders in electronic books including those especially concerned about security, optical/DVD data storage, flat panel display interfaces, WDM & network transmission studies, and software testing. Because information technology is inter-disciplinary, the Information Technology Laboratory has programs that represent both systems and software technologies.
The Advanced Technology Program, or ATP, through which we co-fund with industry R&D that is high-risk yet high payoff. The ATP supports technology -- not product -- development work that industry would not be able to do on its own or not within the same market-critical time-frame. Always, our attention is on R&D that can benefit the economy broadly. Our ATP programs include a focus on digital data storage, information infrastructure for health care, digital video, and advanced learning systems -- areas of special interest to IT professionals.
The Manufacturing Extension Partnership, or MEP. Through the MEP, we support extension centers in all 50 states, providing hands-on technical assistance to smaller manufacturers in order to help them improve their productivity and competitiveness.
The Baldrige National Quality Program -- a program which not only manages the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, but also helps to share information and provide guidelines much more broadly on performance excellence.
- Each of these programs is designed and carried out with industry. We use informal teaming, formal Cooperative R&D Agreements and consortia. We also rely heavily on conferences like this one. In fact, we host more than 100 conferences each year. They usually have one or more goals:
- To share state of the art research and technology information,
- To help set a national research agenda, or
- To get the ball moving on voluntary standards.
- It remains to be seen how this meeting will turn out. You clearly will hear about some pioneering research and product developments. You may or may not decide that there is value and that the timing is right to agree on a research agenda for next generation electronic books. And you just might get the ball moving on voluntary standards for software operating environments, display interfaces, proper storage media and electronic publishing. The decision is yours.
- But let me give you something to think about when it comes to standards. The U.S. is ahead of the game right now when it comes to the emerging field of electronic books. The leaders of this technology are represented here in this room. You have a chance to move ahead together in developing and agreeing on a coherent voluntary standards approach that will help to avoid the terrible waste that we saw in the Beta-VHS debate, and in the ongoing next generation cellular communications standards controversy. You have a chance to decide on a cohesive, coherent approach now -- an approach that ensures usability and market development without the fragmentation and divisiveness that can sometimes take over the standards process.
- About two weeks ago, we cosponsored with the American National Standards Institute, ANSI, the first national "standards summit." The goal was to review the bidding and consider developing a national standards strategy that will help the U.S. to deal with what seems to be an effective European approach embodied in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Right now, ISO and IEC consider themselves to be the nearly exclusive guardians for international standards. In too many instances and in too many ways, U.S. firms are losing ground in the increasingly market-critical world of standards.
- If you don't act soon, U.S. electronic book developers could find themselves in the difficult position of having great technology that is blocked from overseas markets. That could be the case, especially if there are no consensus standards for electronic publishing formats, security, and retrieval.
- So, over the next 2 days, as you discuss critical issues, I urge you not to overlook the matter of standards. You have the opportunity right now to determine your industry's future.
- In closing, I want to end with an offer. NIST is here to help you. The Information Technology Laboratory is willing to work with the electronic book industry to develop voluntary standards, test methods, and test beds to accelerate the proliferation and acceptance of electronic publishing.
- It is our job at NIST to help you succeed, to turn this just-emerging field into a mainstay of U.S. social and economic life in the decades ahead. It is your job to tell us if and how you think we can contribute.
- I wish you a most successful meeting.
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By MARIA DANILOVAAssociated Press
UREKI, Georgia (AP) - Georgia's richest man, billionaire and philanthropist Bidzina Ivanishvili seems to have it all - a head-spinning fortune, the respect of his country and gleaming, art-filled palaces across the globe, including one where zebras and pink flamingoes roam.
What else could he want?
Political power, it turns out, and that has put him on a collision course with President Mikhail Saakashvili - his onetime friend and ally.
Since announcing his ambitions a year ago, Ivanishvili has been stripped of his Georgian citizenship and hit with fines of tens of millions of dollars. But he is undeterred in leading his Georgian Dream party into parliamentary elections next week that he hopes will make him prime minister, set to become the country's most powerful job after legislative changes next year.
The outcome will have profound consequences for this small but strategically located South Caucasus nation, which has been the West's most loyal ally in a troubled, energy-rich region.
The 56-year-old Ivanishvili, worth an estimated $6.4 billion, was an early supporter of Saakashvili after he came to power following the 2003 Rose Revolution demonstrations that drove out the corruption-riddled regime of Eduard Shevardnadze. But Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia, gradually became disenchanted and began to fear that his disagreements with Saakashvili could imperil his future.
In an interview with The Associated Press, he suggested that his entry into politics was at least partly to shield him from government pressure.
"When you enter politics, it gives you some kind of protection," he said in his residence outside the Black Sea resort of Batumi. But he insists that his rags-to-riches story also points to a deeper drive to help his country: "A smart, gifted person can do things for himself, but also for his friends, for his village, for his country."
Ivanishvili was the youngest of five children in a hilltop village so poor and remote that a rickety old truck brought supplies just once a month. He often had no shoes and dreamt of owning a bicycle. After earning an engineering degree in the capital Tbilisi, he moved to Moscow, where he received a Ph.D. in labor economy.
When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched his perestroika campaign and gradually allowed private entrepreneurship, Ivanishvili and a friend seized the spirit of the times. They began importing personal computers - rarities in the Soviet Union that cost the equivalent of two or three cars. Sometimes he would approach foreigners at cafes and plead with them to bring computers on their next visit.
In 1990, a year before the Soviet Union collapsed, Ivanishvili and his partners amassed enough money to start a bank, Rossiyskiy Kredit, which became a leading financial institution. Its first office was at a kindergarten, and foreign partners coming for meetings stumbled over miniature toddler toilets. As his bank expanded, Ivanishvili started buying into mining and metals plants across Russia, and then reselling the shares at huge profit.
Skeptics wonder whether it was possible to amass such a fortune honestly, but Ivanishvili insists that he always ran a clean business.
"I never violated any laws," he said. "I never betrayed or deceived anyone."
For years, Ivanishvili was a quiet benefactor of thousands of his impoverished countrymen and also of Saakashvili's government, building schools and hospitals, buying new boots and blankets for the military and, he says, even paying for Saakashvili's inauguration. He also collected art and exotic animals and erected futuristic residences across the country, like a glass-and-steel fortress nestled on a hilltop in the capital Tbilisi.
But Ivanishvili says he broke off ties with Saakashvili after the leader cracked down on opposition protests in 2007, tightened control over media, and Georgia found itself in a brief but disastrous war with Russia in 2008. Saakashvili's government was further tainted in recent days when TV channels funded by Ivanishvili released videos of inmates at a Tbilisi prison being beaten and raped with objects, which sparked angry street protests.
"He has built a tough, authoritarian government while at the same time trying to prove to Europe and America that he is building democracy," Ivanishvili said. "The people have been deceived, including me."
The two men's feud seems highly personal.
Saakashvili denounces Ivanishvili as a Russian stooge, referring to his Georgian Dream coalition as "forces of darkness." The president's camp also accuses Ivanishvili of corrupting Georgian politics and voters with his wealth - which is equivalent to roughly half of Georgia's GDP.
Ivanishvili, in turn, portrays Saakashvili as a dim-witted former protege who used to call him a "hundred" times a day to ask for advice on running the country.
An August opinion survey by U.S.-based National Democratic Institute suggested that Saakashvili's United National Movement leads the polls with 37 percent support, while Georgian Dream has 12 percent. But Ivanishvili claims he has momentum on his side, with support surging since the release of the prison rape video.
So far Ivanishvili's political career brought him nothing but trouble.
He was stripped of Georgian citizenship a year ago, shortly after he announced his entry into politics. The official reason was that he also had a French passport - and Georgia prohibits dual nationality. Even though parliament then adopted a law allowing Ivanishvili to run for office as an EU citizen, Ivanishvili said the loss of Georgian citizenship was deeply upsetting, especially considering the $1.5 billion he says he has spent on charity here.
The government then followed by fining him tens of millions of dollars over campaign funding violations, saying that distributing satellite TV dishes and offering a fleet of cars to his party amounts to vote-buying according to recently passed electoral laws that ban corporate donations to parties.
Some observers said the changes were necessary. Others, including Maina Kiai, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights, said the legislation was aimed at preventing "certain individuals" from running in the upcoming vote - an apparent reference to Ivanishvili.
Ivanishvili bristles at Saakashvili's accusations that if elected he would serve Russia, not Georgia - calling such suspicions "laughable." Ivanishvili renounced his long-held Russian citizenship before launching his political career and has sold off his Russian assets to sever his financial ties with Moscow. Most of his assets are now in Western banks and about $1 billion in art.
Some experts agree that he's his own man, pointing to the fact that he had funded Saakashvili, the Kremlin's arch-foe, for years.
"All the evidence suggests that he is no one's project but his own," said Thomas de Waal, a Caucasus expert with the Carnegie Endowment. At the same, time the Kremlin is likely to court Ivanishvili, eager to have someone unseat Saakashvili.
Ivanishvili promises aggressive and quick reforms that would strengthen democratic institutions and prompt foreign and local businessmen to invest in the economy. He intends to pursue a pro-Western policy and one day bring Georgia into NATO, while at the same time unfreezing economic ties with Russia - something he himself acknowledges would be a very complicated task. "You just need to wait for the right time and without doubt improve relations with Russia," Ivanishvili said.
Ivanishvili vows that he will not be corrupted by power, noting that as a businessman he only promoted those who were not afraid to argue with him. But when describing how he would reform Georgia, he revealed some monarchic overtones.
"In such small countries," Ivanishvili said, "everything depends on one person, everyone else follows immediately."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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The blockbuster best-selling author of Night Road and Firefly Lane delivers a masterful novel that explores the sacrifices of one American family and illuminates the true cost of honor, duty, and love.
From a distance, Michael and Joleen Zarkades seem to have it all: a solid marriage, two exciting careers, and children they adore.
But after twelve years together, the couple has lost their way; they are unhappy and edging toward divorce. Then the Iraq war starts. An unexpected deployment will tear their already fragile family apart, sending one of them deep into harm’s way and leaving the other at home, waiting for news.
When the worst happens, each must face their darkest fear and fight for the future of their family. An intimate look at the inner landscape of a disintegrating marriage and a dramatic exploration of the price of war on a single American family, Kristin Hannah's Home Front is a provocative and timely portrait of hope, honor, loss, forgiveness, and the elusive nature of love.
©2012 St. Martin's Press (P)2012 Macmillan Audio
Home Front is so well-written and read so realistically. I could see the story as I listened to every word. Everyone should listen to this book. It made me more appreciative of everything our service women and men go through and what they sacrifice for us.
The portrayal of the characters and what they experience as the story evolves.
My father was a disabled veteran and an amputee. The experiences that were written about are so true and relevant to the whole story. What Jonelle experienced is really what they go through and so many people have no idea what they have lived through and are trying to do as they put their lives back together.
Evidently I don't share the same feeling about this novel as the editorial staff at audible. While the research involved - into recovery from traumatic war injuries - is thorough and detailed, the narration is too loud, too exaggerated and there is just too much crying. I have a very hard time listening to narrators crying, as the decibels are turned way up and the pitch reaches a dissonance that I can't tolerate. It is perfectly easy to portray crying in a softer voice.
The sullen daughter is overdone and nothing comes out of her mouth that isn't whiney, angry, shrieking and narcissistic. Granted, many kids her age are exactly like this, but the narrator made it much worse. I had to turn the iPod off several times just to get a break from this completely unlikeable person.
The story is a good one, just ruined for me by an overzealous narrator showcasing all the negative emotions in HD.
Fast approaching retirement as a life long oncology nurse. I love family more than anything. I enjoy reading (audio only), movies, travels, paper crafting, photography, gardening and just being alive.
I wanted to like this book, but I didn't. I have listened to other Kristin Hannah novels before and enjoyed them. I almost "quit" a few times but I had made an investment. I didn't care for any of the characters. The main character was out of touch with reality and her "I have to be perfect" attitude drove me crazy. Her children did not act their ages. The 12 year old was beyond obnoxious and totally self centered. All the youngest child did was whine.
The narration really is was ruined it for me. A good narrator allows me to interpret the writing. Ms. Reed tried to force emotions down my throat. Too melodramatic. The childrens' voices were terrible, so over done and loud.
I will try Kristin Hannah again, but I will avoid Maggi-Meg Reed, the narrator.
This book pulled me into the world of Jolien and I couldnt it out of my mind. I couldn't wait to listen to this book. Be careful as this is a tear jerker. One of my favorites!!!!!
I have listened to (and loved, and recommended) every single book that Kristin Hannah has written. That being said, I couldn't even get through this one to the end. I appreciate very much (especially since I lost a family member in Afghanistan) that she's trying to enlighten her readers to the horrors of war and how PTSD affects a family -- especially one that's already a bit broken to begin with. But this book was just... I don't know. Heavy. Dark. Depressing. Frustrating! I hated the characters -- Betsy the teen was not like any 12 year old I've ever known, thank God. I wanted to strangle her. The husband wasn't much better, and the four year old was an odd mix of very grown-up talk and patty-cake.
The book had great reviews on Amazon, so I really, really wanted to like it. But I couldn't do it. I stopped listening with about three hours left. I couldn't take hearing one of the kids "bump into" Jolene again, hurting her and causing her to curse while the father just stood there. Hello? Wouldn't any REAL father chastise or even yell at those kids and tell them to be careful? But no. It keeps happening over and over. Anyway, if you listen, you'll see what I mean. There were some flaws in the narration (although maybe it was the book?) where a girl named Sierra is called "Sienna" a few times. The narrator did a great job otherwise. Overall the writing style was superb -- typical Kristin Hannah. But the story was one endless stream of anger and crying. It made me feel depressed.
Sappy, no plot, whiny characters, just stupid.
no but this one was good
ALL of them except the MIL
don't waste your credits.
This book could have been very good. I read Firefly Lane and liked it; so I expected to enjoy this book as well. The story line was interesting, war stories are not usually told with female military personnel in the lead character.
But I did not enjoy this listen very much. I did not like the narrator. Everything sounded whiney or loud. When Joleen constantly yells at Michael to "go away" I would have imagined it to be a soulful, and very sad "go away," not screams. Betsy's whiney voice got very annoying. And Betsy's behavior would not have been tolerated by the type of mother I envisioned Joleen to be.
Not my favorite.
This was such a wonderful and heartbreaking book to listen to at the same time. I thought the narrator did a fine job, but it was the book that touched me so deeply. Have told all my friends that this book is a keeper.
I cried several times throughout the book and will never look at soldiers in the same way again. It's an incredible read and well worth the box of tissues it requires. :)
Report Inappropriate Content
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1.30.010 Duties. The office of City Clerk shall be appointed by the City Manager and confirmed by the City Council as provided by Alaska state law. The person holding the office of City Clerk shall:
a. Give notice of the time and place of meetings to the Council and to the public.
b. Attend meetings and keep the journal or other records thereof;
c. Arrange publication of notices, ordinances and resolutions;
d. Maintain and make available for public inspection an indexed file including municipal ordinances, resolutions, rules, regulations and codes;
e. Attest deeds and other documents;
f. Act as election supervisor and administer all City elections in accordance with Title 4 of this Code and applicable State and Federal laws;
g. Perform other duties as specified in this title or elsewhere in the Municipal Code and all applicable provisions of the Alaska Statutes;
h. At all times cooperate with the City Manager and provide such information and perform such duties as are requested by the City Manager so long as they are not inconsistent with the duties of the office of City Clerk as otherwise provided in municipal, state and federal law;
i. The job functions and major activities of the Clerk's office as set forth in the job description are incorporated by this reference as though fully set forth in this section. (Ord. 85-24 §1, 1985).
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It is what keeps us going when things get tough, both out on the pavement, and in life. Those who are motivated, truly motivated, can tackle any obstacle. There is no such thing as fear, only confidence. When you are motivated, nothing is out of reach. You can simply do anything. The tricky part is, however, tapping into that motivation and holding on to it.
I’ve thought a lot about my own personal motivation. What pushes me to wake up before the sun on a Saturday morning to bang out a double digit run? Why do I push through a challenging speed work session after a long day of teaching? What makes me want to run so far and train so hard that my body actually hurts?
Because I can.
I’ve got a healthy body that is able to run and I am going to take full advantage of that. So many people, whether it be because of sickness or injury or whatever, can’t run. As cliche as it may sound, I run for those who can’t. I’ve been given the opportunity to run and I refuse to let my body and talents waste away. I’ve got both the ability and the passion. Why would I ever pass up such an incredible gift?
Everyone has their own reasons to get out there and work. Push themselves past the point of comfort. Push themselves to the point of greatness. My reason is because I can…what is yours?
“There will be a day when you can no longer do this, today is not that day.”
The ICEdot Crash Sensor attaches to a helmet and notifies emergency contacts of a crash and your location. Be the first to own one. Sign up for our Crash Sensor newsletter and we'll email you when it's ready to purchase.
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I am thrilled that our HGTV Dream House on Kiawah Island — the first LEED-certified HGTV Dream House — continues to break public tour sales records, outselling every house before it! While I love the exposure this brings to our Platinum LEED, energy-sensitive approach to building, even more wonderful is that the most money possible is being raised for the local Charleston chapter of Communities In Schools.
I chose Communities In Schools as the national non-profit for this HGTV Dream House for several reasons, including my relationship with risk and its ability to bring about change. Now, more than ever in this country, we need to take a risk with our educational system, to really push forward to find out what works, to push the envelope with as many “what ifs” as possible to take schools beyond the status quo.
A determination to do it right the first time, with a conscience, is how we started at Dyal Compass, how we entered the energy-sensitive arena — and we haven’t wavered. It’s a no-brainer; after all, not only do you get your money back on energy bills by spending a little more on, say, geothermal heating and solar panels, you also save billions as far as impact on the earth. Clearly, it’s the right thing to do.
It’s the same with education: take time to do it right from the beginning, and you’ll get your money back and save billions in the long run.
Like the teachers and educators struggling to do the right thing by their students, Dyal Compass is a little guy at the grassroots level. But acting as a team to push things forward, little guys can bring about big change. Just look at what we’ve accomplished, pushing the envelope to not only build with a conscience, but also to break records in ticket sales for the HGTV Dream Home for Communities In Schools. The sky’s the limit!
Finally, and closest to my heart, I chose Communities In Schools to honor my sister Janet Jones, a master teacher in Charlotte, NC, and my niece Kristie Oberg, a nursery school teacher in Jackson Hole, WY. I’ve heard their stories and challenges, and I embrace the opportunity to put a spotlight on them.
It’s time to rethink our educational system, to update and revolutionize it the way LEED building is transforming the way we build homes. If we join together to do it right the first time, from the beginning — and with a conscience — who knows what records we will break?
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Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to fill the National Mall on Friday to protest the 40-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the first trimester.
Buses are shuttling in anti-abortion protesters from all over the country for the annual March for Life. Organizers predict many of them will be young people rallied by church groups and social media.
Pope Benedict sent them his encouragement by way his personal Twitter account,@pontifex : "I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life," he posted early Friday morning.
"We are expecting record-breaking crowds - 80% under the age of 20," said Jeanne Monahan, president of the March for Life Education & Defense Fund. "Mostly teenagers come and we get a lot of high school groups."
This is Monahan's first year leading the march. She predicts the event will be different from past years.
"It's a pretty big event to pull off - the planning for next year's march started last week," Monahan said.
Nellie Gray, who had led the anti-abortion demonstrators every year since the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in 1973, died in August at age 88.
"We want to appeal to the younger crowd, so we made big changes," Monahan said. "We shortened the program from longer than two hours to an hour, picked speakers who are more engaging and we are deeply engaging social media."
According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 37% of Americans do not know that Roe v. Wade dealt with the issue of abortion. Among the age group targeted by the March for Life, the number is higher - 57% of adults under age 30 don't know what the case is about.
Americans remain divided on abortion, according to a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. Significantly more Americans - 53% to 29% - want the decision kept in place rather than overturned. Another 18% have no opinion, the highest level of uncertainty Gallup has recorded on the issue.
Sydney Goldstein, 16, of Charlotte, is heading to the march with about 30 students from her government class at Charlotte Christian School.
"I am going to speak for the babies that are dying every day that don't have a voice to speak for themselves," Goldstein said. "This is one way to voice my opinion because I cannot vote."
Friday's rally will begin before noon on the Mall and around 1:15 p.m. the march will begin and follow its traditional route up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill.
Speakers include Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn.
Benedictine College has sent seven full buses - nearly 400 people - for a 30-hour ride from Atchison, Kan., to Washington, D.C., for the march.
This is the largest group to go in the school's 28 years of involvement, spokesman Humam AlMukhtar said.
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: Pope sends support to abortion protesters in Washington
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My responses are embedded in his italicized message, but the original message was one huge block paragraph.
I would like to know how and why atheists can knowledgeably ignore the laws of physics when considering such things as creation?
It's interesting that you would say that, because it turns out that physicists tend to be atheists far more than most people. According to fairly recent surveys, while around 85% of people in the world believe in some kind of God, somewhere around 60% of practicing physical scientists have doubts about the existence of God, and among members of the National Academy of Sciences -- one of the most elite groups of scientists in the world -- only about 7% are believers.It seems that more advanced a person is in scientific disciplines, the less likely they are to believe in God. Maybe you should take up your question with them.all the laws of physics prove that nothing can come from nothing, so how did this universe come into exsistance, if not from nothing, where did that original "something", most often referrred to as matter or ssome other form, come from?
Big Bang theory doesn't attempt to address this question. The universe came to its present state around 14.5 billion years ago. Before that, everything in the universe was compressed into a small enough state that known laws of physics can't be applied properly.
Therefore, the Big Bang is not an assertion that anything came "from nothing." Could have always existed. Could have been generated out of matter from a meta-universe. Could have spontaneously come into existence through a matter/antimatter reaction. The responsible perspective is to accept that we don't know, and won't until a new way to collect evidence is worked out.
You, on the other hand, seem to believe that you do know. And your belief is that the universe was in fact created from nothing, by a being who either always existed or, in turn, came into existence from nothing itself. I think it's remarkable that you don't see the irony in that position.
more importantly, id like you to address cosmological singularity, which has been accepted by most, if not al physicists, concluding that there is, and always has been God,
I don't know where you're getting your information from, although my guess would be that it's from within a certain part of your body. As I've already pointed out, you can get actual information from scientists about how much they believe in god, and it's considerably less than the general public. Besides which, even scientists who believe in God would very rarely claim that this believe is in some way scientifically proven. Most of them hold to some form of Stephen Jay Gould's idea of "non-overlapping magisteria," claiming that faith in god and scientific evidence should be held as dealing with separate domains.Almost no formal papers have been published in mainstream, peer reviewed scientific journals addressing the question of a god's existence, and those that have slipped through are generally not cited as relevant by any other scientific works. This is so widely acknowledged that creationists routinely claim that the "scientific establishment" is involved in a massive conspiracy against their work. This is, of course, baseless paranoia, since the reason that their work doesn't get published is that it's a load of poorly supported, pseudoscientific quackery.
therefore disproving the core of atheist beliefs. in such a society today that is so scientifically based, it is ignorant to ignore such things as cosmological singularity, as well as other laws of physics, including einstiens relativity, and quantum mechanics, which even led einstien to believe in the exsistance of God.
Somebody's been lying to you, dude.
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
-- Albert Einstein, in a letter March 24, 1954; from Albert Einstein the Human Side, Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, eds., Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981, p. 43.
thank you for your time, tho you'll be wasting your efforts trying to disprove the laws of the universe to justify your living in denial.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. Ta ta!
And here's the reply. Wait for it....
lol you actually wasted youre time to rely to me ??? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!1
THANK YO SO MUCH FOR MAKING MY DAY! hahahahaah! thank you! wow you really would waste youre time like this wouldnt you!!! hahahaha!
im glad to know that you "care" enough about your "public" to reply to this! hahahahahahaha!
YOU ARE A FOOL!!!!!
(by the way my email contained a virus)
have a "wonderful" life and then die!!!!!
Apart from being scientifically illiterate and knowing fuck-all about computers in the bargain, I'm kind of charmed to see that the victory which made his day was the recognition that he is wasting people's time. If only all creationists could be so self-aware!
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Already a Bloomberg.com user?
Sign in with the same account.
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2011 cost insurers $108 billion, making it the second-most-expensive year on record, according to estimates from Swiss Re Ltd.
Last year’s insured losses amounted to $48 billion, according to an e-mailed statement from Swiss Re, the world’s second-biggest reinsurer. Total economic losses may be around $350 billion, according to preliminary estimates by the Zurich- based reinsurer, compared with $226 billion in 2010.
Claims from natural catastrophes alone reached $103 billion this year following the earthquake in Japan, which could have made 2011 the costliest year for the insurance industry if Japan had been “more fully insured,” Swiss Re said. Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita made 2005 the most expensive year on record, with $123 billion in insured losses.
“Additional claims from the ongoing massive floods in Thailand or from winter storms which may yet hit Europe have the potential to bring figures for the full year even closer to the record claims” in 2005, Swiss Re said.
The earthquake in Japan on March 11 and the ensuing tsunami caused insured losses of $35 billion, while the Feb. 22 temblor in New Zealand cost $12 billion. The floods in Thailand are estimated to cost between $8 billion and $11 billion. Severe storms in the U.S. in April and May cost about $14 billion, while hurricane Irene is estimated to cost $4.9 billion.
“At more than $47 billion, earthquake-insured claims for 2011 are the highest ever recorded,” Swiss Re said.
--Editors: Keith Campbell, Steve Bailey.
To contact the reporter on this story: Carolyn Bandel in Zurich at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at email@example.com
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Sarah von Pollaro stands transfixed before a painting by the abstract expressionist Clyfford Still.
The canvas is big, and painted mostly in a glaring yellow that yields on its right edge to a slash of red. White patches look like ragged tears.
She studies the brush strokes, still fresh-looking decades on, and the cryptic outlines where the pigments and shapes face off. “It would be interesting to turn it on its side, to see how it felt,” she says.
That isn’t going to happen. The gazillion-dollar picture is affixed to the wall of a subterranean gallery in the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
Von Pollaro says she comes here often, to clear her head and to get design ideas.
On this visit, she has also taken in Calder’s Rearing Stallion, a wire sculpture (“You see the inside even though there’s nothing there.”); a Rothko canvas rendered into blocks of fuchsia, brown and orange (“Makes you think in color.”) and a Pollock of hypnotic drips (“He stuck with his vision.”).
Von Pollaro is not a painter, graphic artist or fashion designer, but a young florist who is trying to make her mark in a town where public — and private — holiday decorations so often cling to the traditional look like fake snow to holly.
At the National Gallery, she catches sight of newly arrived pots of poinsettias, wrapped in plastic sleeves.
“Oh. The worst is in the office buildings, and they’re all by the door, and they die” from the drafts.
Back in her home and studio in D.C., I ask her to show me some floral designs that move beyond the evergreen kissing ball, the velvet-ribboned wreath or, horror of horrors, lipstick-red poinsettias stacked into the shape of a tree.
Von Pollaro doesn’t disdain poinsettias, but in her world, there are no poinsettia pyramids. There is no foil.
She is drawn to varieties whose blooms are creamy white, speckled or bicolored.
And the pot is the thing.
She takes a large, yellow-white poinsettia and puts it in a recycled metal can made for pistachios, blue and corrugated.
In a smaller, repurposed plum tomato can, she places a dainty scarlet cyclamen whose blossoms pick up the colors of the label.
Apart from fine art, von Pollaro says she is inspired by the flora all about us, and she forages where she can, including in a friend’s large suburban garden.
She also stares at fish. “Aquariums,” she says. “I love the colors of fish.”
She moves on to a wreath for the front door of the refurbished rowhouse she shares with her husband and 2-year-old son (and employees of her business).
The wreath is square and formed from pencil-thin beech twigs. As she is adding greenery, she is thinking of the Clyfford Still painting, how he treated the right angles and made the brush strokes come together.
She keeps much of the twiggery uncovered, softening it with scavenged greens and pine cones, and ginkgo leaves that she has painted a matte silver.
Perhaps in the wreath’s sparseness, she is also thinking of Calder’s wiry horse.
I ask her whether we should have more cut flowers for the holidays, but she has anticipated the question.
She lines a shallow glass bowl with variegated aspidistra leaves and begins to create a rich mound of flora for a centerpiece.
Foraged arbor vitae foliage forms the base, into which she places the decorative stems of leucadendron, dark pine cones and vibrant crimson roses. The result is a festive mound.
She dislikes long, bare stems and can’t abide that wet, green floral foam.
She also rails against bulbous glass vases with narrow necks: They throttle the blooms and mess up the desired shape of an arrangement.
Tip: Pick something with a wider mouth and use a grid of floral tape to hold stems in place.
At 34, von Pollaro brings a refreshing generational sensibility to her work.
A Yale grad, she says she is driven to succeed, and she is trying hard to get noticed.
Area PBS viewers have watched her on a fundraising special on flower-arranging.
Von Pollaro likens herself to an executive chef who sees local, organic food, environmental sustainability and social justice as all part of the same 21st-century pie. Except with flowers.
The floral industry, she discovered, is not always a bed of roses.
In New York, where she apprenticed, she learned the tradecraft of floral design but also found a culture of egotism, snobbery and greed.
“‘I’m the best’ and ‘How much can I charge the client?’ It wasn’t my personality. It took me until the ripe age of 25 to see I could do this my way.”
Predictably, von Pollaro is plugged in, and her Web site cleaves her enterprises into her floral design business, Urban Petals, and Flower Empowered, where folks can buy flower-arranging kits and watch videos, including some from her gig as the “Flower Chef” for Whole Foods Market.
She also spends a lot of her time making sure that the arrangements she might make for corporate events, embassy parties and high-profile venues like the Kennedy Center are repurposed for homeless and women’s shelters, soup kitchens and other places where people need cheer the most.
“We have to recycle,” she said, “or we are going to kill our planet.”
She is, of course, talking about recycling not just flowers but joy, which might be the purest form of Christmas decoration.
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The first edition of The Pond-published by Aperture in 1985 and one of the most important photography books in the history of the medium-included an original gelatin-silver image printed by John Gossage himself and tipped onto the cloth cover of the book. This was a special and luxe addition to an already stunning book, which, ironically, came about because the budget wouldn’t allow for it.
The Pond‘s funding was maxed out with the book’s cloth binding, high-end paper, and extra-long dust jacket with custom color inks. It simply didn’t allow for any more extras, like a tip-on image, which is typically printed as an extra sheet with the rest of the pages of the book. Since what happens underneath a dust jacket is not immediately visible, and, in fact, many readers don’t ever remove it, adding more features there can drive costs up without necessarily adding more perceived value to a book. In short, adding a manufactured tip-on just didn’t make financial sense.
However, it does make for a nice surprise for those who take the time to remove the jacket, and John saw that if he printed the tip-ons himself, he could add this feature without affecting the book costs significantly. As he put it, “It required my effort. But it was just some trouble, and so I did it.” This meant, though, that he needed to make over 2,500 prints! Faced with days in the darkroom, John decided to include six different images so he wouldn’t grow bored. He chose images that commented on the interior of the book, but that weren’t included within, in order to keep attentive readers on their toes and intrigued. Five out of the six images were a series of frames of a string blowing in the wind. The sixth image was a wild card: a menacing junkyard dog behind a fence. While all the images spoke to the kind of beautiful imperfection in the borderland between man and nature surrounding the pond, the dog seemed to guard the book in a very direct way, quietly growling at the viewer.
John made extra copies of each of the prints so that the printer would have more than 2,500, in case any damage occurred during production. After the book was made, the printer returned the leftover images to John. In the end, he got a disproportionate number of dog prints back. This meant that fewer of these prints were tipped onto books that went into circulation, making a copy of The Pond with a dog print tipped onto the cover even more rare.
It also means that John has some extra copies of vintage dog prints. To our great surprise and honor, he has generously donated one of these prints, along with a first edition of the book, to Aperture for this year’s Benefit and Auction. Now you have a chance to own this amazing, storied print and first edition book, and at the same time support Aperture’s publications, exhibitions, and educational programs.
Blog post by Denise Wolff
For more information on our Benefit as well as bidding online and in-person, please click here.
Don’t miss your last chance to buy tickets to the 2010 Aperture Benefit and Auction and SNAP! Benefit Party on November 1st! This year there are a number of available ticket packages to choose from. Enjoy Aperture’s Silent and Live Auctions as well as the Benefit dinner honoring photographer Richard Misrach, Steven Ames and Julie Saul from 6:00 to 9:30PM.
Or join us for the SNAP! Benefit Party, from 9:30 to 11:30PM, and dance the night away to music spun by special guest DJs and downtown fixtures Tim Barber of Tinyvices.com, AJ Slim and Jeannie Hopper of LiquidSoundLounge.com and ARTonAIR.com. This year the SNAP! Benefit Party will also include Aperture’s first ever Emerging Artists Auction featuring works by artists Jen Davis, Mark Lyon, LaToya Ruby Frazier, among others, an open bar and gourmet bites as well as an exciting selection of raffle prizes including theater tickets, dinner for two and many more!
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“With his new, heightened feelings, he was overwhelmed by sadness at the way the others had laughed and shouted, playing at war. But he knew that they could not understand why, without the memories. He felt such love for Asher and for Fiona. But they could not feel it back, without the memories. And he could not give them those.”
-The Giver, Lois Lowry
ajthefourth: One cannot go through life, as much as it may pain one’s perfectionist heart to admit, without being inferior to others in various ways. The inverse is also the case and, when comparing one’s self to others, one will always find something that they can best another in. Cliché though it may be, it is our differences that allow us to function as a society. It is the conflicts that arise from these differences that allow growth and eventual prosperity. Dystopian fiction is nothing new, and often aims to depict a state of humanity that has failed to navigate the treacherous balance between prosperity and self-indulgence through the presentation of a controlled, formulaic society. Shin Sekai Yori adds its own spice through the introduction of psychokinetic powers as the next step granted humans in their evolutionary process. Of course, this brings about its own bloody consequences, where select “PK users” abuse their powers, eventually resulting in the destruction and inevitable reconstruction of the current society that the series introduces its audience to.
Lois Lowry’s The Giver was one of my favorite books when I was younger, and its plot is also similar to that of Shin Sekai Yori (Huxley’s Brave New World, and Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron also come to mind). Of course, I do not presume the two to be directly related, like Mawaru Penguindrum was to Night on the Galactic Railroad or Underground; however, the way in which both choose to address their themes through similarly-aged leads run parallel to each other, and perhaps The Giver can better inform one of what Shin Sekai Yori could explore from here.
The plot of The Giver revolves around the advent of adolescence for protagonist Jonas, who is about to, according to their society, begin his adult life at the ripe age of 12. At his public coming of age ceremony, where all of the 12 year-olds are assigned their respective career paths, Jonas is tasked with a special job: The Receiver of Memory. In a society where weather is completely controlled, people are bred to be color blind as to comply with The Sameness, and becoming a Birthing Mother is an actual career, people aren’t allowed to feel any sort of strong emotions. Thus, the memories of how cold snow is, what red hair looks like, and the love from when families were blood-related instead of assigned, all reside in one individual, who bears the emotional burden for the supposed betterment of society: The Receiver of Memory. The Receiver becomes a consultant of sorts for the social higher-ups when they need advice on important decisions.
As Jonas begins to receive the memories of what it once was to be human, including pain, happiness, and love, he quickly discovers just how empty his former outlook and feelings were in comparison. Together he and the former Receiver of Memory (the titular Giver) decide that the emotional burden of being human, and all that it entails, belongs to the hearts of everyone, not trapped in a singular person so the rest of society can stagnate in a state of supposed peace. Shin Sekai Yori is currently paralleling these ideas through the characters of Saki and Satoru, who find themselves on the same emotional precipice that Jonas found himself in when he discovered the color red, the tendrils of sexual feelings for his friend Fiona, or how barren his family dinners were when comparing them to humanity’s memories of birthdays and holidays.
Episode Four of Shin Sekai Yori marked the beginning of the paradigm shift for its intrepid leads. After stumbling upon an abandoned library, they are told emotionlessly of humanity’s bloody past, various genetic changes, and social laws enacted by the ruling class that changed the world into the society that they know– the most interesting of which is the idea of “death feedback” which is a forced genetic code that makes any PK user violently ill (to the point of death) if they attempt to harm another human. This is followed up by a surreal fifth episode where the audience sees both Saki and Satoru fumble earnestly with their budding sexuality and engage in violence, two things that are vehemently restricted and prohibited respectively, by law.
While Jonas only had his own emotions to tend to, leading to a few awkward social interactions, Saki and Satoru must now deal with the consequences of breaking the most base rules of their rigid society. Armed with not only the knowledge of the library but their actions from Episode Five, they are more than well-aware that they cannot go back to the time before the school trip. As evidenced by the vanishing Reiko – a PK user who had broken no rules but was unable to control her powers correctly – children who are clumsy and inept are treated equally to those who purposefully break the rules: both are considered unfit social members.
In the end of The Giver, Jonas found a way to release The Receiver’s knowledge and emotions back to society as a whole, for the eventual betterment of his world. It remains to be seen as to how Saki and Satoru will bring about change within their world, but now that they have seen the color red, so to speak, they cannot return.
vucubcaquix: In political terminology, Totalitarianism is a political system that seeks to control all aspects of society. It’s a mode of governing that, while not unknown, is sufficiently alien to us to have it featured in various dystopian works so that we may better understand the commentary that particular work seeks to levy. What interested me in Shin Sekai Yori’s case, is that the group which wields the power in this world is very distinctly Buddhist.
In Buddhism, Precepts exist as a guide and code of ethics for those wishing to participate in Buddhist practices. The number of Precepts vary according to which tradition you ascribe to, but there are five that tend to be generally agreed upon. The first one, known more comprehensively as Ahimsa, states that one should abstain from taking life and acting in violent action or speech to another.
The idea of a totalitarian Buddhist society is a fascinating one. One of the main tenets of Buddhism being nonviolence, it seems to be in direct conflict with our perception of how totalitarian regimes are enacted and enforced in our dystopian literature. How is this dissonance rectified? Through the extreme measures of eugenics. The inability to enact violence upon another human being is literally inserted into our DNA that manifests as something called “death feedback”. This is the Buddhist tenet of nonviolence taken to its totalitarian extreme.
The shape of the narrative for the first five episodes of Shin Sekai Yori implies that this may not be the end of its allusions to religion. The children we follow have grown up in a very measured and controlled society, not wanting for food or shelter, and buffeted against the perceived dangers of the outside world. For a moment they are left on their own as part of some rite, and they wandered about, experiencing what they could in their world. They happened upon a creature that professed to have knowledge of the world at large, and being as curious as she is, Saki stepped forward and bit. This is followed closely and more vehemently by her male counterpart, Shun.
Knowing what they now know, shame, fear, and embarrassment now dog their lives as the children were being set up to be removed from their society for being “corrupted” by knowledge. Not just removed, but stripped of their power as well so that they would be cursed to work by hand. And with that corruption, episode five thus shows the children engaging in activities that were looked down upon without regulation: violence, and sex.
This is a mirror of the Fall of Man that is discussed in the second and third chapters of Genesis. God proceeded to curse them by removing their power and having them work the land by hand, and to be violent with the beasts of the Earth.
The fifth episode specifically dealt with how some of the children were beginning to explore their sexuality, while simultaneously learning to be violent. This marks a turning point in the storytelling that is matched by the art shift.
ajthefourth: Whether the series is directly referencing the Fall of Man, or whether it’s simply a commonality born of humanity’s struggles with its own sexuality, the fifth episode of Shin Sekai Yori shifts in tone due to the knowledge gained in Episode Four and the awkward sexual tension between Saki and Satoru. This shift is marked by a drastic difference in art style, effectively removing this episode from the ones that proceeded it.
The episode makes good use of singular color palettes and filters to lay over nearly every scene in this episode. Certain parts are blue, others are red, green, or yellow depending on location and mood. What is important is not so much which colors appear when, but that they appear at all, casting a dreamlike pall over the episode. In addition to simplified character designs with bolder lines, Shin Sekai Yori aims to single this episode out from its counterparts.
Like Saki, the audience has been waiting through a slow buildup for something to happen. The series shows this to its viewers in the flashes of seemingly disconnected violence before moving on to the pastoral beauty of Saki’s home town in the first three episodes. These contrasting elements keep the viewer in suspense, like the undercurrents of doubt and whispers behind the closed doors of Saki’s home. She knows something is wrong, yet nothing on the surface appears to be amiss.
Viewers, and Saki, are awarded for their patience in Episode Four, where the ancient library explains to them the secrets of their world before they are caught and stripped of their PK powers by the monk of a nearby shrine. The absence of their powers is nothing compared to the shock that they are still dealing with from learning more about their own society. There is a numb sensation in the latter half of the fourth episode that, when followed up by the action and surreal landscape of Episode Five, effectively throws the series into chaos. Everything that has happened since the library doesn’t seem real, although it indubitably is. While they are still running away from immediate danger, they are able to suspend their shock long enough to survive. The more interesting piece of the story is yet to come: what happens when they must return.
vucubcaquix: What does the series mean to accomplish? Five episodes in and we’ve been given a literary and religious framework with which to bravely crusade forward in this new world, and the topics that seem to be at the forefront are emergent sexuality and the nature of conflict in humanity. One of my writers mentioned to me through conversation that freedom through—and from—sex is not a new theme in storytelling, but I hazard to say that anime is not the most adept medium at handling sexuality with maturity. Sexuality and conflict seem to be the central themes that Shin Sekai Yori wish to explore, and the totalitarian Buddhist framework highlights what nonviolence taken to its extreme may look like.
But as long as humanity believes that there is a right, and a wrong, conflict will be an inevitable part of the human condition. Removing the option of conflict has contrived what we’ve seen in the story thus far, which informs us what this show wishes to say with regards to how we address that, as well as the internal conflict that is our budding sexuality.
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NEWTOWN -- Soon after a gunman blasted his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, shattering the lives of 26 school families and the heart of a community, the fate of that location became fodder for debate.
Tear it down and rebuild anew; renovate it for another use; or raze and replace it with permanent memorial are some of the options that have been mentioned.
First Selectman Pat Llodra said this week she hopes the various town boards and the Legislative Council will have gathered enough information from throughout the community to reach a conclusion by May 1.
In mid-January, Llodra organized a series of community conversations, opportunities for Newtown people to share their thoughts and ideas, often with emotional and thought-provoking statements.
Llodra and other town leaders have continued to have private conversations with victims' families, the survivors' families, and Sandy Hook and Newtown school district staff.
Llodra also arranged for town land-use leaders and other local residents with building and engineering backgrounds to consider various siting, construction or reconstruction options.
All that information will be used for the final decision, she said.
Prior to the Dec. 14 shootings, the school and town were beginning talks about municipal space needs, a conversation that has since been placed on hold until the town comes up with an official plan for Sandy Hook School.
The school district has had declining enrollments in recent years. Some have questioned whether Sandy Hook Elementary is now even needed as a school, while others have been adamant that Sandy Hook Elementary is inextricably linked to the neighborhood.
At this time, the school population is housed in a renovated middle school in Monroe, a temporary placement that is likely to be used into the next school year.
Though this is "new territory," Llodra said she has faith townspeople will decide what is best "for the greater good."
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Services for Children, Young People and Families
This page is known as:www.birmingham.gov.uk/children-services
Are you concerned about a child? Contact our team.
Our vision for children’s services in Birmingham is that:"Every child in every part of the city should achieve their potential. We will provide early help and support to those children and families who need it and, working together, will ensure that every child has the belief, aspiration and support to be their best."
Our vision and drive to ensure children and young people are safe, healthy and engaged in learning will be delivered through a focus on six key priorities:
- Excellence through partnership
Strategic DirectorPeter Duxbury
Children Young People and Families
Council House Extension, Margaret Street, Birmingham B3 3BU
Tel:0121 303 2590
Fax:0121 303 1318
Family Services DirectoryPlease contact the Family Information Service for information on activities and services for children,young people and their families.
The Family Information Service can also give support through it's Brokerage Service to families where parents and carers are experiencing particular difficulty in accessing services.
Tell us what you think of our Children's Social Care services
It 's good to hear from you ...
The Comments, Compliments and Complaints service is for you to tell us how you think we are doing: if you have had a good experience, a bad experience or if you think we need to improve something. Let us know.
If your comment, compliment or complaint relates to social services for children, please go to the Comments, Compliments and Complaints page for more information and to get the form.
If it relates to any other Children, Young People and Families service, please visit the Your Views page.
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A deal struck between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California legislative leaders Monday evening to close the state's $26.3 billion budget deficit would significantly cut government spending without tax increases.
The plan comes after months of partisan bickering and nearly three weeks after the state began issuing IOUs to thousands of state contractors and vendors.
Among the state's $15 billion budget cuts:
- $6 billion from K-12 schools and community colleges over two years
- $3 billion from the University of California and California State University systems
- $1.3 billion from Medi-Cal, the state's healthcare program for the poor
- $1.2 billion from the state prison system
The government would also scale back on health insurance provided to low-income children and welfare checks issued to the poor.
"This is a sober time; there isn't a whole lot of good news in this budget," said Darrell Steinberg, president for tem of the California Senate. "We've cut in many areas that matter to real people, but we've done so responsibly."
Schwarzenegger, who compared the last few hours of Monday's negotiations to a "suspense movie," called the budget agreement "a great accomplishment."
The deal is a huge win for conservatives, who favor a smaller government, says John Ellwood, a professor at UC-Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Taking the state back to 2005 spending levels, the plan would shrink general fund spending from $92 billion to $88 billion.
Cuts in government spending might not be fully effective because the state is in an economic free-fall, says Ellwood, who sits on the California Budget Project's board of directors, a liberal think tank.
"Revenues are just collapsing, and there are a lot of gimmicks in this [agreement] because politicians don't like to inflict pain, even conservatives," he says.
With a record number of home foreclosures and an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent, California's financial woes are far from over.
"In the short run it gets us through this year, and in the long run the same problem comes back even worse next year because $10 billion worth of gimmicks has been used that cannot be replicated," says Roger Noll, a Stanford University economics professor.
Noll says the long-term solution is more rational budgeting, which can't occur in the current administration because of 30 years of ballot initiatives by California voters.
"The reality is the system doesn't work, it is going to crash, and the only question is when," he says.
The budget plan also calls for more borrowing from local governments or redirecting of funds that had been earmarked for them.
Under the plan, the state would also launch its first offshore oil project in more than 40 years by expanding oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast. While opposed by many conservation groups, the project could generate about $100 million in the current fiscal year.
The State Assembly and the Senate are expected to vote on the budget proposal, which needs a two-third approval, as early as tomorrow.
If a budget agreement is not reached, Noll says that the results will be "catastrophic."
"If you don't actually have a budget, the state runs out of cash fairly quickly, and then [the government] would just have to shut down the whole enterprise."
- Read 10 Things You Didn't Know About California's Budget.
- See a gallery of political cartoons.
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When Gunvor, one of the world's largest energy traders, invested $400 million in a troubled Montana coal mine, it looked like a promising deal. The plan was to sell much of the coal to the booming Asian market, where it was fetching far more than the prevailing price in the U.S.
The deal in October 2011 delivered impressive profits to the mine's previous owners, a rare financial success in America's depressed coal industry. It also set the mine on course to more than double production this year compared with last, at a time when total U.S. coal production is falling.
But shipping coal to the Asia Pacific region was not as straightforward as it seemed. Gunvor expanded from its core of trading oil into other energy sectors just as the price of coal in the U.S., Asia and elsewhere tumbled in part because U.S. power plants are burning cheaper natural gas. Now, the Geneva-based company is battling unexpected economic, political, and legal headwinds in the U.S.
Gunvor and the two other owners of the Montana mine, called Signal Peak, are embroiled in a legal dispute over royalty payments. The mine has also bid on federal and state coal tracts, thrusting Gunvor into a debate raging in America over whether governments are getting a fair price for U.S. coal reserves.
Industry experts say Gunvor bought the mine at the height of the market. "The timing of the deal was terrible," said a senior coal trader with a rival trading house. "They overpaid."
In a statement last month, Gunvor defended "Signal Peak's long-term value," noting both the quality of the coal and the quantity — enough for the mine to keep producing for roughly 30 years.
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What Exactly Happened at Autonomy?
Today’s bombshell from Hewlett-Packard concerning an $8.8 billion write-down related to Autonomy, the British software firm it acquired in 2011 for $11.7 billion in combined cash and assumed debt, is a little hard to understand. Here’s how it breaks down:
First, HP’s total $8.8 billion write-down isn’t all Autonomy-related. Of that total amount, about $5 billion relates specifically to Autonomy. Moments ago, on a conference call with reporters, HP CFO Cathie Lesjak said that the rest stems from the drop in HP’s share price.
The core allegation is that people at Autonomy took certain accounting actions while still running Autonomy as a publicly held company in the U.K., which had the end effect of making Autonomy seem more valuable than it was. As CEO Meg Whitman put it on a conference call a few minutes ago: “There appears to have been a wilfull effort on the part of certain former Autonomy employees to inflate the underlying financials of the company in order to mislead investors and potential buyers.”
It’s important to note that Autonomy’s founder and former CEO Mike Lynch has just issued a statement, essentially denying HP’s claims. I heard portions of the statement read on CNBC. In a statement being reported by Reuters, he has “flatly rejected” HP’s allegations. Also: “HP’s due diligence review was intensive, overseen on behalf of HP by KPMG, Barclays and Perella Weinberg. HP’s senior management has also been closely involved with running Autonomy for the past year.”
So what is alleged to have happened? For one thing, Autonomy, as HP tells it, was selling some hardware at a loss. During a period of about eight quarters prior to HP’s acquisition, Autonomy sold some hardware products that had a very low margin or on which it may have even taken a loss. It then allegedly turned around and booked those hardware sales as high-margin software sales. At least some portion of the cost on these products, Whitman said, was booked as a marketing expense, not as cost of goods sold.
There’s a second piece of the puzzle, where HP says that Autonomy was selling software to value-added resellers — the middlemen in so many technology transactions — in which there are ultimately no end users. That, too, inflated apparent revenue.
Third, there were some long-term hosting deals — essentially, Autonomy hosting applications for its customers on a subscription basis — that were converted to short-term licensing deals. Future revenue for software subscriptions — that should have been deferred or recorded as coming in the future but not yet booked — were stripped out and booked all at once.
John Schultz, HP’s general counsel, said there appeared to be what he called “a conscious effort by some former Autonomy employees to portray it as a pure software company.” The low-margin or loss-making hardware sales in particular, he said on the conference call, amounted to as much as 10 percent to 15 percent of Autonomy’s revenue during the eight-quarter period in question.
It had the effect, Schultz said, of not only closing the gap between actual financial growth and the consensus expectation of analysts — meeting the consensus is always a concern at a publicly held company — but also inflated the “growth metrics” of the company. “From an accounting perspective, there were improprieties, but also there were severe disclosure failures,” he said.
Lesjak said the problems are not only with the fact that revenue was inflated by itself, but the kinds of revenue. “These hardware sales were frequently reported as licenses. The VAR sales were reported as licenses, and they weren’t, in some sense, real sales, because there was no end user.”
The result, Lesjak said, was that Autonomy was able to boost its gross margins, a key measurement of profitability. Where Autonomy had been reporting gross margins in the neighborhood of 40 percent to 45 percent, Lesjak said a more realistic gross margin at Autonomy going forward is in the 28 percent to 30 percent range.
So what is HP going to do about it? First, it has reported the matter to the enforcement division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and to the Serious Fraud Office in the U.K. Once those authorities have their say, HP will likely sue someone. Whitman conceded that it will likely take years before it’s all done. It’s going to get ugly before it’s over.
The Wall Street Journal just got a statement from former HP CEO Léo Apotheker, who did the Autonomy deal during his 11-month tenure as CEO. In a word, he says he’s “stunned.” He will also make himself available to help HP get to the bottom of it all.
Whitman was just on CNBC for several minutes, going through the particulars and reiterating much of what she said on the conference call with reporters. Here’s the video:
- More From Mike Lynch: HP’s Autonomy Accusations Are Getting Weaker
- Mike Lynch Punches Back at Today’s HP Filing: Whither $5B Writedown?
- HP Confirms DOJ Is Investigating Alleged Fraud in Autonomy Deal
- Yes, There Are Layoffs Pending at HP’s Autonomy Unit in the U.K.
- Former HP CEO Shifts Blame for Autonomy Deal to Chairman
- Dell Passed on Autonomy Before HP Bought It
- Why Mike Lynch Is Playing PR Hardball With HP
- Autonomy Founder Lynch Asks Board to Explain HP Allegations
- Autonomy Founder Lynch Blames Accounting Standards in HP Flap
- The Red Flags That Were Obvious — To Some — In the HP-Autonomy Deal
- Oracle’s Ellison Vindicated in Autonomy PR Flap by HP’s $8.8 Billion Writedown
- Autonomy Founder Mike Lynch Rejects HP Charges, Alleges Mismanagement
- What Exactly Happened at Autonomy?
- HP Explains Its $8.8 Billion “Oops”
- HP Beats Street Amid Sales Declines, Takes $8.8 Billion Charge
- HP Names Microsoft Exec Robert Youngjohns to Run Autonomy
- Search Under Way at HP for Autonomy’s Next Chief
- Autonomy’s Mike Lynch Talks About Being HP’s Speedy Tiger Cub (Video)
- Britain’s First Software Billionaire Now Reports to HP CEO Meg Whitman
- Oracle Launches Exalytics Machine, Probably Ending Spat With Autonomy
- Autonomy: When All Else Fails, Blame the Bankers
- Mike Lynch to Oracle: Oh, You Mean Those Slides
- Oracle: You Have a Very Bad Memory, Mr. Lynch
- HP Reportedly Close to $10 Billion Buyout of Autonomy, PC Unit Spinoff
- Will Oracle and Microsoft Bid on Autonomy?
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Poll: Trayvon Martin case split by race
Americans are divided sharply along racial lines when it comes the shooting death of a black Florida teen, Trayvon Martin, a recent Gallup survey found.
African-Americans are nearly five times more likely to be convinced that gunman George Zimmerman is “definitely guilty” of a crime than non-blacks, according to the Gallup poll released Thursday.Continue Reading
Also striking: Blacks are twice as likely as non-blacks to believe that Zimmerman would have been arrested if the person he shot was white — 75 percent to 35 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, 49 percent of non-blacks believe Martin’s race didn’t play a factor, compared to 20 percent of blacks.
Yet, an equal portion of blacks and non-blacks surveyed — 21 percent — think Zimmerman is “probably guilty” of a crime.
The survey results were derived from a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted between April 2 and April 4 of 3,006 Americans, including 242 blacks, as part of Gallup Daily tracking.
Thursday’s Gallup poll gelled with the findings of an earlier survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press that found opinions about the media coverage of the Martin case were sharply divided on race. Of those saying there was too much coverage of Martin’s death, 16 percent were black while 43 percent were white.
In the Tuesday survey, 56 percent of Republicans say there’s been “too much” media about the February shooting, while only 25 percent of Democrats agreed.
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1. Biomarkers May Refine Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis. A three-step genetic analysis of thyroid nodule tissue, obtained by fine needle aspiration, could improve the diagnosis of cancer.
2. Steroids, Renal Disease Hike CV Risk in Lupus. Factors associated with the metabolic syndrome in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) include kidney involvement, the use of higher dose corticosteroids, and ethnicity.
3. Anatomy of an Epidemic: The Opioid Movie. Driving home from a hunting trip in 2008, Johnny Sullivan called his wife to say he was having trouble staying awake.
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Pauline Kael became the voice for a new generation of film-goers.
Pauline Kael is reported to have said to Robert Altman, after the screening of his film Three Women, “I loved the first part of the movie, Bob, but I hated the second part.” My response was similar to Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark, Brian Kellow’s biography of the celebrated film critic.
Part of this can’t be helped. It’s always more interesting to read the fortunes of a rising star, battling her way to the top, making friends and enemies along the way, surviving on a shoestring.
Kellow offers a detailed account of Kael’s childhood at a chicken farm in the Jewish community of Petaluma, Calif., her stint at Berkley (she dropped out as a senior), and her hard-won career as a film critic – culminating in her hire as the reviewer for The New Yorker at the age of 48. [Correction: This review originally misstated Kael's age.] Kael’s struggles and rise to fame make for a compelling read, as does the backdrop against which it is set: the evolution of the movies out of the Hollywood Production Code and Studio System (established in the 1930s and crumbling by the 1960s) as well as the broader social history, culminating in the rise of the counterculture and the anti-war movement.
Kael, though not young herself, became a voice for the generation that reveled in films like Bonnie and Clyde and M*A*S*H, movies that an older generation of critics dismissed. Likewise, her very style of writing pushed film criticism to reflect a new voice, one that dropped the pretense of objectivity in keeping with New Journalists like Joan Didion and Norman Mailer, and leaned on the vernacular and the occasional sexual metaphor. (Battles between Kael and genteel New Yorker editor William Shawn over her salty language were regular occurrences.)
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Chinese and US officials on Monday agreed to pursue a cautious approach on the timing to withdraw the economic stimulus measures, which was adopted to overcome the global economic crisis.
An understanding in this regard was reached during the economic dialogue being held between Chinese vice-premier Wang Qishan and US Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner.
Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of the National Development told a media briefing in Beijing on the talks that the foundation of the world economic recovery is 'not yet solid'.
The sovereign debt crisis in several euro zone nations is adding to uncertainty, Zhang said. Europe's economy is a large portion of the world economy and the European Community is China's biggest trading partner.
China, therefore, will 'keep a close eye on the crisis' and in particular its 'negative effect on the economic recovery in Europe,' said Zhang.
Zhang said given that the scale of the debt crisis and number of countries involved 'are still limited,' China should continue its economic policies stated in the government work report early this year, Xinhua reported.
China announced a $585 billion stimulus package to help its export dependent economy to broad base itself in the domestic markets.
Chairman of the NDRC Zhang Ping introduced China's macro economic situation and major economic tasks for this year Monday morning to US officials, Zhang said.
The major tasks cover expansion of domestic demand, consumption in particular, stabilisation of prices, transfer of economic development mode and structural adjustment, and stabilising the development of an open economy.
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Are You a Better Investor?
Over the past 35 years, investing has become simple, cheap and convenient. Now it's a snap to build your wealth - or destroy it.
NEW YORK (Money Magazine) -- It is Oct. 26, 1972. You turn on your transistor radio and the newscaster reads the closing-bell report from the New York Stock Exchange: The Dow Jones industrial average - led by stocks like Bethlehem Steel, International Harvester, Johns-Manville and Union Carbide - closed at 950.56 on an extremely heavy volume of 20.8 million shares.
The next morning you drive over to see George, your stockbroker. He recommends the Fidelity Trend Fund, which charges a sales commission, or load, of only 8.5 percent; most of the 400 or so load funds in existence charge 8.75 percent. Whenever you buy and sell a stock, George's commission will average about 1.3 percent of the transaction. But so would any other broker's.
In 1972 "the investing world was much easier to comprehend," says Joel Seligman, a financial historian and president of the University of Rochester. You knew your broker, and he sold stocks, not funds of hedge funds. Your bank took deposits, not mutual-fund commissions. Your insurance agent didn't come at you swinging a variable annuity like a meat ax. During a typical week in 1972, the total of all trades on the New York Stock Exchange was less than the trading volume of Microsoft (Charts, Fortune 500) shares on a typical day in 2007.
But the investing world of 1972 was also low in choice, high in cost and short on convenience and information. Nasdaq and money-market funds were less than a year old. There was no such thing as a discount broker, an index fund or a municipal bond fund, not to mention an IRA or a 401(k).
If you wanted a no-load fund, "first you had to find it," recalls fund expert Michael Lipper of Lipper Advisory Services. That meant watching for an ad, making a toll call, waiting for the prospectus, then mailing in the check - a process that could take weeks.
And 7 percent of all stock trades in 1972 "failed to deliver," meaning that the paper certificates for the shares did not change hands within five days, potentially voiding the transaction. To check on your investments, you waited for tomorrow's newspaper, or next week's - or the maiden issue of Money Magazine that October, which many charter subscribers signed up for as the only convenient way to track their mutual funds.
2007: A simpler time
Fast-forward to 2007. Your stockbroker and your banker are a swirl of electrons. Adjusted for inflation, the average commission on a retail stock trade comes to about 3 percent of what it cost in 1972. You can choose from among more than 8,000 mutual funds and over 500 exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. You can buy a stock without getting out of your pajamas, and you've never had a trade fail to deliver. And you can watch the prices of your stocks change in real time from your office computer or your iPhone.
Less cost, more choice and greater convenience: Investing has never been simpler. The birth of the index fund in 1976 enabled anybody with a couple thousand dollars to own every major U.S. stock for less than 0.2 percent in annual expenses. Critics scoffed when Vanguard rolled out the first index fund - "The name of the game is to be the best," said Fidelity chairman Ned Johnson, "and I can't conceive of investment managers not even trying to do better than average" - but year in and year out, indexing has beaten roughly three-quarters of all funds. The investor who minimizes costs maximizes returns. Period.
More recently, indexing has spread to other markets - bonds, foreign stocks, real estate - so you can minimize your costs and maximize your opportunities for profit by covering every base. Meanwhile, the electronic ease of dollar-cost averaging (automatically routing a fixed amount from your bank to your index funds once a month, every month) means you can be a committed investor without ever lifting a finger, second-guessing yourself or timing the market.
Combine the two strategies of indexing and dollar-cost averaging and you can hold the entire planet in a single portfolio on permanent autopilot. Nothing could be simpler.
One thing, however, hasn't changed over the past 35 years: human nature. In 1972, Benjamin Graham was finishing the revise of his seminal work, "The Intelligent Investor," in which he reminded readers that "the investor's chief obstacle - indeed, his worst enemy - is likely to be himself."
Then, as now, investors got in trouble by acting on impulse: either getting carried away by greed or being paralyzed by fear. And solutions like indexing have always seemed a little unsatisfying. You want investing to be more complex so you can feel special when you figure it out. And Wall Street wants it to be more complex so it can make more money off your attempts to figure it out.
Thus in the first seven months of 2007, more than 130 ETFs were created to invest in commodities, foreign currencies and single-industry sectors. You can bet on the Swedish krona, buy a basket of carbon-emissions trading credits or attempt to gain twice as much as mid-size stocks lose when they go down. There's now a fund for every conceivable need - and for plenty of inconceivable needs too.
Three rules to invest by
So how do you put all the innovations of the past 35 years to the best use for you, not Wall Street? Follow these rules:
The bottom line
Despite Wall Street's unrelenting efforts to complicate it, investing can be simple. But it isn't easy. In 2007 as in 1972, building wealth is very much like losing weight. Eat less, exercise more: That's simple! But it's not easy, because the world is teeming with chocolate cake and Cheetos. Likewise, buy a diversified basket of index funds and do nothing: That's simple! But it's not easy because the world is full of TV touts, cold-calling brokers and (temporarily) hot funds.
Realize that what's good about the difference between 1972 and 2007 is also what's bad. Lower cost is great if you trade rarely and wisely, but not if it tempts you into buying and selling constantly. More choice is great if you add a few selected good things to your portfolio in moderation, but not if you end up with an unplanned jumble of investments. More convenience is great if you use it to make your life easier, but not if you take time away from family and friends to update your stock portfolio.
Lower cost, more choice and greater convenience are not means to an end, they are the end. Use them to achieve some other result, and you will fritter away the advantages the past 35 years have brought. You might as well be back in 1972, wearing plaid bell-bottoms and driving a Dodge Dart.
Jason Zweig is the author of the new book "Your Money and Your Brain." E-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Reclaiming the season
Not many would have thought twice had the players simply said, "No." Few would have questioned them had their diamond remained empty this spring. Four weeks after the bus accident, on the afternoon of March 30, everyone standing on and outside the diamond realized that they were a part of something special when the Bluffton University baseball team took the field for its first game of the season - a season that symbolized both healing and hope. Not playing had never really been a part of the equation - only when.
That "when" involved a number of administrative considerations and decisions. The team had been through the unimaginable. All were visibly shaken, many were injured and most of player's equipment, uniforms and other belongings had been rendered useless by the accident. How would the equipment be replaced? Were there enough healthy players to field a team? Would the coaches be healthy enough to lead? Would there be enough practice time? Most importantly, would the players want to play?
Ballplayers play ball
When the players returned to campus after spring break on March 12, they began meeting every day with Phill Talavinia, athletics director, and Guy Neal, head men's basketball coach. They listened to updates about their teammates and coaches still hospitalized and discussed whether they wanted to have a season. "In those first days in Atlanta, we decided the players would help us make the decision to play," says Talavinia. "If they wanted to play, it would be an easy decision. And if they didn't want to play, it would still be an easy decision."
The players wanted to play. They would play for their teammates who would never play again and for themselves because that is what ballplayers do; they play ball. A variety of sports companies and organizations offered to outfit the team with new gear. Pacific Headwear offered ball caps; Nike wanted to provide new uniforms. Team Sports and Wilson Sporting Goods offered to donate equipment as did three professional baseball teams - the Cleveland Indians, the Cincinnati Reds and the Florida Marlins.
In the mean time, Bluffton's coaches and players continued making strides off the field, both physically and mentally. Head coach James Grandey, whose injuries limited his mobility, was determined to join his team as soon as possible. With equipment replaced and assistant coaches Todd Miller and Jason Moore taking cues from Coach Grandey, the team began practicing on March 19. "It was so good to hear the cracks of bats again," says Talavinia.
The following day, with the young men standing behind him, President James M. Harder announced the team would open its season with a home contest against conference-foe College of Mount St. Joseph on March 30. "After consulting with members of the team and their coaches, with Bluffton's athletics department administration and the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference of the NCAA, and with the understanding that the bereaved families are in support of our young men returning to the field, I can announce today that there will be a 2007 baseball season at Bluffton University," he said.
More than a regular game day
Ten days later, family, friends and supporters gathered at the Sears Athletic Complex, spreading out blankets and folding chairs to watch the Beavers play ball. By all accounts, the sunny afternoon felt like a regular game day - kids ran around, bratwursts and hotdogs were grilled and people laughed and chatted. Five white banners lining the left-field fence waved in the breeze and reminded all present that from here on out, "regular" would always be a relative term.
In front of more than 1,200 spectators and 100 media outlets, the crowd paused for a moment of prayer and silent reflection led by President Harder. Then, the Beavers ran to their positions, sporting black jerseys in honor of their teammates. Coach Grandey, unable to be in the dugout due to his injuries, established his coaching corner in the press box, advising his assistants and team by walkie talkie.
When junior Tim Kay (Alpharetta, Ga.) threw a strike on the first pitch, the crowd leapt to its feet and erupted in cheers, collectively realizing that baseball was back at Bluffton. The Beavers quickly demonstrated their ability to hit and score runs but were unable to hold onto an early 3-1 lead. Bluffton lost the first game of the three-game weekend series, 10-5.
"It's disappointing to lose," said junior captain Ryan Baightel (Wapakoneta, Ohio) after the home opener. "Any day you want to win, but when a crowd like this comes out, you want to win for them. But, I think it's a win to be back on the field. That's enough." Coach Grandey echoed his captain's sentiments: "The best thing that could've happened to this program at this time is for us to play. We're a Division III school, and yes, the guys are here for an education first, but our 40 guys came here to play baseball too. It's about baseball for them. And it's about healing; they need to get out and do what they love and honor the players we lost."
The next day the team picked up its first win by defeating "the Mount," 7-6. The Beavers played an abbreviated season, making up as many regularly scheduled conference games as weather permitted throughout April and May. The team finished its 2007 season with a 5-19 overall record, including a 4-15 mark in the conference.
Looking to the future
While stepping on the field was an instrumental part of the healing process, baseball teams have an innate drive to win, and Baightel notes that this year's five wins were not nearly as many as the team and coaches would have liked. "Despite the fact that we were constantly encouraged that being on the field was enough and that we should be proud of ourselves for that fact alone, when we are between the lines, we forget all of that, and it's still baseball," he says. "And with that comes the desire to win. Our record this past season was not what any of us hoped for, and we will improve greatly next year."
Next year, the Beavers will play on the newly dedicated Bluffton University Memorial Field, which will receive multiple enhancements this summer thanks to many generous gifts from individuals, colleges and universities, schools, companies and organizations, including a $10,000 gift from the Bluffton University Student Senate, a $12,000 gift from Tiffin University and a $50,000 gift from Major League Baseball (MLB).
With the support of strangers and community alike, future generations of ballplayers and extended community members will remember and draw inspiration from the 2007 team. And, in the words of Joe Garagiola Jr., vice president of MLB baseball operations and son of former catcher and legendary broadcaster Joe Garagiola, "For years to come when kids play on Bluffton's field, they will know people of character were on the field before them."
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Leaping Heights: Basketball and dreams through E-Cash in Mogadishu
“I used to be the captain of the Somalia Women’s National Basketball team in 1991, just as the country was beginning to fall apart. While this was taking place, the team and I were in Ethiopia participating in the regional championships. We could not return so we were instead taken to Nairobi.”
These were the words of Mulki, a former national team player in Somalia. Since that time, life has never been easy, but she has always been able to provide for her family. Today the 42 year old is a mother of 10 and runs a small shop in Mogadishu, where she sells fruits, vegetables and other assorted items. Mulki is the sole provider for her family.
Mogadishu has been at the center of a 22-year-old war that has ravaged the country and lefts its people at a state of despair. However, this was not always the case. Somalia was once a prosperous country, the most developed in East Africa.
“We were encouraged to play sports”
“I started playing basketball in 1982,” Mulki recalls. “I was inspired to play after watching other people play the sport and seeing how exciting it was. I am very tall so it was not a problem to pick up the game. I was an exceptional athlete, eventually rising up the ranks to the national team and becoming its captain. Things were different then. It was not a problem for women to play sports. In fact, we were encouraged to.”
To Mulki, that seems like a lifetime ago. Since then, Somalia has been plagued by continuous conflict and disasters. It was difficult to continue playing the sport she loved while busy trying to provide for her growing family. Despite all this, Mulki saved enough money to open her small shop 12 years ago.
“I have been running my shop for a long time and it has helped me and my family survive through all the hardships. I used to sell only fruits and vegetables, but I wanted to sell more things to earn more money,” Mulki said. “When I was selected for support from Oxfam and Hijra’s cash program, I was very happy because I could finally fulfill my plans.”
Receiving money on the phone: a slam dunk
Mulki and her family were selected as recipients of the E-cash pilot project launched by Oxfam and our partner Hijra in August of 2012, the first of its kind in Somalia. The project targeted over 2,090 households of internally displaced people and urban community members, to receive cash support via mobile phones.
“I was prepared to line up for a long time before receiving the cash, because this is what usually happens,” Mulki said. “Instead, I went to the Nation Link [mobile service provider] office, received a free phone and got the money transferred to my phone; all in a very short time.”
“After I received the money, I used some of it to buy additional items to sell in my shop such as biscuits, books, pens, salt and sugar,” Mulki said. “These items sell very fast and they do not go bad like the vegetables. I am able to buy a lot of stock and earn more money over a longer period of time.”
“I also used some of the money to buy food for my family,” she continued. “In the near future, I plan to save more money to build a permanent structure for my shop, and stock even more types of goods. Hopefully those dreams come true as well.”
“I missed playing”
Never forgetting her passion for basketball, Mulki began coaching a women’s basketball team in Mogadishu in 2000.
“I coach the Hegan women’s basketball team,” she said. “There is not much freedom to play the sport, due to cultural differences and perceptions, but the girls I coach are passionate and always come for practice twice a week. Two of my elder daughters play on the team as well.”
Her love of basketball was not the only reason she started coaching the team. “I wanted to show my daughters that there is more to life than what they see around them,” she said. “I wanted to share with them a part of me that was important when I was younger. I also missed playing so this was a chance to do it again.”
“This project really benefited me and my family’s life,” she said gratefully. “The money received was sufficient for us at that time. At least I was able to pay to improve my business and provide for my family. Any support is always welcome.”
“I hope for a better life where I don’t have to struggle to make ends meet,” she said. “This is a start.”
Oxfam and Hijra have been working together as partners since 2007 to provide livelihood support to people in Mogadishu. This work to help the people of Somalia continues today.
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This is not legal advice. For legal advice, consult an attorney, not a blog. Furthermore, the post below addresses some BUT NOT ALL issues relating to foreclosure, short sale, etc., and the following analysis is cursory and not complete. If you face a foreclosure or are considering some alternative, you should obtain legal advice.
The Senate Finance Committee recently approved extending the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act through 2013. That’s GREAT news for anybody interested in a short sale here in Washington. If you’re wondering why…
Generally speaking, the IRS considers as income any forgiven debt (Cancellation of Debt, or COD, income). For example, if I borrowed $50k from you, that would not be “income” subject to taxation because, while I received $50k from you, I had a corresponding liability to you in the same amount. But if you then released me from that obligation and forgave that debt, at that moment I would have realized $50k in “income.” Therefore I would need to report this “income” — the amount of the forgiven debt — on that year’s federal income tax return (and of course pay taxes on it).
In 2007, as the housing crisis was getting underway, Congress passed the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act. This act allows homeowners to avoid COD tax liability on debt that was incurred by the purchase of a principal residence. In other words, if the property is your principal residence, then you will not face income tax liability on the forgiven debt.
Here in WA, there is debate about the COD tax implications of a non-judicial foreclosure. The vast majority of foreclosures in this state are of this variety. In a non-judicial foreclosure, the difference between the funds paid at the foreclosure auction and the amount owed is extinguished as a matter of law. In other words, following a non-judicial foreclosure, the owner/debtor neither owns the house nor owes any money to the bank, regardless of what was paid for the property at auction. Accordingly, some — but not all — experts believe that a non-judicial foreclosure does not create COD tax liability.
The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act expires December 31 of this year. Thus, if the act is not extended, effective January 1 any forgiven debt, even on a principal residence, will be considered as income and taxed accordingly by the IRS. Here in WA, the only possible exemption to this liability is the argument that a non-judicial foreclosure does not create COD tax liability. Thus, an owner/debtor subjected to foreclosure at least has an argument that he does not have COD tax liability after a non-judicial foreclosure.
But a short sale? As it stands now, beginning January 1 any owner who sells short and is released from the debt will have to report that forgiven debt as income. There is no question that debt forgiven as part of an approved short sale is subject to COD tax liability absent the “principal residence” exemption. In other words, only a confused or misinformed owner/debtor will seek a short sale beginning January 1 given the substantial tax implications. For example, if your house sells for $300k but you owe $400k, you will have to report $100k as income, resulting in a tax bill of an additional $30k or so (depending on your tax bracket). Is a successful short sale worth that kind of money owed to the IRS?
But — and getting back to where we stared – good news is on the distant horizon. Recently, the Senate Finance Committee approved extending the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act through 2013. While admittedly a very small step, it is at least a first step towards exending this income tax exemption. And absent such an extension, short sales will become far, far less attractive. If Congress can complete the job — a very big IF — then short sales will remain a viable alternative to foreclosure. But if Congress sits on its hands and lets the exemption expire, short sales will likely dry up dramatically. Or at least they should…
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Editor’s Note from Lisa Wells, the Director of Marketing at UroMed: Many times people with spinal cord injuries are unable to work, which means many of our UroMed clients are on Medicare. Or, if a child has spinal bifida, most of them are on Medicare. These reasons are why UroMed is bringing this issue to our readers. If doctors stop taking Medicare or Medicaid patients, or, if someone has a life-changing event that takes away their ability to work, they may have difficulty finding a doctor who will accept either of these two plans. Part 5 of a 5 part series.
Scherz: On the path that we’re on right now, these two entitlement programs will no longer be available in the future. However, we believe that these two programs can be set up, so that they won’t go away in the future, if some changes are made.
Question: In your opinion, what will happen to Medicaid and Medicare in the next 5 to 10 years?
Scherz: According to the Medicare actuary, unless they receive the cuts that are written into The Affordable Care Act, Medicare will run out of money in 2017, which is 5 years from now. If Congress gets the cuts (reductions in payments to doctors, hospitals and medical providers) then Medicare can keep functioning as it is until 2024. One of the items of the Affordable Care Act that most people don’t know about is that there is $27 trillion worth of unfunded mandates and obligations for Medicare right now. The Medicare system cannot accomplish these mandates without that $27 trillion.
Question: A mandate is when the government says that if a person has a broken leg, a doctor has to see that patient, fix that broken leg, put a cast on it and give the patient some crutches, right? However, there’s nothing in that mandate that says how the doctor gets paid for his time, how the hospital gets paid for maintaining the emergency room, or how the materials to make the cast or the crutches for the person to walk out on are funded, and herein is the problem. Everybody feels good about being able to put the cast on his or her leg for free, but the doctors and the hospitals must be paid, as well as the people who provide the crutches, and there’s no money to pay for these expenses. Is there anything that’s free?
Scherz: No, there’s not. Number one, the government doesn’t have any money to pay for this free health care. Next, you have to ask; “Where does the government get its money?” The answer is simple, from the taxpayers. When the Affordable Care Act says that everyone can have wellness visits to the doctor, or the government pays for preventative health care , then you have to ask the question, “Who is paying for all this free health care ?” For the government to give anything to anyone, they have to take the money to pay for that “free” gift from someone else. Now, if the taxpayers don’t pay for this free healthcare, and the doctors and the hospitals can’t afford to pay for this free health care, then who will pay for it? What kind of health care can we expect, if no one is willing to pay for the health care that the government has promised? Should anyone be asked to work or provide services for free? There are some major issues here that are going to affect all of us detrimentally, if we don’t become involved with our own health care. So, our organization, Docs4 Patient Care, is encouraging everyone in the health care community to present a strong, single voice to Congress about our concerns and how we think health care should be administered and paid for, instead of letting the Washington politicians tell us what will happen.
This reason is why Docs4 Patient Care is trying to build its membership, by developing state chapters around the country. We currently have 13 state chapters of Docs4 Patient Care with 4 to 6 more chapters being developed right now. Many of the issues that need to happen to reform the Affordable Care Act have to happen at the state level. So, individuals in states can be very effective in talking to state legislators to help legislators implement reforms in the Affordable Care Act. On our webpage (www.docs4patients.org) we have a place – the “Download Center” (http://docs4patientcare.org/downloads) – where doctors can download information to give to their patients. This Download Center focuses on two different sections – one on what patients need to know and another on what doctors need to know. You can download and print these articles. Patients can give this information to their doctors, and doctors can give this to their patients. Also patients and doctors can share this timely information with their legislators. We are constantly putting new information up on the webpage. We believe that patients make the best healthcare decisions for themselves and their families. Doctors shouldn’t have their hands tied (by the federal government) in making those decisions. If we don’t work now to preserve that doctor-patient relationship and change the direction that health care is going at the current time, then we may see many more problems.
All photos were taken from www.docs4patientcare.org
About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com
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Free Photo Archive of over 26,000 vintage photographs. Find people and the places were they lived. Search for your surnames. Find photos of your ancestors. Make connections with genealogy cousins. Add your family's photos.
Hickey Homeplace, Knox Co., TN
Hickey Homeplace, in the country, Knox County, TN. Reputed to have been built about 1809.
Home to Lillie Ellen Hickey and her parents George W. Hickey and Minerva Jane Parsons Wilson Hickey and possibly Cornelius Hickey and Wife. Picture taken about 1934.
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LONDON — Britain was seized by a fever Sunday.
"Murray Mania" spread through the nation as an estimated 20 million people prepared to watch Andy Murray from Scotland fight to become the first British winner of the men’s singles in the Wimbledon lawn tennis championship since 1936.
Murray faces Swiss champion Roger Federer, a six-time winner of the trophy striving to equal the score set by American Pete Sampras, a seven-time Wimbledon winner.
Photos: 'Murray Mania'
Britons woke to newspaper headlines: “Andy we’re praying for you,” on the front of the populist Daily Mail, and “Andy make our day” pleaded the left-wing, more intellectual Observer, and the Wimbledon final dominated TV and radio news.
In Murray’s native Scotland the national paper, the Scotsman, reported Scottish flags flying in his hometown of Dunblane, where both his grandmothers were suffering from pre-match nerves.
“Andy has worked so hard and he deserves to win… We wish him all the best. We’ll say a wee prayer for him,” said 78-year-old Ellen Murray, who was 2 years old when Fred Perry became Britain's last men’s singles winner at Wimbledon.
Thousands braved rainswept conditions to reach the Wimbledon grounds in southwest London in time to watch the match.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, were among the spectators along with a huge Scottish crowd ready to cheer from the stands and watch the giant screen from "Murray Mound," the newly christened hill inside the Wimbledon grounds.
Both leaders sent good-luck wishes to Murray.
“It’s a unique moment for any Scot,” said Salmond in media coverage. Over at the prime minister’s residence on Downing Street, the British flag was replaced by Scotland’s blue-and-white national flag for the occasion.
Around the country people spent Sunday afternoon in front of TV screens.
Philip Tomlin, a 35-year-old financier and keen tennis watcher in north London, said he couldn’t join his pals in front of the big screen set up outside London’s riverside Tate Modern art gallery.
“I’ll be watching at home. Murray’s got a good chance, I reckon — he’s got a new coach who's helped him with the mental side of the game, which was his weakness.”
Lilian del Gaudio from Brazil, watching at home in London, is a new tennis aficionado. “I don’t watch tennis, but I realize how important Wimbledon is in this country and how [the final] has changed the atmosphere of the place in the last few days. If he wins it would be a great day for Britain,” said the 31-year-old teacher.
In the Warwickshire village of Long Compton in West England, 82-year-old Susan Gladstone couldn’t wait to settle in front of the TV. “I haven’t got time to see you today,” she told a visitor, “I’ve got to watch the tennis.”
The Daily Telegraphy collected comments from Murray-watchers across the ocean. “We keep in touch with streaming mobile broadband on our Mac and we predict a win for Andy!!!” messaged John Quarterman and family from the Indian Ocean off western Australia.
Murray himself is geared for a challenge, he told interviewers. “The one thing I can guarantee is that I'll fight my absolute heart out. I need to give everything I have from the first point to the last.”
Photos: Serena Williams earns fifth Wimbledon singles title
One of the most coveted prizes of tennis' Grand Slam events, the Wimbledon trophy has long eluded British players. After Fred Perry’s victory of 1936, the next British winner was Virginia Wade in the ladies’ singles in 1977. But this year may be a turning point. Murray’s fight for victory follows the surprise men’s doubles’ win Saturday by unknown Briton Jonathan Marray partnered by Danish Frederik Nielsen.
Pressure is on both Roger Federer, Andy Murray in Wimbledon final
France,Germany reportedly agree to share euro chairmanship
'Poetry of the Taliban' elicits both anger, astonishment
— Janet Stobart
Photo: A shop window display in Dunblane, Scotland shows support for Andy Murray ahead of his Wimbledon tennis final against Roger Federer. Credit: Scott Heppell / Associated Press.
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Create and collaborate while you're on the go
Create and edit documents with others, and share any file or folder directly from your Android phone or tablet. You can even make edits with rich text formatting, and see others' edits in real time too.
Store everything safely and access it anywhere
Even if your phone goes for a swim, your files are safely stored & up to date. Upload files from your Android phone or tablet to sync them with your other devices & keep them safe in Drive. You can also access files while offline.
Search your Drive quickly and easily
Search and filter to quickly find a file in Drive. Search by keyword - even objects with images, and filter by stuff in your Drive, items shared with you, or recently opened or edited by you. Make a shopping list on your home computer & quickly open it on your phone at the store with the Recent filter on your phone’s Drive app.
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Big Media's Verdict On Violent TV And Kids: Show Me Where It Hurts
With that in mind, here is a conclusion that wouldn't seem damaging to the TV industry: Aggressive children tend to want to watch more violent shows. That would seem to say that TV, in itself, didn't cause kids to be aggressive.
That isn't as bad as this assumption: Non-aggressive children become violent by watching violent shows.
Researchers have been debating the TV-violence issue for years. The Federal Communications Commission and many other researchers have come up with studies down through the years that say there is a "correlation" between kids who watch violent TV, and those who become violent.
A longtime critic of this research, University of Toronto Professor Jonathan Freedman, continues to say there is a big difference between "correlation" and "causation." Big media companies -- NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp., Viacom, Tribune and Gannett -- have used his research in their recent battle with the FCC.
Even if you are not much of scientist, Freedman says a decade and a half of compelling data proves his point: The violent crime rate has been declining for the past 15 years. Let us add, while this crime rate has been dropping, the amount of TV viewing has been steadily increasing all through those years. And not just viewership of TV, but all sorts of entertainment -- video, theatrical, and Internet.
That would seem to offer up a pretty obvious verdict: TV is not guilty. Does that mean we should just let go? No. We should just monitor all those yawning kids.
Some TV shows with violence may actually be boring violent TV shows. And if you are a TV programmer, the worst thing you can do is bore kids. They'll resent you, change the channel, but in no way think about smashing their cell phones or iPods onto the floor.
The notion that aggressive kids seek aggressive TV shows seems obvious, and also enlightening, making one look at non-aggressive kids in a different light -- if at all. The key, Freedman says, is that there is little research about "causation" --where you can trace a large number of TV shows' violent actions to a large number of kids' violent actions.
Are TV programmers off the hook? CBS may want to wait on that morning "CSI: Disneyland" spin-off.
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When I think of the Milwaukee Ballet dancers, there’s one word that comes to mind: athletes. Every day these dancers demonstrate pure athleticism.
So about a month back, I went to one of their practices in which the dancers were prepping for their Winter Series (February 16-19th at the Pabst Theater). I spoke with multiple dancers to find out what a day in the life of a ballet dancer was really like. Let’s just say that these dancers make what they do look extremely easy when in actuality, the rigorous training and pressure to be perfect definitely has an impact on the body.
When injuries happen, it’s crucial that dancers take the right steps to get back into shape and back into rehearsals at an appropriate time. In order to do this, the Milwaukee Ballet works alongside The Sports Medicine Center at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin. (*The Sports Medicine Center also happens to work with the Milwaukee Brewers). So when something as unfortunate as an injury does happen, these dancers work with athletic trainers and physical therapists to diagnose and treat their injuries, in addition to working on training techniques to prevent future injuries.
I spoke with Dr. Craig Young, Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Medicine & Family Medicine Physician, to find out more about his role with the dancers throughout the season and how the health of Milwaukee Ballet dancers is incredibly important to the company.
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What’s the connection between children kicking a ball around a hard-packed dirt soccer field in Cape Town and the South African city’s Premier Soccer League?
Vancouver writer Matthew Yeoman believes the two share a link through the charitable and club organizations that use sport as a form of development and soccer as a way to strengthen the social network, reward personal accountability and elevate health outcomes as well as produce international superstars.
“The greatest link that I find myself reading about again and again is that involvement in these programs gives individuals leadership skills that translate into the rest of their lives,” he wrote to the Courier. “Building these people up, one at time, can build up the society around them. There is also the aspect of teamwork and community building that these programs instill in those it touches.”
Instead of volunteering with one of the many associations concentrated in Cape Town alone, Yeoman decided to try and piece together the bigger picture. He is writing a book tentatively titled Soccer and Societal Development in Africa: A Profile and is crowd-sourcing funds for his project.
He has never travelled to Africa but using a crowd-sourcing online fundraiser, IndiGoGo, to raise money in order to visit and interview sports leaders around the continent and live in South Africa, the host for the 29th annual Africa Cup of Nations in January and February.
The “white man’s burden” line of thinking has long insisted that outsiders can help those believed unable to help themselves, but development through sport is different than many failed forms of charity directed at African nations, said Yeoman. He seeks to understand how the best of these soccer development programs serve their members and write about their successes and failures as a lesson to others, including North Americans interested in volunteering.
“The best programs, in my research so far, do not offer aid but instead offer assistance in the way of teaching life skills, real world skills, and the offering of opportunity. This allows those involved to take ownership for their success and to use their knowledge to help others who they teach,” said Yeoman, who has contributed to the Whitecaps website.
Programs run by North Americans are plentiful, including one set up by a past winner of the reality television mainstay Survivor to use soccer as a means to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Another kind of example is set by professional clubs such as Mathare United F.C. of the Kenyan Premier League which operates in one of Nairobi’s most deprived and dangerous slums and runs the respected Mathare Youth Sports Association that has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Yeoman also points out Ajax Cape Town F.C., which operates programs in more than 100 schools (known as the Community Scheme) and promotes local talent to the first team thought its successful development program.
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HHS Announces Changes to Timeline for Meaningful Use
On November 30th, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced policy changes designed to make it easier for health care providers and hospitals to qualify for meaningful use incentive payments, Modern Healthcare reports. Sebelius announced the changes during an event at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland (Modern Healthcare, 11/30). Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
Under current regulations, eligible health care providers that attest to Stage 1 of the Medicare EHR incentive program this year would need to meet Stage 2 requirements in 2013. However, health care providers who attest to Stage 1 in 2012 would not need to meet Stage 2 requirements until 2014, but they still would be eligible for the same total incentive payment amount (DeParle, “White House Blog,” 11/30).
To encourage greater participation in the meaningful use program, Sebelius said that health care providers who meet Stage 1 requirements this year would not need to meet the Stage 2 standards until 2014. According to an HHS statement, “Doctors who act quickly can also qualify for incentive payments in 2011 as well as 2012″ (Modern Healthcare, 11/30).
HHS said it will launch outreach efforts to inform health care providers and health IT vendors about the policy changes. The agency said it will target outreach, education and training to eligible health care providers that have registered for the Medicare EHR incentive program but have not yet met the meaningful use requirements.
CDC Survey on Health IT Adoption
Also on Wednesday, Sebelius announced that CDC has released a new survey finding that the percentage of U.S. physicians who have adopted basic EHRs has doubled from 17% in 2008 to 34% in 2011. During the same time period, the percentage of primary care doctors using basic EHRs nearly doubled from 20% to 39%.
The survey also found that 52% of office-based U.S. physicians now plan to participate in the meaningful use incentive program (HHS release, 11/30). Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/11/30/sebelius-announces-changes-to-timeline-for-meaningful-use.aspx#ixzz1fHQJpKOb.
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Monty Collier wrote:
Dear Michael Neal,
Modern Olympic Judo is defined by a body of rules. Coaches and participants select techniques and tactics from an enormous matrix of wrestling moves that they think will help them win in competition. Modern Olympic Judo is jacketed wrestling, it is not combat.
It is just as much a combat art than any other, in fact even basic high school wrestling is a very effective way to defend yourself. Grappling is a very effective way to defend yourself, especially grappling techniques that are strengthened through competition and randori.
All of wrestling can be used in unarmed combat, but not all of unarmed combat can be used in wrestling.
Therefore, if you are only trained in wrestling, then you will not be fully prepared to deal with all that takes place in combat. You will not be trained to avoid and deal with strikes. There are no strikes allowed in the competitions of Judo, Folk-style, Free-style, or Greco-Roman wrestling
When Greco-Roman Gold Medalist Rulon Gardner demolished Olympic Judo Gold Medalist Hidehiko Yoshida in a recent pride event, Rulon did not only use his wrestling, but he also punched among other things. He had to learn about other parts of combat before he entered into pride, because Greco-Roman Wrestling is not combat ready. Yoshida also had to learn some boxing and Jiu-jitsu, among other things, because Olympic Judo is not combat ready. .
There is not a single martial art on the planet that would be combat ready by your defination then, only a mix of several different styles. I agree, mixed martial arts are much more effective than one art alone, there is no doubt about that. But that does not mean that Judo is not combat effective. To compete in MMA you have to be good at striking and grappling because the competition is trained that way. If you want to maintain Judo is not combat ready then you have to say that neither is Aikido, BJJ, Muay Thai, boxing, karate, jujitsu etc.
Regarding your claims that Judo does not train striking, much of that preserved in the kata. But regardless if you do kata training or not, once the Judoka closes the distance striking is pretty much useless anyway.
So, if you are training someone to participate in an Olympic style Judo competition, then you are training that person to deal with an opponent who will be using techniques that are compatible with the rules of Olympic style Judo. You are not teaching that person to identify and avoid sucker-punches. You are not teaching that person to close the distance and clinch when the adversary strikes at you. You are not teaching that person how to apply or escape from heel-hooks, knee-bars, hip-kimuras, omo-platas and so forth.
So, the techniques of Olympic Judo can be used in combat under specific conditions. But, you would only be partly ready for combat. You need to study more in order to be fully prepared, or combat ready.
Oh yeah, I would like to see a takedown tournament held in which world class competitors from Free-style, Greco-Roman, and Judo all competed against each other. Each specific match up would have to require the competitors to wrestle once with and once without the gi. This would be exciting. We need more takedown competitions.
What do you mean "You are not teaching that person to close the distance and clinch when the adversary strikes at you." This is the very essence of Judo and where it excels.
Again, there is not martial art that exists that excels at all of the combat conditions you have laid out here.
Since this is an Aikido forum I will pick specifically on it using your logic. Aikido does not train much grappling especially newaza, thefore it is not combat effective. Aikido does not really teach how to strike effectively, therefore it is not combat effective. Aikido does little randori or competition, thefore it is not combat effective. Aikido does not train very often against kicks, therfore it is not combat effective. etc. etc. etc.
So my question to you is, Judo is not combat ready as compared to what?
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Posted 1 year ago on March 30, 2012, 8:20 p.m. EST by gnomunny
from St Louis, MO
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
More than half the Wall Street exec's interviewed in a recent independent survey said that OWS has had a real impact on their business, this according to ECHO Research, a global research company. Commissioned by Markovsky + Company, a PR and investor relations firm, Echo interviewed 150 marketing and communications executives at large to mid-sized publicly-traded and private financial institutions including major banks, brokerage and asset-management firms, and insurance companies. More findings of the survey include:
71% believe OWS will last past the November elections.
74% believe that increased regulation of the financial services industry will help their firms improve reputations and trust with customers faster.
96% said their firms invited negative public perception . . . by their actions or inactions.
But, whether this research has impacted the CEOs and power brokers of these firms is another matter. According to Robert Reich, who needs no intro here, the bigwigs mostly see this as a PR problem. Scott Tagney, executive VP and head of financial services at Markovsky said, "There has been a shift in priority (since '08) from recovering and stabilizing to focusing on customer satisfaction, employee communications, and improving public perception."
Not surprising that their priorities mention nothing about reform. There is a bit of a silver lining however, at least in my opinion. According to the ECHO research site, they are "a global reputation analysis, media measurement and stakeholder research specialist" that enables "clients to measure how they are viewed, accurately and impartially, and to protect their brands and reputations." One of the tidbits I found on their site was this: "The average value of reputation as a percentage of market capitalisation has increased across the FTSE100 (the London Stock Exchange's top 100) has increased from 17% in 2007 to 33% at the start of 2012. It increased across the FTSE250 from 17% (2007) to 20% (now)." What I read in that tidbit is that public perception of a particular industry or business has more of an impact on that industry's bottom line than it had previously. Maybe people are starting to pay attention? One can only hope.
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Holdouts against a settlement of Argentina’s defaulted debt are opening a new front in their campaign for a juicy payout more than a decade after the biggest sovereign default on record.
Lobbyists for some of the investors who hold about $6 billion in Argentine debt are in London to persuade Britain to follow the lead of the United States, which last September decided to vote against new Inter American Development Bank and World Bank loans for Buenos Aires.
Washington believes Argentina, a member of the Group of 20, is not meeting its international obligations on a number of fronts. Apart from the dispute with private bond holders, Argentina has yet to agree with the Paris Club of official creditors on a rescheduling of about $9 billion of debt. It has refused to let the International Monetary Fund conduct a routine health check of the economy. And it has failed to comply with the judgments of a World Bank arbitration panel.
In short, Argentina is not playing by the rules of the international game, says Rob Shapiro, a former U.S. under secretary of commerce, who is now co-chair of the Argentina Task Force America.
According to its website, the group’s aim is to “vigorously pursue” a “just and fair” reconciliation of the Argentine government’s default in December 2001 on some $95 billion of debt.
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The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer. They set forth at daybreak to see a man beheaded, twenty in all, and Bran rode among them, nervous with excitement. This was the first time he had been deemed old enough to go with his lord father and his brothers to see the king's justice done. It was the ninth year of summer, and the seventh of Bran's life.
The man had been taken outside a small holdfast in the hills. Robb thought he was a wildling, his sword sworn to Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall. It made Bran's skin prickle to think of it. He remembered the hearth tales Old Nan told them. The wildlings were cruel men, she said, slavers and slayers and thieves. They consorted with giants and ghouls, stole girl children in the dead of night, and drank blood from polished horns. And their women lay with the Others in the Long Night to sire terrible half-human children.
But the man they found bound hand and foot to the holdfast wall awaiting the king's justice was old and scrawny, not much taller than Robb. He had lost both ears and a finger to frostbite, and he dressed all in black, the same as a brother of the Night's Watch, except that his furs were ragged and greasy.
The breath of man and horse mingled, steaming, in the cold morning air as his lord father had the man cut down from the wall and dragged before them. Robb and Jon sat tall and still on their horses, with Bran between them on his pony, trying to seem older than seven, trying to pretend that he'd seen all this before. A faint wind blew through the holdfast gate. Over their heads flapped the banner of the Starks of Winterfell: a grey direwolf racing across an ice-white field.
Bran's father sat solemnly on his horse, long brown hair stirring in the wind. His closely trimmed beard was shot with white, making him look older than his thirty-five years. He had a grim cast to his grey eyes this day, and he seemed not at all the man who would sit before the fire in the evening and talk softly of the age of heroes and the children of the forest. He had taken off Father's face, Bran thought, and donned the face of Lord Stark of Winterfell.
There were questions asked and answers given there in the chill of morning, but afterward Bran could not recall much of what had been said. Finally his lord father gave a command, and two of his guardsmen dragged the ragged man to the ironwood stump in the center of the square. They forced his head down onto the hard black wood. Lord Eddard Stark dismounted and his ward Theon Greyjoy brought forth the sword. "Ice," that sword was called. It was as wide across as a man's hand, and taller even than Robb. The blade was Valyrian steel, spell-forged and dark as smoke. Nothing held an edge like Valyrian steel.
His father peeled off his gloves and handed them to Jory Cassel, the captain of his household guard. He took hold of Ice with both hands and said, "In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, by the word of Eddard of the House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, I do sentence you to die." He lifted the great sword high above his head.
Bran's bastard brother Jon Snow moved closer. "Keep the pony well in hand," he whispered. "And don't look away. Father will know if you do."
Bran kept his pony well in hand, and did not look away.
His father took off the man's head with a single sure stroke. Blood sprayed out across the snow, as red as summerwine. One of the horses reared and had to be restrained to keep from bolting. Bran could not take his eyes off the blood. The snows around the stump drank it eagerly, reddening as he watched.
The head bounced off a thick root and rolled. It came up near Greyjoy's feet. Theon was a lean, dark youth of nineteen who found everything amusing. He laughed, put his boot on the head,and kicked it away.
"Ass," Jon muttered, low enough so Greyjoy did not hear. He put a hand on Bran's shoulder, and Bran looked over at his bastard brother.
"You did well," Jon told him solemnly. Jon was fourteen, an old hand at justice.
It seemed colder on the long ride back to Winterfell, though the wind had died by then and the sun was higher in the sky. Bran rode with his brothers, well ahead of the main party, his pony struggling hard to keep up with their horses.
"The deserter died bravely," Robb said. He was big and broad and growing every day, with his mother's coloring, the fair skin, red-brown hair, and blue eyes of the Tullys of Riverrun. "He had courage, at the least."
"No," Jon Snow said quietly. "It was not courage. This one was dead of fear. You could see it in his eyes, Stark." Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.
Robb was not impressed. "The Others take his eyes," he swore. "He died well. Race you to the bridge?"
"Done," Jon said, kicking his horse forward. Robb cursed and followed, and they galloped off down the trail, Robb laughing and hooting, Jon silent and intent. The hooves of their horses kicked up showers of snow as they went.
Bran did not try to follow. His pony could not keep up. He had seen the ragged man's eyes, and he was thinking of them now. After a while, the sound of Robb's laughter receded, and the woods grew silent again.
That was when Jon reappeared on the crest of the hill before them. He waved and shouted down at them. "Father, Bran, come quickly, see what Robb has found!"
Then he was gone again.
Jory rode up beside them. "Trouble, my lord?"
"Beyond a doubt," his lord father said. "Come, let us see what mischief my sons have rooted out now." He sent his horse into a trot. Jory and Bran and the rest came after.
They found Robb on the riverbank north of the bridge, with Jon still mounted beside him. The late summer snows had been heavy this moonturn. Robb stood knee-deep in white, his hood pulled back so the sun shone in his hair. He was cradling something in his arm, while the boys talked in hushed, excited voices.
The riders picked their way carefully through the drifts, groping for solid footing on the hidden, uneven ground. Jory Cassel and Theon Greyjoy were the first to reach the boys. Greyjoy was laughing and joking as he rode. Bran heard the breath go out of him. "Gods!"
he exclaimed, struggling to keep control of his horse as he reached for his sword.
Jory's sword was already out. "Robb, get away from it!" he called as his horse reared under him.
Robb grinned and looked up from the bundle in his arms. "She can't hurt you," he said. "She's dead, Jory."
Bran was afire with curiosity by then. He would have spurred the pony faster, but his father made them dismount beside the bridge and approach on foot. Bran jumped off and ran.
By then Jon, Jory, and Theon Greyjoy had all dismounted as well. "What in the seven hells is it?" Greyjoy was saying.
"A wolf," Robb told him.
"A freak," Greyjoy said. "Look at the size
Bran's heart was thumping in his chest as he pushed through a waist-high drift to his brothers' side.
Half-buried in blood stained snow, a huge dark shape slumped in death. Ice had formed in its shaggy grey fur, and the faint smell of corruption clung to it like a woman's perfume. Bran glimpsed blind eyes crawling with maggots, a wide mouth full of yellowed teeth. But it was the size of it that made him gasp. It was bigger than his pony, twice the size of the largest hound in his father's kennel.
"It's no freak," Jon said calmly. "That's a direwolf. They grow larger than the other kind."
Theon Greyjoy said, "There's not been a direwolf sighted south of the Wall in two hundred years."
"I see one now," Jon replied.
Bran tore his eyes away from the monster. That was when he noticed the bundle in Robb's arms. He gave a cry of delight and moved closer. The pup was a tiny ball of grey-black fur, its eyes still closed. It nuzzled blindly against Robb's chest as he cradled it, searching for milk among his leathers, making a sad little whimpery sound. Bran reached out hesitantly. "Go on,"Robb told him. "You can touch him."
Bran gave the pup a quick nervous stroke, then turned as Jon said, "Here you go." His half brother put a second pup into his arms. "There are five of them." Bran sat down in the snow and hugged the wolf pup to his face. Its fur was soft and warm against his cheek.
"Direwolves loose in the realm, after so many years," muttered Hullen, the master of horse. "I like it not."
"It is a sign," Jory said.
Father frowned. "This is only a dead animal, Jory," he said. Yet he seemed troubled. Snow crunched under his boots as he moved around the body. "Do we know what killed her?"
"There's something in the throat," Robb told him, proud to have found the answer before his father even asked. "There, just under the jaw."
His father knelt and groped under the beast's head with his hand. He gave a yank and held it up for all to see. A foot of shattered antler, tines snapped off, all wet with blood.
A sudden silence descended over the party. The men looked at the antler uneasily, and no one dared to speak. Even Bran could sense their fear, though he did not understand.
His father tossed the antler to the side and cleansed his hands in the snow. "I'm surprised she lived long enough to whelp," he said. His voice broke the spell.
"Maybe she didn't," Jory said. "I've heard tales . . . maybe the bitch was already dead when the pups came."
"Born with the dead," another man put in. "Worse luck."
"No matter," said Hullen. "They be dead soon enough too."
Bran gave a wordless cry of dismay.
"The sooner the better," Theon Greyjoy agreed. He drew his sword.
"Give the beast here, Bran."
The little thing squirmed against him, as if it heard and understood. "No!"
Bran cried out fiercely. "It's mine."
"It be a mercy to kill them," Hullen said.
Bran looked to his lord father for rescue, but got only a frown, a furrowed brow. "Hullen speaks truly, son. Better a swift death than a hard one from cold and starvation.""No!"
He could feel tears welling in his eyes, and he looked away. He did not want to cry in front of his father.
"Lord Stark," Jon said. It was strange to hear him call Father that, so formal. Bran looked at him with desperate hope. "There are five pups," he told Father. "Three male, two female."
"What of it, Jon?"
"You have five true born children," Jon said. "Three sons, two daughters. The direwolf is the sigil of your House. Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord."
Bran saw his father's face change, saw the other men exchange glances. He loved Jon with all his heart at that moment. Even at seven, Bran understood what his brother had done. The count had come right only because Jon had omitted himself. He had included the girls, included even Rickon, the baby, but not the bastard who bore the surname Snow, the name that custom decreed be given to all those in the north unlucky enough to be born with no name of their own.
Their father understood as well. "You want no pup for yourself, Jon?" he asked softly.
"The direwolf graces the banners of House Stark," Jon pointed out. "I am no Stark, Father."
Their lord father regarded Jon thoughtfully. Robb rushed into the silence he left. "I will nurse him myself, Father," he promised. "I will soak a towel with warm milk, and give him suck from that."
"Me too!" Bran echoed.
The lord weighed his sons long and carefully with his eyes. "Easy to say, and harder to do. I will not have you wasting the servants' time with this. If you want these pups, you will feed them yourselves. Is that understood?"
Bran nodded eagerly. The pup squirmed in his grasp, lickedat his face with a warm tongue.
It was not until they were mounted and on their way that Bran allowed himself to taste the sweet air of victory. By then, his pup was snuggled inside his leathers, warm against him, safe for the long ride home. Bran was wondering what to name him.
Halfway across the bridge, Jon pulled up suddenly.
"What is it, Jon?" their lord father asked.
"Can't you hear it?"
Bran could hear the wind in the trees, the clatter of their hooves on the ironwood planks, the whimpering of his hungry pup, but Jon was listening to something else.
"There," Jon said. He swung his horse around and galloped back across the bridge. They watched him dismount where the direwolf lay dead in the snow, watched him kneel. A moment later he was riding back to them, smiling.
"He must have crawled away from the others," Jon said.
"Or been driven away," their father said, looking at the sixth pup. His fur was white, where the rest of the litter was grey. His eyes were as red as the blood of the ragged man who had died that morning. Bran thought it curious that this pup alone would have opened his eyes while the others were still blind.
"An albino," Theon Greyjoy said with wry amusement. "This one will die even faster than the others."
Jon Snow gave his father's ward a long, chilling look. "I think not, Greyjoy," he said. "This one belongs to me."From the Trade Paperback edition.
Excerpted from A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume One by George R. R. Martin; Adapted by Daniel Abraham; Art by Tommy Patterson. Copyright © 2002 by George R.R. Martin. Excerpted by permission of Bantam, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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By Christopher Maag
During the mortgage boom, Teresa Aiello was a typical home refinancer. After getting her initial mortgage
, she refinanced
in 2005, and then got a second mortgage in 2006.
The multiple mortgages were common
, as was the result: Aiello owes more than her house is worth. Her second mortgage has a 10-percent interest rate. She's only paying the interest now, but in nine years she'll have to start paying off the principal
Now Aiello faces a number of hard decisions.
"I'm struggling to afford my bills," Aiello writes in response to a Credit.com story. "Do you think that I qualify to modify
these loans? Do you think short sale
will be a solution? Or going to bankruptcy?"
After years of refinancing to take on more debt, like Aiello, now consumers may be refinancing their homes multiple times to reduce their debt. After years of near-record-low mortgage interest rates, some people who have already refinanced their mortgages are finding that it makes sense to do it again.
"I call it serial refinancing, and yes, I think it's happening again," says Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com, a financial analytics company. "For some people, it makes a lot of sense.
During the mortgage boom, most people who repeatedly refinanced their homes were trying to get out of mortgages in which the interest rates fluctuated. Some people started out with a few years' of super-low "teaser" interest rates before resetting; other people had rates that fluctuated regularly.
To avoid higher payments and the instability of fluctuating rates, many consumers refinanced. And as they built up more equity or their credit scores improved, some refinanced again for even lower rates.
"This happened a lot during the boom," says Barry Paperno, Credit.com's credit scoring expert.
This time around the mechanism is similar, but the economic conditions are much different. Interest rates fell steadily after the 2008 mortgage bust, and for the last few years people with the best credit scores could qualify for rates just over 3.5 percent, a 60-year low, Gumbinger says.
That has set off a chain reaction. Some borrowers with excellent credit were able to refinance their pre-bust mortgages to post-bust rates of around 6 percent, says Gumbinger. As interest rates continued to drop, some were able to refinance again, locking in super-low rates.
Now, a few homeowners may even be going for their third refinance. They already have record-low rates, but now they might also be able to shorten the total mortgage term from 30 years to 15, Gumbinger says, saving them a lot of money in interest over the life of the loan in exchange for only slightly higher monthly payments.
"If you're going from a 30-year term to a 15-year term, that could be great," says Gerri Detweiler, Credit.com's consumer credit expert. "With a lower interest rate, you could actually afford a 15-year loan and pay it off much faster, and pay a lot less in interest over time."
Data to support this emerging trend is hard to come by, Gumbinger says. Serial refinancers aren't tracked by themselves, which means their second and third loans are buried inside the larger total numbers of new mortgages, which actually decrease by a slight 2.5 percent in the most recent totals compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Instead, most of the evidence for this new version of refinancing is anecdotal, Gumbinger says. "I've seen it, I just haven't seen any statistics," he says. "But it stands to reason. Once you have interest rates that stay this low for this many quarters, some people are going to take advantage of that."
Should one of those people be you? Just because a lender offers you a mortgage refinance doesn't mean you should take it. A refinanced loan doesn't make sense for everybody. Here are three tips if you're considering your first mortgage refinance -- or your second or third.
The Interest Rate Break
A refinanced loan counts as a new mortgage, which means you will have to pay over $1,000 in new loan fees every time you do it. Sometimes those fees are paid upfront, and other times they are wrapped into your monthly payments.
Either way, you have to make sure that the interest rate reduction saves you more money than you will pay out in new fees. Gumbinger suggests that a 1-percent interest rate drop is more than enough. This guide from Credit.com suggests that actually you should make sure to drop the interest rate by 2 percent. Do the math for yourself, considering your income, the equity you have in the house, and your monthly payments to see if a refinance makes sense for you.
For help, check out this refinancing calculator.
The Bigger the Mortgage, the More You Save
In refinancing, the spoils go to the people who had more money to start with. If you have a large loan and large monthly payments, even a small interest rate drop could save you lots of money every month, and over the life of the loan. Someone with a $500,000 mortgage could easily save $200 a month by refinancing, Gumbinger says.
For people with smaller mortgages, they'll need a bigger interest rate cut to make a refinance pay off.
"Larger mortgages have larger breaks if you refinance," Gumbinger says.
Consider the Immediate Impact
In the short-term, any application for new credit causes a small dip in your credit score, Paperno says. If you're refinancing to give you some breathing room so you can afford a home remodeling project, for example, a small credit score drop on your home could leave you paying a lot more in interest on a new pickup truck, say, or tools and materials for the job.
See more on Credit.com:
Why are Short Sales So Bad for Your Credit?
The Ultimate Credit Report Cheat Sheet
How Can I Get a Loan After Credit Issues?
More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
Find homes for rent in your area.
Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.
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WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- The moratorium on new deep water drilling called after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is temporary, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told lawmakers Wednesday.
Salazar told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee the Obama administration could end a six-month moratorium on exploratory wells in deep waters sooner if a presidential commission finishes its investigation on the oil spill ahead of schedule, The Wall Street Journal reported.
If the commission doesn't finish its investigation in six months, he said he couldn't say whether the moratorium would be extended.
"(It's) a situation that we will have to assess as we move forward and we'll adjust accordingly," Salazar said.
"We want to see much more than a pause," Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said.
The moratorium has caused concern among gulf states leaders and oil-state lawmakers because deep water drilling accounts for about a quarter of all U.S. oil production and the bulk of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, the Journal said.
The secretary told the panel production from existing deep water wells continues "with very little interruption" because of oil rising from the BP pipe on the gulf floor. On April 20, the rig exploded, killing 11 workers, and sank two days later. It has been spewing oil into the gulf since.
The Senate's Energy and National Resources Committee meeting was one of several hearings on Capitol Hill related to the oil spill.
Diane Wilson, a protester identifying herself to reporters as a fisherwoman, disrupted the Salazar hearing when she poured a jar of liquid resembling oil on herself, The Hill reported.
Capitol Hill police grabbed Wilson and escorted her from the hearing room. A Senate aide who witnessed the incident said staff had difficulty cleaning up the black mess.
If the moratorium "lasts very much longer than a few months, it could potentially wreak economic havoc on this region that exceeds the havoc wreaked by the rig itself," Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said.
Salazar said the importance of employment in the region "has been very much on the mind of the president and my mind as well."
He also told Landrieu the Obama administration would force BP, based in Britain, to pay salaries of oil services workers who lose their jobs because of the spill.
|Additional U.S. News Stories|
LONDON, May 18 (UPI) --Almost 10 percent of young people in the United Kingdom now identify themselves as Muslim and fewer than half as Christian, 2011 Census figures show.
LOS ANGELES, May 18 (UPI) --A lawyer representing the estate of Michael Jackson's manager has emails the pop star's lawyers said could be key in the wrongful death trial against AEG Live.
BRUSSELS, May 18 (UPI) --The European Commission is changing its rules on olive oil served in restaurants to safeguard the consumer, a spokesman said.
CHENGDU, China, May 18 (UPI) --Twin giant pandas born in Spain arrived in their ancestral homeland of China Saturday, officials at a breeding research center in Chengdu confirmed.
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Meditation is the most useful tool to elevate Kundalini. But many people are not able to decide - on what Chakra they should meditate or they keep changing the Chakras without awakening any of these Chakras. Actually, this is not a problem at all if you practice the yoga in an organized manner. You won't face this problem if you will practice the previous step of meditation i.e. Pranayam thoroughly.
Proper practice of Pranayam will lead you to know your actual position – on what Chakra your consciousness is lying. Your Prana (Vital force) can be at Muladhar or at Vishuddhi or at Ajna Chakra – it is depended on your past spiritual practice – if you did a lot of Sadhna (spiritual practice) in your previous birth, your consciousness will be situated at higher Chakras and vise versa.
After some practice of Pranayam, you will start to feel the sensation of Prana at some particular point in your body. This is the right point or Chakra where you should concentrate your mind on. It's the point where your Prana is lying at. In reality, Pranayam and meditation are not completely distinct spiritual exercises. Meditation is the advanced stage of Pranayam. Even after a little practice of Pranayam, you'll be able to see the light of a particular color at a Chakra. These colors have different meanings which will be discussed later.
It is not necessary to try to fix your mind on a Chakra forcefully. You won't be able to concentrate if you'll try to do so; because you don't know the right Chakra for you. It'll be a wasteful effort. You will enter in meditative state automatically while doing Pranayam. Pranayam is as important as meditation, so don't neglect Pranayam if you want to progress in Kundalini Yoga.
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I think the answer is that all of us have Pharisaic tendencies and there is a real danger of becoming like them. By exposing the Pharisees, the Gospel writers give us a chance to avoid their error.
The problem with Pharisees is that the motive for their behavior is inconsistent with what God desires. We are to be motivated by love (John 13:35). Pharisees are motivated by personal gain: gain in respect, notoriety or social standing. They operate by dressing up their sin nature is theological garb.
Love will get dirty and meet people where they are. Pharisaism will demand that a person clean himself up before the Pharisee will have anything to do with him. The Pharisee will not risk his reputation by associating with the wrong sort of people.
One of the big problems of Pharisaism is that it is so easy to spot in others and so difficult to spot in ourselves.That small speck of Pharisaic tendency in my neighbor is so obvious, but the beam of my own pride is often difficult to see.
After all, it seems to me that pride is the root of all Pharisaism. We Pharisees are too proud to get dirty, too proud to reach out and too proud to admit that we don’t have it all figured out.
Our danger is magnified if we find a group in which it is OK to be a Pharisee. For example, can get together with those who are proud of their understanding of prophecy and look down on those who don’t “get it.”. Another group can be proud of their understanding of God’s sovereignty and look down on those who don’t operate with such confidence. A group can be proud of its traditional or contemporary worship style and look down on those who do not worship in that style. The list of things over which we can be proud is endless.
To test to see if you have Pharisaic tendencies read Luke 18:10-14, the story of the tax gatherer and the Pharisee. In this story Jesus tells us that the Pharisee thanked God he was not like the tax gatherer. The Pharisee was proud of his own righteousness and looked down on the tax gatherer. If your inner response is, “thank God that I’m not like that Pharisee,” you test positive for Pharisaism.
That is the bad news, the good news is that there is a cure. The cure for Pharisaism is the Cross. Jesus tells us that we are to take up the cross daily (Luke 923). Our sin nature does not need to be dressed up, it needs to be killed. We have to reckon that Pharisee within us as dead and live as though he is dead.
Here are some practical questions to consider:
- Do you come away from the sermon on Sunday with parts of you broken by conviction or do you critique the pastor for his delivery or theology?
- Do you read Scripture to be theologically correct or to be changed by God?
- Do you allow anyone to challenge you on your pride?
- Are there any groups of people on which you look down?
You and I owe it to ourselves to be brutally honest in answering these questions. We cannot be what God wants us to be if we allow our inner Pharisee to determine our course.
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I just stumbled on to this web site. Here is some interesting information on binning from Thom Hogan's web site: http://bythom.com/
It is towards the tail end of his July 13th post.
Here is what he had to say about binning and Nikon:
From Thom Hogan
Now for the part that, I'm guessing, could be Nikon's surprise in August: binning. Binning isn't new. The D1 was a 10.4mp sensor that was permanently binned (four underlying photosites to one pixel). Nikon has played with binning since then, too, with the oddly binned D1x (two side-by-side photosites to one pixel). The answer to the "why 24mp question" suddenly becomes simple if you add binning to the mix: you potentially get a D400h and D400x all in one package. I do know that Nikon and Sony have been working on binning recently. That would make some sense for both stills and video and could lead to a jack-of-all-trades DX body that excels at everything: low noise, high resolution, video without artifacting, etc. And it would explain pursuing 24mp in DX and 36mp in FX.
But I'm only guessing at the binning thing. Without binning, and especially without BSI, we just have more pixels which means more data and power lines cluttering the sensor, meaning less light efficiency. Thus, even with the normal expected gains of a new generation of sensors, 24mp wouldn't really get us much further than the 16mp DX capabilities we already have, if any. Plus 24mp by itself really is pushing the full recording of diffraction into most image data.
End Thom Hogan..
Well, if this comes to pass it means that my next camera will be a Nikon and not a Canon. Now if Nikon would offer flat-fielding I would have a great landscape AND astronomical camera!!
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HOUSTON (AP) Glenn McDuffie has claimed for years that he was the sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square in Life magazine's iconic photograph of the day World War II ended.
If anyone just looked hard enough, he said, they would see that it was him in the shot.
Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson took up the challenge. And after what she called a detailed investigation, Gibson said she has concluded that McDuffie, 80, is the man in Alfred Eisenstaedt's Aug. 14, 1945 image.
The 2005 Guinness Book of World Records said Gibson has helped police identify more suspects than any other forensic artist. For this investigation, she had McDuffie pose for new photographs in his sailor uniform, recreating the famous pose with a pillow instead of a nurse. She measured his ears, facial bones, hairline, wrist, knuckles and hand and compared those to enlargements of Eisenstaedt's picture.
"I could tell just in general that yes, it's him," said Gibson, a 25-year department veteran. "But I wanted to be able to tell other people so I replicated the pose."
But Life magazine isn't convinced the Houston man is the sailor in the photograph, which is the magazine's most reproduced image.
Because Eisenstaedt, who died in 1995, didn't identify the subjects of the photo, Life Books editorial director Robert Sullivan said the identities will officially remain a mystery.
"The recent (claims) are 'CSI' type of inquiries. We think that's great but we just can't know for sure on our end. We can't be in a position of anointing one or the other without hard proof," he said.
Other men have purported to be the sailor in the picture, including a retired New York police detective and a Rhode Island fisherman. Several women have claimed to be the nurse.
Gibson also compared some of the other men to Eisenstaedt's photo.
"All other people who have come forward I have eliminated based on their facial bones," she said. "To me that's definitive. Everything is consistent. I'm as positive as you can be."
McDuffie, now battling lung cancer, has had three wives and three children. He's played semi-professional baseball and worked in construction and for the U.S. Postal Service. Before he dies, the North Carolina native wants the world to know he was the sailor in the famous photograph.
He said he's relieved that Gibson's analysis supports what remains a vivid memory.
He said he was changing trains in New York when he was told that Japan had surrendered and World War II was over.
"I was so happy. I ran out in the street," said McDuffie, then 18 and on his way to visit his girlfriend in Brooklyn.
"And then I saw that nurse," he said. "She saw me hollering and with a big smile on my face ... I just went right to her and kissed her."
McDuffie said the kiss was prompted by the realization that his older brother, W.D., would soon be coming home from a Japanese prison camp.
"We never spoke a word," he said. "Afterward, I just went on the subway across the street and went to Brooklyn."
Gibson said she thinks McDuffie's claim is bolstered by his explanation for why the sailor's left hand and wrist are twisted around the nurse's face. He said he realized someone was taking the picture, so he moved his wrist and hand so the nurse's face could be seen.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.
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Proposers versus Producers
AUGUST 28, 2009 by SHELDON RICHMAN
Why do people who really make us better off get nowhere near the attention when they die that prominent national politicians get? “Prominent national politicians” isn’t quite what I mean. “Prominent politicians who favored government power over liberty” is more on target.
The media spotlight on the late Sen. Edward Kennedy is the latest example. Admittedly, it’s an extreme case because of his family history. Nevertheless, when was the last time a cable news channel celebrated the life of a recently deceased entrepreneur or founder of a great company? It doesn’t happen, and that should offend our sense of justice. Producers make things they think we will value and offer them for a price they think we’ll be willing to pay. All they can do is proffer, persuade, and cajole. Free exchange is win-win. But we, individually, can say no. We can buy from a competitor or not buy at all. And guess what? Nothing happens to us. We don’t get threatening letters. We don’t find our wages garnished or our bank accounts frozen. We don’t get sent to prison. We’re left alone. This is only contradicted when companies are close to government. You don’t get to say no to helping to bail out Chrysler, GM, or too-big-to-fail financial companies.
Now contrast what happens in a market with what happens in the political sector. Politicians talk all the time about making us better off, but they are thwarted by an iron fact they prefer to ignore: Government provides no net benefits. What it gives away it has first taken from others under threat of punishment. It has to break windows in order to bestow benefits. Politicians simply move scarce resources around, defying consumers, who in a free market would direct them to uses that they believe would better serve their purposes. Government is the antonym for choice.
This means the politicians truly can do good only by doing what they abhor: giving up power. That happens only on rare occasions. To his credit, in the late 1970s Kennedy helped divest the government of the power to regulate the commercial airline and trucking industries. Except for those who lost State privileges, everyone has benefited from competition and lower prices. (Deregulation didn’t go nearly far enough, but it was a start.) That’s right: The “Reagan years” preceded Reagan. Ironically, today “deregulation” is a dirty word to most people who adore Kennedy.
Unfortunately, Kennedy never let himself see that the healthcare industry needs the same approach he applied to air travel and trucking.
So why do mere distributors of wealth — politicians — get so much more flattering attention in death (and life too) than producers of wealth?
I see several reasons, only a few of which I’ll mention. One is that for many people the market deals in material goods, while government is thought to be concerned with (social) justice. But this isn’t true. The market is built on justice: self-ownership, self-determination, social cooperation, and mutuality — all of which are undermined by the corporatist welfare state we labor under.
Ignorance of Economics
Another reason is that most people do not understand the marketplace. Bryan Caplan analyzes this ignorance in The Myth of the Rational Voter. The common view is that trade is zero-sum (a loser for every winner) and that profit is added to the price of goods rather than squeezed out of the costs. Such an attitude leads, at best, to a lack of appreciation for the efforts of entrepreneurs, who take risks to bring us new things in new ways. Besides this, many people take today’s vast array of accessible goods and services for granted, as though it’s a fact of nature rather than the product of ingenuity, foresight, and risk-taking. Another factor is that improvements in living standards tend to be incremental and undramatic. Even a big innovation, such as the personal computer or mobile phone, soon seems commonplace. (See Donald Boudreaux’s take on this.)
For most people an understanding of how markets work is not intuitive. It requires the grasp of such elusive ideas as unplanned order, entrepreneurial profit, and prices as capsules of (imperfect) information. These concepts can’t be conveyed in a television sound bite or editorial cartoon. In contrast, government “solutions” are simple. Total health insurance is too expensive? Pass a bill decreeing it to be universal and affordable. Next problem.
A politician who makes a career of proposing such “solutions” is likely to win admiration not only from the public but also from the news media, whose reporters and commentators know as little economics as their readers and viewers. The dynamic leader who gives impassioned speeches and sponsors legislation on behalf of social justice appears heroic in part because few people can find the logical flaws in the program. Observers see only his presumed motives. But motives divorced from understanding are worthless — even dangerous. In a more sensible world, proposing ends while being oblivious to means would be a sign of irresponsibility, the intellectual equivalent of drunk driving. Maturity lies in understanding that, as Steven Horwitz reminds us, ought implies can. That’s where economic logic enters the picture.
During the endless hours of television coverage of Kennedy’s death, someone mentioned that when he was stricken with brain cancer, he received the quality of medical care that “he wanted for everyone.” But such things don’t come from wishing, proposing, or decreeing.
There’s a moral side here also. Business is for profit. Government is not. At least that’s how it looks on the surface. Apart from ignorance of the economics of profit (see Horwitz on this), there is a moral prejudice against profit — that is, against the pursuit of self-interest. People who do things for profit do not get the respect of those who seem to act from other motives. This is a big subject that can only be touched on here. Suffice it to say that 1) if life is a value, then the pursuit of self-interest is praiseworthy; 2) as Adam Smith taught, given the right institutions general good grows out of its pursuit; and 3) politicians are as self-serving as anyone else. What makes them different is that because they have power their incentives are out of alignment with the public’s well-being.
Nevertheless, for most people government, despite its occasional scandal and atrocity, is generally trusted (despite what they say), while business, despite its routine creation of benefits, is generally distrusted. (I acknowledge that the unholy alliance of business and state — corporatism — justifies a good deal of mistrust, but it doesn’t account for all of it.)
Let us hope for the day when the passing of a politician gets little more than an inch or two in the obituary section of the newspapers.
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MI student excited to take part in Students on Ice
From left, Glenn Blackwood, executive director, Marine Institute; Mary Pippy, instructor and chair of Marine Environmental Technology program, School of Fisheries, Marine Institute; and Jonathan Chatman, MI student and Students on Ice participant.
By Darcy MacRae
For the second year in a row, a student from the Fisheries and Marine Institute (MI) of Memorial University of Newfoundland will take part in Students on Ice.
Jonathan Chatman, who is enrolled in MI's three-year Marine Environmental diploma of technology program, will leave St. John's on Saturday, July 23 to begin his journey with Students on Ice. He said there are a number of reasons to be excited about this opportunity.
"I am most looking forward to seeing the landscape of the Arctic with my own eyes. This will be a view that not many can say that they have had the opportunity to see in their lifetime," Mr. Chatman said. "I imagine it to be like a completely different world and to see it myself will be an amazing opportunity."
Students on Ice is a program that provides youth from across Canada and the world with ship-based educational adventures to the Arctic and Antarctica with a mandate to educate and inspire a new generation of polar scientists, researchers and environmental leaders. Since 2000, close to 2,000 high school, college and university students from more than 30 countries have visited the Polar Regions with Students on Ice.
During Mr. Chatman's ship-based journey north, he will have the opportunity to explore parts of Iceland, southern Greenland, the north shore of Labrador and the northern reaches of Nunavik while working alongside 35 world-renowned scientists, historians, artists, explorers, educators, leaders, innovators and polar experts. He will be given the chance to develop the knowledge, skills, perspectives and practices to become better educated about the Arctic and the challenges facing this region today.
"It is a great opportunity for Mr. Chatman to utilize the education he has already received at MI, while also learning more about an area in which he has never visited or worked before," said Glenn Blackwood, executive director, Marine Institute. "Students on Ice will provide Mr. Chatman with real-world experience in his field and we are pleased he has been accepted into this program. A sincere congratulation goes to Mr. Chatman from all of us at the Marine Institute."
In 2010, MI's Meagan LeMessurier was chosen to take part in Students on Ice. She returned to MI in the fall with high praise for the program, a factor that influenced Mr. Chatman's decision to take part.
"It seemed like an amazing opportunity and I have always been intrigued by the Polar Regions. After seeing Meagan LeMessurier's presentation of her experience with last year's expedition, I was set on taking advantage of the opportunity," Mr. Chatman said.
Mr. Chatman's 17-day Arctic journey begins in Reykjavik, Iceland with three days of land-based education activities. On July 27 he will board a specially designed ice-class expedition vessel and set sail for Arctic waters.
During the expedition, he will take part in shore landings, interpretive hikes, community visits and meetings with local elders, Zodiac cruises and numerous ship-based explorations. Workshops, seminars, group discussions and research activities are also on the agenda.
"We may encounter wildlife such as whales, seals, polar bears, caribou and various seabirds. We will visit remote Arctic communities and archaeological sites while acquiring first-hand knowledge and insight into the dynamics of climate change," said Mr. Chatman. "The Students on Ice program is an amazing opportunity, especially for someone in the environmental field. This expedition will help me to better understand the lessons I have been, and will be, taught from the instructors at MI. It will allow me to see firsthand what has been spoken about so many times during my program."
Mr. Chatman added he feels the education he has received at the Marine Institute has prepared him well for Students on Ice.
"At the Marine Institute I have had training in safety such as first aid; this alone is something to help prepare me if there is ever an incident on the expedition. I have also had many months of sea time, so I am not one to be shy on a vessel," said Mr. Chatman. "Along with that I have had classes, assignments and reports about the Polar Regions, effects on their environment due to global warming, and the wildlife that reside there. These lessons will aid me on my expedition as they will help me better understand what it is I will see during my time there."
In order to be selected for Students on Ice, students had to demonstrate a strong academic standing, a passion for learning, an interest in the environment and leadership qualities. Close to 80 students from across the world will take part in this year's journey to the Arctic.
"After having lived and worked in the North for more than five years, I am confident the experiences provided by Students on Ice will help Mr. Chatman gain a new perspective of this region and the planet," said Carey Bonnell, head of MI's School of Fisheries, who spent five years with the Government of Nunavut. "The people of the North are very friendly and welcoming, so I expect Mr. Chatman will be treated to as much hospitality as he will education during his journey."
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Gold rush: Price surge prompts Oklahomans to start new businesses
Gold prices rose steadily from 2008 to 2011, prompting an increase in the number of gold dealers in Oklahoma.
In search of a new career, precious metals dealer Sandra Ward opened Gold and Silver Exchange in a strip mall near NW 17 and Portland Avenue in November after seeing how well a friend was doing in the cash-for-gold business.
To me, this is kind of like the modern version of gold mining, only you don't have to dig in the ground.”
Gold and Silver Exchange
“I saw they were making pretty good money and thought I would give it try,” she said.
Ward's business is situated in a sparse storefront about the size of a walk-in closet. It is one of more than 160 licensed precious metals dealers in Oklahoma. A neon sign in the window proclaims “I buy gold.”
Ward isn't the only new cash-for-gold business setting up shop.
The number of precious metals dealers in the state has grown over the past several years because of the rising price of gold since the last recession.
The Oklahoma Department of Consumer Credit, which regulates precious metals dealers in Oklahoma, has also seen a corresponding increase in the volume of complaints it receives about such businesses. The agency has drafted new legislation to increase its regulatory oversight of the dealers.
Ward has noticed several other cash-for-gold businesses opening in her neighborhood.
“It seems like to me like they're kind of popping up everywhere — there's probably three others within half a mile,” Ward said. “To me, this is kind of like the modern version of gold mining, only you don't have to dig in the ground.”
Price surge reflects demand
After stagnating since the early 1980s, gold prices have risen steadily since 2008, hitting a high of about $1,900 an ounce in late 2011. In recent weeks, gold prices have hovered around $1,650 an ounce to $1,750 an ounce.
Because the Federal Reserve has taken actions to keep interest rates artificially low since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, more people have looked to gold as place to invest with higher rates of return, said Justin Lewis, vice president for Oklahoma City-based commodities brokerage firm KIS Futures Inc.
A weaker U.S. dollar also means that investors can buy more U.S. gold with foreign currency, giving rise to higher international demand, he said.
“The reason why there are so many of those cash-for-gold places on every street corner is that the price of gold is basically three-and-a-half times what it was seven years ago,” Lewis said. “As gold gets higher, people will be more likely to sell that ring they've been holding onto.”
Nikki Uselton, who opened the Edmond gold and silver dealer Southwest Bullion & Coin with husband Mike Uselton about seven months ago, said business has been good for the couple because of higher prices.
“It's absolutely the higher price of gold,” Uselton said. “If you have a missing earring or a broken gold chain, it's going to cost so much more to fix it, so we get those broken pieces and make some money off of it.”
The increasing price of gold has led to rapid expansion for Oklahoma City-based precious metals dealer APMEX.
The business was started in 1999 as a storefront coin and precious metals dealer in Edmond, and has since grown to become the state's largest precious metals dealer. The business moved to the stately Federal Reserve Bank building downtown in 2010.
In 2012, the company formed a partnership with eBay to become the online auction site's exclusive gold bullion dealer. The company sells silver, gold and coins at its eBay store, earning a 3 to 5 percent commission on each sale.
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Metro is planning to hold public hearings on changes that it is proposing to make on its bus service.
The transit agency said Thursday that the hearings will be held next month.
The proposals call for rerouting four lines to serve new areas and discontinuing serving on low-ridership routes. Metro is also proposing altering 11 routes in northern Virginia in conjunction with the opening of the silver line next year.
Metro says it expects that the service changes would be implemented in March 2013.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Weinstein showcases Kelly and Mandela films at Cannes.
The "Terminator 2" actor is suspected of violating a restraining order.
Want to understand a partner? Get to know their brain.
Conn. zoo officials don't know how this baby came to be born.
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Iconic Hotel Indonesia Celebrates 50 Years
For me, Hotel Indonesia has always been linked with tales of my Indonesian family.
Many times I have heard the story of my mother, who as a young woman found out through a lucky coincidence that the new boss of a German bank was a guest at the hotel. With little knowledge in the world of banking, but the determination and desire to get a good job, she decided to take fate into her own hands and simply knocked on the banker’s door. Startled, but apparently also impressed by my mother’s boldness, he granted her a job interview.
I was also always amused about one of my cousins, who wouldn’t dare enter the hotel because he insisted it was haunted.
“There is one room where Sukarno used to stay,” he used to tell me in a low voice. “It is not rented out to guests anymore, because his ghost still roams around in there.”
And when I was still a kid visiting my relatives in Jakarta over the holidays, one of the highlights during my stay was always a visit to the swimming pool of Hotel Indonesia, seeking temporary refuge in the cool and refreshing water from the blazing sun.
Every Indonesian and foreigner ever having set foot in Jakarta, it seems, has a special memory of Hotel Indonesia, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and was once the only hotel in the city, much as Sarinah, a little further up the road, was the city’s first and sole shopping center.
Hotel Indonesia, which was officially opened on Aug. 5, 1962 by then-president Sukarno, is more than just a place to stay. It was built to mark the country’s entrance as a player on the world stage, and it has been a silent witness to the development of an independent Indonesia.
It has observed five decades of both prosperity and turmoil, and welcomed numerous visitors to its halls throughout the years, from presidents and artists to celebrities and starlets.
The image of the hotel, prominently located on Jalan Thamrin behind the marvelous fountain that features the city’s Welcome Statue, a pair of children happily waving, is in the minds of many, simultaneously the image of Jakarta.
Though it is now managed by Kempinski, the foreign hotel group has dedicated itself to keep Hotel Indonesia’s legacy alive.
More than 50 years ago in his speech, Sukarno equated the opening of the hotel with the opening of Indonesia as a country to the world and hoped it would become one of the vehicles for the rise of Indonesia’s economy and tourism industry.
“[We need to show] that Indonesia is not the nation of tempeh, but a nation that is truly independent that deserves to be respected,” he said.
Before the hotel was officially opened for business, Sukarno ordered a test run so the staff could brush up on its service. Allen Atwalt, an American citizen and employee of the Rockefeller Foundation, became Hotel Indonesia’s first guest.
Abel Sorensen, an American of Danish descent, was trusted with the hotel’s architecture, together with his wife Wendy, also an architect. Although the building has undergone several renovations and makeovers, the hotel has maintained its original shape: two rectangular blocks in the form of the letter “T” and an eye-catching window front, housing 406 rooms.
Back in its prime, Hotel Indonesia was the most happening place in the city. People from all walks of life wanted a piece of it: the richer ones would check in for a night or two to experience a stay in a “world class hotel,” while others were happy enough to try the famous bubur ayam (chicken porridge) for lunch.
Hotel Indonesia was also the starting point for several famous Indonesian musicians.
Legendary singer Bob Tutupoly was among the musicians who regularly performed at the hotel during the 1960s and still holds sweet memories of the time.
“It was an honor and an unforgettable experience for me as a singer and entertainer to be asked to perform for the guests at the Nirwana Supper Club,” the Ambonese singer said.
It was indeed Sukarno’s vision to present a slice of Indonesia’s diverse culture at the hotel, especially to its foreign guests. The hotel even had a dedicated art and culture department that organized music performances and art events on its premises.
It was a big stepping stone for a musician’s career if they were invited to perform at the hotel as it normally led to swift success. “For me, Hotel Indonesia was the place where I could go international,” said Bob, adding that for that reason alone, it would always have a “special place” in his heart.
Indonesian pop diva Titiek Puspa was another singer who regularly graced the stage at the Nirwana Supper Club. When she celebrated her 40th birthday at the hotel in 1977, it was one of the biggest parties the city had ever seen.
“At that time, it was not very common to have big birthday celebrations in a hotel,” the songstress recalled. “It is still a special memory, especially because Ali Sadikin [Jakarta’s former governor] was among the guests. From the 1960s until today, Hotel Indonesia is a place of pride, for myself, but maybe also for Indonesian society in general.”
Sukarno wanted the hotel, as well as boasting a unique entertainment program, to show Indonesia’s national character mainly through art. Paintings, murals and statues from renowned Indonesian artists have decorated the hotel’s halls from the very beginning.
“In my opinion, Hotel Indonesia is very important in the context of Indonesia’s art history,” said Suwarno, a curator and lecturer at Yogyakarta’s Art Institute ISI.
“This hotel was built under a strong influence of Sukarno, who involved Indonesian artists in the process. As we know, Sukarno showed a high appreciation toward the world of art. One might even say that he was an artist himself. All the artwork that can be found in the hotel are made by Indonesia’s most important artists.”
To remember and celebrate the hotel’s 50th anniversary, a series of events will be held this month. One highlight will be a theatrical show by Garin Nugroho called “The Legendary Journey.” The performance will take place on Wednesday and feature stars of the older generation, such as Bob Tutopoly and Titiek Puspa, along with up-and-coming artists like Aryo Wahab and Elfonda “Once” Mekel. The show will feature several stories revolving around the hotel’s history and how it once served as Indonesia’s door to the rest of the world.
Artists and musicians may have found other outlets to have career breakthroughs, and competition in the hotel industry has grown fierce over the years. Jakarta is home to many establishments, ranging from five-star to low-budget accommodation.
Yet, Hotel Indonesia still exudes a sense of glamour and grandeur, because one thing remains: it has withstood the test of time and has become a true icon of the country in the process.
> Continued on 26
> Continued from 25
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Israel's Ambassador Mark Sofer will shortly return to his homeland after a four-year-long, eventful stint in India [ Images ].
This is a crucial time in Indo-Israel ties, as the two countries are all set to celebrate 20 years of their diplomatic relations in 2012. The financial, cultural and political ties between India and Israel have become firmer in the last two decades.
During Sofer's tenure, Pakistani terrorists gunned down a Jewish rabbi from Israel and his family at Mumbai's [ Images ] Chabad House, during the terror strike on the metropolis on 26/11.
India and Israel, which have both been victims to the horrors of terrorism, have strengthened their security and military ties. In the wake of 26/11, the two nations have also joined hands to take on terror together.
How did the Jewish nation respond to the 26/11 crisis? What are Israel's plans to fight terror with India on its side? Are the two nations with the world's most powerful armies planning a joint military exercise? And, on another plane, what is the road map for the Free Trade Agreement between the two nations?
Mark Sofer answered these and other questions on Indo-Israel ties and the way forward for the two nations, in an exclusive chat with Rediff.com readers. Here's the transcript:
dilmeshsingh asked, India n Israel have same concerns in many fields, its nice to see them co-operate, in ur tenure the relationship flourished more, r u satisfied, with ur tenure here ? or do u think u missed somethings?
Mark Sofer answers, at 2011-06-13 12:32:28Hi Dilmesh we do indeed have a great many similar concerns but as we are two democratic countries with a myriad of problems we have together found ways to cooperate immensely in many fields especially in the field of agriculture. In such a great country as India there are always issues which are unfortunately not dealt with enough. But i am leaving with a true sense of a burgeoning bilateral relationship between India and Israel.
Manish asked, Hi Mr. Sofer. How Israel can help india as both countries are facing same problem like unreliable neighbours.Both countries are target of Islamic terrorist and both are democratic countries
Mark Sofer answers, Hi Manish we both do indeed face problems of extremism emanating from our regions, yet both of us are striving to achieve peace and accomodation with all our neighbours. Unforunately, the continuous terror which affects us both cannot be dealt with solely through political means. Yet i believe that only negotiated peace with all our neighbours both in South Asia and West Asia is a central mean of reducing the threat of extremism.
hiddu asked, Sir, What r ur vies about ISLAM ?
Mark Sofer answers, Hi Hiddu, jews and muslims have always been cousins in faith. I believe strongly that the conflict in the middle-East is not by any means a religious conflict and history has proven that throughout the centuriesJews and Muslims have lived together in great harmony. The problem is not that of Muslims or Islam. It is of those who abuse and misuse Islam to achieve extremist political aims through means of terror. We have strong ties with so many of the Muslim community here in India and have found them all to be the best interlocutors.
donkey asked, Sir,Is it easy for Indian tourists to visit Israel considering the difficulties they face with the US/UK Embassy?
Mark Sofer answers, Tourism is indeed a great harbinger of people-to-people relations and we have tens of thousands of Israeli tourists who visit India every year. The number of Indian tourists to Israel is growing rapidly too and we invite each and every citizen of this great state to visit. We have opened visa centers in various cities around India to facilitate easier receipt of visas.You will all find Israel a country which is not only beautiful and unique, but also has a population which is enamoured with India and Indians and their culture and mentality.
GK asked, Dear Sir, Can you tell me please. Is it sin or terrorism if muslim fight to get back their own land?
Mark Sofer answers, Dear GK The situation in the Middle-East is highly complex and i am of the firm belief that it can only be solved through negotiations. Terrorism [ Images ] can never and must never be condoned. We have found that when negotiations are held in good faith and without pre-conditions they have proved highly successful. We implore those who believe that teh solution to the conflict can be achieved through violence and terror to think again. Israel has and will always have zero tolerance for fundamentalist terror and will never leave a stone unturned in order to negotiate an equitable solution to our conflict.
Alok asked, Israel was ranked 7th in the world in "Happiness Index". What is the secret especially considering that you are surrounded by so much unhappiness?
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Alok Israelis are indeed a very happy people and to a large extent the unhappiness around us has been teh result of autocratic societies which have suffered at the hands of dictators. I have no doubt that now that the Arab Spring has started the peoples around us who are already feeling the fruits of freedom will join us high on the list of happy peoples.
Dib asked, Sir, What do you think will happpen in September if the Palestinians manage to gain "statehood" in UN without a peace treaty, and the govt includes Hamas [ Images ]?
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Dib I truly hope that the Palestinians will not revert to the United Nations in order to score political points. The only way for them to achieve full and unbridled statehood is through negotiations without pre-conditions. The automatic anti-Israel majority at the UN will not bring the Palestinian people even one step closer to the statehood that Israel fully agrees with.
shalabh asked, Hello Mark. As an Indian, I congratulate you for the efforts you have put in to strengthen the Indo Israeli relationship. We believe that Israel is a great country and our natural ally. Good luck for your future.
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Shalabh Thank you so much for your warm words. I do believe that our relationship is going from strenght to strength and i am especially happy at our agricultural cooperation. Israel is a country which has pioneered innovation in the field of agriculture and especially water management and drip irrigation. India is a country with 700 million people dependent on agriculture for their livelihood and at the end of the day countries carry out diplomatic relations in order to better the welfare of their peoples. we pledge to continue and expand our cooperation in this sphere.
anilgoyal asked, dear mr sofer, the president of IRAN has said they will vipe israel off the world map ... what do you have to say about that.... considering iran may have a nuclear weapon very soon...
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Anilgoyal the Iranian people have contributed so much to world civilization and culture. Throughout the centuries Jews in Persia and Iran have lived wonderfully side-by-side and indeed many Iranian Jews have reached the highest echelons of Israeli society. The Iranian people are a people of moderation and goodwill. It is therefore doubly tragic that the current regime headeed by President Ahmadijenad is propounding nothing but hate and extermination of the worlds only Jewish State and denying the Holocaust as well as striving to achieve nuclear weaponry. However, the opprobrium of the international community towards this man of hate is overwhelming and Israel is by no means alone.
ManishG asked, The Mumbai attackers killed the Jewish Rabbi & his wife. They specifically wanted to kill Jews & western Targets. Why does'nt Israel take revenge from ISI. Mossad is the only agency in the world which can do it. Pls teach some guts to Indian agencies also!!
Mark Sofer answers, Hi ManishG Israel does not believe in revenge at all, only in achieving justice. We have nothing but the greatest appreciation for the way the Indian security forces handled the horror of the terror at Nariman House on 26/11. When civilised nations such as India, Israel and other forward looking countries of which there are truly very many, work together the scourge of terror can be eliminated.
Unnikrishnan asked, Dear Sofer, have the political change in egypt affected israel? and what will be Israel's future attitude to maintain peaceful relations with Egypt [ Images ]?
Mark Sofer answers, Hi Unnikrishnan The political change in Egypt is solely an uprising of men and women in the street against injustice and had nothing to do with the Middle East conflict per se. However, Israel wishes nothing but the best for the Egyptian people as they face a new world of freedom. I do believe that democratic societies can and do hold open and public debate within themselves and do not preoccupy themselves solely with placing blame on the other side. This is a wonderful recipe for moving the peace process forward and Israel will do all in its power to maintain peaceful relations with Egypt. It is tragic to see the dictator Assad in Syria using such horrendous force against his own people just to stay in power. I do hope that his time too will come soon and that the people of Syria will be freer to join those in the Middle East whose only desire is peace and cooperation.
saunder asked, Hello sir...how can isarael help india with its water problems, given its great expertise in this field?
Mark Sofer answers, Hi Saunder, Israel and India are indeed cooperating to the full on issues of water both G2G and on the private secotr level. We place all our technologies at the disposal of India and infact we are jointly developing India-specific water management solutions. These efforts are taking place in Haryana, Maharashtra [ Images ], Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan [ Images ] and many other states of India.
nik asked, Which industries are doing good in Israel , How can we contact them for buying goods from Israel do you know of any website to help exports from Israel
Mark Sofer answers, Hi Nik, Israel has transformed itself from an agricultural society to one which is over 80% based on state of the art technology and this despite us being totally self-dependent for all our food needs. I suggest www.export.gov.il/eng/ as the best site for trade related questions.
varghese asked, THE PRESENT DAY PALESTINES ARE NOTHING BUT ARABS WITH ETERNAL HATRED TOWARDS JEWS AND CHRISTIANS..
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Varghese, I do strongly disagree with your sentiment. Nothing could be further from the truth, to my mind. The vast majority of the Arab world, i believe is committed to peace in the Middle East and it is only a small and extremist percentage that is imbued with hatred. This includes the Hamas in Gaza, whose very charter calls for the murder of Jews (not Israelis) and who believe that Israel must be eradicated. Others include the Hezbollah in Lebanon and all these extremists groups, in a way our "Lashkar-e-Taiba", recieve material and political support from Iran.
Jebel23 asked, Where do you see Indo israel ties after 10 years? Do you think Indo - Israel can have military pact?
Mark Sofer answers, Hi Jebel23, Israeli-Indian ties have accelerated unbelievably in all spheres since relations were established in 1992. I do believe that we could enhance cooperation in such fields as alternative energy, and food processing. As a matter of policy, Israel never discusses in the public domain its defence cooperation, but i will say that if we have been of any assistance to this great country in meeting its security challenges, we are proud at having done so.
Hari Ram asked, Shalom Sir, this is very unfortunate that very little known about Israel in India. How we can get latest updates on Israel and its growing ties with India?
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Hari Ram, We are making every effort to get Israel to be better known in India but as you are more aware than I, this is not exactly one of the smaller countries in the world! Do follow us on twitter "IsraelinIndia" and join our Facebook page "Israel in India". One thing I can assure you that no people are friendlier in the entire world towards India than the Israelis. There is only one thing for it, you just MUST come and visit. You will love every moment.
kadir asked, Is there any free trade agreement between the two countries considering the futures of India and Israel with a long term view?
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Kadir, Israel and India are negotiating these very days a Free Trade Agreement and we hope it will finalise in the next few months. Our current bilateral civilian trade is 5 billion dollars and we estimate that this may well triple within 3 to 4 years after signing the FTA.
riteshh asked, Hi, I saw first time so much free space in press is given to a foreign envoy. Is there such freedom to press in Israel?
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Riteshh, The reason why so much free space in the press in India is given to foreign envoys is because of the freedom of the press in India. Israel too has a completely free press and indeed your wonderful Ambassador in Israel, Navtej Sarna, is a frequent interviewee in the Israeli media. In general, there is so much goodwill between our two peoples that we have both found that all outlets in both our countries are open to us both.
ramaswamy asked, Sir, Why does not Israel agree to the plan brought up by Obama [ Images ] and buy peace and prosperity? For secruity territory conqured can be exchanged. But why Israel is reluctant to do so?
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Ramaswamy, Israel is by no means reluctant to make the necessary compromises for peace. Indeed the entire peace moves which began in Earnest in 1992 were initiated with Arafat by Israel. The only way to bring about peace and prosperity is through bilateral negotiations, directly between Israel and the Palestinians. The premise of your first question is inexact. Israel and the US have nothing but the closest of ties and all issues regarding the proposals for Middle East peace are closely discussed between us.
Abhatt2 asked, Hi! I want to know the status of women in Israeli society? We do not see many women politicians there.
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Abhatt2, Israel has the strongest possible laws governing teh equality of women in society. Discrimination is totally outlawed and in civic society as well as government offices there is a strong policy of affirmative action. For example, there are women Generals in the Army, the Chief Justice of Israel and the head of the Opposition are both women, and we have a number of women ministers. However, Israel is not different from other democratic societies needs to do more to get more women into the highest echelons of power.
VimalPahuja asked, Hello Sir, Are you see India Israel as a natural allies, even better than US ?
Mark Sofer answers, Dear Vimal, India and Israel have so much in common that indeed we are seen by many as being natural partners. We both place at the highest value the family and education, we both have embraced democracy as a way of life since our inception in 1947 and 1948 and we both view development of the welfare of our societies as paramount. Moreover, anti-semitism has never ever existed in India as opposed to almost every where else in the world. Our relationship is relatively new but the dynamics of it are almost unprecedented. This is a work of art in the making.
Mark Sofer says, Dear Friends, I wish I could have carried on discussing these and many other issues with you for the next few hours. The interest is overwhelming if we only take the enormous amount of questions as a yardstick. I wish I could have answered so many more and I apologise to those who did not receive a response. My four year term of duty come to an end and I am truly saddened. This period has seen such extensive work in the field of culture including exchange of artists, musicians, theatre groups, literature and so much more. Our civilian trade has reached levels we could never have dreamt of and it is completely balanced. Our agriculture experts are working closely with their Indian counterparts on a daily basis and our joint scientific cooperation is booming as never before. I do, therefore, leave India with just a small smile of satisfaction on my face, yet with this wonderful country there is always so much more that can and must be done. Let us all pray and work avidly for peace and harmony in both our regions because as people of goodwill both Indians and Israelis will find equitable solutions for their problems for the good of their children and in order that future generations as well as in neighbouring countries will benefit from what we both have to offer.
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Water Supply Scheme at Darra Pezu
Lucky Cement established water supply scheme and distribution lines to provide clean drinking water to the residents of Darra Pezu. The 9 Km water supply line provides clean drinking water facility to the residents of the rural localities situated in the outskirts of Darra Pezu town. The distribution line starts from Lucky Cement's Pezu Plant and provides water to outskirts of Pezu by connecting with two wells made by LCL. From these wells, water is then passed to the old distribution lines and hence spreads all over Darra Pezu. This water supply line provides drinking water to almost 70% of the population of Pezu, which is equal to 5,000 households. Outside Pezu, almost 2,000 households get water from these lines.
Ultrasound facility at Mother and Child Health Care Centre
Lucky Cement, in partnership with Concern for Children Trust (CFC), is setting up an Ultrasound facility at Mother and Children Health Care Centre (MCH) in Machar Colony, a slum area in Karachi. The Machar Colony has a population of approximately 750,000 people deprived of basic necessities of life including quality health care for women. By establishing this facility, Lucky Cement and CFC aim's at creating awareness about prenatal and post natal care of mother and child, safe child birth and prevention and cure of any disabilities in children at an early stage.
Model Village in DI Khan
After providing relief to the affectees of the massive destructions caused by floods and heavy rains last year, Lucky Cement focused all the efforts towards rehabilitation of the IDPs. Lucky Cement generously donated 600 cement bags for the construction of a model village in Dera Ismail Khan.
Scholarship Program for the students of Pezu
Lucky Cement's management in Pezu has initiated a merit cum need based scholarship scheme for the local students of Graduate and Post Graduate levels, registered with HEC recognized institutions to enable them to acquire higher education.
World-Class Primary School in Darra Pezu
LCL is all set to construct a world-class primary school, near its factory in Pezu, District Lakki Marwat, in partnership with a renowned NGO, chartered by the Government of Pakistan and endorsed by the World Bank. This school will be affiliated with Pakistan's well known school system and will provide access to quality education to the residents of the area. In first phase, the company will establish a primary school, which will later be expanded to secondary education as well. This school will be strategically constructed in an area where there are no such facilities currently available.
Lucky City School – Pezu
LCL also runs a well-maintained primary school, up to class five, for the children of the factory workers in Pezu. The school is registered with Benu Education Board and provides quality and free of cost education to the children of employees.
DI Khan Airport Renovation
The company also took responsibility of the renovation of DI Khan Airport as a welfare gesture for the locals of the area and to boost overall commerce and economy. Upgrading of the airport exterior and interior has been completed, along with provision of furniture for both arrivals and departure lounges.
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Friends in high places: When personality trumps qualifications
Apparently 'Interests Include:' is back. Remember that section at the bottom of your resume that said, ‘Interests’ or ‘Other Activities.’ You haven’t taken that part off, have you? It turns out that section is what might in fact get you the job.
A new study indicates employers take a closer look at candidates with similar interests to their own (surprise, surprise). Professionals engaged in hiring, pay closer attention to people they’d like to hanging out with, or even worse, with who they may want a relationship. So much for being the most qualified candidate.
The study conducted by Northwestern University sociologist Lauren Rivera, is “based on 120 interviews with professionals involved in undergraduate and graduate hiring.” The evidence collected from the interviews suggest that professionals interviewing and selecting candidates “often value their personal feelings of comfort, validation, and excitement over identifying candidates with superior cognitive or technical skills.”
Although Rivera reports that this is the first empirical study that investigates “whether shared culture between employers and job candidates matters in hiring,” the study confirms a common belief that employers can be biased in hiring practices. This shouldn’t come as disconcerting news though. When job searching there’s always a lot of discussion about finding the right fit. If a job you’re interviewing for expects long hours, after work drinks with colleagues, or rounds of golf with clients and you don’t drink or play golf, then the environment is probably not going to work for you either. Employers choosing candidates whom they perceive as being the right fit is necessary for maintaining company cohesion.
However, the study should act as a bit of a wake up call to employers who lean too far into the ‘hiring friends’ arena. Making a bad hire because a candidate wooed their way into a job based on common interests could cause tension down the road. A candidate should be qualified for the position or at least be able to quickly acquire the necessary skills to do the job. A new best friend is great, but a qualified person who is easy to work with, is better.
So how should the study’s findings impact job seekers? Even though employers may look for people that fit the company culture, I wouldn’t move your ‘Interests’ section to the top of your resume just yet. The findings confirm that fit matters for some fields it matter more than others. Rivera notes that the findings don’t “mean employers are hiring unqualified people...for example, [when] hiring a neurosurgeon, there would be more emphasis on performance than culture fit.” [I for one was very relieved to hear that.]
However, there can be distinct advantages to listing some of your other interests and activities on your resume. This can show that you are a well-rounded person, and may create an extra connection with a potential employer in the case where those interests are shared.
And remember, fit also matters for candidates. When looking for a job you don’t want to be stuck hanging out with a boss you don’t respect or can't get along with. It's important for you to also be able to assess the interests of your potential employer too.
Have you ever lost a position to someone you know was less qualified, but friends with the boss?
Category: Job search strategies
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WEST LAFAYETTE — A group of Purdue University engineering students is crafting a special prosthetic leg for a Rhode Island boy born without a fully developed left leg.
Five-year-old Lucas Resch and his parents visited Purdue last week to try out a model for the new prosthesis, which will be lighter and more streamlined than the one he now uses. The youngster took his first steps in the model Friday at Midwest Prosthetics in Lafayette.
Purdue student Theodore Kramer tells WTHR-TV the prosthesis contains a gear box that will give Lucas' good left ankle new powers by essentially turning it into the knee for his prosthetic leg.
The boy and his parents will return to Purdue in a few weeks for the completed prosthesis.
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The proposed right-to-farm constitutional amendment has been revived in the Missouri legislature after it stalled in the Missouri Senate earlier this week.
Kansas City Senator Jolie Justus had helped block the bill saying it needed to not only give farmers the right to farm but give local governments the authority to act on health, safety and environmental issues related to farming and ranching. Now, she’s working to get that back into the proposal.
“Constitutionally we’ve set up political subdivisions under Article Six, so why don’t we refer to those in this thing and then have a streamlined sentence that basically says, ‘anything that the local political subdivisions already have they will continue to have,” says Senator Justus.
The bill has been sent back to a conference committee to add the local-control language.
Senate sponsor of the right to farm measure, Mike Parson, says that change can get the bill to next year’s ballot. If it passes in the remaining week of the legislative session, the amendment will go before Missouri voters in 2014.
~Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy contributed to this report~
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GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The city of Green Bay is lifting a boil water advisory for residents on the East side after a major water main break on Saturday morning.
At least a million gallons of water shot up into the air along E Mason Street near the Main Street intersection.
The 36 inch pipe that burst is one of the two major water mains that bring in water from Lake Michigan.
A boil advisory of issued because of concerns about water quality. Safe water samples came back this Monday afternoon.
Green Bay Water Utility general manager Bill Nabak says the drop in water pressure led to concerns about contamination.
Nabak says the last time the city issued a boil-water advisory was around 40-years ago. But that was because of an error in sampling and Nabak says you just don't take chances with something like this.
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Having completed his work on the Richard Lester film How I Won The War, John Lennon returned to London on this day.
He had begun filming in West Germany, before flying to southern Spain to complete his scenes. Lennon played the role of Private Gripweed in the film, which was released in 1967.
He had been in Spain for seven weeks, initially staying at a small seafront apartment but later moving to a villa, Santa Isabel, near Almería. Lennon stayed at Santa Isabel with his wife Cynthia, and The Beatles' assistant Neil Aspinall. Also staying in the house was actor Michael Crawford, the star of How I Won The War, and his family.
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The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution includes the provision that anyone accused of a crime in the United States has the "right to a speedy and public trial."
And while each state has its own laws that apply to this provision, it seems that across the nation, the wheels of justice often turn very slowly.
On Tuesday, James Holmes, accused of killing 12 and injuring 70 in a shooting in an Aurora, Colo, movie theater last July, finally had a plea entered in his case. And that was only because the judge did it for him. His defense had asked for more time for mental evaluations to be done, and would not enter a plea until May or June. The trial is set to begin in August.
In New London this week, five men are being sentenced for their role in the October 2010 murder of Matthew Chew; six in all are going to jail for their roles in the crime. All of these defendents reached plea agreements with the prosecution.
What's your take? Has the justice system gotten bogged down? Are the basic requirements of the Sixth Amendment still being met in our courts? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
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Make fire with your bare hands.
You may think you don’t need this skill in the modern world — a match or an electric switch is quicker. But then you always have to rely on someone else to provide you an essential of life.
Learn from an expert how to make fire and know you can produce life-giving heat under any conditions: rain, snow or high winds. Once you do, the exhilarating sense of achievement will never leave you. (more…)
Five Senses is a blend of ancient and modern skills to help you explore outdoors with confidence and awareness.
Learn how to:
Here is more about what you can do: (more…)
Orkney is full of amazing sights, many of which are regularly missed by visitors because they’re not in the guidebooks or are hard to find.
We’ve spent years exploring, finding our favourite locations and tailoring them to the kinds of experiences our guests most want to have.
Tell us a bit about what you want and we’ll come up with your magical holiday.
It is entirely possible for you to be truly eco-friendly and to explore Orkney without using a car or bus. We will guide you however best suits you.
Bushcraft is art as well as skill. It is a way of life, living as part of nature.
Survival is about knowing what to do, in what order, fast and effectively.
Learn both in a friendly way that’s in tune with nature, that does not compromise our future survival on this planet.
Five Senses teaches bushcraft survival focusing upon self-reliance and the minimal amount of kit; inspired by the Stone Age in Orkney. We emphasise using your hands, brain and senses to be safe and feel good outdoors. (more…)
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In May 2011 Rayo Vallecano was 22 million euros in debt. It had just entered bankruptcy and the players had gone unpaid for much of the season, but the barrio of Vallecas in the south east of Madrid was full of many happy faces. You see the club had just won promotion to La Primera and just as importantly, Teresa Rivero Sánchez-Romate, or Dame Teresa, was no longer President. Happy days indeed. It is not the first time Rayo had reached La Primera, they won promotion on five previous occasions and have now clocked-up a total of 15 seasons in La Primera. However, given all of the off-field distractions, this latest promotion must be the least expected and above all, the sweetest ascent.
The story of Rayo Vallecano goes back to 29 May 1924 when Agrupación Deportiva El Rayo was formed. Rayo is Spanish for lightening and the club kicked around the local leagues for the next 20-odd years, one of many small clubs in the Vallecas district that was quickly being absorbed by the capital. By 1947 they were the district's senior team and changed their name to Agrupación Deportiva Rayo Vallecano and two years later played the 1949-50 season, their first in the Tercera, as a subsidiary of Atlético Madrid. The club also adopted its distinctive red sash in 1949 after receiving shirts from Club River Plate of Argentina, who had used the club's Campo de El Rodival for training in the lead up to a friendly with Real Madrid. El Rodival remained the club's home ground until the mid fifties, then for a couple of seasons, the club led a nomadic existence until the renovation of Campo de Vallecas, the former home of Atlético Madrid, was complete in December 1957. The handicap of not having a permanent home did not hinder Rayo as the club won promotion to La Segunda at the end of the 1955-56 season.
The stay in La Segunda lasted five years, with a highest place finish in 1959-60 of fifth. Relegation followed in the following season, but four seasons later and with their second Tercera title secured, Rayo was back in La Segunda. This time Rayo had a look of permanence about them and the club was soon establishing themselves as one of the front-runners in the division. Fourth place was achieved in 1967-68 and the club was not out of the top ten in any of the first eight seasons back in La Segunda. In October 1972 the club moved away from Campo de Vallecas whilst a new stadium was developed on the site. For three and a half years they played their matches in the centre of Madrid at the Campo de Vallehermoso. Form dropped a little whilst at Vallehermoso and in 1975 Rayo had to overcome UP Langreo in a relegation play-off. Finally on 10 May 1976, the Estadio Nuevo Vallecas opened with Rayo winning 1-0 in a league match against Cádiz. Meanwhile, Campo de Vallehermoso, which was stood just a mile or so south west of the Bernabéu, saw out its days as an athletics stadium until it was demolished in the autumn of 2008.
Under the management of Víctor Núñez and buoyed by the momentum of a new stadium, Rayo remained unbeaten at home throughout the 1976-77 season, which is just as well considering their very ordinary away form. A points total of 45 was two clear of fourth placed Real Jaen and secured Rayo's promotion to La Primera. Their impressive home form continued during their first season at the top level, with reigning champions Barcelona and champions elect Real Madrid, losing at the Estadio Nueva Vallecas. The only defeat came at the hands of relegated Elche CF. Away form was still a problem however, with Athletic Bilbao and Valencia handing out drubbings. In the end, Rayo finished a very creditable tenth place. The 1978-79 season proved altogether more difficult for Rayo as clubs began to find a way of returning from Estadio Nuevo Vallecas with points. In the end, despite continuing poor away form, which included a 0-9 tonking at Barcelona, Rayo hung on to their top flight status by one point. The end to their first visit to La Primera came at the end of the 1979-80 season when a total of 26 points saw them finish in sixteenth position.
|The Nuevo Estadio Vallecas soon after opening|
Rayo came within a point of an immediate return to La Primera, losing out on a worse head to head record with third placed Racing Santander. There followed two seasons of diminishing returns matched by emptying coffers off the pitch, before a disastrous 1983-84 season saw the club finish in last place in La Segunda and drop to the third tier. Segunda 2b consisted of two divisions of 20 teams in 1984-85 and Rayo had little trouble topping Group II, the southern division, three points ahead of second place Albacete. It took a further four seasons of steady growth in La Segunda before Rayo won promotion back to La Primera. This was achieved at the end of the 1988-89 season and whilst home form was respectable, it was Rayo's impressive 10 wins on the road that sealed second place. Rayo struggled back in La Primera and finished bottom of the table. The confident away form of a season earlier had evaporated and they lost all but one of their matches away from home, the only respite coming in a 0-0 draw at fellow relegation fodder, Celta Vigo.
Out of La Primera and with massive debts, the club needed a saviour. Luckily one arrived in 1991 in the shape of José María Ruiz-Mateos. Under his presidency, the club wiped out the debt, changed the name to Rayo Vallecano de Madrid and won back a place in La Primera.Not bad for a first years work. In their first season back in the top level, 1992-93, Rayo finished fourteenth. The following season saw the club struggle to a seventeenth place finish and lose the subsequent relegation play-off to SD Compostela. In January of that season, Ruiz-Mateos handed over the presidency to his wife, Teresa Rivero. Rayo added to their reputation as a yo-yo team by finishing second in La Segunda in 1994-95, spend a two seasons in the top flight before losing again in the 1996-97 relegation play-offs to RCD Mallorca.
The reign of Dame Teresa was in full swing as Rayo won back their Primera place at the end of the 98-99 season despite finishing in fifth place. Rayo took the final play-off position due to the fact that Atletico Madrid B, who finished second, were not eligible for promotion. Rayo took full advantage of the opportunity beating Extremadura CF 4-0 on aggregate. What followed over the next few years was the most successful period in the clubs history. The ninth place attained at the end of the 1999-00 season was the club's highest ever final placing and thanks to their excellent disciplinary record, earned them a place in the UEFA cup. Their first campaign in Europe was memorable and featured aggregate wins over Constelació Esportiva of Andorra (16-0), Molde of Norway (2-1), Viborg of Denmark (2-2 - away goals), Lokomotiv Moscow (2-0) and Bourdeux (6-2). Their run ended in the quarter finals where Deportivo Alaves won the tie 4-2 on aggregate. Understandably, the long run in Europe had an impact on league form as Rayo finished the 2000-01 season in fourteenth place. Later in 2001, in an act that lacked a certain magnanimity, the stadium was renamed Estadio Teresa Rivero.
In 2001-02, Rayo achieved an eleventh place finish, but with many of the better players moving on, it was only a matter of time before relegation came a-calling. That arrived in June 2003 when Rayo finished bottom in La Primera with 32 points, 11 shy of safety. If that wasn't bad enough, what followed had the Rayistas crying in their cervezas. A second successive relegation in 2003-04 saw the club in Segunda 2b for the first time in twenty years and playing regionalised football little over three years after appearing in a UEFA quarter final. If the club thought the stay in the third tier would be short, they were in for a shock. Defeats in the end of season play-offs in 2005 & 2007 (they didn't even make the play-off in 2006) added to the fans agony. They finally won promotion back to La Segunda after winning the Tercera in 2007-08 and seeing off Benidorm and Zamora in the play-offs. Three years later they are back in La Primera thanks to a great second place finish, despite all of the turmoil off the pitch.
It would be easy to paint the Ruiz-Mateos family and in particular Teresa Rivero as the villains of the piece, but the truth is that their reign was full of light and shade. There were the highs of the European run and the visits to La Primera where many of the top dogs limped away from Vallecas, licking their wounds. But you cannot ignore the lows of the longest period in the third level since the mid 1960's and the huge debts the club incurred. This and a perceived reluctance to sell the club led to a huge amount of resentment towards Dame Teresa from the disenfranchised fans. Rayo are not out of the woods just yet, but with new owners and the added revenue from playing in La Primera, they are certainly in a better position to survive.
|The popular West Fondo with its Players & Officials entrances|
The stadium was renamed the Estadio de Vallecas in late 2011 and over the years, it has proved to be an intimidating arena, but why? When it opened back in 1976, it had a capacity of 20,000 with the lower portions of each stand featuring terracing rather than seats. The terraces lasted until 1996, when new seats were installed throughout the stadium reducing the capacity to 15,500. It was also the final stadium in Spain to feature security fences, but rather symbolically the new owners removed them in March 2011. As the first row of seats were too close to the pitch, a further 792 seats were removed, leaving the current capacity at 14,708. The two main stands are steeply raked and identical, except the the middle tier of the southern stand features a band of red seats and the directors box. The rest of the blocks of seats in both stands are white with a distinctive red sash, which is nice touch. The popular west terrace also has this seating configuration, but behind the goal are entrances for the players and officials, as the changing facilities sit under this terrace. I haven't mentioned the east end of the ground because there isn't one, or rather so tight are the local tenements to the ground, all that stands behind that goal is a wall full of advertising.
Yes, the configuration of Estadio de Vallecas is unique in top level Spanish football, but this is only part of the reason. As with any intimidating arena, design only plays a part. You need atmosphere and passion, and whilst there may only be 14,700 of them crammed into home matches, you can guarantee that the Rayistas will be breathing down the necks of the oppositon during every minute of every game.
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By Lars Dalseide
Tulsa, Oklahoma --(Ammoland.com)- The second week of the Curator’s Corner move from Thursday to Monday nights stayed in Oklahoma yesterday as battling Curators went completely gaga over an Oklahoma owned piece of American history.
The owner? Former U.S. Marshal and Pryor, Oklahoma Police Chief Austin Whitaker.
The gun? A Smith & Wesson .38 revolver.
The history? How about Pretty Boy Floyd?
“Whitaker was involved in a manhunt for Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd,” explained Davis Arms & Historical Museum curator Jason Schubert. “After they caught him, the FBI agent who was running the operation took this gun off of Floyd and gave it to Whitaker.”
What else makes this revolver so special? Well, nothing.
“It’s any revolver that you’ve ever seen,” said National Firearms Museum Director Jim Supica. “The Smith & Wesson 1905 worked, it was simple and it was effective. They became the basic police revolver through the 20th Century.”
Charles ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd’s Smith and Wesson .38 revolver from Davis Museum in Oklahoma
The Smith & Wesson Model 1905 is a double action .38 special revolver on a standard K-frame. With just over 600,000 ever made, this popular model was ultimately replaced with the semi-automatics at the close of the 20th Century.
Before they called it a wrap, Supica went on to praise the collection at Davis Arms.
“Davis does an outstanding job, they have a wonderful collection. I lived here for a couple of years and made it over there every chance I had.
“We want people to understand the role that firearms played in America and the story of Americans and their guns. We’re both working on getting that out to people.”
To see more spectacular firearms like the Smith & Wesson owned by Pretty Boy Floyd, tune in to the Sportsman Channel every Monday afternoon at 5pm eastern for Cam & Company on NRANews.
NRAblog is your connection to the programs of the NRA. It is a project of the NRA’s Media Relations Division. Visit: www.NRAblog.com
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Reprinted from the Financial Times. By Richard Waters in San Francisco. Published: May 21 2008.
When European regulators last week cleared the €2.9bn ($4.5bn, £2.3bn) purchase of TeleAtlas, a digital mapping company, by TomTom, the maker of navigation devices, they were giving a nudge along to one of the hottest business fads on the internet.
Approval for that deal makes it almost certain that a bigger transaction will also get the nod: Nokia’s proposed $8.1bn purchase of Navteq, the largest acquisition undertaken by the mobile handset maker.
Navteq’s database of maps covers more than 70 countries. Yet as a source for the next world-changing online idea, digital maps might appear a distinctly unpromising place to start. These basic graphical representations of the world seem a rather humdrum commodity, hardly a key to unlocking the riches of the internet.
That is not how it appears to Nokia. Anssi Vanjoki, a senior executive of the Finnish company, recently summed up the reason for its acquisition: “We can locate our experiences, our history, on the map. It’s a very concrete expression of a context.” Displayed on the bigger, higher-resolution screens that are becoming more common on mobile handsets, maps can become “a user interface to many things”.
This is turning into a prevailing view in the internet industry – partly because mapping does not stop at simple two-dimensional representations. Mike Liebhold, a veteran technologist who is now a fellow at Silicon Valley’s Institute for the Future, calls it a “3D data arms race”, with some of the biggest technology companies rushing to amass vast libraries of information describing the world in painstaking detail.
Erik Jorgensen, a senior executive in Microsoft’s online operations, says the software company is building a “digital representation of the globe to a high degree of accuracy” that will bring about “a change in how you think about the internet”. He adds: “We’re very much betting on a paradigm shift. We believe it will be a way that people can socialise, shop and share information.”
The bet, in short, is that the map is about to become the interface to many of the things people do on the internet – and that the company that controls this interface could one day own something as prevalent and powerful as Google’s simple search box. This proposition takes on added power when applied to the mobile world. Displayed on location-aware handsets, digital maps can be used to order information around the user. The information that matters most is information about things that are closest.
That explains why a car navigation company and a maker of mobile phones are leading the charge. A collision with established internet powers such as Google, which has itself identified the mobile internet as its next big money-making opportunity, is inevitable.
Reordering the internet around this new geographic interface is a project that has been under way for some time. It starts with what engineers at Google call the “base canvas” – a detailed digital representation of the physical world on to which other information can be “hung”. Thanks to the plunging costs of technologies such as digital imaging and geolocation equipment, the world is being mapped, measured, plotted and photographed in almost unimaginable detail.
At one end of the spectrum are people like Steve Coast, a British amateur who is hoping to create a communal map of the world as comprehensive as Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Volunteers who contribute to Mr Coast’s OpenStreetMap.org literally redraw the map. “You buy a GPS [global positioning system] unit and cycle around the roads,” he says. “It drops a data point every second, like Hansel and Gretel dropping breadcrumbs.” Collecting those data points and joining the dots is the first step in sketching a map of the road network.
At the other extreme are the likes of Google, which is approaching the task with its usual unbounded ambition. “Our goal is to make a kind of mirror world, a replica world,” declares John Hanke, head of its Google Earth unit. Many of these data are being gathered through painstaking methods and put into private databases. For instance, Navteq and TeleAtlas each use their own fleets of vehicles to collect a mass of street-level information useful to motorists but not shown on official maps – covering everything from speed limits and one-way streets to big construction projects.
These are not the only trucks and vans crawling the kerbsides of cities to suck up information. Google is there too. “Every five feet or so, we’re capturing a 360-degree image that is many megapixels,” says Mr Hanke. Those pictures add a detailed street-level view. Microsoft, not to be outdone, has taken to the air. It has gone as far as designing and building specialised cameras, flying them around to collect three-dimensional images using a technology called Lidar, a variant of radar.
This is about more than mapping and photographing the planet. It also involves modelling it, collecting enough geographic and spatial data points to be able to render a detailed digital version. With a service called Sketch-up, for instance, Google lets users draw their own digital models of real-world buildings and add them to its 3D “warehouse”.
These are expensive undertakings and are based on an untested proposition: that the resulting digital representations will form the new backdrop for a whole range of money-making online activities. Also, with several companies all racing to create what are essentially the same basic geo-spatial frameworks, the costs have been multiplied across a number of rivals.
Yet it is not hard to see how these companies justify the costs to themselves: gross profit margins on internet search are above 80 per cent and, for any company that can generate scale, these development costs are likely to pale by comparison. In addition, as the acquisitions of TeleAtlas and Navteq show, companies that have created parts of what could become the web’s next compelling interface already command high values.
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Yutibe.com, also known as Yutibe, looks to be located in Switzerland based on our research.
So far today, there have been 6,082 IP address and website location searches in addition to yours. The information on Yutibe.com is presented based on your search that included the suffix of Yutibe.
For more information on Yutibe.com, you can visit the Yutibe site or IP directly.
Yutibe.com IP Location
What is This?
All Internet communications are based on IP address, which are a unique fingerprint for every PC at the time of communication. IP address blocks can be mapped to general geographic locations, what you see on this site is a visual representation of this mapping.
How do I Search for an IPs Location?
To perform a search based on specific criteria; simply click the 'Search' button and enter the criteria to be searched. Once you have input the search criteria click the search button to perform the search.
Why does it say I'm several miles from where I really am?
Your IP address may be represented by your ISPs physical location (e.g. AOL, NetZero, etc.). We are constantly updating our location database but are by no means perfect, if you receive an incorrect location it may indicate that your IP range is new or has recently moved.
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LOWELL -- The city's Health Department ran out of its supply of free adult flu vaccinations Friday, two days after Boston's mayor declared a public-health emergency relating to the flu.
Health Director Frank Singleton said Friday the department used up all of its 765 doses of the flu vaccination.
He said this is the first time in the past couple years the department has run out of vaccinations because previous flu seasons were mild.
In the past couple years, the department has had hundreds of doses left in the middle of December and no one else is interested in getting the flu shot after that point, Singleton said.
The difference this year was Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's declaration Wednesday of a public-health
Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site.
Singleton said local pharmacies were administering about five shots a day before Menino's announcement. That number rose to about 50 a day after.
The Boston Board of Public Health said Friday a 6-year-old who had the flu died.
There were about 50 reported cases of individuals with flu-like symptoms in Lowell last week, although not every case is reported, Singleton said.
The number statewide is about 2,000.
Singleton said public-school nurses have not seen excessive absenteeism due to the flu.
The state is not providing any more adult vaccinations this year, so the Health Department will not be receiving more, although private
"There's plenty of available vaccine so there's no reason why we necessary have to (purchase more)," said Singleton. "Right now we're referring people to where vaccines are available."
Vaccines are available at the Visiting Nurses Association of Greater Lowell, Inc. at 65 School St. and national chain pharmacies like Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid. General practitioners should also have flu vaccines available, Singleton said.
Locally, hospitals have not reported a high number of patients with flu-like symptoms, Singleton said.
In recent years, there has been a drastic reduction in the number of doses of the flu vaccine available at the Health Department.
In 2000, Singleton said it received about 3000 does. The state Department of Public Health provided just 160 doses to the city Health Department this year.
Singleton attributes the reduction to budget cuts.
Since 2009, pharmacies have been able to provide flu vaccinations, so there is a reduced need for municipal health departments to have a large number of vaccine doses available, Singleton said.
Singleton said the flu season will last for another six weeks.
Follow Sarah Favot on Twitter @sarahfavot.
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Quote of the Day
Sanctions always hurt the poor, the weak, the children.
When I wrote 'The Pregnant Widow' three or four years ago, I tried to reread my first novel, 'The Rachel Papers,' because their young heroes are the same age. I couldn't finish it. It seemed to me so technically slapdash and weak.
My mother begged doctors to end her life. She was beyond the physical ability to swallow enough of the weak morphine pills she had around her. When she knew she was dying I promised to make sure she could go at a time of her choosing, but it was impossible. I couldn't help.
Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is exploitation of the strong by the weak.
I visited Jobs for the last time in his Palo Alto, Calif., home. He had moved to a downstairs bedroom because he was too weak to go up and down stairs. He was curled up in some pain, but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant.
Indeed, in general, healthy investment returns cannot be sustained in a weak economy, and of course it is difficult to save for retirement or other goals without the income from a job.
Nobody knows through how many thousands of years fighting men have made a place for themselves while the weak and peaceable have gone to the wall.
Partly I resented being perceived as weak because I was a girl.
The intense campaigns against domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and inequity in the schools all too often depend on an image of women as weak and victimized.
Sadly, I have found that even evolution's most staunch believers are afraid to debate, because they know that their case for atheism and evolution is less than extremely weak.
Weight-bearing exercise builds bone density, builds your muscular strength so that you can hold your body up where those bones have a tendency to get weak.
The thing about politicians in Britain is that they are out there, you can lobby them, get close to them, there are loads of ways you can protest against them, and booing is a pretty weak way of doing it.
Weak minds sink under prosperity as well as adversity; but strong and deep ones have two high tides.
But in our age the appeal to authority is weak, and I am of my age.
Part of the reason why so many actors lose the plot when they go over to America is that they become part of an industry, so that's why they don't want to play weak, bad or vulnerable guys - because that's not sellable; that diminishes their profit margin.
That's the era we grew up in. It's weak to go to a psychiatrist.
I like writing about women, weak and strong, pathetic and heroic. I like writing about men, ditto. And all the variants of men and women, beasts and demons.
If you are strong and fighting the weak, then if you kill your opponent then you are a scoundrel... if you let him kill you, then you are an idiot.
Martin Van Creveld
We feel a lot of pressure about looking silly or appearing weak, whatever that means, or being a failure. You have to keep in your head: what's the worst that can happen?
It was an experience being on a Beatles tour. They weren't very good. The singing was great, but the playing was a bit weak.
Swords appear strong, but they're actually quite weak. Jesus appears weak, but he's actually quite strong.
Cinema explains American society. It's like a Western, with good guys and bad guys, where the weak don't have a place.
Robert Benchley has a style that is weak and lies down frequently to rest.
Men are beginning to realize that they are not individuals but persons in society, that man alone is weak and adrift, that he must seek strength in common action.
My body gets weak without truth.
The ferocious inroads of the Normans scared many weak and timid persons into servitude.
John Lothrop Motley
Instead of a weak and vacillating Government, a single, purposeful, energetic personality is ruling today.
Europeans say they are proud of their social fabric, of strong rights for workers and the weak in society.
Dull would be the man who should merely tolerate this plan of social industry. Weak would be the position of him who should take an apologetic tone in defending it, or present its claims in a merely negative way, by exposing the evils and perils of the socialistic plan.
John Bates Clark
Most men act so tough and strong on the outside because on the inside, we are scared, weak, and fragile. Men, not women, are the weaker sex.
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C. S. Lewis
John F. Kennedy
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Looking at how the world is taking cycling more seriously and the growing number of people who are going back on the saddles of their bikes, there really is much to be happy about.
Of course, there are still tons of work to be done and we should not be complacent about the results we’ve come up with especially on road safety. However we should take the time to appreciate the positive changes that passionate cyclists have made all around the world. More people are rallying behind the call for safer roads for bikers and supporting the more environment-friendly commutting which is on the saddle of the bike. Authorities of different nations are taking action and some cities have already included bike lanes in their road plans. Some countries are even using their bike-friendliness as a way to lure in more tourists and this is smart to do so as many cyclists would prefer to travel to nations that allow them to ride and provide safety while doing so. Great news from the capital of the U.S. A capital bike share kiosk is a strong indication how popular cycling is in Washington D.C. Read the whole article here!
Category: General Cycling Articles
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A panoramic and chronological overview of Godís plan of redemption for our souls, bodies and this earth as revealed in scripture
Buy your copy!
The day The Towers Fell was prophesied in the Bible.
The basket of currency connected with the Euro is found in the Bible.
Details concerning the Rapture, The Great Tribulation and the first 1000 years of Christís reign on earth are looked at from the unique perspective of the seven prophetic feasts of the Lord found in the book of Exodus.
This Book presents a panoramic and chronological overview of God's plan of redemption for our souls, bodies and this earth as revealed in scripture.
It is simple enough for beginning prophecy students, but there is plenty to intrigue the intermediate or even advanced student as well.
Danielís 70 weeks are examined in detail and the symbolism in Zechariah chapters three and five is unlocked.
The Bible clearly reveals the methods the antichrist will use in his rise to power and the location of his home base.
When God's Great Redemption Is Understood, Bible Prophecy Is No Longer Complicated Or Mysterious.
Is God Interested In Impressing Us With His Ability To Foretell The Future?
In an effort to undermine the acquisition of sound doctrine concerning Biblical Prophecy, one false teacher stated that God wasnít interested in impressing us with his ability to foretell the future.
That statement could not be further from the truth. It is diabolically opposed to the written Word of God which tells us it is exactly that ability we can look to, and depend on, for proof that our God is indeed the only true God, and his written Word is indeed the only standard by which we can measure what is, and what is not...truth.
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At this point, it seems that the housing market is going to be a drag on the economy for a very long time. But it didn’t have to be this way. As the Center for American Progress has argued time and again, real help for troubled homeowners would have been beneficial not only to those individual families, but to the wider economy. However, foreclosure prevention efforts have been hampered by mortgage servicers (like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and CitiMortgage) dragging their feet, fighting against common-sense proposals to help homeowners, and then employing review processes (like those used by the robo-signers) biased in favor of foreclosure.
In a fiery speech today, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Sheila Bair took mortgage servicers to task for their inability to help troubled borrowers, outright blaming them for the housing market’s continued woes:
Throughout the mortgage crisis, from the earliest days of the subprime credit problem to the current robo-signing controversy, the most persistent adversary has been inertia in the servicing and foreclosure practices applied to problem loans. Prompt action to modify unaffordable subprime loans in 2007 could have helped to limit the crisis in its early stages. Instead, we saw one and a half million foreclosures that year, contributing to a decline in average home prices that eventually totaled about one-third. Mortgage servicers have remained behind the curve as the problem has evolved to include underwater mortgages and, now, foreclosure practices that sow confusion and fear on the part of homeowners and fail to fully conform to state and local legal requirements.
“The bottom line is that we need more modifications and fewer foreclosures,” Bair said.
Yesterday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a foreclosure prevention plan with some excellent ideas in it, including ending the “dual track” practice of foreclosing on a homeowner who is under review for a modification and allowing bankruptcy judges to modify primary mortgages (which is a provision that has come up time and again in Congress, only to get defeated each time by the banking industry).
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A new 20-minute video that depicts how police agencies, fire departments, emergency responders and school personnel should react to “active shooter” situations in schools is now available to districts across Bergen County, NJ.com reported Tuesday.
“Lockdown,” which was produced by the County Prosecutor’s Office and filmed at New Milford High School over a year ago, simulates a two armed attackers breaking into the school with rifles and a homemade bomb, the report says. According to NJ.com, the video shows how two teachers react to the situation differently, and points out which reaction is better, and why.
"There have been so many [school shootings], and no two are ever identical," said Bergen County Police Sgt. John LaDuca explained in the article. "There's always something new about each one, so we just tried to take aspects from each of them and combine them into one."
The video may become a resource for schools across New Jersey if it is approved by the state Department of Education, the report said.
School safety and preparedness for active shooter situations have been major concerns of local parents, school officials and law enforcement agencies since a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., claimed the lives of 26 victims.
At a School Safety Summit for Bergen County School Boards Association members held in Mahwah last week, the township's police chief Jim Batelli said being prepared with an active school shooter emergency response plan is one of the most important measures an agency can take.
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Each sentence comes from a letter or online comment posted by a Globe reader during the past month
Idle No More is scaring the establishment. That means your voice is working. The real story ... is that more than 60 per cent of Canadians feel conditions must significantly improve. This isn’t just a native issue, it’s a Canadian issue. It is indeed a good time for Canada to give back after centuries of taking away. This is a movement of the oppressed.
Ultimately, moderates like Chief Shawn Atleo are helped by the presence of a militant voice such as Idle No More as it gives him more credibility with the government while also giving him a stronger negotiating position. Mr. Atleo is trying to negotiate, not threaten, like some of the other chiefs. Praying for him and his sincere belief in justice – long overdue! [That said], next year, it will be a historical curiosity. Idle No More is another version of Occupy Wall Street. It is a self-serving rebellion with a brand. The Indians don’t get to dictate Canada’s foreign policy or domestic policy. Mr. Atleo is another grandstander.
[Chief Theresa] Spence has done something none of us will forget. Together we stand, divided we fall. It’s beautiful how our people united. [But her] approach is not working. We will not walk this path. My hope [is] that her first priority is to her children. I don’t think she has made any point whatsoever. She’s a prima donna ... looking to get a reality show. She has been on a fish soup diet, which doesn’t appear to have caused any significant weight loss. Change the locks on her teepee.
The time is over for heritage guilt. Those who don’t acknowledge the past are bound to make the same mistakes of the past. The Indian Act must be ended and the system of apartheid we call Indian reservations should be ended. I think we should do nothing this big in haste.
Canada was supposed to be better than this! As it turns out, Canadians do have Charter rights, one of which is to protest government actions they consider immoral or wrong. [But] you cannot expect to have a mature dialogue while threatening the general public with blockades of highways and railways. Time for the cops to start doing their jobs if they want to be taken seriously.
More and more Canadians, including first nations people, will harden their attitudes towards these [protesters]. Any time any of them mention colonialism or a colonial past, they just lose all credibility. And this will be Whitey’s fault how? It will be a TURBULENT summer.
To be a modern and successful person today means that you have to give up on the idea of segregation based on ethnic background. I don’t believe that Canada will ever be back in that place where people are roaming around hunting, gathering, fishing and living in tents. Every single culture evolves. It is not racist to recognize that there are problems and we cannot continue on as is. Time to take the actions that will put these things in a history book on a shelf and write a new future.
It’s not that everyone agrees today with the natives, it’s that this is all shoved down our throats by the media. The media continues to ignore the multiple crises on Attawapiskat.
We need more courses on buffalo hunting with stone arrows. It would be great if we could purchase Indian status from every aboriginal person who has it … I think about $250k per head would be about right. Better get that chequebook out.
Ezra Levant has some ideas about this.
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Fish Iowa! Games Target Casting Competition Finals Held
Sixteen finalists representing 675 qualifiers from nearly 90 schools across Iowa took aim at the state Fish Iowa! Games
target casting competition on July 14 in Ames.
Qualifiers for the state competition placed first in their class at a Fish Iowa! Games casting contest held at their school this spring. More than 12,600 Iowa students across the state took part in these competitions.
The statewide cast off is sponsored by the Iowa Sports Foundation (d.b.a Iowa Games), the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the Mid-Iowa Bass Masters.
All participants received a certificate. Medals were awarded for three age divisions. The first place winner in each division also received a rod and reel.
Age 8 & younger
1st – Elias Zaragoza, Des Moines
2nd – Alyssa Digney, New Liberty
1st – Paige Skow, Neola
2nd – Alexandria McCool, Shelby
3rd – Javon Wozny, Des Moines
Age 12 & older
1st – Sawyer Gogerty, Cambridge
2nd – Kodi Cooper, Des Moines
3rd – Jordan Purvis, Johnston
Fish Iowa! Games is a casting competition developed by the Iowa Sports Foundation in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The program is a fun competition where students learn to flip, pitch and cast overhand to a target. Participants receive points based on the accuracy of each casting technique. Often, it is taught as part of an introductory fishing unit. For younger students, it may be their first experience with a rod and reel. Fish Iowa! Games is in its sixth year.
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Congressman David Cicilline introduced a bill today that would curb rampant speculation in the oil markets, which would both drive down the price at the pump and put the petroleum economy back in line with the laws of supply and demand, he said.
“If you look at what has happened in the market, production is up and demand is down,” Cicilline told me today. “So the market is not working right. And a substantial piece of this is excessive speculation. Wall Street is using oil futures as a gambling casino.”
Though they’ve inched back down recently, oil prices have skyrocketed in 2012. The national average has climbed from $3.34 in mid-January to $3.87 today. In Rhode Island during that same time period, the average price of a gallon has gone from $3.50 to $3.97.
During the gas price spike in 2008, the exact same piece of legislation passed the House by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 402-19.
The bill, which is co-sponsored by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) would compel the US Commodites and Futures Trading Commission, the entity that regulates such speculation to put new rules into place to negate the effects of speculation on the price at the pump.
Cicilline said the CFCT could set greater limits on how many future shares one entity could own at a time or set limits on how much of the oil market could be designate for futures trading.
“This is dangerously reminiscent of what we saw in the housing market when Wall Street was using very sophisticated tools to drive up prices,” he said. “We’re not powerless to respond to this crisis.”
The futures market controls about 80 percent of all crude oil, said Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the CFTC, recently. Cicilline added that that percentage has doubled in the past decade and shortly before that futures trading controlled only about 20 percent of the market. Cicilline said Goldman Sachs is the biggest holder of crude oil futures.
President Obama called for further regulation on oil speculation earlier in the week. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is sponsoring similar legislation in the Senate.
Speculation occurs when investors buy “futures” in a commodity such as oil. In effect they purchase a credit to buy a barrel (or many, as is often the case) at a price set now and collect the oil at a future date. If the price is higher than they bought the future share for, they make money. The problem occurs when many investors purchase future shares, artificially driving up the price beyond what it costs to extract, refine and deliver.
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I try not to play this game, but will admit that I'm often asked to delineate the differences between Oregon and California pinot noir. Alas, it's just not that simple. Consider this, for example: An Oregon pinot from a warm site and a warm vintage might taste more "Californian" than a California pinot from a cool site and a cool vintage.
However, at the International Pinot Noir Celebration this year in McMinnville, I moderated a seminar that firmly convinced me that the expressive pinot noir grape has plenty to say about its place of birth. At the same time, it had me -- and everyone who attended -- questioning the importance of state lines, wine appellations and the notion of terroir.
The topic was The Cube Project, launched in 2010 by three adventurous winemakers. Each vintner committed a specific vineyard block (or section) yielding six tons of grapes, to be split evenly between the three participants, for three years. That makes nine finished wines per year, or 27 wines over the project's three-year life span. (Hence the title: The project takes three pinots to the third power, or "cubes" them, to reach a grand total of 27 wines.)
So, in 2010, the first year, winemaker Thomas Houseman of Anne Amie Vineyards in Carlton made wine out of two tons of fruit from Lincourt Vineyards in California's Santa Rita Hills, and two tons of fruit from Bouchaine Vineyards in Carneros, Calif., as well as two tons from the block of his own vineyard that had been set aside for this project.
Winemaker Leslie Mead Renaud at Lincourt, too, made three two-ton lots of pinot noir from the three divergent regions. And so did winemaker Andrew Brooks of Bouchaine. Everyone kept careful notes, and followed his or her own winemaking procedure.
When we gathered at the pinot noir celebration, we tasted through the first nine pinot noirs, from the 2010 vintage. Here's what we learned about how the climate and aspect of a particular wine region can affect pinot noir, plus, why we decided that geography isn't nearly as important in wine as people make it out to be.
The Willamette Valley is known for its cool climate and 2010 was especially cool: Anne Amie harvested a month later than Bouchaine did, and the grapes still came in at lower sugar levels. As a result, the pinots from the Anne Amie site in the Yamhill-Carlton subappellation tasted lighter and leaner than the rest, with more noticeable acidity. (Some people call Willamette Valley pinot noirs thin. I call them elegant.) The fruit was boysenberry, sort of halfway between blackberry and raspberry.
Finally, the wines from Anne Amie Vineyard displayed those distinctly Oregonian aromas and flavors of "duff, truffle, cedar. All those wonderful forest floor notes," says Thomas Houseman. "California might have more purity of fruit in that the fruit seems to have more weight. But their pinots don't seem to have that earthiness."
pine, cherries, smoke
Approximately 600 miles south of Anne Amie Vineyards, Bouchaine Vineyards is in the Carneros wine-growing region, which connects the towns of Sonoma and Napa. Tempered by fog and ocean breezes, it's a suitable location for growing pinot noir; still, it gets a lot more warmth than the Willamette Valley does. "As you let things get riper and riper, the regional specificity gets lost and you just get this general ripe character," says winemaker Andrew Brooks. So Brooks takes care not to pick his fruit too late, so as to capture the essence of Carneros pinot: "red cherry fruit, with this underlying coniferous character," like pine needles and resin.
The house style at Bouchaine Vineyards complements these rich notes with the use of "heavier, smoky, darker toasted-wood" barrels, as Brooks describes it. "Sometimes those riper, more opulent wines have greater affinity for oak and more tolerance for higher levels of oak," he says.
Sta. Rita Hills:
dark, perfumed, floral
Lincourt Vineyards is another 330 miles south of Bouchaine, in the Santa (shortened to "Sta." on wine labels) Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County. Buffeted by strong sunlight and chilly, powerful Pacific Ocean winds, it's a tough growing environment: The average pinot noir yield at Lincourt is a stunningly low 1.4 tons per acre. (For comparison, consider that the northern Willamette Valley, noted for its low yields, averaged 2.25 tons per acre in 2011.)
"It gets really cold and super-windy during bloom, so pollination doesn't typically go that well," says Leslie Mead Renaud. "We get these really tiny clusters. ... Because we have these tiny berries, they have so much skin-to-juice ratio that we get a lot of color." And those grape skins bring a lot of tannin to the table, as well. But the payoff comes in "perfumed aromatics." Purplish color and the beguiling aroma of violets are two tip-offs that you've got Sta. Rita Hills pinot noir in your glass.
So we know that each wine-growing region has its own signature of sorts that's evident in finished wines. But here's the kicker: When we tasted all nine Cube Project wines at the pinot noir celebration, participants found more similarities between the wines made by the same winemaker than between the wines sourced from the same vineyard. It turns out that, despite all the talk about "non-interventionist" winemaking, three different vintners are going to make three different sets of decisions to get that fruit from vine to bottle. It may be as small as leaving the fruit in the barrel for a few extra days or allowing the juice to macerate on the skins for a day or two longer, but in the end, every single small decision a winemaker makes will change the finished wine. And one winemaker can make three remarkably similar wines from fruit that came from three very diverse locales -- some from as far as 923 miles away.
The bottom line
Sure, geography is a good guide to keep in the back of your mind as you scan wine lists for pinot noirs that suit your palate. If you like lighter, earthier pinots, stick with the Willamette Valley. If you prefer perfume and deep color, try Sta. Rita Hills. If smoke and cherries are more your style, consider a pinot from Carneros. But know this: A site is more likely to change from year to year than a winemaker is. Vintage conditions may change, but a winemaking style can have continuity, over time ... and over distance, too.
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