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AUGUSTA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - It's not exactly a Christmas miracle, but it is an example of how generous people can be this time of year.
At the Maine Home for Little Wanderers in Waterville donations for its Christmas Box program were way down. With deadline fast approaching for the boxes to be distributed things were looking bleak.
"We were struggling to even get the basic items into those boxes because of a lack of inventory, so we were really worried", said Christen Sawyer, the program's director.
Part of the problem was the super storm Sandy. Organizers were expecting some items from groups in New York and New Jersey. When the storm hit they turned their attention to helping out organizations closer to home.
So a call for help went out to the community here and boy did people respond. As recipients showed up in Augusta to collect their Christmas boxes on Thursday, everyone one of the containers was filled.
It is not easy to ask for help. But when you have a 2-year old son and you haven't been able to find work for 2-years, you do what you have to do.
"It is hard times. People are losing jobs every day and it's not easy to find a new one, so this helps. Helps alleviate some of the pressure at least towards the kids because it would be a bummer not having a Christmas and being a child", said Sara Chase of Gardiner.
Chase is very grateful for the Christmas Box program that the Maine Home for Little Wanderers has been putting on for years. The program provides 16-hundred children across Maine with a gift box containing warm clothing, books and toys.
The goal of the program was actually exceeded this year. Because of the outpouring of support and generosity, 60-additional families are being helped out this Christmas season.
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Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Appeal/Appeal-Session-07-01 Last-Modified: 1999/06/15 JUDGMENT 1. The Appellant, Adolf Eichmann, was found guilty by the District Court of Jerusalem of offences of the most extreme gravity against the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law 5710-1950 (hereinafter - "the Law") and was sentenced to death. These offences may be divided into four groups: Group One: Crimes against the Jewish People, contrary to Section I(a) (1) of the Law;Group Two: Crimes against Humanity, contrary to Section 1(a) (2);Group Three: War Crimes, contrary to Section 1(a) (3); Group Four: Membership of Hostile Organizations, contrary to Section 3. 2. The acts constituting these offences, which the Court attributed to the Appellant, have been specified in paragraph 244 of the Judgment. The acts belonging to Group One are: (1) That during the period from August 1941 to May 1945, in Germany, in the territories of the Axis States, and in the areas which were subject to the authority of Germany and the Axis States, he, together with others, caused the deaths of millions of Jews, with the purpose of implementing the plan which was known as `the Final Solution of the Jewish Question,' with intent to exterminate the Jewish People; (2) that during that period and in the same places he, together with others, subjected millions of Jews to living conditions which were likely to bring about their physical destruction, in order to implement the said plan, with intent to exterminate the Jewish People; (3) that during that period and in the same places he, together with others, caused grave bodily and mental harm to millions of Jews, with intent to exterminate the Jewish People; (4) that during the years 1943 and 1944 he, together with others, "took measures to prevent births among Jews, by directing that births be banned and pregnancies terminated among Jewish women in the Therezin Ghetto, with intent to exterminate the Jewish People." The acts constituting the crimes in Group Two are as follows: (5) that during the period from August 1941 to May 1945 "he, together with others, caused in the places mentioned in Clause (1), the murder, extermination, enslavement, starvation and deportation of the Jewish civilian population;" (6) that during the period from December 1939 to March 1941 "he, together with others, caused the deportation of Jews to Nisko, and the deportation of Jews from the areas in the East annexed to the Reich, and from the Reich area proper, into the German-occupied area in the East, and to France;" (7) that in carrying out the above-mentioned activities he persecuted Jews on national, racial, religious and political grounds;" (8) that during the period from March 1938 to May 1945 in the places mentioned above "he, together with others, caused the plunder of the property of millions of Jews through mass terror, linked with the murder, destruction, starvation and deportation of those Jews;" (9) that "during the years 1940-1942 he, together with others, caused the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Poles from their homes;" (10) that in 1941, he, together with others, caused "the expulsion of more than fourteen thousand Slovenes from their homes; (11) that during World War II he, together with others, caused the expulsion of "tens of thousands of Gypsies from Germany and German-occupied areas and their transportation to the German-occupied areas in the East;" (12) that in 1942 "he, together with others, caused the expulsion of 93 children of the Czech village Lidice." The acts comprised in Group Three of the crimes are: That "he committed the acts of persecution, expulsion and murder mentioned in Counts 1-7, so far as these were done during World War II, against Jews from among the populations of the countries occupied by the Germans and by the other Axis States." The acts comprised in Group Four are: That as from May 1940 he was "a member of three Nazi police organizations which were declared criminal organizations by the International Military Tribunal which tried the major war criminals, and as a member of such organizations he took part in acts declared criminal in Article 6 of the London Charter of 8 August 1945." 3. The Appellant has appealed to this Court against both the conviction and the sentence. 4. The oral and written contentions of learned Counsel who supported the appeal, Dr. Servatius, may, insofar as they are directed against the conviction, be divided under two categories: (1) Purely legal contentions, the principal object of which is to undermine the basis of the jurisdiction of a court in Israel to try the Appellant for the crimes in question. (2) Factual contentions of which the object is, in essence, to invalidate the finding of the District Court that there was no foundation for the defence of the Appellant that he played the part of a `small cog' in the machine of Nazi destruction, that in all the above-mentioned activities he functioned as a junior official, and one without any initiative of his own, and that nothing but the compulsion of an order and blind obedience to a command from above guided him in the performance of his task through all its stages. With reference to these contentions, Counsel for the Appellant has asked this Court for leave to produce new evidence at the stage of the appeal. At the conclusion of his argument we decided to refuse this application, and the reasons for our decision will be set out below. 5. The District Court has, in its Judgment, dealt with both categories of contentions in an exhaustive, profound and most convincing manner. We should say at once that we fully concur, without hesitation or reserve, in all its conclusions and reasons, because they are fully supported by copious judicial precedents that were cited in the Judgment and by the substantial proof culled and abstracted out of the monumental mass of evidence produced to the Court. Moreover, we are in duty bound to state that, were it not for the grave outcome of the decision of the Court constituting the subject of the Appeal, we would have seen no need whatever to formulate our opinion separately and in our own language - as we contemplate doing - for the conclusions of the District Court rest on solid foundations. Nor is it superfluous for us to take this opportunity and to express our appreciation of the immense effort expended by the learned Judges, who tried the case in the lower Court, in the actual conduct of the arduous and wearying proceedings before them. As to the contribution made to this responsible task by the Attorney General and his assistants on the one hand, and Counsel for the Defence on the other, appropriate and significant observations have already been embodied in the Judgment of the District Court, and we can do no more than associate ourselves with them. 6. Most of the legal contentions of Counsel for the Appellant concentrate on the argument that the District Court, in assuming jurisdiction to try the Appellant, acted contrary to the principles of international law. These contentions are as follows: (1) The Law of 1950, which is the only source of the jurisdiction of the Court in this case, constitutes ex post facto penal legislation, which established as offences acts that were committed before the State of Israel came into existence; therefore, the validity of this Law is limited to citizens of Israel alone. (2) The offences for which the Appellant was tried are in the nature of `extra-territorial offences,' that is to say, offences that were committed outside the territory of Israel by a citizen of a foreign state; and even though the above- mentioned Law confers jurisdiction in respect of such offences, it conflicts, in so doing, with the principle of territorial sovereignty, which postulates that only the country within whose territory the offence was committed, or to which the offender belongs - in this case, Germany - has jurisdiction to punish therefor. (3) The acts constituting the offence of which the Appellant was convicted were, at the time of their commission, acts of state. (4) The Appellant was brought to Israeli territory, to be tried for the offences in question, unwillingly and without the consent of the country in which he resided, through agents of the State of Israel who acted on the orders of their government. (5) The Judges of the District Court, being Jews and feeling a sense of affinity with the victims of the plan of extermination and Nazi persecution, were psychologically incapable of giving the Appellant an objective trial. 7. We reject all these contentions. A brief reply to the first two of these - and we shall deal with each separately - will be found in paragraph 10 of the Judgment: "The Court has to give effect to a law of the Knesset, and we cannot entertain the contention that such a law conflicts with the principles of international law." In the submission of Counsel for the Appellant this reply is mistaken, for - he argues - where there is such a conflict it is imperative to give preference to the principles of international law. We do not agree with this view. According to the law of Israel, which is identical on this point with English law, the relationship between municipal law and international law is governed by the following rules: (1) The principle in question becomes incorporated into the municipal law and a part of that law only after it has achieved general international recognition. "The municipal courts of a particular state" said Mr. Justice Dunkelblum in Motion 41/49 (Shimshon Ltd. v. Attorney General, 4 Pesakim, vol. 4, p. 143, pp. 145, 146) "will recognize the principles of international law and will decide in accordance with those principles only if they have been agreed to by all other civilized peoples, so that it is a necessary assumption that such principles have also been accepted by that state. A principle of international law must therefore be established by sufficient proof to justify the conclusion...that it is recognized and well known by the majority of states." (See also judgment of Lord Alverstone in West Rand Gold Mining Co. v. Rex (1905) 2 K.B. 391, 406-7; and that of Lord Macmillan in The Cristina (1938) 1 All E.R. 719, 725). (2) This, however, only applies where there is no conflict between the provisions of municipal law and a rule of international law. But where such a conflict does exist, it is the duty of the court to give preference to and apply the laws of the local legislature (see Israeli and English precedents mentioned in paragraph 10 of the Judgment). True, the presumption must be that the legislature strives to adjust its laws to the principles of international law which have received general recognition. But where a contrary intention clearly emerges from the statute itself, that presumption loses its force, and the court is enjoined to disregard it. (3) On the other hand, in view of the above-mentioned presumption, a local statutory provision, which is open to equivocal construction and whose content does not demand another construction, must be construed in accordance with the rules of public international law. (Amsterdam v. Minister of Finance, Piske Din, vol. 6, pp. 945, 966; Lauterpacht-Oppenheim, 8th edition, vol. 1, p. 41, para. 21a). It should be noted that this rule of construction has no relevance to this case, since the nature of the law in question as one which established extra-territorial offences with retroactive effect is not in doubt. It follows from the second rule that even if Counsel for the Appellant was right in contending that the character of the law as described above is repugnant to international law, even then this contention cannot avail him. 8. We reach the same conclusion also in accordance with the first rule. For the sake of convenience, we shall state the grounds of our conclusions separately in respect of each of the two above-mentioned contentions of Counsel for the Appellant. As to the first contention, the reply must be that the principle nullum crimen sine lege, nulla poena sine lege, insofar as it negates penal legislation with retroactive effect, has not yet become a rule of customary international law: "There is no rule of general customary international law forbidding the enactment of norms with retrospective force, so called ex post facto laws" (Kelsen, Peace through Law (1944) p. 87). "There is clearly no principle of international law embodying the maxim against retroactivity of criminal law" (Julius Stone, Legal Controls of International Conflict (1959) p. 369). It is true that in many countries the above-mentioned principle has been embodied in the constitution of the state or in its criminal code, because of the considerable moral value inherent in it, and in such countries the court may not depart from it by one iota. (See Cr.A. 53/54: Eshed, Merkaz Zmani L'tahbura v. Attorney General, Piske Din, vol. 8, pp. 785, 819, 830-832.) But this state of affairs is not universal. Thus, in the United Kingdom, a country whose system of law and justice is universally recognized as being of a high standard, there is no constitutional limitation of the power of the legislature to enact its criminal laws with retrospective effect, and should it do so, the court will have no power to invalidate them (C.K. Allen, Law in the Making, 5th ed., p. 444). True, in those countries, too, there is widespread recognition of the moral value of the principle inherent in the above-mentioned maxim. But that recognition has become legally effective only to the extent that that maxim constitutes a rule of the interpretation of statutes. That is to say: Where there is a doubt as to the intention of the legislature, the court is directed not to construe the criminal statute under its consideration so as to include within its purview an act that was committed prior to its enactment. (Queen v. Griffiths (1891) 2 Q.B. 145, 148; Allen ibid., pp. 443-444). Similarly, the British Parliament usually avoids passing a criminal statute with retroactive effect, and it will do so only in an exceptional case where the object of salus populi impels the taking of this course, as stated by Willes J. in Phillips v. Eyre (L.R. 6 Q.B. 1, 25) which is cited in paragraph 7 of the Judgment. Therefore, if it is the contention of Counsel for the Appellant that we must apply international law as it is, and not as it ought to be from the moral point of view, then we must reply that precisely from a legal point of view there exists no such rule of international law; it follows necessarily that the above-mentioned principle cannot be deemed to be part of the Israel municipal law by virtue of international law, but that the extent of its application in this country is the same as in England.
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The A/C unit helps keep you comfortable inside your car. Premium quality A/C pieces, such as the A/C compressor, are great purchases particularly if you don't wish to get all hot and sticky while you're traveling in your Subaru . As its name implies, this specific air cooling component compresses the automobile's refrigerant and vents the pressurized gas to the A/C condenser.
A compressor's job is quite basic in comparison with other auto components. You'll only realize the benefits of this specific unit once the interior gets too suffocating; routine upkeep is necessary. Test how much cool air is coming in through the Subaru A/C component; minimal cool air indicates the A/C compressor has to be checked right away. Weakening of the compressor's overall performance is usually brought about by years of usage and mileage; you could prolong its service life with sufficient care and also routine maintenance. Converting pressurized refrigerant straight into gas will certainly be a challenge if the A/C compressor is faulty. When the compressor malfunctions, cool air won't be able to reach the car's passenger compartment.
When you're in need of efficient A/C compressors for Subaru , Parts Train is the perfect site to start hunting. Pick from a great deal of high quality, economical brands, such as 4-Seasons, Delphi, and SL.
Use our Part Fit Checker to view parts compatible with your vehicle.
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Walker confident mining company will return
Gov. says mining bill would create jobs
Gov. Scott Walker said he is confident that mining company Gogebic Taconite will return to Wisconsin if the Legislature passes a bill making it easier for them to open an iron ore mine.
Walker made his comments Wednesday after a speech at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which has advocated for passage of a mining bill.
The Legislature could not reach agreement on a mining bill last year. Walker drew applause at his speech when he mentioned the need to pass a bill, saying it would bring thousands of jobs to northern Wisconsin where the mine would be located.
Florida-based Gogebic said it was giving up on the mine after the bill failed. But Walker said he thinks it
would come back if a bill similar to last year's passes.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Regardless what the younger generation of puroresu fans say, without Antonio Inoki, the post-Rikidozan puroresu
would never been accepted as a "sport" by general public in Japan. Even today, there are many martial art fighters who
started training after being inspired by Antonio Inoki's matches.
With "King of Sports" and "civil rights for puroresu" as his mottos, Inoki started New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1972. Since then,
he had put his effort to prove that the pro-wrestling is the strongest sport and to raise
the status of the sport in the general public in Japan. It's just hard to describe his never ending dreams in right words,
especially when his past achievements include things like :
having a number of mixed matches against the great fighters of other sports including Willem Ruska (judo gold medalist in the Olympic games in Munich), Muhammad Ali (world boxing champion),
Chuck Wepner (whose career Rocky is said to be based on), and Willie Williams (world karate champion),
promoting the first/rare pro-wrestling cards in Taiwan, China, and Soviet Union,
being the first pro-wrestler in the world to be elected as a congressman of a country,
having meetings with the politicians whom the officials from western/democratic nations have rarely met, such as the Hussein family of Iraq and Fidel Castro of Cuba, and
promoting the first two pro-wrestling cards in North Korea with the world record crowd of approximately 150,000 and 190,000.
After his retirement in 1998, Inoki has continued to produce interpromotional matches with MMA organizations such as K-1 and PRIDE to keep the tradition of fighting spirit that New Japan Pro-Wrestling seems to have lost.
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May 22, 2013
Republican Economic Policies Don’t Add Up
Posted on Oct 6, 2008
Claims of being a maverick aside, McCain has emerged as nothing more than a supply-sider in the mold of George W. and Reagan. Since George W. took office, corporate profits have soared, while workers’ wages and benefits have been flat. That shows just who is the object of Bush’s conservative compassion. The Bush administration, supported by Republicans on Capitol Hill, pushed through a sweeping tax cut in 2001, under which the wealthiest one percent of Americans reaped 43 percent of the gain. In less than a year and a half, the federal government’s 10-year projected budget surplus of $1.6 trillion had vanished. In 2000, we had a surplus of $236 billion. In 2004, we had a deficit of $413 billion. This dramatic reversal is the direct consequence of Bush’s tax cuts. Since then, the Bush/McCain answer for the nation’s economic woes has been deregulation and more tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations, who by no coincidence contribute heavily to the McCain campaign. It’s “trickle-down” economics with a vengeance.
Since the conventions, McCain and his surrogates have been pounding away at the Democrats, labeling them as the “tax and spend” party. Yet recent research has shown that more than 70% of our national debt was created by just three Republican presidents. There’s an old expression in Las Vegas: “Figures don’t lie but liars figure.” Moreover, according to research from professor Larry Bartels of Princeton, real middle-class wage growth is double when a Democrat is president, contrasted to a Republican president.
So, while McCain and Sarah Palin compose hymns to patriotism, rugged individualism, “trickle-down” economics, “staying the course” on Bush’s tax cuts and family values, they are also embracing the very economic policies that undermine both the middle class and subvert the security of American family life.
American families need less pious rhetoric, and more policies geared toward a healthy economy, secure jobs, decent health care, affordable housing, quality public education, renewable energy and a sustainable environment. McCain seems unable, or unwilling, to grasp that the government has an important leadership role in this. In fact, providing tax giveaways for the rich and for corporate America is the only policy that seems to energize McCain and the Republicans in Congress, while Obama has pledged to repeal those very same giveaways. And, contrary to the GOP rhetoric, 90 percent of Americans—people making under $112,000 a year in individual income—would pay less taxes under Obama’s plan.
Barack Obama has demonstrated a willingness to confront these painful realities. On overall economic policy, he offers qualities indispensable to genuine leadership for America—patience, fairness, candor and vision. We need an administration that understands and believes in coherent, comprehensive and equitable policies that promote sustainable economic growth— and, on that count, Democrats have a winning record.
Previous item: Weapons of Mass Distraction
Next item: Investigating John McCain’s Tragedy at Sea
New and Improved Comments
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I’ve been thinking about many things since the whole “Thank You, White People” post debacle and subsequent influx of white supremacists who seemed to come here with the intent of saying, “You thought you dealt with racists on a daily basis? HA! We’ll show you what REAL racism is!” And they did. One of my reactions was to say that for every white ally who acknowledged racism and worked to fight against it, there were 20 others wishing to drag us back to Jim Crow and worse. Then smart commenter Jackie said:
Thing is, I don’t believe there’re 20 of them for every one of us (black or white or other) who wants to make things right; I think there’s actually somewhat fewer of them. But for each white supremacist (and for each person of any color who wants to make things right) there are 20 nice, well-meaning, but privileged and entitled white people who thing “racism is bad” but have no idea whatsoever that real racism exists, or what it’s like to be a target of it. Or how much they have benefited from their European coloring, and from not having centuries of slavery and legally enforced poverty limiting every aspects of the parents’ and grandparents’ and great-great-great-grandparents’ lives.
This got me thinking about those white folks who exist in that liminal space where they are against racism but don’t understand how it works and get defensive, hurt, and freaked out when folks point out how they benefit from it without trying. We saw a lot of that on the Thank You thread before the others showed up. I am wondering how you turn that kind of person into an ally. I’m wondering if maybe I cannot simply because, when they read my words, they are so filled with defensiveness and perhaps guilt, nothing I say can get through. If they can’t listen to me, can they maybe listen to other White people?
And that got me wondering if this was true for any kind of ally. Is it easier to understand oppression, to move past guilt and on to useful dialogue, etc., if the person explaining these things to you in-depth is a person like yourself? White or male or straight or Christian or whatever? I don’t know. But as this is the Internet, it should be easy to figure out.
I call a Carnival. The Carnival of Allies. Where self-identified allies write to other people like themselves about why this or that oppression and prejudice is wrong. Why they are allies. Why the usual excuses are not good enough. I figure allies probably know full well all the many and various arguments people throw up to make prejudice and oppression okay. Things that someone on the other side of the fence may not hear. Address those things and more besides.
And when I say allies, I’m talking about any and every type. PoC can be (and should be) allies to other PoC, or to LGBTQ people if they are straight, or any number of other combinations. If you feel like you’re an ally and have something to say about that, you should submit to this carnival.
Now for the nitty — this is how it’ll work. I’m not sure if this carnival will happen more than once, so I’ll keep it local for now. Submit links (with short descriptions) via this contact form:
by May 5th. I’ll run the Carnival itself on the 2nd or 3rd week of May. Instead of doing it all in one post, I will make a week out of it. Every day for 5 days there will be links and discussions about allies, ally work, etc.
Spread the word!
ETA: A few people are confused about how a Carnival works, so here’s a short explanation. If you’d like to be in the Carnival, write a post on the topic at hand. Then publish the post at your blog whenever you feel like doing so/you’re done writing. Once you’ve published the post, come back here and submit the link plus a short description of the post in the form ABOVE (not in the comments below).
Once I get all of the submissions in, I will go through and decide which posts to include in the Carnival. I will link to your blog, excerpting from the post or describing it. Then more people will go to your blog and read your post.
Clear? If you’ve never seen a Carnival before, check out my right sidebar. I’ve linked to some of the Carnivals that linked to me.
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THIS WILL NOT WORK WITH THE FACTORY 533FSB CPU. YOU MUST PURCHASE A 400FSB CPU.
This guide shows you how to replace your existing 533fsb CPU with a 400fsb CPU that you have purchased elsewhere (eBay seems to be the best choice.)
I wanted to write a hands on guide with pictures for doing the pinmod and applying thermal compound to the GPU. I recommend Arctic Silver compound. For the CPU, you must have a 400Mhz bus Pentium M. They are readily available on eBay. Be careful, they come in cache sizes of 512K, 1MB and 2MB. I purchased my 2MB, 1.6 CPU for $129 on a buy it now.
Here is a link to another guide. It is better written and more technical than mine.Another Good PinMod Tutorial
This is a link to Dell’s very good documentation. Follow the steps there, I am not going to rewrite them, because they are good. But I will include some real pics.Dell Technical Docs for the 9300Dell Technical Docs for the XPS2
OK, now on to the good stuff. First open your screen all the way and use a small screwdriver to pop the hinge cover. This was the hardest part of the operation. It was a biatch and didn’t want to come off. Slide in the side first as pictured, make sure you get a good pop. Then, place the screwdriver inside the first hinge and pop it off, should be easy from there.
Follow the rest of Dell’s instructions. Here are some pictures at various stages:
Now prepare your jumper wire. I cut a lead off of a dead power supply and used a small piece of aluminum wire from that. This thing is SMALL. Here is a pic for reference:
Once you have removed the CPU cooler, take a razor blade and clean the thermal pad off. After you have cleaned the pad off, iso
propyl alcohol is the best method to clean off the residue. Please refer to the below link on the proper way to apply thermal compound. Both the CPU and GPU cooler could stand to be lapped (smoothing them with sandpaper), but you will have to look elsewhere for a guide on that Arctic Silver Application Tutorial
Here is a pic of the cooler after applying compound. It looks rough, but it has been rubbed in good. I did use the bag method to rub compound into the cooler, the surface was pretty rough.
Here is a picture of the socket with the jumper in. It is the 3rd set of pins down on row 15 and 16. It is clearly labeled at the top of the socket. The other guide I linked at the top has different pins jumped, they both work because the jumper is just grounding the pin. Either way will work properly.
Here is the CPU inserted with compound applied properly.
Put the cooler back on and that is done!
Doing the GPU
Remove the screws around the GPU. You do NOT have to unseat the card. Now, take a Torx driver and loosen the 4 screws around the heatsink itself. This is a smaller than normal Torx, mine is labeled T-8. Most “computer toolkits” have a driver with 2 sizes, this is smaller than either of those. Here is a pic of the cooler removed and with the thermal tape scraped off.
Here is the cooler with compound rubbed in.
Here is the GPU after cleaning off the thermal tape. You MUST do this before applying compound. I wound up gently using my fingernail. Hope you don’t bite your nails
Here it is with compound applied properly.
Also, a word of warning on the GPU heatsink screws. Be sure they actually catch. When I started turning, some of them felt like they were in, but they never caught properly. It will crank down pretty tight when they actually catch. It is spring loaded, so you shouldn't be able to overtighten. Put it all back together and that’s it!
Here is a screenie of my 1.6, 400fsb, 2MB cache chip at 2.13.
Applying compound to the GPU dropped my idle temps from 49C to 41C. Worth it while you are in there. Feel free to post any questions. Hope it helps some folks.
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This mini-term will take between 12 and 16 students to the magnificent Indonesian Island of Bali, which is renowned for its beauty and outstanding artists. There, students will focus on the intensive study of the performing arts of Bali through both group and private lessons, as well as attend live performances and visit key religious and architectural locations. In addition to sponsored events and travel, students will have the option of scheduling additional excursions at their own expense on free-days.
Course of Study
Students will have daily group instruction with master performers in both gamelan (Balinese orchestra of gongs and xylophones) and dance, as well as additional private or semi-private lessons in an art form of one's choosing (e.g. mask making, painting, etc.). This instruction will culminate in final presentations and performances. Students will visit many important artistic and religious locations, attend professional performances, and meet with local Balinese peoples in a variety of contexts. Students will complete extensive journal notes on all these experiences and partake in additional required activities, including a scavenger hunt.
Instruction on the gamelan will be led by I Gusti Nyoman Darta. Pak Komin, as he is fondly referred to, taught gamelan at Union College in Spring, 2011. He is a highly respected musician with a growing global reputation. He began studying traditional music with his father and went on to study at the High School for Performing Arts. He was one of the founding members of the internationally acclaimed Gamelan Çudamani, with which he performed until 2007 (http://www.cudamani.org). He continues to express his unique creativity through many collaborative projects.
Instruction on Balinese dance will be led by Ni Ketut Arini Alit. Ibu Arini Alit is one of Bali's most revered teachers and performers of classical and modern Balinese dance. She was a teacher at the High School for Performing Arts for years as well as a consultant on dance at the Department of Education. She is credited founding the respected Warini School of Dance (http://warini.org). She has performed and taught all over the world in more than twenty countries and is well known for her riveting performances and creative choreography.
(Please note that Balinese Instructors may change due to extenuating circumstances.)
No previous experience is required, though enthusiasm and a willingness to explore the arts is a must!!
All students will stay at Villa Kerti Yasa in Nyuh Kuning Village (www.villakertiyasa.com). This is a full-service resort located south of the Monkey Forest, just outside of Ubud, a mecca of Balinese arts and culture. The gamelan and dance lessons will be held on-site in air-conditioned facilities.
(For specific dates, contact the International Programs Office, Old Chapel, Third Floor.)
- April: Application deadline is the third Friday of spring term.
- May: Non-refundable deposit due at the Cashier's Office in McKean House, and receipt brought to the International Programs Office
- Fall term: Orientation meetings
- Late November: Mini-term begins
- Mid-December: Program ends
For More Information
Students may contact Professor Jennifer Milioto Matsue (Program Coordinator), TMC 208, Phone: 518-388-8075 or Professor Miryam Moutillet (Faculty Director - Winter 2014), Visual Arts 108A, Phone: 518-388-6513.
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Articles on the usage of stone, marble and granite in your homes, gardens and business premises.
With the coming of the spring, more time is spent outside and more attention is given to the exterior. Plating the surfaces then becomes very important. A very popular solution when it comes to plating is concrete floor tiles or panels.Add a comment
The effects obtained by using mosaics are not possible with any other material. It is said that it is not really possible to photograph mosaics because a photo cannot visualize the game and refraction of light which is visible only when mosaics is observed live. Depending on the type of material and its appearance it is possible to achieve rustic as well as modern impression which brings to the fact that mosaics is still used in classic and in modern interiors.Add a comment
If the floor is made of marble, then it should be deep cleaned in order to clear all the impurities and dirt out of pores. If the floor has already been protected then it should be well cleaned, the old protection and the possible stains should be removed, and then wait for the floor to be well dried to do the floor protection again.Add a comment
The placement of stone floorings is a big investment and because of that and because of the structure and nature of this type of flooring makes a good reason to pay special attention to the treatment and choice of the care products. In order to help your stone floors be shiny, colour resistant and durable, we offer you advice on the ways of cleaning and maintaining of them.Add a comment
Nowadays, the natural stone in interior and exterior spaces is usually placed on adhesives based on special hydraulic binders or adhesives based on reaction base. In bathrooms, balconies and exterior surfaces on which the humidity could reach beneath the natural stone panel, on the surface made of estrich is placed a hydroinsulation coat based on cement.Add a comment
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Despite a light snowfall that blanketed District streets leading up to the 6:30 p.m. show time, the theater was nearly filled to capacity.
Waiting for “Superman”, a riveting documentary that follows the lives of five young students struggling to get into one of our nation’s most sought after charter schools, shocks viewers with its startling statistics, but also warms them with many of its heartfelt moments.
Ultimately, the film leaves its audience wondering what they can do to help.
“It definitely makes me think about myself as a teacher, said Sara Ianelli a 24-year-old special education teacher, who attended the event. “I thought, overall, the movie was pretty accurate.”
Geoffrey Canada listens to students discuss their dream careers,while acknowledging that many American schools are little more than "drop-out factories" and "academic sinkholes". Courtesy PhotoThe film, directed by Davis Guggenheim (and winner of the Audience Award for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival), expresses one of many philosophical positions taken on the American education system and its deficiencies.
Although praised by many, the film has also drawn criticism for its overzealous advocacy of charter schools, its assumed support of former DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and also for its critical portrayal of national teachers’ unions in general.
Ianelli, a 3rd through 5th grade teacher at Wheatley Education Campus in Northeast, said although she enjoyed the film and thought it addressed many of the salient issues affecting education, there were a few topics that could have received more attention.
“One thing that I wish was addressed was special education; it wasn’t addressed at all. A lot of my students have behavior problems and are emotionally disturbed, and so, they would get kicked out of a charter school.”
Charter schools vary, but they usually have more control over their classrooms than traditional public schools. Most limit their enrollment and hold higher standards for their staff and students. As a result, many charter schools have been awarded for their excellence in teaching and for student achievement.
Sarah Campbell, one of Tuesday’s panelists and Chief Academic Officer of KIPP DC, a network of award-winning charter schools in the District, said two things really make a difference at KIPP schools.
“I think why KIPP kids are successful is, one, more time. We’re in school longer; our school days go from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. We have Saturday school, summer school, and more time matters,” she said. “The second reason is our ability to hire great talent. We have amazing teachers. Last year, at KIPP DC, we had 3,000 applicants for 80 spots for teachers alone. So, we’re able to attract great people, reward great people, and help them develop to be even better.”
Despite skepticism from critics regarding the overall viewpoint of the movie, including its support of charter schools, Waiting for “Superman” brings up a plethora of valid points, providing a unique lens into the education system’s shortcomings.
“For generations, experts tended to blame failing schools on failing neighborhoods. But reformers have begun to believe the opposite—that the problems of failing neighborhoods might be blamed on failing schools,” said the film’s narrator.
Not only does the film attempt to debunk long-standing stereotypes about the educational system as a whole, it also speaks to specific problems such as public school financing.
In the past, many reformers, politicians, educators, and parents were under the impression that, if only more money flowed into the education system, students’ education would improve. But, the film’s narrator suggests otherwise. Money is only one of the issues affecting the quality of education, he says.
“Since 1971, educational spending in the U.S. has grown from $4,300 to more than $9,000 per student and that’s adjusted for inflation. So, we have doubled what we have spent on each child, but double the money is worth it if we’re producing better results—unfortunately we’re not. Since 1971, reading scores have flatlined, and math is no better.”
Waiting for “Superman” pokes fun at past attempts to reform the education system, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which claims that every child in the U.S. should test on grade level in reading and math by 2014. The narrator suggests that children are not even close to the 100 percent proficiency rate that was promised by politicians.
“In Alabama only 18% of 8th graders are proficient in math. In next door Mississippi, it’s only 14%. And, it’s not just southern states: New Jersey 40%; Connecticut 35%, New York 30%, Arizona 26%. And, in California, just 24% of 8th graders are proficient in Math. When 8th graders were tested in reading most scored between 20 and 35 percent of grade level. The worst scores for reading are in Washington D.C. our nation’s capital,” he said.
Although the film seems to blast DCPS, stating that “It’s the worst possible example of public schooling in the United States,” it also exposes the deficiencies of several other school systems across the nation.
Waiting for “Superman” focuses special attention on high schools that have been labeled “dropout factories” (high schools where the class size shrinks 40 percent or more by senior year), a phrase coined by Dr. Robert Balfanz, an Associate Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
One of the most flagrant examples of a dropout factory exposed in the film is Locke High School in Los Angeles. “Between 9th and 10th grade at this school, they go from 1,200 freshmen to 300 to 400 sophomores. So, we lose 800 kids between 9th and 10th grade,” said Steve Barr, an education reformer at Locke, interviewed in the film.
Critics of the educational system have long drawn parallels between education level and crime rates. Waiting for “Superman” has its own take on this age-old controversy, arguing that money being pumped into correctional systems could be better spent on education.
“Sixty-eight percent of inmates in Pennsylvania are high school dropouts. The state spent $33,000 a year on each prisoner, which makes the total cost of the average prison term $132,000. The average private school costs $8,300 a year. So, for the same amount, we could have sent a prison inmate to private school from kindergarten to 12th grade and still had over $24,000 left for college.”
Washington D.C. has been at the low-end of student achievement for some time, but Swinburn said things are starting to shift in a positive direction.
“One thing that I think is remarkably exciting and also incredibly humbling is that Washington D.C. Public Schools used to be the lowest performing urban school district in the country as of just four years ago, according to the national assessment of educational progress. In the most recent round of the national assessment of educational progress, D.C. made gains.”
“D.C. actually made the greatest gains of any urban school district in the country. I think we can all be excited. D.C. is beating Detroit. But, D.C. is only beating Detroit,” Swinburn said and then laughed. “So, we have a long way to go. That said, DCPS has seen double digit gains over the last three plus years.”
“They have seen particularly strong growth at the high schools—and there are particular schools that are some really shining stars. So, there are places where children can feel like they’re in the temple of learning that a school should be.”
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Improv Strip Block – A Tutorial
This morning I was looking around at the unfinished projects in my sewing room, trying to figure out what to work on next. Then my eyes settled on the Kaffe Fassett stripes I bought at the quilt show in Cincinnati and I thought, why not start something new? They are really so beautiful, it’s amazing I haven’t cut into them until now.
I thought I would share my process for making the above block. It is improvisational and hopefully you will find it quite simple to make. I am using fat quarters for this project, but really this would work using strips of scraps as well. Just make sure your scrap strips are at least 12.5″ long.
Step 1. Select your fabric and cut it into strips of random widths. I cut 2″ to 3.5″ stripes.
Step 2. Randomly sew 2 to 3 strips together lengthwise. The resulting rectangles should be at least 5″ wide.
Step 3. Cut a 3.5″ x 3.5″ square for the center of your block. Select 4 strips from Step 2. From these strips, cut 2 pieces 3.5″ x 5″ and 2 pieces 5″ x 12.5″.
Step 4. Sew the 3.5″ x 5″ rectangles to the top and bottom of the center square.
Step 5. Sew the 5″ x 12.5″ rectangles to the left and right of the block.
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10 operating systems the world left behind
- — 03 April, 2009 09:02
BeOS, a multithreaded, media-friendly operating system, could run multiple videos without a stutter or crash on its original BeBox hardware and on the PowerPC and Pentium platforms. Shown here: two views of the BeOS 5 Personal Edition desktop.
That is, except in one way that was impossible to ignore: It was the power behind the America Online client. Every time you installed one of those free trial floppy disks, you were in front of GEOS.
In that capacity, the operating system took desktops by storm, but only until Steve Case's crew jumped on the Windows and Mac OS bandwagon. GEOS meandered onto handheld computers and mobile phones and then dropped off the personal computing map in the early 1990s.
Or so we thought. But GEOS never quite went away. It popped up in the education market in 1996 under the name NewDeal (discontinued around the turn of the century), and again at its current owner Breadbox Computer, which is touting it as a way to leverage the potential of old hardware. It seems you just can't keep a good OS down.
Ahead Warp Factor 3
In any discussion of operating systems, it's easy to overlook the fact that beneath the icons, menus and graphics, operating systems are basically there to run programs on hardware. In that respect, OS/2 was an operating system to be reckoned with.
Did you want to run several DOS programs at once? A couple of Windows apps? One of the small but perfectly formed band of OS/2 apps? And did you want to do that on early 1990s hardware without seeing a Blue Screen of Death? Well, IBM had you covered.
Yes, considering it began life as the child of an uneasy marriage between IBM and Microsoft, OS/2 was pretty stable and well adjusted. Born in 1987, the young OS didn't lose its cool even in 1995, when its spoiled half-brother, Windows 95, came along and got all the attention.
By that time, OS/2 Warp 3 was plugging along nicely, gaining ground in large and stable industries like banking, insurance and telecommunications. It powered tens of thousands of ATMs across the world throughout the 1990s and well into the new millennium. It kept accounting and auditing companies running.
But somehow, it failed to create a buzz among consumer-level software developers. They were spitting out Windows programs, which OS/2 Warp ran like a pro, but many people failed to see the advantage of getting Warp when Windows was pre-installed on their PCs.
OS/2 soldiered valiantly on until IBM pulled the plug at the end of 2001 and withdrew support five years later. We may not see it at work when we pull cash out of the money machines anymore, but those of us who liked it still have the box on our shelves for old time's sake.
By 1989, the brave new world of windows, icons and menus was getting a bit stale. Then Steve Jobs came along with the NeXT Computer, and we took a collective intake of breath so deep that our ears popped from the loss of air pressure.
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Scrivener exists, in part, to put manuscripts into standard manuscript format. The # mark it uses as the default section break is, frankly, a little puzzling to me. (Apparently this is standard for SFWA format, see the comments.)
Manuscripts in any variant of standard manuscript format will separate sections by either an empty line or three asterisks. However, when these fall at the end or the beginning of a page, they're easy to miss, so writers will often use lines of asterisks or similar symbols. Scrivener's default pound sign is fine for this purpose.
Leave the symbols and lines to the graphic designers. You're a writer, and you should worry about the words, not the design. Using lines of dashes in the manuscript, particularly when they're of random length, comes across to me as, frankly, slightly amateurish. But whatever you use to separate sections should be consistent throughout the manuscript.
Re-reading this question, I'm guessing that, since you're concerned with readers, this may be a situation such as an e-book or web publication, where manuscript format is irrelevant. If that's the case, it doesn't matter what you use, but I do suggest picking a simple marker such as three asterisks or bullets and centering them in the space in-between sections. With web publications and ebooks, you have no way of knowing how the text will hyphenate, so simply using white space in-between sections may not be the clearest way of breaking up sections.
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Brennan, Carol and Ritch, Elaine (2010) Capturing the voice of older consumers in relation to financial products and services. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 34 (2). pp. 212-218. ISSN 14706423
|PDF - Repository staff only - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader|
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2009.00831.x
The purpose of this pilot study was to focus on the suitability of selected financial products for older people. Bank accounts and equity release products were selected for this study by an expert advisory panel. New marketing initiatives are being used to promote bank accounts, including forms of insurance, for the ‘50+’ market. Also, older people are now expected to provide for their retirement and it is anticipated that equity release will be one product which may be used to fund and maintain consumer lifestyles. In the first phase of the study, a questionnaire was distributed to 152 people aged over 50 years in Scotland. Eighty-three were completed, a response rate of 55%. The results informed the development of questions for the second phase which were discussed with 46 participants via the World Café in June 2008, enabling a deeper insight into their opinions. The research found that consumers had lost trust in financial product and service providers because of the perceived excessive profits of banks and lack of customer service. Further, many products and services were prohibited for or incurred extra costs to those aged over 60 or 65 years, leaving limited choices, and equity release products were seen as a last resort for those in financial difficulty. Although the profitability of banks has changed dramatically since the completion of data collection, the issues identified by older consumers in Scotland will be of international interest. The demographic changes resulting in an increasing proportion of elderly people in the population are reflected throughout the UK and many Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Similar financial products and services, which were the focus of this study, are promoted internationally, offering opportunities to replicate the research methods.
|Uncontrolled Keywords:||Ageing population, equity release, financial products, World Café|
|Deposited On:||02 Feb 2010 09:31|
|Last Modified:||06 Oct 2012 08:49|
Repository Staff Only: item control page
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Libya: Separating grain from chaff Part I
Most Filipinos generally lack information as well as interest in the countries of North Africa. But in time Libya, a country rich in oil resources and ruled by Moammar Kaddafi, has become a favored destination for migrant workers because of the relative ease in securing well-paid work there and eventually as a springboard for moving to Italy and other European countries where even better economic opportunities hopefully lie.
In the past month, when armed clashes between loyalist and anti-government forces threatened to develop into a full blown civil war, the face of that war to Filipinos was still that of thousands of overseas Filipino workers caught in the crossfire. With no defenses and nowhere to turn (one OFW sent a video showing embassy officials abandoning their posts), they desperately tried to get out, literally crossing the vast Libyan desert with only their clothes on their back.
But they faced the bleak prospect of finding themselves poor and jobless once more back in the Philippines, a fate they had tried escaping by working in a far away country and a culturally unfamiliar society.
The little that was reported on about the fighting between the pro- and anti-Kaddafi forces centered on alleged excessive force inflicted by government forces on unarmed protesters turned armed insurgents; the quick victories by the rebels in capturing Benghazi (the second largest city in Libya north of the country’s richest oil fields as well as close to most of its oil and gas pipelines, refineries and its LNG port) and several other towns east and west of the capital, Tripoli; and the establishment of a “transition government” which France and Portugal immediately recognized as the legitimate government of Libya.
Local mass media outlets have depended almost entirely on reports by international wire agencies about what is going on inside Libya. Most of these have been sketchy, relying on unattributed sources such as purported “witnesses” and unnamed “rebels” who were obviously biased against the Libyan government.
The US and its European allies were quick to condemn Kaddafi and called on him to step down, imposed travel and asset sanctions, poised their warships for an attack on Libya, and are now working for the enforcement of a “no-fly zone” over Libya, all under the pretext of “international humanitarian intervention”.
Critical voices that questioned the demonization of Kaddafi and the legitimacy, popularity and strength of the anti-Kaddafi forces (particularly the pro-monarchy National Front for the Salvation of Libya) in representing the demands and aspirations of the Libyan people have been drowned out by the chorus of Western governments, Arab leaders and pseudo-expert political analysts hostile to Kaddafi.
But even the Western-dominated global media, the United Nations Security Council and the Pentagon concede that not enough is known about what is really happening on the ground. For the moment, this is one big factor that has forestalled any overt and drastic military intervention by the US-NATO such as the “no-fly zone”, even as US and British Special Forces and covert intelligence agents that serve as advance units are confirmed to be already operating inside Libyan territory.
In the last few days reports filtering out of Libya indicate that the Kaddafi government has regained the initiative, pushing back the rebels from important captured towns and controlling not just Tripoli but large swathes of the country as well.
It is conceded that Kaddafi’s loyalist forces are composed of well-trained and better-equipped soldiers with the advantage of fire-power from warships and an air force that his opponents lack.
What is slowly becoming clearer is that Kaddafi’s staying power can not only be attributed to his military prowess but to the continuing support of significant, if not majority, segments of the Libyan populace.
Moreover, while Western media constantly point to so-called black mercenaries, other sources describe these non-Libyan forces as volunteers from African nations and liberation movements that had benefitted from Kadaffi’s well-known acts of solidarity and generosity and were now fighting to defend his government as well as Libyan sovereignty.
Such support provides Kaddafi political legitimacy despite the campaign early on to demonize him before the international public. It lends justification to the increasingly successful military offensives of his loyalist forces as part of the right of the Libyan state to defend itself against an armed rebellion.
Conversely, it would mark any direct US-NATO military intervention as an outright attack on the sovereign will of the Libyan people especially since even anti-Kaddafi forces are divided on whether such intervention would help their cause or serve to undermine it. Even Western media sources have reported that most of the Libyan opposition vehemently oppose it.
But why all of a sudden are these great western powers exhibiting such inordinate concern for the seven million or so Libyans?
Military action to overthrow the Kaddafi government on the pretext of “humanitarian intervention” will not be as easy to explain much less justify. This much the US and its NATO allies are now realizing based on their interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and earlier in the Balkans.
Aside from the truth having been exposed especially with regard to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, questions are raised why these powers were not concerned about the lives lost and the destruction wreaked on Gaza when it was being bombarded by Israel in 2009, or when Palestinian refugees were massacred in Sabra-Shatilla in 1982?
Why are they not as quick to condemn and call for international intervention - diplomatic, economic and military – against the continuing mailed-fist treatment of unarmed protestors in other North African states such as Egypt and Yemen and those in the Middle East such as Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. Bahrain has already declared martial law, killed scores of demonstrators, and has welcomed 1000 elite Saudi Arabian troops to help quell the unrest.
The truth is that as in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US and its NATO allies are jumping at the opportunity presented by the internal strife in Libya to control the latter’s oil resources by deposing Kaddafi and installing a more friendly and pliant regime. Libya has the largest confirmed oil reserves in Africa, three times that of the US and nearly one tenth of the world total.
After Kaddafi nationalized the Libyan oil industry in the 1960s until the 1990s when Kaddafi gave in to Western pressure rather than risk being the next US target after Iraq, the West had only limited access to Libyan oil, and much of the oil revenues were funneled to support Third World liberation movements and revolutionary governments. After Libya accepted the imposition of neoliberal policies on its economy, US and European oil companies such as Chevron, Exxon, Total, British Petroleum and others were allowed to explore and extract oil.
No doubt, these foreign monopolies want more, if not all of Libyan oil and natural gas. They will settle for nothing less than absolute, not partial access and control of these abundant strategic resources. #
Published in Business World
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Wii U tablet controller to offer NFC support
The Wii U's already innovative tablet controller just got a bit more interesting as Nintendo outlined plans to implement NFC (near field communication) technology into the controller. Speaking Thursday night during to investors, Nintendo President Saturo Iwata detailed the latest edition added to the Wii U.
The NFC functionality added will allow the Wii U to communicate and exchange data with other devices, like NFC-enabled phones and credit cards. Adding NFC to the Wii U enables users to create "cards and figurines" that can exchange data with the system, and even enable direct payments.
Though NFC is widely used in Japan, the United States is still getting used to the idea with Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure being one of the first to take full advantage of NFC by embedding the tech into its collectible figurines. As you can see by our spotlight review, it's a feature that is being widely embraced in America - especially by the younger crowd. Currently, only a select few American phones have the tech embedded, but it is expected to become standard in future smartphones.
"By installing this functionality, it will become possible to create cards and figurines that can electronically read and write data via noncontact NFC and to expand the new play format in the video game world," Iwata explained during the investors meeting.
Following the success of Skylanders, Nintendo looks to be following what appears to be a very possible lucrative business model combining toys and video games. And with already established games like Pokemon, Mario, and Zelda, it shouldn't be hard to come out with a popular hybrid toy/game.
Nintendo isn't the only company to do this. EA recently announced they are including DLC for Mass Effect 3 with the video game tie-in figurines. Nintendo is taking it a step further by already integrating this technology into their console. Both innovative and smart.
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The moral equivalence crowd, the one that says all cultures are created equal, except that non-Western cultures are better than others, is going to have to pretzel itself severely to deal with this one:
Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The Times has learnt.
Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay youths were being hanged.
President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in New York two months ago about the executions, dodged the issue by suggesting that there were no gays in his country.
[Some examples of] Sharia’s victims
— Homosexuals Farbod Mostaar and Ahmad Chooka sentenced to death. Iran said Chooka had kidnapped, knifed and raped a student
— A woman called Soghra was sentenced to stoning for adultery and being an accomplice to her husband’s murder
— Two men executed in public after being found guilty of a homosexual relationship. A newspaper said they were convicted of sodomy, rape and kidnapping
— Zhila Izadi, 13, sentenced to stoning after becoming pregnant with her brother’s child
— Malek Ghorbany sentenced to stoning for adultery
— Leila Qomi sentenced to stoning for adultery and assisting a man who killed her husband. He received 100 lashes
— Jafar Kiana stoned for adultery. His female lover Mokarrameh Ebrahimi sentenced to the same fate
Right now, even faced with this stark admission about Iran’s genocidal approach towards homosexuals, the multi-culti governments in Europe are in denial. Even as England is happy to ban Israelis who note, accurately, that Muslims are out to kill Israelis, and to welcome terrorists with open arms, and even as Holland is sending into hiding yet another person who has offended Islam, both England and Holland are working hard to send a teenager back to Iran, where it is almost certain that he will be hanged, as his gay friend and compatriot was last year:
A gay teenager who faces being hanged if sent back to Iran is a step closer to being forced to return today, after the Netherlands followed Britain in refusing his appeal for asylum.
Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2005 but says he later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged.
He claimed asylum in Britain, saying that he feared for his life if he returned. However, his case was refused late last year, so he fled to the Netherlands.
A Dutch court today, however, ordered him to return to Britain, leaving the teenager once again facing deportation.
According to Iranian human rights campaigners, more than 4,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979.
Borg Palm, his lawyer, said today that the Dutch court had ruled he could only claim asylum in the UK – but that it was not “totally sure” he would be forced to return to Britain immediately as a European court could temporarily halt the move.
The British and Dutch stance is not surprising. In the world of cognitive dissonance, if you’ve hung your hat on the multi-culti tree, and proudly proclaimed that “they are just like us, only better,” then the fact that contradictory information comes along showing that they are not just like us but are, in fact, cruel and bestial, must be disregarded — and damn the consequences for the innocent.
Multiculturalism — you’ve got to love it, since it takes false facts and erroneous principles, and out of all those falsities manages to create real death and pain.Email This Post To A Friend
6 Responses to “Something for the multi-culti crowd to chew on”
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http://www.bookwormroom.com/2008/03/11/something-for-the-multi-culti-crowd-to-chew-on/
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Here I’m not talking about the legal ethics you studied in class, although for attorneys the rules governing their professional conduct are often referred to as “Rules of Professional Conduct.” Certainly every attorney will want you to know, respect and apply the rules of legal ethics demanded of them by the court or other body that supervises and disciplines them as professionals. They will require you do to so even if they are not naturally inclined towards following them simply to avoid discipline. Most attorneys are aware that they are responsible for what their staff does even if they do not understand the particular role of a paralegal and their special obligation to supervise paralegals.
What you need to show your attorney is not only that you understand the ethical requirements of the legal profession, but that you have and follow a personal ethic that raises you to the level of a professional. Now I am not suggesting that non-professionals are not ethical or never have to make ethical choices. My remarks are made in the context of our discussion of you as a paralegal having or wanting more responsibility – responsibility reserved to professionals as a result of their specialized knowledge and experience. With that responsibility comes more opportunity for non-ethical choices and an higher expectation for ethical behavior.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://theempoweredparalegal.com/?m=200907
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The number of total knee replacement
surgeries has soared 161.5% among Medicare participants over the past 20
years, a $5 billion annual tab that will continue to grow as the USA's
77 million Baby Boomers age, according to a large study out today.
wider use of knee replacement, on one hand, is good news for the
rapidly aging population. But while knee surgery eases pain from severe
arthritis and improves quality of life, the improvements "can be viewed
as another strain on government, individuals,and businesses struggling
with unremitting growth in health care costs,'' the authors report in
the Journal of the American Medical Association.
are living longer and want to be active," says lead author Peter Cram.
"They feel great after this surgery. They can hike in the mountains and
ski. They can be active with their grandchildren." The challenges, he
adds, are how to address post-surgery problems that can develop from
shorter hospital stays and in patients with other conditions such as
diabetes and obesity, and how to ensure doctors are not overusing a
"highly reimbursed procedure."
A knee replacement costs Medicare
about $15,000, costs that would be higher, the authors find, had
Medicare not taken cost-lowering measures of shortening hospital stays
and relocating many rehabilitations from in-patient clinics into the
patients' homes. However, those strategies can lead to problems down the
road for some patients and add costs and longer recovery times.
study is the first to evaluate trends and outcomes linked to total knee
replacement, the authors write, and includes a breakdown of expensive
factors that can lead to rehospitalizations and additional surgeries.
1991 to 2010, 3.27 million patients ages 65 and older had total knee
replacements and 318,563 had knee revisions, additional surgery to fix
problems. The researchers found the number of primary replacements among
Medicare patients increased from 93,230 in 1991 to 243,802 in 2010 (an
increase of 161.5%). The number of revisions increased from 9,650 to
19,871. Total knee replacement surgeries increased 99.2% (31.2
procedures per 10,000 Medicare enrollees in 1991 to 62.1 procedures per
10,000 in 2010.)
"We not only have more people
aging than we did 20 years ago, but we have more of these surgeries
being performed,'' says Cram, a physician at the University of Iowa
Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City.
During the same time
period, length of hospital stay decreased from 7.9 days to 3.5 days for
total knee replacement and from 8.9 to five days for revisions. However,
re-admissions have increased slightly for total knee replacements but
have increased more than 100% for revisions.
"Revisions are a
much more complicated surgery,'' says Cram, "and we need to be thinking
more about which patients are suited for them and which ones aren't."
an accompanying editorial, the authors say the yearly demand for total
knee replacements could be as high as 3.48 million procedures by 2030
and can potentially "decrease the allocation of health care resources
used by patients."
Yet the surgeries also "will be a driver of
health care costs,'' and steps need to be taken to address "predisposing
modifiable factors such as obesity and to advance efforts at early
intervention strategies to treat mild arthritis and to prevent
progression'' requiring surgery.
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http://www.firstcoastnews.com/rss/article/275474/10/Knee-replacements-on-the-increase-among-older-adults
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A wearable camera designed to take a picture every 30 seconds, to allow owners to record their daily lives, has become the latest technogical hit on Kickstarter, the "crowd funding" website.
So far, Memoto, billed as "the world's smallest wearbale camera" has attracted more than $44,000 of its $50,000 funding target from more than 250 gadget fans keen to capture a digital record of their entire lives .
The tiny device is designed to be clipped to clothes or worn on a necklace. As well as a five megapixel digital camera, it will feature a GPS chip to keep track of owners' locations and automatically log and organise pictures via a specially-created iPhone and Android apps. Memoto claims the battery will last two days.
"Many fantastic and special moments become blurred together after a while and it feels like life just rushes by, too fast for us to grasp," said the Swedish start-up behind the project.
"We at Memoto wanted to find a way to relive more of our lives in the future - and enjoy the present as it happens."
Memoto describes the project as "lifelogging" technology and plans to ship its first finished cameras in February next year.
It is part of a trend dubbed the "Quantified Self Movement", proponents of which aim to record as much data as possible about their lives. They have adopted other products including the Nike+ FuelBand and Fitbit tracker, both of which keep tabs on wearers' exercise patterns, as well as smartphone apps to track heart rate other health data.
"The camera and the app work together to give you pictures of every single moment of your life, complete with information on when you took it and where you were," said Memoto. "This means that you can revisit any moment of your past."
The apps the firm is developing are designed to help deal with the glut of images the capture will take by helping organise them and pick out interesting moments.
"The way this works is that the photos are organized into groups of "moments" on a timeline," said Memote.
"On the timeline, you're presented with keyframes (about 30 per day) each representing one moment. You can tap a moment to relive it in a stop-motion like video of all the pictures in that moment."
"This enables you to not only browse your life the way you remember it, but to search for specific events of your life: who was it that you met at that party or what did the sunset looked like in Lapland in June?"
Critics of the Quantified Self Movement argue that, as well as being narcissistic, it makes people live for technology rather than use technology to help them live. The German writer Juli Zeh reportedly described it as "self-empowerment by self-enslavement".
Others have also raised concerns about privacy, but Memoto said its product would have strict controls and encouraged owners to exerciee restraint.
"If someone asks you not to use your Memoto camera - then please don’t," it said.
"If someone doesn’t explicitly ask you, but you have reason to believe that the place or the context is inappropriate for photographing - then please don’t."
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http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-memoto-the-creepy-wearable-camera-that-takes-a-photo-every-30-seconds-2012-10
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Shared IT provision promises major savings
Universities will be able to save large sums on their IT provision after an investment of £12.5 million in “cloud computing” by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
The money will be spent on two schemes managed by the Joint Information Systems Committee to improve the use of digital technology within higher education.
Cloud computing allows users to access a server or application remotely, meaning that universities will be able to share services rather than individual institutions each having to invest in the technology.
It is already a popular tool for managing student email systems, but universities have yet to make major savings from the technology for other IT needs.
£10 million will be spent on shared infrastructure to create virtual servers, storage and data management for universities. The project will include the creation of a “broker” for the procurement of shared services, which is open to both universities and their commercial suppliers.
A further £2.5 million will be spent on establishing cloud computing services for teaching, learning and research. This will include new technology to help manage research projects from before the allocation of funding through to completion.
David Sweeney, director of research, innovation and skills at Hefce, said: “At a time of pressure on university resources, it is critical that technology is used in a collaborative and cost-effective way, to deliver services that will benefit the sector.
“Cloud computing has the potential to do this in ways that will serve the academic community leading to improvements in research, teaching and administration.”
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar has been suspended for three games after a photo emerged from Saturday's game showing him with a Spanish homophobic slur in his eye black, the substance ballplayers put below their eyes to reduce the sun's glare.
Escobar acknowledged being the author of the message, but was reticent about the underlying meaning of the words.
"It was not something I intended to be offensive," Escobar said through a translator. "It's something I just put on the sticker on my face."
The team said it met with Escobar, Major League Baseball officials and the MLB Players Association and decided the shortstop will be suspended without pay. The salary he forfeits will be donated to the groups You Can Play and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD.)
"The Blue Jays want to reaffirm that discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated," the team said in a statement announcing the suspension.
Escobar said his actions were not intentional or directed at anyone in particular and he wanted to apologize to anyone he offended.
"I don't have anything against homosexuals," Escobar said. "I have friends who are gay. I'd like to ask for the apology of all those who have been offended by this."
Maria Cristina Cuervo, a Spanish professor at the University of Toronto, told Toronto Star columnist Cathal Kelly on Tuesday that the word "is derogatory, but it's not necessarily homophobic," and in some Spanish-speaking countries such as Argentina, it is more of a teasing insult.
Escobar did not say specifically what he thought the words on his eye black meant, but added the phrase was something that's "been said amongst Latinos."
"It's not something meant to be offensive," he said. "For us, it didn't have the significance to the way it's being interpreted right now. It's a word used often with teens."
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en
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By Kenric Ward of the Virginia Watchdog
Renewing charges that the Obama administration is waging a “war on coal,” congressional Republicans are striking back with legislation targeting the Environmental Protection Agency.
Two Alpha Natural Resources miners: a dying breed?
Amid the latest round of mine closures, the gambit highlights a political divide between West Virginia‘s Democratic senators.
The U.S. House is scheduled to take up a bill Thursday that would ease federal regulations and give states more authority over air and water permits.
House Resolution 3409 includes House Resolution 2018, the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act. That measure passed the U.S. House last year with bipartisan support, but has languished in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.
“The heavy-handed regulatory regime championed by this administration and EPA is strangling the economy, driving up energy prices for consumers, and putting people out of work,” said Florida Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica.
Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the new legislation will bar the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and restrict planned EPA rules regarding coal ash disposal and management.
Coal ash is formed when coal is burned in boilers that generate steam for power generation and industrial applications, according to the EPA.
The measure also will limit the EPA’s ability to veto Army Corps of Engineers‘ dredge-and-fill permits, if the EPA has approved them unless the state agrees with the veto.
Last year, in an unprecedented action, the EPA revoked one of these Section 404 permits at the Spruce Mine in West Virginia — even though the agency approved it, and the permit conditions had not been violated.
A federal district court judge later overturned the EPA ruling, excoriating the agency for overstepping its authority and using “magical thinking” to justify its action. (Read the decision here.)
“What’s the value of a permit if there’s no certainty whether it will be revoked later for no reason?” Mica asked.
Jim Laurita, president and CEO of the Morgantown, W.Va.-based Mepco Inc. coal mining company, said all manner of environmental permitting has become a nightmare under the Obama EPA.
“Renewals used to take months — now it’s years. This is very troubling for business and unsettling for banks,” Laurita said.
Laurita, chairman of the West Virginia Coal Association, said the EPA has effectively “ignored” states’ rights to participate in environmental programs.
“The EPA is micromanaging. It’s making it more difficult to mine and burn fossil fuels,” he said.
It’s also generating layoffs.
Morgantown-based Alpha Natural Resources announced Tuesday it will shut eight mines in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania, slashing 1,200 jobs.
Earlier, mines in West Virginia and Ohio laid off more than 250 workers, and blamed the White House.
“The failed energy policies of the Obama administration and the ‘war on coal’ that the president and his Democrat supporters have unleashed are the direct causes of this layoff,” Powhatan Mine No. 6 mine general manager Ronald Koontz told the Wheeling, W.Va., Intelligencer. The mine is operated by Ohio Valley Coal Co.
“Unfortunately, for us, this is just the beginning (of) the work force reductions,” Koontz said.
West Virginia’s Democratic senators are split on the House gambit.
Sen. Joe Manchin, who sued the federal government over EPA rules while he was governor, supports the states-rights approach.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller does not. Vincent Morris, a spokesman for the five-term senator, dismissed the House bill as “mostly for political purposes.”
“Is anyone taking it seriously?” Morris asked Virginia Watchdog.
Manchin, who is up for re-election this fall and skipped the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., said, “Achieving true energy independence demands that we not only start realizing the importance that coal has in achieving this goal, it means we must also stop demonizing (it).”
Liberal and environmental groups maintain that the EPA is just doing its job. The leftist Think Progress website posted a blog Tuesday defending the administration. “Since taking office, President Obama has proposed and adopted significant pollution reductions protective enough to safeguard public health as required by the Clean Air Act,” the post stated.
EPA officials did not respond to questions late Tuesday.
Contact Kenric Ward at email@example.com.
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://centralfloridapolitics.com/category/uncategorized/
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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| 0.93474
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| 1.640625
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Improve efficiency and productivity by leveraging your existing data communication infrastructure and the wide acceptance of portable devices such as smartphones and tablets. In many organizations and workflows lots of time is spent to find out the right person with the right skill when needed.
A typical search activity involves several people and phone calls in order to identify the right person that is available at the right time and in the right place. People involved in the search process might be interrupted while performing other tasks, thus increasing inefficiency. A first answer to this problem is “skill search”, anyway, once the list of people matching is provided, all the selection process is generally left to the user again.
Mida Functional Collaboration system is an easy to use yet effective solution that provides skill search functionalities combined with workforce management, presence and instant messaging, thus enabling fast connections between workers, based on their availability, function, skill and optionally also GPS position.
The proposed approach leverages the colaboration features of Microsoft Lync Server, such as istant messaging, voice and video, Lync advanced presence features and the possibility to federate the system with other application servers.
Functional collaboration is applicable to many different vertical sectors and practical implementations include healthcare, public service coordination and enterprise. Tangible cost savings can be easily tracked and documented by evaluating the reduction on time spent by employee on phone calls; management highlights the great benefits of getting less interruptions during the daily life, thus confirming a great increase on organization efficiency provided by the system.
The system can be delivered on premises as a virtual appliance or in case can be placed in the cloud using the Windws Azure infrastructure capabilities.
Functional Collaboration has not been reviewed by any customers.
Submit A Review
The views and opinions submitted and expressed here are not those of Microsoft.
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http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-ZA/applications/functional-collaboration-12884944093
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The director of Media-HRD Press Information Bureau Mamta Verma says that “The five year plan is still in its drafting stage. The two sectors-education and health-will be the focus this year. Under education, implementation of RTE, which had been allocated around rupees two lakh and thirty thousand crore for the last five years, will be a priority. This means, approximately around Rs.45 to 50,000 crore will be spent on its implementation annually, which is a big amount and has to be substantiated”.
There are lots of major challenges that RTE has to face. The concern for RTE is understandable, according to the annual Status of Education Report(Rural) 2011, private school enrollment is increasing in most of the states despite RTE. Since RTE came into force in 2010, the two major obstacles have been availability of teachers and setting up of neighbourhood schools. There is a shortage of nearly five lakh teachers while about three lakh teachers, teaching at the elementary level, are untrained.
As the the road-map of RTE, neighbourhood schools are to be established and improved infrastructure to be ensured as per the pupil-teacher ratio (one teacher: 30 students)- both by March 2013. The provision for training untrained teachers is to be met by 2015. According to the annual report 2010-11 (MHRD), the provisions of RTE are being implemented through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
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http://education.oneindia.in/news/2012/03/06/a-prime-focus-on-the-12th-five-year-plan-of-rte.html
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en
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OLR Bill Analysis
AN ACT CONCERNING AUTOMOTIVE GLASS WORK.
This bill requires insurance companies and related entities to inform insureds of their right to choose where to have their automotive glass work done. It prohibits vehicle physical damage appraisers from requiring or prohibiting that such works to be done in a specified facility or repair shop.
The bill bars insurance companies and their third-party claims administrators from providing an insured with the name of a glass shop with which they are affiliated or directing the insured to this shop, unless they provide the insured with the names of other shops in the area where the vehicle will be repaired. The insurance company or its third-party claims administrator may refer the insured to an Internet list of their approved glass repair shops in the state.
The bill makes related minor and technical changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2012
AUTOMOTIVE GLASS WORK
By law, insurance companies doing business in the state and their agents and adjusters may not require their insureds to use a specific person for glass replacement, glass repair services, or glass products. They may not state that using a repair shop that does not participate in a program established by the insurance company may (1) delay the repair or (2) mean that the work will not be guaranteed. The bill extends the latter provisions to glass work and glass repair shops.
The bill requires that, if there is oral communication between an insurance company or its third-party claims administrator and an insured regarding vehicle glass replacement, glass repair services, or glass products, in the initial contact with the insured, the company or third-party claims administrator must tell the insured: “You have the right to choose the licensed glass shop where the damage to your motor vehicle will be repaired. If you have a preference, please tell us now to assist us in processing your claim. ”
By law, vehicle insurance cards must contain a notice in capital and boldface type informing the insured that he or she has the right to choose the licensed repair shop where vehicle damage will be repaired. The bill requires that this notice also refer to glass shops.
Insurance and Real Estate Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
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<urn:uuid:800ecc67-02f9-497a-827f-1fff9adc9a54>
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http://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/ba/2012HB-05231-R000097-BA.htm
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| 0.942994
| 448
| 1.804688
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HHS grads concerned, but optimistic about futureThe 2010 Hudson High School graduating class of 426 is the largest ever and the first since the U.S. economy took its worst turn since the Depression.
By: Meg Heaton, Hudson Star-Observer
The 2010 Hudson High School graduating class of 426 is the largest ever and the first since the U.S. economy took its worst turn since the Depression.
But the eight graduates interviewed by the Star-Observer aren’t focusing on the negative. They have plans that take them from large universities and community colleges to Marine Corps basic training to studying abroad.
Gina Schultz, 18, transferred to Hudson High School her freshman year and “loved it” right from the start.
Transferring from St. Croix Central in Hammond, Hudson was a big city for Schultz and she found it surprisingly easy to make friends and fit in at her new school.
She says the biggest change in her over the last four years has been her maturity level. “When I was younger I was kind of loud and obnoxious. But these past few years I’ve gotten more focused and at the same time more open to new things around me.”
Schultz says the downturn in the economy has had an effect on her and her mother. They have cut down on buying clothes, eating out and entertainment.
“My friends are in the same boat. We don’t go to the movies as much or eat out together. We try to find things that don’t cost money like taking walks or just hanging out with movie nights at home. I wish I could spend more but with college coming up, it’s important to get in the right frame of mind to save.”
Schultz says she isn’t political. The troubled economy has her “a little bit panicked,” she isn’t worried. On the contrary it has “lit a fire underneath” her. She says she plans to work hard and “be successful and make as much money as possible while helping people.”
When asked if she is concerned that healthcare reform will affect that plan, she says no. She believes medical jobs will continue to pay a high wage.
Schultz named science instructor Veronica Ellingson as her favorite teacher at HHS. “I’m not really into science but she made physics fun and gave me a new perspective on the subject. It was never boring and she put a lot of her own personality into the class.
When asked about any advice she would give to underclassmen, she said to be open to new opportunities while at HHS. She has participated in Youth Action Hudson and through that been part of events like the Empty Bowl Dinner and worked to support places like Grace Place and local food shelves.
“It’s important to keep a balance between your school life and your social life. Don’t wait until you are a senior to get involved in things.”
Schultz will attend UW-Madison in the fall. She plans to pursue a medical career, perhaps studying to be a pediatrician. She is the daughter of Shari Schultz of Hudson.
Hillary Parson, 18, is excited to be moving on. Her favorite part of high school has been making memories with her friends but she is ready to make some new ones. She won’t miss “the drama of high school.”
Parson said she has matured over the past four years. “I’ve come out of my shell. I was shy at first around everybody but my family but I’ve made friends who accept me for who I am and that’s a good feeling.” She says too much time is wasted in high school trying to be popular or be liked by “the popular kids.”
Parson said her psychology class with teacher Bob Smith taught her a lot about herself. “It was really interesting and something you could relate to your own life and to others.”
She will attend WITC next fall to study early childhood education and teach in a pre-school before going on for a more advanced degree. She said the current job crisis concerns her and caused her to evaluate what is important to her.
“Do I go for the money or find a career that will make me happy. I think I’d rather enjoy going to work every day than just do something because of the money.”
She said the more immediate problem of the economy has been the lack of after school and summer jobs for her and her friends.
Parson said that the size of HHS has both an up and a down side. She likes that the size of the school has meant the chance to meet lot of different people from different cultures. But it does feel very crowded and makes passing between classes in the allotted time a real challenge.
“The first thing you learn is to walk on the right side down the halls. If you don’t, you will get plowed over.”
Parson believes the school will miss retiring principal Ed Lucas. “He’s been a good principal. He follows the rules but he’s not in your face about it. He’s easy going and is always willing to explain what he does.”
Parson is the daughter of Marguerite Parson and Steve Parson.
Johan Friisoe, 18, will be heading Norway later this year to live with relatives and attend a transition school there with his friend and fellow graduate Eric Anderson. He will be studying Norwegian and continuing his training in ceramics there.
Friisoe said he has enjoyed the increased freedom being a senior has meant. Along with his remaining classes, he has enjoyed his independent study in ceramics with art teacher Nick Lund. “I’ve really liked working with him and the class always is interesting and fun. It’s been an important part of my time here.”
When asked why he likes making pottery, Friisoe said he believes “it harnesses the culture.”
“You can see the influences of the land in the clay from different places like the rocky terrain of Lake Superior or the prairie of Nebraska and then the culture of the place in the design.”
He also enjoyed his advanced placement psychology course with teacher Jason Swavely. “It was a really interesting look at day to day life.”
Friisoe said he is more ambitious now than he was when he started high school, and more shy. He said his confidence grew as he found something he was good at and enjoyed. He also believes travel including a school trip to Paris has changed him and he urges underclassmen to take advantage of any opportunities they can.
Friisoe isn’t sure what he will do following his year in Norway but he may attend UW-River Falls to continue his art studies as well as his interest in political science and psychology. And travel will continue to be on his itinerary.
Friisoe is the son of Linda Emmons and Geir Friisoe.
Marki Turner, 17, isn’t wasting any time getting on with life after high school. She will report for basic training with the U.S. Marine Corps in August.
“I’ve always known I wanted to join the military and the Marines are the elite and best trained. I will probably become a police officer after that.”
Turner said when she started high school she wasn’t interested in working very hard but things have changed. “I’ve grown up a lot in the last couple of years. I was lazy those first years but now that’s all changed. I’m working toward something important to me.”
The death of classmate and friend Luke Zietlow following a car accident two years ago had a big impact on Turner.
“I just realized that if there is something you want to do, you shouldn’t wait or put it off because none of us knows how long we have. And when I do things I like to think I’m also doing them for Luke because he isn’t here to do them for himself.”
She said she has school friends who are skeptical about her post-graduation choice. Petite Turner says that some of her friends think she won’t make it as a Marine.
However, she has another group of friends, fellow recruits including her recruiter, Staff Sgt. Scott Cole, who meet regularly, who fully support her decision. “They are like family to me and give me a big boost.”
Turner said her parents, especially her mother, were not sure about the Marines either. In fact, her mother, who works in the HHS cafeteria, told Turner that she better tell the recruiter he better wear Kevlar the day he came to meet her at the school.
“But he has totally won her over. He explained about the training I would get and where I would serve and she is 100 percent less worried. She brings him cookies now.”
Turner said she is aware that she could end up in Afghanistan in the middle of a war but she isn’t worried. “I believe in the mission there and what we are doing there. I don’t believe they (the Marines) would send me if it wasn’t for a good reason.”
Turner said there are things she will miss about HHS. She has especially enjoyed her senior year and has fond memories of tech ed classes with Aaron Haskins. “I like the hands-on experience of those classes.”
Turner is the daughter of Mark and Lori Turner.
Chas Larson, 18, already misses what he loved most about high school—football.
While he won’t miss getting up early and going to class, he will miss playing with a team of friends.
“I started by playing Booster football and have been doing it ever since. I like playing with a group of guys and being able to hit someone and not get in trouble.”
Larson doesn’t think he will be playing the game when he attends UW-Madison where he plans to major in physical therapy and sports medicine.
One of the best memories of his years at HHS is working with former teammate and alumnus Mike Lugatis. “When I was a sophomore he kind of mentored me and took me under his wing. He got me into the weight room and into lifting. That meant a lot and I’ve tried to do the same for younger guys on the team too.”
Larson named John Amann, the advance placement American history instructor as his favorite teacher. “He made it easy and interesting. He’s a good teacher.”
Larson said the members of the Class of 2010 are a diverse group that includes students interested in art, performance and academics along with sports. “But we all get along and respect each other. I think that’s cool.”
Larson said the economic downturn has affected his ability to find a summer job and has meant his mother’s hours at Andersen Windows have been cut but he believes the worst might be behind us.
“I think we’ll be OK. I’m going to be in college for quite awhile so it should be better by the time I get out. And as people get older they are going to need rehabilitation. That’s good for me.”
He is the son of Charlie and Angie Larson.
Max Malanaphy, 17, will miss the stage at Hudson High School as much as Larson will miss the football field.
Malanaphy’s best memory of his four years at HHS has been on that stage -- this year, as the lead in “Beauty and the Beast,” and as the Scarecrow in “Wizard of Oz,” his first high school play. Along with other HHS productions, Malanaphy has a long list of performances with The Phipps Children’s Theater including another favorite this season as Willy Wonka.
Malanaphy says he has been fortunate to be brought up in household that encouraged creativity. He remembers putting on plays with his sister on a regular basis.
“Performing is what makes my adrenalin flow, what makes me happy. I’ve been lucky to have people around me who have stimulated my interest in the arts and my own creativity.”
Malanaphy says when he saw his first musical he knew it was what he wanted to do. “The actors seemed so free to go over the top. It was like an excuse to go crazy and I wanted to be part of that.”
He knows, however, that his passion and personal style don’t appeal to everyone. “I know there are a lot of people around here who dislike me and who fit in more than I do. But you don’t get places by fitting in.”
Malanaphy says a lot of his peers like to criticize people who look or act differently. While tiresome and sometimes uncomfortable, he doesn’t let it get to him. “There are enough people out there like me, that you don’t feel as alone.”
Malanaphy says he made an effort to “fit in” when he was in elementary and middle school. It was an awkward time for him and he tried being a skate-boarder.
“I did it all – hung out at the parks, dressed the part, did everything to fit in but I grew out of that. It wasn’t me”
Malanaphy’s advice to other students who feel different is to stick it out. “There’s always that time when it feels awkward and uncomfortable but you grow out of it. Don’t put too much thought into making other people happy or comfortable with you. Be who you are and friends will find you.”
In addition to acting, Malanaphy has also found a niche for himself in the HHS choral department. He says choral teachers Andrew Haase and Kari Heisler have been “unendingly supportive.”
“I’m so different from when I started. It is a wonderful program and has done so much for me and other kids.”
What Malanaphy won’t miss about his years at HHS is what he calls the “negative feelings toward me that I experienced in earlier years.”
“That might not change much in college but hopefully people will be a bit more mature and more open. But I’m looking forward to making new friends.”
Malanaphy’s personal experience has led him to go beyond his school and community and become part of the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group that addresses human rights issues.
Come fall, Malanaphy will attend UW-Milwaukee’s School of Fine Arts. He would like a career in musical theater and expects one day to end up on the coasts, where he plans to “audition, audition, audition” and do whatever it takes to have a career he is passionate about. “I don’t want to look around one day and find myself in some cubicle job. That isn’t for me.”
Malanaphy is the son of Maury and Liz Malanaphy.
Adam Cameron, 19, is excited about graduating but will miss some things about his years at HHS.
Cameron has been a member of Peer Helpers, a group of students from all four classes who are chosen by their peers and the staff to act as advocates and mediators for students. The group receives special training and works individually and as a group on campus.
“I really enjoyed being a member of Peer Helpers. It really gave me the chance to know people from different groups in the school and become friends with them.”
Cameron describes the group as a small number of students educated on how to be there for their friends and for any student and to be a resource for them.
“It has been a solid group of friends for me and we’ve stuck together over the years.” He said he will also miss Elizabeth Smith, school counselor and the advisor for Peer Helpers. “She’s always been a good resource for me and she is just awesome.”
As much as his friends mean to him here, Cameron is looking forward to some change. He will attend UW-Stout next year and plans to transfer to UW-Claire for their chemistry department.
Cameron pays attention to politics and the state of the nation. He believes that things are moving in the right direction and he is optimistic about the future.
“And there is something we would all do well to remember in times like this. It doesn’t get you anywhere to blame people for things that have already happened. The only thing we can do is look to the future and try to do better.”
As for his own future, he says while he doesn’t want to worry about money, he also wants to be doing something he likes. “It should never be just about the money.”
Cameron is the son of Chris Cameron and Jeff Cameron.
Maggie O’Brien, 18, has already experienced a life-changing event after her father, Mike, died of cancer just before the start of her senior year.
She started school this fall three weeks late but she says teachers and counselors made her transition back easier than she expected. And with school and her job at the Dairy Queen, she has kept busy.
“Everyone has been very supportive. The counselors were always there for me if I needed to talk or just get away from things and I love where I work and my friends there. It has all helped.”
O’Brien says the loss of her father made her “grow up a lot.” She and her mother have a close relationship. “She is a rock for me but I try to take care of her too. It has brought us closer together.”
O’Brien said she will be glad to graduate on Saturday. She will miss her friends but won’t miss the “busy work” of the last weeks of senior year. That doesn’t include her civics class taught by Jay Kluz.
“I loved that class. We got to kind of work on our own, do our own research and then discuss things in a roundtable. It was nice to have that independence.”
O’Brien said among the happy memories of HHS are those of her involvement with the annual Diversity Days which highlight the diverse cultures of students. “That was a lot of fun and I made friends I wouldn’t have otherwise. I recommend getting involved with that.”
O’Brien said that after her dad passed away, she began to realize how much she took her family for granted and that she wanted to change that.
“I wasn’t close to them before but now – wow, they mean everything. And my friend, Chelsea Solfest, we’ve been friends since middle school. She’s been a rock through everything. It’s kind of a silver lining in something so bad to feel this way. That has surprised me.”
O’Brien will attend Century College in the Twin Cities and hopes to enroll in their radiology program. She expects she will continue to live in Hudson and stay close to her family.
For details about graduation, see the attached story link.
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The Bakersfield College Accreditation Steering Committee (ASC), a standing governance committee, ensures that the accreditation or self-evaluation process is woven into the fabric of college activity with its focus on the improvement of student learning and success. Accreditation, a peer review process by an outside agency, focuses on how our resources and processes support student learning. We use valid data to promote institutional excellence and improvement.
The ASC promotes institutional accountability. The ASC fosters linkages between major planning and budgeting processes. The ASC uses evidence gathered by the college community to identify areas in need of improvement and makes recommendations to the college president and the college community. The ASC encourages collegewide dialogue on student success and communicates its findings to college faculty, staff, and students. The ASC focuses its energies on not only what students are learning but also whether it is the right kind of learning. For example, what difference does an education at Bakersfield College make in our students' lives? What evidence do we have to support our conclusions?
The committee ensures that the entire campus works together to support student growth, success, and development for lifelong learning. Overall, such an on-going self-evaluation effort focusing on student learning improves institutional effectiveness. The data will provide evidence for curriculum reform, planning, resource allocation, organizational leadership, and staff and student development. Ultimately, BC's self-evaluation will identify strengths and successes as well as improve institutional accountability, teaching, services, and learning.
Approved by Accreditation Steering Committee (ASC): February 15, 2011
Approved by Academic Senate: March 16, 2011
Approved by College Council: March 18, 2011
This page was last updated: March 24, 2011
Contact for this page: Nick Strobel
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Learn the foundations of Probabilistic Graphical Models & Bayesian Networks and how to use them as a practical research framework with the BayesiaLab software platform. Join us for this 3-day course, April 10-12, 2013 in San Antontio, TX.Audience: Applied researchers, statisticians, data scientists, data miners, epidemiologists, predictive modelers, econometricians, economists, market researchers, knowledge managers, marketing scientists, students and teachers in related fields.Level: The course will be taught at a beginner level, so no prior knowledge of Bayesian networks is necessary. However, undergraduate-level familiarity with probability theory and statistics is recommended.Objective: Completing the course as a Certified BayesiaLab Analyst and becoming proficient in using Bayesian networks for a broad range of applied research and analytics tasks.SyllabusDr. Lionel Jouffe, who is one of the world's foremost experts on Bayesian networks, will host this 3-day seminar and teach his proven curriculum. The course covers the basics of probabilistic graphical models and introduces BayesiaLab as the software platform for manually modeling and machine-learning Bayesian networks. Participants will learn how to generate Bayesian networks for a wide range of analytics tasks, including:prediction/forecasting diagnosticsclassificationclusteringmissing values imputationwhat-if scenario simulationtarget optimizationSpecial emphasis will be given to observational versus causal inference, which is particularly relevant in the context of Big Data. 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Dr. Jouffe did an admirable job introducing and explaining Bayesian Belief Networks, an area of predictive modeling that is of rapidly increasing importance in many fields. The course adroitly mixed practical applications, case histories, and key concepts and theory, explaining the uses and remarkable power of these models. The approach was always informative and engaging, and included the best set of presentation materials I have encountered in a long time. This is a truly worthwhile course, and it also introduced a remarkable piece of analytical software. I speak as somebody who has given seminars and taught graduate courses for over twenty years; this session definitely deserves the highest praise." - Steven Struhl, Principal at SMS Research Analysis"I enjoyed the training course in Chicago in April 2011. It was very interesting and very well organized. I learned a lot of new things and I got inspired for applications of BayesiaLab in my daily job. Finally the environment: very friendly and productive with the other attendees coming both from business and academic world, a really wonderful “melting pot”. A very exiting experience which I recommend to all people interested in Bayesian networks." - Tommaso Pronunzio, Partner at Ales Market Research (Italy), ESOMAR Representative"I attended this training in Feb 2012 in Orlando. Dr. Jouffe did a great job explaining concepts of Bayesian Belief Networks. The hands-on sessions are extremely interesting. The BayesiaLab software has a lot of functions - you can do anything from correlation analysis to supervised learning algorithms! This tool can be for analysis in any area - ranging from market research to health care. I recommend this training to all people interested in Bayesian networks" - Krithika Bhuvaneshwar, Bioinformatician/Data Manager, Clinical Informatics, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University
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by Adam S. Posen, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Op-ed in Welt am Sonntag
November 6, 2005
© Welt am Sonntag
It seems that no matter who joins Angela Merkel in the Cabinet, the first order of economic business will be fiscal consolidation. Fiscal tightening is not urgently needed on an economic basis because growing public debt is not preventing Germany from making enough investments and its long-term interest rates remain stable and low. Still, fiscal consolidation is probably useful as a signal of the new government’s commitment to reform as well as a contribution to countercyclical fiscal discipline in Europe as the continental economies recover in 2006.
Fiscal consolidation, however, will not be pro-growth, at least not in the near-term. In fact, it will be contractionary. And its long-term impact on German growth will depend importantly on how the fiscal consolidation is structured—if it relies heavily on tax increases without reforming pension and social security benefits, it might actually harm growth in the long-term as much as it helps. No Germans should fool themselves with fantasies of following in the footsteps of Denmark’s 1980s “expansionary consolidation” or the United States’ “Rubinomics” of the 1990s. Germany’s circumstances are fundamentally different and are not conducive to such virtuous cycles from deficit reduction.
Fiscal discipline contributes to growth when it meaningfully reduces interest rates and otherwise raises investment demand in a country. At the same time, fiscal discipline also decreases growth to the extent that it withdraws public sector demand and that withdrawal has impact on private-sector decisions. Small open economies, like Denmark or Ireland, are predisposed to come out ahead on net from fiscal contraction. On the one hand, they are capable of attracting capital inflows from abroad that can be sizable relative to their domestic economy—and their fiscal discipline can increase the credibility of their exchange rate and price stability commitments, and meaningfully reduce the risk to foreigners of investing there. On the other hand, because so much of their domestic demand “leaks” abroad into imports, the multiplier on any fiscal policy they undertake is small, and thus the growth impact of any fiscal contraction is relatively low.
Germany, as the largest economy in Europe and the third largest national economy in the world, faces the opposite situation. Capital flows, in or out, are small relative to the total annual investment in the German economy, so changes in the country’s fiscal position cannot swing much more impact than domestic sentiment alone would. Germany is the bedrock of the euro, and can make it on its own monetary commitment if needed, so there is no currency risk to reduce by fiscal discipline. The multiplier on German fiscal policy is relatively high, given the size of the domestic economy, so the direct contractionary effect from fiscal tightening is higher as well. On net, Germany would come out behind where Denmark would come out ahead.
What about the United States experience? The United States is a large economy, and supposedly its boom of the 1990s was fuelled at least in part by fiscal consolidation. Here again, though, Germany is in a different situation. For fiscal discipline to be expansionary in a large economy, a multi-step cycle is needed: a reduction in deficits must significantly reduce interest rates; the reduction in interest rates must significantly stimulate investment and consumption; and domestic demand growth must lead to sufficiently higher tax revenues to keep interest rates down without the need for further fiscal contraction. Each step in the process requires flexibility and forward-looking behavior in the private-sector, attributes the US economy has (for all its other problems).
These are attributes that the German economy does not share, absent further structural reform. Credit market interest rates in Germany have not varied much with changes in the public deficits, whereas US rates vary greatly on projections of future deficits. Both investment and consumption are less interest sensitive in Germany than in the United States—while this may reflect a prudent reluctance to leverage as much as American businesses and households do, this also limits the growth response to interest rate changes. And tax receipts in Germany are less pro-cyclical than in the United States, in part because capital gains tend to be smaller and play a smaller role in the economy. At each step, Germany cannot and will not duplicate the forces that turned fiscal discipline into growth in the United States.
The final factor to recognize is that most expansionary fiscal consolidations have taken place against a background of monetary ease. A 2003 European Commission study found that more than half the time that developed economies saw growth rise following a fiscal contraction was when monetary policy was loosened simultaneously. Certainly, the Federal Reserve’s expansionary monetary policy in the 1990s had as much to do with the US boom as fiscal discipline. Yet, the European Central Bank clearly is going to be tightening policy over the next year, whatever steps the new German government takes on fiscal discipline.
Chancellor-elect Merkel and her colleagues had better be prepared to see the coming weak recovery in Germany harmed rather than helped by their fiscal consolidation efforts. As a result, they should concentrate their fiscal reforms on those areas that would do the most to enhance growth over the long-term: reducing the Lohnnebenkosten (non-wage labor costs), raising the retirement age, cutting subsidies and tax loopholes that distort business decisions, and breaking the automatic indexation of pensions and benefits to wage growth (instead of inflation). Otherwise, they may burn up their political capital quickly with little to show for it.
Op-ed: Five Myths about the Euro Crisis September 7, 2012
Congressional Testimony: Challenges of Europe's Fourfold Union August 1, 2012
Policy Brief 12-18: The Coming Resolution of the European Crisis: An Update June 2012
Policy Brief 12-20: Why a Breakup of the Euro Area Must Be Avoided: Lessons from Previous Breakups August 2012
Article: Taking the German Recovery Less Seriously July 7, 2007
Policy Brief 10-27: How Europe Can Muddle Through Its Crisis December 2010
Op-ed: Four Questions for the Future Chancellor August 2005
Policy Brief 06-1: The United States Needs German Economic Leadership January 2006
Op-ed: Just a Recovery Is Not Enough August 29, 2005
Working Paper 06-6: Has EMU Had Any Impact on the Degree of Wage Restraint? August 2006
Op-ed: Exportweltmeister, na und? February 8, 2007
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"My jewelry expresses desire, hope, and the power of life through organic plant and ocean forms rendered in simple, geometric, and sophisticated ways."
So Young Park uses various hammering techniques to draw out shapes and movement in sterling silver and 18 karat yellow gold. This direct and immediate method of working creates elegant and unusual forms. She individually solders small metal cup shapes on the hammered surfaces to create tiny grouped elements that work together, much like plant or ocean forms, to express the internal movements found in life.
The artist was born in 1973 and grew up in Ul-San, South Korea. She became interested in the arts at an early age and attended Pusan Art High School, where she studied fine art painting. Afterwards, she attended Kon-Kuk University in Seoul, where she began working in metal. After graduating in 1999, Park moved to the United States to continue her study of metalsmithing. In 2003, Park graduated with a second degree in metal and jewelry design from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Today, the artist exhibits her work nationally and internationally and teaches aspiring jewelry makers at the university level.
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Moody’s Cuts Credit Ratings to 15 Major Banks
Moody’s Investors Service has lowered the ratings of some of the world’s largest banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
The ratings agency said late Thursday that the banks were downgraded because their long-term prospects for profitability and growth are shrinking.
The ratings agency said it was especially concerned about banks with significant capital market activities during a time of increased volatility in markets.
A downgrade usually means that it becomes more costly for banks to raise money by selling debt. Investors demand higher interest for riskier debt, which is what the downgrades represent.
Moody’s had said in February that it was considering downgrading the credit ratings of major banks.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Looks like companies are pulling out of SEZs after the Indian government pruned benefits given to companies locating and operating inside SEZ. Below is a story published in The Economic Times.
But this February, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee pruned some of those benefits to SEZs, leaving entrepreneurs like Sonthalia fretting. "Having already made a significant investment of Rs 200 crore, we couldn't have pulled out," says Sonthalia, vice-chairman & managing director, Sonthalia Group of Companies. Sonthalia represents India Inc's growing disenchantment with SEZs -- the previous government's big idea to drive exports and, in turn, employment and growth.
China was reaping the benefits of such a policy crafted in the eighties and UPA-I felt SEZs could redefine India's status as an exporter. It rolled out a 15-year SEZ plan in 2006. Land on a platter. Speedy approvals. No income tax for five years and concessions for another 10 years. No tax on inputs.
Except after two years, the promises started coming unstuck, like the one on income tax. "We don't know what the government might do next," says Sonthalia. Faced with a harsher business climate and a government that is wavering on SEZ laws, companies are unsure whether they can plan for 15 years. About one-third of companies that held the rights to build an SEZ -- 202 of 583 -- have raised their hands and walked away.
The pace of withdrawals is increasing, with 60 leaving in the past two years alone. These include companies that were looking to set up SEZs for captive purposes (Bata, Dr Reddy's and Essar) or to lease it out (DLF, Omaxe and Unitech). It's no different for tenants. "Most units are evaluating their tax arbitrage before deciding whether to go to an SEZ," says Anshuman Magazine, managing director, CB Richard Ellis, a real estate consultancy.
About one-third of India's exports come from SEZs. Impressive as that headline number is, it is boosted by some migrating exporters -- for example, IT companies moved from software technology parks to SEZs. Further, it hides the skew of just five states and five sectors account for 90% of exports from SEZs. It hides the fact that SEZs are anything but nonurban and manufacturing conclaves, as they were conceived to be.
Of the 583 SEZs the Indian government had approved till October 2011, only 143 were operational. The running SEZs are operating under capacity as well. The government recently changed land acquisition, incentives and taxation provisions. In 2008, the Indian government transferred the responsibility of land acquisition from government to developer itself. In 2009, the government changed the basis of incentives from profits to investments in the draft of the direct tax code (DTC). In 2011, the budget removed income tax exemption for 15-year period and slapped 18.5% minimum alternate tax and 15% dividend distribution tax. Investors argue that once the DTC is enacted, SEZs won't be an attractive option. Why did this happen? It is because of the tussle between two ministries for long-term plan (commerce) and short-term imperatives (finance).
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|Muscoot Farm's Annual Events - 2013
Young Farmers Camp Registration
The first Saturday of February is always registration for Westchester County residents. This program runs in one week session for six weeks and is for children entering grades 1 through 8. For registration procedures and an application please visit our Young Farmers page.
February 24, March 3, 10, 16, 17
Maple Sugarin� Series
Starts the last Sunday in February and runs through mid March. Families are invited to see the process of making maple sugar from beginning to end. Starting with tappin� the farm�s maple trees, to seeing the boiling process and finally enjoying the final product during a pancake breakfast. There is a small fee for the pancake breakfast.
May 12 (Mother's Day)
Begins the second Sunday of May and runs every Sunday, May through October. Local farmers set-up booths at the main entrance of the farm and sell a variety of products including but not limited to: fresh produce, meats, cheese, soaps, candles, honey, maple syrup, flowers, fish, bread, and baked goods. For more information visit our Farmer's Market page.
Every Mother�s Day our sheep get sheared. The public is invited to come and watch as all of our adult sheep get their spring hair cut.
May 26 (Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend)
Meet the Baby Animals
Memorial Day Sunday the public is invited to see our new arrivals up close and personal.
Putnam County Fair
The fair is always a weekend in July. Everyone is invited to see Muscoot�s animals as they travel to the Putnam County Fair Grounds for this weekend of fun. Watch as the Muscoot 4H Gang show the animals they have worked with all spring at the farm.
The Fairy Walk is always a Sunday in August. Families will take an interactive walk through the forest located at the end of our parking lot to discover the fairies who live here at the farm. The day also includes a fairy craft and story. Children are encouraged to dress up like fairies.
October 13 & 14 (Columbus Day Weekend)
Our Pumpkin Pickin� event is always the Sunday and Monday of Columbus Day. Families are invited to come and pick the perfect pumpkin to carve for Halloween, or to use as a fall decoration. Participants have a choice of taking a hayride out back to our pumpkin patch for a small fee of $2 per person, or walking down to our vegetable garden and picking their pumpkin there. The cost of the pumpkins varies, depending on their size.
Autumn Celebration is always the week after our Pumpkin Pickin� event. During this celebration participates can spend the day listening and dancing to a band, watch a blacksmithing demonstration, make origami, visit the antique cars, try their hand at a variety of farm games, decorate a sugar pumpkin, purchase products from our Farmers Market, take a peaceful hayride out to our back fields and more! There is a small fee for: the farm games, decorating a sugar pumpkin and hayride.
Run the Farm
This event is always a Sunday in October. The �Run the Farm� and �Kids Run the Farm� is a friendly 5 mile and 1.1 mile trail race. Pre-registration is required. Please visit the Run the Farm website for more information on this year�s race.
This program is always the last Sunday in October. The Boo Walk is an observation scavenger hunt where children of all ages walk a raked path in the woods trying to find all 31 Halloween objects hidden in the forest. Once completed, all participants are rewarded with a sweet Halloween treat.
Christmas on the Farm
Christmas on the Farm is always a weekend in December before the holidays. The first floor of the main house is decorated with a variety of traditional holiday decorations and a doll house as well as has choir singers, musicians and fresh baked cookies. After visitors have explored the house, they are welcomed to join a staff member for a special tour of the farm at night.
Contact us | View site map
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Strengthen your strategy - get rid of something!
When looking at ways to improve your services or products, it may seem obvious to immediately think - what can we do that is bigger and better? Often, however, for a successful business development strategy the solution can be found in the stuff you don't do.
One of Canada's largest cultural exports, Cirque du Soleil, was created just 20 years ago, and already it is the world's leading circus. Over 40 million people, most of whom had no prior interest in watching circuses, have been to see a Cirque de Soleil performance. What makes Cirque de Soleil's rapid growth and success all the more remarkable is that it was achieved within an industry that was deemed unattractive. The circus industry had been in decline for many years, and most analyses suggested that the potential for growth was very limited. Alternative forms of entertainment became more popular where children wanted Play Stations rather than a visit to watch the travelling circus. To make things worse, there was a growing sentiment from animal rights groups against the use of animals in circuses.
The success of Cirque du Soleil certainly occurred against all odds. And the success was not based on taking customers from the already shrinking demand for the circus industry but on creating an uncontested new market space that made the competition from other circuses irrelevant. It reached out to a completely new group of customers - adults and corporate clients - who were prepared to pay a much higher price. Cirque du Soleil succeed not by fighting against other circuses in the traditional market but instead by reaching out to a completely new audience with a completely new offer - while at the same time staying within the very traditional world of circus. Cirque du Soleil moved away from the "red ocean" coloured by the blood of competitors fighting each other for the same customers and looked to the big, open "blue ocean" of non-customers. A perfect example of "Blue Ocean Strategy"
"Blue Ocean Strategy" - what?
"Blue Ocean Strategy" was originally described by two INSEAD professors, W.Chan Kim and Renée Mauborge in the book "Blue Ocean Strategy: How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant".
In the red ocean, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of existing demand. As the market space gets more and more crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, and the cutthroat competition turns the red ocean bloody. Blue ocean, in contrast, is defined by untapped market space, demand creation, and the opportunity for highly profitable growth. While blue oceans are occasionally created well beyond existing industry boundaries, most are created by expanding existing industry boundaries, as in the example of the Cirque du Soleil. In the blue ocean, competition is irrelevant as the rules of the game are waiting to be set.
"Blue Ocean Strategy" - how?
For much more detailed guidelines on how to develop a Blue Ocean Strategy the book of Kim and Mauborge should be studied, but it basically consist of two steps:
The first step in developing a "Blue Ocean Strategy" is to look at the markets where your organisation is currently active and competing. Try to identify some commonalities that your customers are seeking from you in these markets - are there some common elements that all your customers need? Then think about whom else would be attracted by these common things - someone currently not being approached by you or any of your competitors. This group of non-customers could become your new customers! The second step in developing a Blue Ocean Strategy is to make your offering attractive to these new groups of customers by breaking the value-cost trade off. In order to attract new customers to your events, you need to increase the perceived value and then lower the costs - preferably at the same time! In order to do that you will need work on two fronts:
- to reduce costs you need to eliminate something that new customers don't really care about and reduce other things that are not important to new customers.
- to increase buyer value you need to create new elements to your events and raise the level of other elements that you think will be attractive to new customers.
Cirque du Soleil dramatically reduced costs by eliminating animals in their shows and they reduced the involvement of stars (the "star clown", etc). Both of these things were seen as absolutely fundamental to a circus but they turned out to be irrelevant. At the same time they created theme led shows and multiple rings (to add new elements to circus) and they raised the level of the tent (to make it more attractive and elegant).
What about sport events? What could be eliminated that new customers don't really need and what could be reduced in order to lower price? And what new elements could be created and which existing services could be raised in terms of quality and attractiveness?
"Blue Ocean Strategy" - why?
This way of blue ocean thinking might be very interesting for sports organisations and sport event organisers. Very often sports organisations end up focusing on the same issues and come up with the same suggested solutions: to get more awareness, increase media coverage, raise spectator attendance for the events, make events more spectator and TV friendly, develop stars to attract a wider audience, etc and etc. The same issues and the same suggested solutions arise across different sports and across different events.
The problem here is that all these sports organisations are striving for the same type of spectators, the same media, the same sponsors, etc. The result is an obvious competition in the red ocean. This is basically why the biggest sport, football in most countries, always wins the competition and continues to grow and what is left of the market goes towards specialized sports e.g. F1, golf and tennis and some regionally popular sports like skiing and ice hockey. Are there ways for other sports to gain some market space? Well, what about developing a Blue Ocean Strategy.
The UEFA Champions League is one of the most successful examples of "reinventing" a sports competition. Perhaps the clever people behind the development of the event did not have a "Blue Ocean Strategy" approach in mind at the time, but still: the rule of the champion from each country participating - seen as fundamentals to the event - was eliminated, and at the same time they reduced the involvement and influence of the local organisers by centralizing the organisation of the individual matches.
Both of these changes did cause anger and heated discussions at the time but they turned out to be key drivers in the success of the league. UEFA, at the same time, managed to create something new - a league - with the event changing from a (cup) tournament to a league and they raised the level of every aspect surrounding the event from TV production to branding. As a result of all this, the Champions League has now been able to reach out to football fans all over the world where the previous version was mainly only of interest to the fans of each of the teams playing the individual matches. Intentionally or not - it is pure "Blue Ocean Strategy" in action!
With the development of the Champions League UEFA also became a "first mover" and this is another advantage of using the "Blue Ocean Strategy". Adopting a blue ocean creator's model can sometimes be easy to imagine but it is actually difficult to do. "A first" is always attractive and even though several other sports have now followed the example of UEFA it will take years for the competition to adjust and catch up with up to the new format/concept.
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By Scott Beaulier and Cameron Smith
Special to the Press-Register
Most Alabamians know that the Retirement Systems of Alabama manages Alabama’s state pension funds. But recently the RSA commissioned a study by Dr. M. Keivan Deravi of Auburn University Montgomery to demonstrate the impact of RSA’s investments in Alabama, particularly the “alternative investments” ranging from golf courses to media outlets.
According to Dr. Deravi, the RSA has invested an inflation-adjusted $5.6 billion in Alabama’s economy from 1990 to 2011, and RSA investments in Alabama produced $1.1 billion of additional tax revenue to the state of Alabama over the same time period.
Dr. Deravi contrasts the tax revenues on Alabama investments with the $542 million the RSA would have likely earned on $5.6 billion in bond and equity investments.
Unfortunately, the comparison is misleading. While the $1.1 billion in additional tax revenue benefits the state budget, it should be compared to what RSA’s investment decisions and overall economic performance have cost state budgets.
Since 2003, the state has paid almost $2 billion just to offset RSA’s unfunded liabilities. That amount is in addition to the billions the state pays through regular payroll contributions.
In only eight years, shoring up RSA’s pension accounts has cost the state almost twice as much as Dr. Deravi’s estimated tax benefit over the past 22 years.
Investing in equities and bonds, rather than in projects to increase state tax revenue, would have resulted in income to reduce the unfunded liability Alabama’s citizens are required to offset.
RSA’s website states, “We are the safekeepers of the pensions for thousands of Alabamians and we take our job seriously.” While investments in Alabama are certainly appreciated, they have little to do with “safekeeping” Alabama’s pensions by creating financial solvency for a broken retirement system, which is no longer sustainable in its current form.
The RSA’s choice to invest in programs with a high “social benefit” and the potential to increase tax dollars to Alabama’s budget extends RSA’s mission beyond its critical purpose: maximizing the value of pension contributions and delivering promised benefits to members.
And, given recent increases in state funding to cover RSA’s unfunded liabilities, should the RSA really engage in economic development and tourism support?
Rather than focus on total returns on investments over the past 10-¤and 20-year periods, RSA has asked Dr. Deravi to explore other potential benefits created by RSA’s existence. And when any organization spends billions of dollars, those results are not hard to find.
The RSA’s report by Dr. Deravi is calculated protection against continued reform of Alabama’s state pension policies. At a time of high unemployment and a struggling economy, RSA is claiming that Alabama must have RSA’s “alternative” investments.
But RSA’s study provides Alabamians with only one side of the ledger.
With employees living longer, a track record of poor investment performance, and a system out of step with the retirement options afforded to the average Alabamian, the economic benefits of RSA’s Alabama investments must be weighed against the economic strain created by the pension guarantees.
In a recently released study not funded by RSA, the Alabama Policy Institute makes the case for Alabama to move toward a defined contribution retirement system or a hybrid system like the Federal Employees Retirement System.
If spend-happy politicians in Washington recognized more than 25 years ago that a traditional defined benefit pension was not affordable, it is time Alabama considered other options, too.
Scott Beaulier is executive director of the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University. Cameron Smith is policy director and general counsel for the Alabama Policy Institute. Their email addresses are firstname.lastname@example.org and email@example.com, respectively.
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Recognizing the historic importance of Friendship Cemetery, the State of Arkansas has recently awarded a $1000 grant to begin early work toward restoration and upkeep of the cemetery, including construction of a road to provide easier access to the site. The committee that pursued the grant is made up of Pat Johnson, Jean Oaks, Co. Judge David Jansen, and Cindy Robinett¹,
Established right after the Civil War, the Friendship Cemetery is the largest African American Cemetery in Randolph County and covers five acres. Several former slaves are buried in the cemetery, as are World War I and World War II veterans and many well-remembered citizens of Randolph County.
We hope to use this page for folks to inquire about ancestors connected with Friendship Cemetery. In addition, we offer this page for those who have information and/or photos to share, related to Friendship Cemetery and those buried there. Please send inquiries, information, and photos to us and we’ll post them here on the Friendship Cemetery page.
The Friendship Cemetery Work day was held June 21st.
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- •Contact us
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© The Financial Times Ltd 2013 FT and 'Financial Times' are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
September 2, 2011 10:45 pm
Perhaps you pick the odd mushroom when you are out walking. Maybe you look for horseradish roots by your local rivers, you go blackberrying in the autumn and you break off from sandcastle building to look for wild mussels in Cornwall. Or if you’ve really got into the trend for foraging, you might hunt wild garlic for seasoning or elderflowers to make your own cordial. But I bet you have never picked up seaweed on the beach and taken it home to make crisps. And until a month ago, neither had I.
My family and I spend our summers on a coastal farm in Shetland. There, in the moments between walking, fishing and fighting with the wind, I daydream about self-sufficiency. We’ve got a wind turbine and we’ve also got easy access to plenty of protein (lamb, trout, mackerel, crab, mussels and, if needs be, sea urchins). However, we have no green vegetables.
Lucky then that a friend introduced me to Xa Milne, of Forage Rangers. She took me to Elie, a smart seaside village in Fife with a seaweed-strewn beach; lectured me about the vitamin and medicinal benefits of seaweed (very good for you); and taught me how to identify most of the edible varieties. Then she pushed a copy of her book (Seaweed and Eat It) on to me and offered a few basic instructions on cooking with seaweed. It seemed pretty straightforward. Some seaweeds aren’t great to eat, she said, but none are toxic. You can eat them raw, you can dry them and use them for flavouring, or you can just cook them much as you would anything else green. Simple.
My first foraging trip near home was a disaster. All the local beaches seemed to yield was brown bladder wrack – which is as nasty to eat as it sounds. Then we went to visit friends in the south of the island. There the beach at St Ninian’s Isle proved more productive. We found sea lettuce, two kinds of kelp and a seemingly endless supply of gutweed.
The next day, at low tide, our own beaches showed themselves to be just as forage friendly. Acres of gutweed, more kelp, sea spaghetti, laver (or nori) and pepper dulse. This last type tastes of garlic and pepper (strongly) and is best eaten raw straight off the rocks – which is exactly how we ate it. Gutweed is pretty tasteless but when served raw with a dressing of lemon and soy sauce it wasn’t bad at all. The sea lettuce worked out fairly well, too. I made a mackerel ceviche with fish we had just caught and added the lettuce to the lime and chilli.
But of all my seaweed gastronomic forays, the most popular around our table was nori. In its raw state it looks like torn up bin bags, but dried in the oven on a very low heat and sprinkled on mackerel sashimi, it reminded us of the dinners we had in Tokyo izakayas back in our stockbroking days – even with Colman’s mustard instead of wasabi. It also worked brilliantly in a haddock and mussel chowder and seasoned an utterly delicious crab soup nicely.
However, my absolute favourite seaweed food was kelp crisps, something taken from Edible Seashore by John Wright (part of the River Cottage Handbook series). We found a nice little sugar kelp patch and baked (rather than fried) the harvest. Then I broke it up into crisps and fed it to my guests with a glass of sherry. The foodies among them adored it.
We had some failures, chief among them my sea spaghetti with mussels and garlic butter. Xa had told me I could cook sea spaghetti just as I would normal spaghetti. Not Shetland sea spaghetti as it turns out. It was just too tough to eat. If it hadn’t been for all the time I had spent cleaning the mussels the whole lot would have gone in the bin. But overall the seaweed experiment was a grand success. I now have a whole new food group to work with – and I know where to go if I ever really do need to be self-sufficient. The beach.
‘Seaweed and Eat It: A Family Foraging and Cooking Adventure’ by Fiona Houston and Xa Milne (Virgin); ‘Edible Seashore’ by John Wright (Bloomsbury)
Brown shrimp risotto with dill and sea lettuce
1.2 litres white chicken stock, or vegetable stock
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
250g arborio risotto rice
4tbsp white wine
50g parmesan, finely grated
2tbsp dried crumbled sea lettuce
3tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
150g cooked brown shrimps, peeled
How to process sea lettuce:
Lay out on trays/racks
Dry near warm heat source or if cool overnight.
Ready when crumbles easily.
1. Heat the stock in a saucepan over a low heat until almost simmering.
2. In a heavy based saucepan, melt the butter and lightly fry the shallots and garlic for 3-5 minutes until soft.
3. Add the rice and, stirring continuously, add the white wine. Cook until wine has almost evaporated.
4. Start ladling in the stock only adding more once the previous spoonful has been absorbed. Once the rice is creamy in texture and the rice grains are cooked through (15-20 minutes), add the parmesan, shrimps, sea lettuce and fresh dill. Cook for a further 2 minutes until the cheese has melted and the shrimps are warmed through. Taste for seasoning.
Recipe supplied by www.foragerangers.com
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
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Thousands of elementary, middle and high school students come to Oregon State’s campus every year to participate in dozens of pre-college programs. From 4-H summer programs to journalism workshops and everything in between, the programs not only provide enrichment to young students, but also open their eyes to the possibilities of higher education by introducing them to the campus setting.
For the last year and a half, the Office of Precollege Programs has expanded their administrative umbrella to include nearly 20 programs offered on campus, ranging from large projects such as Saturday Academy to a number of small programs. Because many of the programs run on a shoe-string budget, Assistant Director Kyle Cole says the office can provide everything from background checks for staff to grant writing, to dramatically reduce the overhead each individual program must pay, helping them keep fees low for participants.
In 2009, Precollege Programs was able to use grant money to help pay for staff salaries, freeing up money to support programs that were underfunded due to the state budget crisis. They were also able to use seed money for new projects that focused on graduate and undergraduate service learning.
“We’re trying to create more service learning opportunities for undergraduates to plug into on campus,” Cole said. Working alongside Susie Brubaker-Cole, associate provost of Academic Success and Engagement, and Eric Alexander, director of leadership development, Cole hopes to pair up students with programs that will offer them leadership, communication and teaching skills, while benefiting the young students enrolled in the programs. One example of this push towards service-learning is the Volunteer With Kids workshops, a collaboration between Precollege Programs, the SMILE program, KidSpirit & 4-H, to teach undergraduates how to work with young students, and further develop their leadership skills.
Recently, Precollege Programs was awarded a GEAR UP grant to develop a series of summer programs targeting underserved and first generation students from Sweet Home Junior High hoping to attend college. With last year’s grant, they were able to offer an Ocean Science Camp to seventh graders. They will continue that project this year with the new grant, but add an eighth grade Engineering Camp as well. And as the GEAR UP funding ends, the camps will become part of the regular offerings of Saturday Academy, an existing precollege program.
“The purpose of GEAR UP is to bring students in a cohort from a target school (in this case Sweet Home) to campus for academic enrichment and a taste of college,” Cole said. In addition to the science-based curriculum, students also receive college readiness preparation and experience life on a college campus. During the coming engineering camp, students will learn about their own aptitudes and selecting career paths, and focus on what kinds of classes they should take in high school to prepare for their transition into college.
Currently, Cole, along with other youth outreach program leaders, is hoping to establish a Center for Youth Outreach and Engagement that would provide a centralized point for all youth programs on campus, allowing potential participants and their parents an easier way to learn about the programs available, and make it easier to promote those programs. Precollege Programs has already launched a new Web site that highlights both the programs offered, and the connection between undergraduates on campus and their work with youth outreach service learning opportunities.
Collaboration is key to the success of Precollege Programs. “There is a growing sense that everyone, from faculty working on broader impacts requirements, to the youth that participate in our programs, are better served if we all work more closely together,” said Cole. After receiving funding from the Oregon Engineering Technology Industry Council, the Center for Outreach in Science and Engineering for Youth (COSEY) is offering an engineering camp to rural communities across the state, with the support of the Colleges of Engineering and Science and Precollege Programs. The programs will offer classes on sustainability and green technology to students in eight different locations, from Coos Bay to Ontario, during the summer.
In addition, Dana Beck, coordinator for Precollege Programs, hosts more than 3,000 students and teachers each year for campus field trips. Typically, the field trips involve Oregon middle schoolers, and are about much more than a scenic tour of campus. Beck finds out what subject or area the visitors are interested in, and arranges hands-on activities and behind-the-scenes tours of laboratories and research centers, making sure to include discussions by undergraduate and graduate students as well as professors. They also get to have a meal on campus and stop in at places such as Dixon Recreation Center or one of the cultural centers on campus.
“They get a feel for different aspects of college,” Beck said. “We focus on underrepresented and minority students to plant the seed that higher education is attainable.”
To learn more about Precollege Programs, go to http://oregonstate.edu/precollege/
~ Theresa Hogue
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Last updated on 07-Apr-2012 08:50:05 PM
When I serve and make a 3rd ball topspin, it's kind of in the middle-hard [even though I kind of mastered the FH topspin] because the push off a heavy backspin serve zips a little too fast for what I like. This is true for the no spin, too, but not as much [and I have no idea why it also happens to the no spin]. How can you stop this?
If you like the return coming slower to you, you can try serving with less speed and keeping the ball low This will make it difficult for your opponent to generate much speed with the return. You need to keep it low otherwise they will be able to flick or push fast.
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.
There are at least two sides to every story.
There is the story about the polished, starched-hat-wearing, perhaps even snobbish chef with a refined palate and even more refined technique.
There is the one about the stand-and-stir television chef – that may or may not be professionally trained - who smiles over their pre-measured spices while waxing nostalgic of how grandma used to make it.
Or – there is the “heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices” that Anthony Bourdain so honestly writes about in his restaurant industry memoir, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.
Akin to any industry, chef stereotypes abound - but there are some general misconceptions that Chef Michelle Bernstein wants to clear up.
Five Misconceptions People Have About Chefs: Michelle Bernstein
2. All of us are alcoholics
3. All chefs smoke
4. Chefs have bad tempers
5. Chefs make bad spouses
What is your take on chefs? Agree? Agree to disagree? Tell us in the comments.
Is there someone you'd like to see in the hot seat? Let us know in the comments below and if we agree, we'll do our best to chase 'em down.
From around the web
Next entry »The First Lady's fall harvest
« Previous entryYou can have your designer label and eat it too
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D.C, sixth most 'hipster' region in America
The District is ‘hip’ in more than simply politics, as it was recently ranked one of America’s most ‘hipster’ regions, BuzzFeed writes.
The website ranked top searches for ‘hipster’ by city. The District came out sixth, with Minnesota leading, and New York, home to Williamsburg and the oft-portrayed hipster, falling in second.
The news comes without surprise, considering a night out in the H Street corridor means hipsters clad in too-tight jeans, brogues, and plaid–round glasses shielding their postmodern disdain. Even D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown is jumping on the hipster bike.
READ THE FULL STORY at BuzzFeed
A Hipster is: One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. A Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2 percent body fat.
Would you like to contribute to this story? Join the discussion.
RecommendedRecent Facebook Activity
Best of TBD In case you missed it
Billed as the biggest food truck assembly to ever happen in D.C., "Curbside Cookoff: Trucko De Mayo" took place on Saturday with at least 40 vendors.
TBD Blogs What you need to read
@TBD On Foot
Only On 7
For all the breaking stories happening in your neighborhood and developing stories happening around the world, join Leon Harris and Alison Starling weeknights on ABC7 News at 5 and 11.
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I've done a tiny bit of HTML in the past as well as some C++. It was at school but I didn't go anywhere with it. Now I've been out of work on workers comp for over a year and really looking to start a new career. I've always been interested in development and now I'd like to do something more with it. I'd really like to work from home as I have two young children. I'm looking for help/advice on getting started in the field. I think I'd like to do web development but I'm also looking for somewhere where I can make money. I've signed up for lynda.com and have been doing their HTML tutorial. Any ideas of a good avenue to take would be highly appreciated. Thank you.
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TAROUDANT, MOROCCO.- He had the gift of perceiving reality and translate it onto the canvas, with its lights and shadows, to the extent that many called him "the master of light. Considered the most prestigious Chilean painter alive, Claudio Bravo moved to Southern Morocco 39 years ago, where he died Saturday night at age 74.
Early reports indicated that his death had been caused by an attack of epilepsy, an illness that had been recently detected. But his friend and gallerist, Ana Maria Stagno, who manages the exhibition of his work in Chile, said Bravo suffered two heart attacks that caused his death. "I talked to Bashir, his partner and right hand man in Morocco and he told me that Claudio had arrived from Paris where he had gone to see a cardiologist. These two heart attacks were tremendous, he was taken to hospital in Taroudant, but they could do nothing," said the Director of AMS Marlborough Gallery.
A wake for Bravo was held during the day yesterday at his farm in Taroudant, where he settled in 2008. Today he will be buried in a small museum in his home, where he kept a large collection of Moroccan pottery. "He loved Chile, he liked to come to his villa in the south. Always looking for the best light for painting. He was a workaholic who could paint eight hours straight, " Stagno said.
The second of seven children, Bravo was born in 1936 in Valparaiso, Chile. He attended a Jesuit school in Santiago and briefly studied art in the studio of a local painter. Largely self-taught, at the age of 18 he had his first exhibition in Santiago and became a sought-after portrait painter. He left Chile in 1961 for Europe and eventually settled in Madrid where his portrait painting met with great success. In 1972 he moved to Tangier where he devoted himself to art. He had his first show in New York in 1970 at the Staempfli Gallery, and then joined Marlborough in 1981.
Bravo represented Chile in the 2007 Venice Biennale at the Museo Diocesano. Also in 2007 he had solo shows at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterey, Mexico and Espace Bellevue, Biarritz, France. In 2005, Bravos work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Château de Chenonceau and in 2004 he had an exhibition at the Musée du Monde Arabe, Paris. That show was devoted to subjects Bravo painted relating to the Arab world. Previously, he had been given two retrospectives: the first in 1987-88 at the Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin, which traveled to the Meadows Museum, Dallas, TX, and Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, NC; and the second in 1994 at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile. In 1997 an exhibition devoted to his package paintings was shown at the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL.
His work may be found in the collections of museums around the world including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museo Nacional de Bellas Arte, Santiago, Chile; Museum Boymans-van Beunigen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; and the Rufino Tamayo Museum of International Contemporary Art, Mexico.
In 1996 Bravo received the prestigious Gold Medal of Honor from Casita Maria settlement house of New York, in 2000 he received the Art Miami International Distinguished Artist award. and in 2005 he was inducted into the Pastel Society of Americas Hall of Fame.
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Greek MP returns 'stolen' Golan wine
The deputy prime minister of Greece has sent back to the Israeli Embassy in Athens three bottles of wine given to him as a gift, because they were produced in the Golan, which "belongs to Syria" and is "illegally occupied."Sounds like a scoop, right?
The embassy had given the wine to Theodoros Pangalos - MP for the socialist party PASOK and responsible also for co-ordination of the foreign policy and defense committee in the Greek government - as a gift for the Christmas holidays with the wishes of Israel's ambassador to Greece, Ali Yihiye.
In a letter sent to the embassy with the returned wine, Pangalos said he was taught not to steal and not to accept products of theft.
"I have been taught since I was very young not to steal and not to accept products of theft," he wrote. "So I cannot possibly accept this gift and I must return it back to you.
"As you know, your country occupies illegally the Golan Heights who belong to Syria, according to the international law and numerous decisions of the international community," Pangalos added.
Referring to atrocities that occurred during the Second World War and the Balkan War, the socialist MP said: "Actions such as those of these days of the Israel military in Gaza remind the Greek people of holocausts such as in Kalavrita or Doxato or Distomo and certainly in the ghetto of Warsaw."
While he called for an end to Hamas's terrorist activities, he compared Israel's action in Gaza to Nazi Germany's army.
"I take the opportunity to express my hope that Israel will find security into its internationally recognized borders and the terrorist activities against Israel territory by Hamas or anybody else will be contained and made impossible, but I also hope that your government will cease practicing the policy of collective punishment, which was applied on a mass scale by Hitler and his armies."
When I went to the link on the JPost site, I found it to only report the following:
Article content not available.
Lurker quickly came to the rescue, with the "Google cached" copy of the original JPost article. It's all there.
So what happened? Why did it simply disappear without a trace?
Google is your friend.
I found the story all over the place -- and everyone using the Jerusalem Post as its primary source of the story. Yet digging a bit deeper led to an interesting discovery:
The exact same story appeared on the internet on Dec 31, 2008...
Additionally, the letter which the JPost referred to is as follows (which is also all over the web in the Greek original)
Dec 31, 2008
Dear Mr. Ambassador,
Thank you for the three bottles of wine sent to me as a Christmas gift. I wish you, your family and everyone at the embassy you a Happy New Year. Health and progress to all of you.
Unfortunately I noticed that you sent the wine is produced in the Golan Heights. I have learned since I was too young not to steal and not to accept stolen goods. It is not possible to accept this gift and I have to return it. As you know, your country illegally occupies the Golan Heights, which belong to Syria under international law but also in numerous decisions of the international community.
On this occasion I express my hope that Israel will find security within internationally recognized borders and the terrorist attacks on Israeli territory by Hamas or anyone else will be limited and will cease permanently, but I also hope that your government will stop practicing the policy of collective punishment has been applied on a massive scale of Hitler and the army. Acts such as Is that the days of the Israeli military in Gaza, remind us of holocausts such as those of Kalavrita of Doxato or Distomo and certainly that of the Warsaw ghetto.
With these thoughts, let me express my best wishes to you, the Israeli people and all peoples of our region of the world.Theodoros Pangalos
I also don't know with 100% certainty that this is a spoof story that was going around.
What I do know, is that this "news scoop" of the Jerusalem Post is
Let the reader beware.
UPDATE by Lurker
The site Jameel found, on which Mr. Pangalos' letter appeared last year, seems to be a Greek right-wing nationalist blog. Pangalos, meanwhile, is a leftist socialist, and the blog in question doesn't like him very much. I think that the meaning of the word "fake" that appears there is intended to refer to Pangalos himself, rather than to the story about the nasty letter that Pangalos wrote. I.e., the blogger is saying: Pangalos bragged in his letter that he is a straight and honest person, but actually he is a "fake" and a phony.
In any case, the letter itself seems to be genuine. Pangalos does seem to have actually written and sent it -- but that was over a year ago.
The Jerusalem Post, however, reported the story as though it were fresh, breaking news. (One is reminded of Yori Yanover's suggested slogan for the JTA: "Yesterday's News Tomorrow".) Once can assume that this is why they took it down, once they discovered their embarrassing mistake.
One might have expected that in addition to taking the article down, the JPost would promptly issue a correction. After all, the article went viral, and was linked all over the web: The decent, professional thing would be to provide a clarification for all those who were thus misinformed. But as we've seen in the past, it's generally a mistake to expect too much professionalism from the JPost...
Incidentally, Pangalos' repulsive, antisemitic letter is quite typical for him: He has been excreting this sort of hate rhetoric for years. See, for example, this item from a Simon Wiesenthal Center report on antisemitism in Europe:
Prominent PASOK deputy and former Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos chose Sabbath of Passover to launch an extempore protest march of bipartisan politicians on the Embassy of Israel. Finding the embassy closed, he claimed that "it isn't the Sabbath of Passover in Greece and they should respect the country they’re living in." In full page essay in To Vima (14-4-02), Greece’s largest selling Sunday paper, Pangalos accused Greek Jews of "glaring absence from all demonstrations against the massacre of the Palestinians" and of "silence, apathy or, even worse, solidarity with the Sharon Government." He demanded that Greek Jews unequivocally condemn the Sharon Government and "then, we…will be able to stand by them, without reservation, against all forms of prejudice and attempts at discrimination."A real piece of work, this one. He seems to be the Greek George Galloway. One can't help but wonder what the Israeli Embassy was thinking when they decided to send this rabid antisemite a gift.
Going to Israel?
Now get 2 phones for the price of 1 (and free calls too) with Talk'n'Save.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
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Working with LSU Chancellor Michael Martin, SDMI led the renovation of an LSU facility on South Campus, building the state-of-the-art SDMI Disaster Lab, home of the state’s Louisiana Business Emergency Operations Center, or the LA BEOC. SDMI engaged the private sector and secured support from companies including Entergy Louisiana, Dell, Aruba Networks, Avaya, Polyvision, GoTo Meeting, Frontrow, and Citrix.
The SDMI Disaster Lab, when not activated as the LA BEOC, will serve as a research, simulation, and training facility for the state and the nation’s efforts of advancing and optimizing crisis leadership education for emergency managers and the private sector. The SDMI Disaster Lab’s success as a collaboration between the public and private sectors underscores LSU’s continuing commitment to its mission of engaged research, education and public service.
Louisiana Business Emergency Operations Center Activation
The mission of the LA BEOC, when activated, is to support disaster management in Louisiana by developing an accurate understanding of economic impacts to critical infrastructures and major economic drivers as well as coordinating businesses and volunteer organizations with the public sector. Through the LA BEOC, the State of Louisiana will improve disaster preparedness and response, reduce reliance on FEMA and other federal assistance, maximize business, industry and economic stabilization, and return the business environment to normal operations quickly.
The LA BEOC is both a physical and virtual structure which houses key representatives from the business community along with government counterparts from the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and Louisiana Economic Development (LED). The LA BEOC seats up to 40 business leaders, industry trade associations and organizations across several of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-identified 18 Critical Infrastructure Key Resource sectors, as well as representatives from the Louisiana Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster. When activated, the LA BEOC and its representatives will make recommendations to LED, GOHSEP, and the Unified Command Group.
The LA BEOC was established through an innovative partnership among Louisiana Economic Development, Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute at University of Louisiana at Lafayette and LSU’s Stephenson Disaster Management Institute.The LA BEOC has been recognized by FEMA as a best practice model for public-private partnerships.
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Apple has addressed a major security vulnerability with the latest version of its iOS software. Just released on Thursday afternoon, iOS 5.0.1 was welcomed with open arms by iPhone users plagued by poor battery life. Apple promised that this new build addresses issues causing the lackluster battery performance — though its effectiveness remains in question — and it also addresses a much more serious problem. Security expert Charlie Miller revealed a major security flaw in iOS last week that allowed developers to sneak malicious apps past Apple’s App Store review process. Once installed by an end user, a hacker was able to use the vulnerability to steal data or perform any number of other unauthorized functions. IOS 5.0.1 addresses the vulnerability, Forbes reports, preventing apps from receiving malicious payloads. Apple credits Miller with having discovered the bug — he reported it to Apple nearly a month before going public — though the company has yet to restore his developer account, having banned him from its developer program after he planted an app in the App Store in order to demonstrate the vulnerability. More →
A major security flaw in Apple’s iOS operating system that could allow hackers to remotely gain unauthorized access to an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad has been uncovered by a security expert. Described by Forbes as a “serial Mac hacker,” Accuvant LABS computer security researcher Charlie Miller has uncovered a security flaw that allows hackers to build apps that look legitimate and pass through Apple’s App Store approval process. Using a code-signing vulnerability, however, the malicious apps will automatically connect to a remote server following installation and download new unapproved code that might grant hackers access to system files, personal data and a host of unauthorized functionality. Read on for more. More →
The iPad 2 Smart Cover accessory can be used to gain access to a locked iPad, 9to5 Mac reported on Friday. Here’s how it works: take a locked iPad 2 and hold the power button until the “Slide to Power Off” message appears, and then close the Smart Cover. When you lift the Smart Cover again and tap “Cancel,” the iPad 2 will allow you to access the last application that was open. This could be a big threat for anyone who was accessing contacts, viewing a website or checking email before he or she locked the iPad. The good news is any would-be thief does not have full access to the tablet, only the last application used. The bug has been spotted in iOS 5, although 9to5 Mac said it has also received reports from users noticing the flaw in IOS 4.3. Currently, the best fix for concerned users is to turn off Smart Cover unlocking entirely. A video of a Smart Cover unlocking an iPad 2 follows after the break. More →
HTC has issued a new statement addressing concerns over a security flaw recently discovered on several of its Android-powered smartphones. The vulnerability could allow third-party apps to access and steal private data including SMS messages, contact data, system logs, location information and more. ”HTC takes claims related to the security of our products very seriously. In our ongoing investigation into this recent claim, we have concluded that while this HTC software itself does no harm to customers’ data, there is a vulnerability that could potentially be exploited by a malicious third-party application. A third party malware app exploiting this or any other vulnerability would potentially be acting in violation of civil and criminal laws.” HTC says that it has not yet received any reports of malware exploiting the security flaw, and it recommends using caution when installing or updating applications from untrusted sources until a patch is issued in the near future. HTC’s full statement follows below (emphasis added by HTC). More →
BGR has uncovered a major security flaw on AT&T’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S II that renders Android’s security lock feature completely useless. Using a simple workaround, the security hole allows anyone to bypass the unlock pattern, which normally denies users access to an Android device unless a preset pattern is drawn on a grid of nine dots spread across the device’s lock screen. The same flaw allows users to bypass PIN security as well. We have confirmed that the flaw exists on AT&T’s Galaxy S II and not on Sprint’s Galaxy S II, Epic Touch 4G, though it is currently unclear if other phone models are affected. Hit the break for details on the flaw.
Updated with statement from Samsung. More →
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Oct 11 2012
I recently attended the Wood Solutions fair sponsored by Woodworks.org. It was really good; I wood go again. Cheesy as it may sound, I was really excited about the free seminars… and complimentary lunch. Judging by the number of attendees, I apparently wasn’t the only one enthusiastic to learn about the latest in wood design. The crowd was approximately 50/50 engineers and architects. This also made the event a nice networking opportunity.
The first session that I attended was presented by a representative from Woodworks, an organization sponsored by a conglomeration of wood industry to promote the use of wood as a construction material for multi-family and commercial buildings. The presenter set the stage nicely for the rest of the day by providing an overview of the many new structural wood products now available. This introduction was necessary in order to decode all the acronyms used by the industry, like LVLs – Laminated Veneer Lumber, CLT – Cross Laminated Timber, SIPs – Structural Insulated Panels.
Wood composites, like LVLs and PSLs, aren’t necessary new technologies, but I did learn how similar products have been improved in order to take very heavy loads. Greater load resistance is achieved by using adhesives to create a composite of smaller, high-strength wood strips. I attended one session that profiled several projects in which retail podiums, typically constructed from concrete, were built instead with wood. High performance wood composites were essential to transfer the heavy loads from the residential towers above.
Cross Laminated Timber seems like such an obvious idea that you’ll wonder why it took so long to catch on. These are structural wood panels that can be used for walls, flooring, or roofing. The panels are constructed by joining multiple layers of 1x or 2x boards together in alternating directions. The result is a structural panel that spans two ways, similar to concrete, and can be erected with a crane, very similar to precast concrete. To date, only a couple of CLT buildings have been constructed in the States, but it is growing in popularity in Canada and is widely used in Europe. Builders love the speed at which such CLT buildings can be constructed. One speaker described how a small urban commercial building was erected in less than one week.
Structural Insulated Panels combine the structural qualities of wood with the thermal performance of insulation. These products are at the forefront of energy performance and sustainable design. One speaker even discussed how an organic straw-based insulation could be used in the wood sandwich. The keys to effectively using SIPs include careful installation and proper sealing. If installed properly, SIPs can even achieve the nearly “hermetically sealed” airflow requirements specified by the Passive Haus Institute. However, failure to take due care during erection can result in moisture accumulation within the sandwich. That’s another reason why the solid CLT construction has growing appeal.
I left with the realization that the wood industry now offers many innovative products that make it a competitive design choice for all types of buildings. Wood has many construction advantages including ready availability, contractor familiarity, and quick erection. The renewable nature of the material is also desirable from a sustainability standpoint. I hope to have to opportunity to work with the architects in attendance to construct more wood structures.
No responses yet
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Adopting a name to memorialize the World War II Estrella Army Air Force Base, that which is now Paso Robles Municipal Airport, the Museum was chartered as a not-for-profit California corporation in 1992, and 501(c)3 accreditation soon followed to establish us with the US Departments of Navy and Air Force, as well as the state of California, as an organization approved to receive surplus aircraft and other government properties.
We are dedicated to the restoration and preservation of military aircraft military vehicles and memorabilia to those who flew and worked on military aircraft. Our approach, however, is not to glorify conflict but rather to make a future generation aware of the fact our way of life does not come without sacrifice.
From jeeps, side arms, early year aircraft, fighter jets recently retired from active duty, to antique ambulances, bombardier sites to modern missiles, from one of the earliest pilot's licenses issued by the FAA to unique personal items carried into combat during the previous century, from artifacts of airplanes which made aviation history, to piles of parts destined to end up as pieces of a fully restored vintage aircraft, you will find a unique collection of aircraft and artifacts. Preserving the equipment and the memories of those who came before us while preserving a bit of history, we have dedicated the museum to the men and women who are serving, whom have served, and, or sacrificed their life while in the military.
On July 19th, 2009,
The Estrella WarBirds Museum added a new facility, The Woodland Automobile Display Building, which preserves yet another chapter of history, automobile racing.
Those involved with the Estrella WarBirds Museum have banded together with a common goal of honoring the past, while inspiring the current and future generations. We do not, in any way, want to stray from our previously stated primary mission dedicated to the restoration and preservation of military aircraft, vehicles and memorabilia of those who flew or worked on them. This work will continue, full steam ahead as we add additional aircraft and related memorabilia.
When our men and women come home from military service, most no longer have access to those wonderfully fast screaming, flying machines. Many found those interests fulfilled through the building, modifying or racing of automobiles.
Now, we can add another chapter of preserved history by complimenting those interests (and opening the doors to a younger generation). This is our gift to Paso Robles and the outlying communities. The Woodland Auto Display is filled with classic automobiles, historical racing cars, and unique artifacts from the world of automobile history and racing.
Come on down and check out our growing facility!
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http://ewarbirds.org/
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A revolutionary new treatment for depression has been granted marketing authorisation by the European Commission. The new therapy is said to be able to treat the full spectrum of depressive symptoms.
Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim 's dual action drug gives it a relatively unique profile among marketed drugs, and is expected to present strong competition to Wyeth 's Effexor(venlafaxine). Cymbalta (duloxetine) is a balanced reuptake inhibitor of serotonin and noradrenaline and is effective in treating the emotional and somatic symptoms of depression due to its action on these two key neurotransmitters.
In Europe alone, an estimated 60 million people suffer from depression. More than 40 per cent of those fail to receive any treatment and only 25-35 per cent of patients treated for depression in clinical studies experience remission.
The approval of Cymbalta in the European Union is a major step forward in giving healthcare professionals and patients in all major European countries a long-awaited efficient and well-tolerated new option. The final approval had been widely expected after a positive recommendation from a committee of European scientific experts in September. It has already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last year.
The drug is expected to present a strong challenge to the market position of Effexor (venlafaxine), which has been established in Europe since 1995. However the lack of data comparing Cymbalta with Effexor should favour the latter.
Such is the potency of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors that guidelines were introduced recommending its use and dosage. In December 2004, the UK's National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced restricted prescribing of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and recommended Effexor be prescribed only by specialist psychiatrists.
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Pakistan and the IMF
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reviewed today data revisions and misreporting by Pakistan, along with the authorities' commitment to promptly repurchase SDR18.95 million in outstanding debt to the IMF, and to voluntarily repurchase another SDR 22 million by May 31, 2000.
Following the Executive Board's discussion on Pakistan, Eduardo Aninat, Deputy Managing Director and acting Chairman of the Board, summarized the discussions. Mr. Aninat stated:
"Executive Directors expressed concerns over the misreporting of fiscal data to the IMF between 1997 and 1999. Following their discovery of discrepancies in the fiscal data in late 1999, the authorities informed IMF staff and requested technical assistance to help with the data revision process. In response, a mission from the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department went to Islamabad in January 2000 to assess the magnitude of the discrepancies, and the factors responsible for the discrepancies. As a result of subsequent data revisions, Pakistan's budget deficit for 1997/98 was revised upward by 2 percent of GDP to 7.5 percent of GDP, and the deficit for 1998/99 was raised by 1.4 percent of GDP to 5.9 percent of GDP. The technical assistance mission, with the full cooperation of the authorities, found that the discrepancies had arisen principally in the domestic nonbank financing data, where the amount of sales of National Savings Schemes (NSS) instruments had been erroneously recorded in the fiscal reports. External and domestic bank financing data also required revision. The corresponding adjustments to expenditure data, which have so far only been completed for 1998/99, had been mainly to interest payments--corresponding to the higher-than-previously reported domestic nonbank debt--and defense spending. In addition, some unbudgeted spending was identified.
"In their discussion of the issue, Directors expressed serious concern that the erroneous data had misled IMF staff and the Executive Board about economic performance; prevented the formulation and implementation of timely corrective measures; and resulted in the design of an adjustment program that was partly based on inaccurate information. They also noted that the provision of inaccurate data had allowed Pakistan to make substantial purchases under the extended arrangement and the Compensatory and Contigency Financing Facility, and under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, that otherwise may not have been available.
"Observing that the discrepancies in the fiscal data had been discovered by the current authorities themselves and had immediately been brought to the attention of the IMF staff, Directors commended the current authorities for their prompt and full cooperation with the staff in the data revision process. They noted that the misreporting of fiscal data had in part resulted from negligence in compiling and reconciling the fiscal reports for 1997/98 and 1998/99. In addition, weaknesses in the fiscal accounting, reporting, and audit procedures--including the absence of systematic data reconciliation processes and a mechanism to fully involve the Accountant General Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) in the preparation of fiscal reports--contributed to the discrepancies in the fiscal data.
"Directors emphasized that accurate reporting was crucial in maintaining trust between the IMF and its members, which is fundamental to the work of the IMF as a cooperative institution. Therefore, Directors strongly urged Pakistan to take timely actions to prevent a recurrence of similar problems.
"Nevertheless, Directors welcomed the steps being taken by the authorities with the help of technical assistance from the IMF to strengthen fiscal reporting and to ensure the accurate and timely production of fiscal reports, particularly the recent establishment of the inter-agency Fiscal Monitoring Committee, clear delineation of data compilation and reconciliation responsibilities, and formulation of a new reporting format and procedures. They felt strongly that the credibility of fiscal reports would be enhanced if the AGPR were required to verify the accuracy of the reports. They also urged the authorities to finalize the data reconciliation process for the years prior to 1997/98 before the next Article IV consultation, which is tentatively scheduled for July 2000, and expeditiously to complete a special audit consistent with international auditing standards of the operations of the Central Directorate of National Savings, which should be published.
"Directors also welcomed the authorities' commitment at the highest level to take additional steps over the medium term to further strengthen data reporting and reconciliation. They urged the authorities to accelerate the implementation of the Pakistan Improvement to Financial Report and Audit project with the World Bank, and to rationalize and streamline government debt and aid management operations under the newly created debt management committee. Fiscal policy management would also be aided by the development of a medium-term fiscal framework and by enhanced fiscal transparency. In this context, Directors welcomed the authorities' participation in the fiscal component of the Report on Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), which is expected to be discussed in the context of Pakistan's next Article IV consultation. They noted that the ROSC exercise would provide an opportunity to specify further remedial actions to be included in any future program, and several Directors suggested that the related ROSC report be published. Directors also noted Pakistan's intention to participate in the joint IMF-World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program, and several Directors emphasized the importance of producing related financial-sector ROSCs.
"In light of the serious nature of the misreporting case, Directors noted the authorities' indication to promptly make a repurchase corresponding to a noncomplying purchase of March 1998 that is subject to misreporting under the General Resources Account (GRA) Guidelines, and to make a voluntarily repurchase by May 31, 2000. In view of the authorities' expression of regret over the misreporting episode, their full cooperation during the data revision process, and their prompt implementation of measures to subsequently strengthen fiscal reporting, Directors felt that the proposed repurchases constituted remedial action that was consistent with practices on misreporting that were in effect at the time the inaccurate fiscal data were provided. Many Directors expressed the hope that, following these actions in response to the data misreporting episode, the authorities could move forward with a bold and wide-ranging reform program designed to achieve a high and sustainable growth path that could be supported by resources from the IMF. In this connection, a mission to Islamabad is envisaged in the near future," Mr. Aninat stated.
IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
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Beirut-based PSLAB was recently commissioned to create a staircase light installation for the London office of DOS architects.
The offices are located in a refurbished old building, and PSLAB used the existing architecture's pedigree to help inform this unique staircase light installation. A series of old car headlights were retrofitted with incandescent lamps and mounted to the wall. The headlights are connected with red wires and light the artwork that hangs on the opposite wall.
Recycled Headlight Murals
7,307 clicks in 235 w
More Stats +/-
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Picnic At Hanging Rock
Director Peter Weir's (The Last Wave, The Truman Show) 1975 film Picnic At Hanging Rock helped initiate the first wave of interest in Australian moviemaking. Strangely, it's never been available on video in America, except as a bootleg, until now. Based on Joan Lindsay's novel, Picnic At Hanging Rock concerns a Valentine's Day excursion by the members of a girls' boarding school in 1900 to the natural landmark of the title. Three of them, and one of their teachers, disappear without explanation, leaving their community to puzzle, fret, and eventually fall apart. An air of dread looms over Hanging Rock, like a ghost story in which the ghosts are spoken of but never seen. Horrific outbursts of emotion interrupt long stretches of silence as it becomes clear that the film is drifting further and further from offering any explanation of its central event. Hanging Rock suggests, insofar as it suggests anything, that however mysterious the disappearance might be, it primarily serves to focus the unstated anxieties of the society in which it occurs. It's a beautifully shot, haunted, and haunting movie, a classic example of the power of suggestiveness, elusiveness, and understatement and a peerless mystery in the truest sense of the word. For this re-release, Weir has prepared a director's cut which, in an unusual move, trims about seven minutes from the original running time.
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"Jesus Is The Best Gift" Ornament Craft Kit
Kids Love It
Great size for pre-school. A way to keep a religious theme for Christmas! The children really enjoy it.
August 2, 2012
Worked with 3 year old. Used glue dots from this site, and came together perfectly. Gave as gifts to teachers & grandparents.
March 30, 2011
I used this project with my preschool sunday school class (ages 3 and 4). However, I assembled some of the parts before-hand, including the heads, the baby, the hands, and the ribbon because the pieces were very small. But the children were able to assemble the rest. And the parents were delighted with the result. I used glue dots with this project and it worked extremely well because we didn't have to wait for anything to dry. My friend tried making this project in her class with foam glue and it did not work out as well because things did not dry enough before the parents came to pick up the children. You just have to press the glue dots down really well on the foam,
December 20, 2010
Cute Simple Project..
I am in charge of the arts & crafts department for a program called Buddy Break, which is a program for Special Needs children. We often try to go for crafts that are fun but easy at the same time... These kids adored this craft. They had a great time making it and it wasn't too hard at all. Not too much mess in the end to clean up either.. All in all it was good fun.
December 24, 2008
Nativity Foam Ornament
This ornament is not meant to be put together quickly. It requires that you glue a few small pieces, let dry, then glue a few more, let dry, then try to assemble the whole thing and glue and let dry. Will take hours to assemble properly.
December 14, 2012
Quick & Simple to Make
This is a quick and simple project to make, requiring only that you purchase a good glue for styrofoam. The instructions were easy to follow and it took only a few steps to complete. Young children may need help with the glue as pieces do slide around until set.
December 9, 2012
would not buy again
The foam pieces did not have adhesive. The layers required for hair, face, hat made it hard to get glue to stick.
November 8, 2012
Great Christmas Ornament!
Wonderful classroom craft for Sunday School. I have been using this for 3rd graders for the past three years. This is a wonderful idea for a Christmas ornament to bring home to their families.
October 17, 2012
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The 4th Annual Food System Summit was held Oct. 6-7 in
The theme for 2009 was “The New Normal – Building Consumer Trust during Unprecedented Market Volatility.” Subject matters included animal welfare, nutrition, food safety and sustainability. The first day concluded with a lively discussion between Center for Food Integrity CEO Charlie Arnot and Robert Kenner, director/producer of the controversial film Food, Inc.
NCCR President Jack Whipple said, “The ‘new normal’ is a perfect storm. The economic situation is a challenging one coupled with the political environment. The speed with which information moves will only increase, but business typically does things in a thoughtful, deliberate way. Business today needs to make real time decisions. The question is ‘How do we engage consumers in this environment? The new normal will project itself well into the future.” Visit www.foodintegrity.org.
Read "3 Questions for...Charlie Arnot."
Read more about the 4th Annual 2009 Food System Summit.
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(CNN) -- Police officers in Northern Ireland came under attack during a third consecutive night of disturbances in Belfast, police said late Tuesday.
A crowd of up to 200 people gathered in the pro-British Denmark Street area of the city. Youths, some hooded, pelted officers with fireworks, bricks, bottles and other objects, including golf balls, officials said.
Police warned drivers to avoid the district, close to the city center, and roads were closed for a time.
The violence on Tuesday appeared to be less intense than the two previous nights when more than 60 police officers were injured trying to keep the peace during disturbances. Six people were arrested Tuesday and three officers suffered injuries that did not require medical treatment, police said.
200 people throw things at officers in pro-British area of Belfast
Discord started between Catholics, Protestants over parades
Violence on Tuesday appears to be less intense than the two previous nights
Police said the disorder was linked to tensions between Catholics and Protestants over parades in a district near Carlisle Circus.
Several youths charged with public order offenses late Monday were scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr on Tuesday urged politicians and community leaders to "stop posturing" and "sort out" the violence before someone is killed.
He warned that a solution must be found before September 29, when Protestants plan one of their biggest parades in years.
Police officers Monday had been trying to maintain order as Protestant demonstrators voiced their opposition to a scheduled parade by a Catholic marching band and its supporters.
Hundreds of parades take place across Northern Ireland each year, the majority involving the Protestant Orange Order and associated organizations, although pro-Irish nationalists also have marches.
The Northern Ireland Parades Commission rules on which marches are allowed to take place and which are banned, in an effort to keep friction to a minimum.
Most parades pass off peacefully, but when members of one community march near or through neighborhoods dominated by another, violence sometimes results.
Sunday night's violence, which took place near Ardoyne, came as Protestants who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom clashed with Catholics who want the province to become part of the Republic of Ireland.
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President Barack Obama asked Monday for almost $70 billion in education spending, a 2.5 percent increase over last year, while he cut several other agencies’ requests.
Obama’s 2013 proposal includes a three-year, $8 billion plan to shore up career programs at community colleges that would be co-administered by the Education and Labor departments. The proposed budget would also keep interest rates on federal Stafford loans for college students from doubling to 6.8 percent, according to White House documents released Monday.
Obama is asking to expand education programs as Republican presidential candidates call to abolish or shrink the Education Department. The budget request, which includes cuts in the Defense, Agriculture and Justice departments, indicates that education and job training remain high on the list of the administration’s priorities.
“Education and lifelong learning will be critical for anyone trying to compete for the jobs of the future,” Obama said today in the budget documents. “That is why I will continue to make education a national mission.”
Obama’s request will keep the maximum level of annual Pell Grants for poor college students at $5,635 through the 2014-2015 academic year. Congressional Republicans had proposed cutting the maximum grant by 15 percent last year.
The community college plan designates funds in the 2013 budget to establish training courses for skilled careers, develop partnerships between the schools and employers, and help state and local governments attract businesses, the Education Department said.
Community colleges lack funds for buildings and equipment needed to teach specialized courses for highly skilled jobs, said Karen Stout, president of Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania, which has campuses in Blue Bell and Pottstown. The college’s budget was cut 10 percent last year, and it hasn’t had new funds for building in four years, she said.
While she would like to expand her college’s programs for health-care workers and nuclear-engineering technicians, they require equipment and specialized instructors she can’t currently afford, Stout said.
“It sounds like this program matches up exactly with those needs,” said Stout, who hadn’t seen all the details of Obama’s plan. Obama unveiled the program today at Northern Virginia Community College, in Annandale, Va.
The Coalition for Educational Success, a for-profit college trade group, said the Obama administration should “widen the impact” of its career-training program by extending it to all institutions of higher education.
“Career colleges have more students enrolled in high- growth fields” than both public and private not-for-profit schools, the Coalition said today in a statement. For-profit colleges also return taxpayer money in the form of millions of dollars in taxes annually, the group said.
Apollo Group’s University of Phoenix is the largest for-profit college chain by enrollment.
The administration has also proposed measures to make higher education more affordable. Colleges that meet or beat the Education Department’s criteria will gain greater access to a pool of student loans and campus-based grants.
“College administrators get to decide who gets the money,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, a college grant and loan website. “It’s very popular with financial-aid administrators because it lets them solve problems.”
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A groundbreaking new approach to supporting young people with disabilities and learning difficulties will be explored at an event taking place tomorrow (17th April).
Northamptonshire County Council is setting up a new transitions service which will support disabled young people aged from 14 to 25 in the journey from childhood to adult life.
The county council is one of the first in the country to take this new approach which will replace the existing arrangement of having separate services for disabled young people and young adults. This means young people will have the same team support them as they get older and progress into adulthood.
To make sure the new service is designed by the people who need it, a Transitions Summit will take place on 17th April involving young people, their families and carers including past, current and future service users.
The event will see them work with staff from the new transitions service and representatives from health, education, housing and leisure organisations to design a vision which will identify what the service should achieve for young people in Northamptonshire.
The summit will be a creative and practical day where young people and their families will be encouraged to bring their experiences, their opinions and their hopes for the future.
Cabinet member for health and adult social services Councillor Robin Brown said: “Any parent or carer knows the challenges a young person might face as they progress from childhood into adulthood, and this is even more significant for young people with disabilities or learning difficulties.
“The new transitions service is a truly innovative approach to supporting these young people. We want each person to have a positive experience as they grow up and become adults, helping them to achieve a good quality of life and successfully moving them on to education, employment or training opportunities.”
Councillor Andrew Grant, cabinet member for children, learning and skills said: “This is also about providing personalised services to young people so that alongside their parents and carers, they have more choice and control over the way they live their lives.
“We want to create an excellent transitions service in Northamptonshire so it is vital that it is designed by the people who know what is needed. The upcoming summit event is a great opportunity to for everyone to get involved and help us to create the very best services for the county’s young people.”
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Soraya Beheshti, 16 years
If I Could...
If I could do anything without failing, I would become President of the United States. It is something that I have always wished I could pursue, but I obviously cannot as I am not a resident of the United States. There are so many things that need fixing, both inside and outside of the US. However, as a realist, I understand that a President actually has very limited power – the real power lies with Congress, the Senate and the Supreme Court.
I would focus on improving relations with the Middle East and Cuba and try to increase prosperity amongst American citizens.
I am about as far left-wing-democrat as a person can be. That being said, I am a realist and pragmatist. I understand that one cannot simply pull America - a country whose economy thrives on the manufacturing of armaments - out of a war without considering the implications. It is a long process that requires a lot of thought and strategy. The first step is to increase jobs within the United States, whilst slowly reducing production of arms. The manufacturing of organic chemicals, for instance, attracts an annual revenue of $125bn per year. The annual growth rate is at 4.3%, and yet the growth rate of imports in this industry is 23.5% - costing the US $57bn per year. More manufacturing sites in Southeastern area of the US would benefit the incoming revenue due to its strategically advantageous position near international ports. I would also encourage research on producing 1,2-propanediol from natural sources, such as sugar, as both coal and petroleum are finite sources of energy. This would lead to a stable and renewable industry that would both cut spending on imports and provide jobs within the United States.
Secondly, I would increase regulations and restrictions on cartels and monopolies, which exclusively benefit the exceptionally well off. Market monopolies have the power to exploit the poor by increasing prices, lowering quantities and using exclusivity as a weapon. By establishing new companies and markets, not only would the unemployment rate rise significantly, but increased competition would invite lower prices and consequently increase consumer spending. Another major industry that I would transform would be the pharmaceutical industry. The US consumption in 2009 was $300b – $81b of which were imports. With the recent wave of patent expirations, new pharmaceutical companies would again mean lower prices due to increased competition. For example, the cost of the most widely used pharmaceutical in the US, lipita, in a generic form, will drop from $3 - $1 (average per day per user). Moreover, this would also assist the healthcare problem as drugs will become more easily accessible and affordable to the public.
The US also spends approximately $5b annually on importing sugar (up 89.2 %). Lifting the embargo on Cuba would benefit both the US and Cuba – prohibiting trade between two countries so close in proximity is both ridiculous and irrational when cooperation would attract countless advantages. Purchasing sugar from Cuba would increase prosperity in Cuba, and thus will see an increase demand in goods which can be purchased from the US. Additionally, with the recent discovery of oil near Cuba’s coast it seems ludicrous to sustain a policy that has cost US manufacturers billions in potential exports and is maintained solely by of a senseless fear of Communism and the minority of Anti-Castro Cubans living in America – after all, a thriving economy has no reason to turn to Communism in the first place.
Finally, I would increase power in Arab lobbies in the US. I would negotiate a treaty between Netanyahu and the Arab states, promising peace between Israel and Palestine. This would help with diplomatic cooperation with Iran, thus helping to stabilize the whole Middle Eastern region. The existing components of the Arab Lobby, such as the Palestinian Lobby, wield no considerable power and are ill-funded and because of this they have no chance against the lobbying power of their adversaries. As a result, they have seen little in the way of resolving issues with US foreign policy or the Israel issue. The Arab states that have ‘swaying-power’ are too occupied with furthering their own interests to disrupt the existing dynamic by supporting the freedom of smaller states. This is a topic dear to my heart, being of Iranian heritage myself. However, I am lucky enough to receive an education that enlightens the modern world before me. Many women around the world have not had this privilege. I have personally met and talked to women who have been brutal victims of the harsh and repressive Iranian regime – women who have been jailed and beaten for Western liberties – things which forty years ago may have even been tolerated in Iran.
I only wish that I could help bring peace to the world, cliché as it sounds. Philosophy tells us that peace is born of strife, and vice versa – but what if we could break the cycle? By increasing prosperity in America through lowered tax on domestic products, demand would rise simultaneously with jobs, leading to a lowered rate of unemployment. Increased independency within the US would mean that high-powered armament producers could be slowly filtered out, resulting in an effective economy that is not reliant on war to sustain itself. A settlement between Netanyahu and the smaller Arab states would help not only the Israel-Palestine situation, but would help bring stability to the whole region – especially Iran. These are all the things that I would do if I were could do anything without failing.
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http://www.mikeshighschoolnews.com/blogs/soraya-beheshti/12/31/2012/if-i-could
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According to the report of the Canadian office for statistics, the last month consumer price inflation in the country was advancing amid expectations of car and clothes prices increase, which, in its turn, strengthened the expectations а that the interest rate can be appreciated earlier than in the USA.
The annual CPI index grew by 2% in April, following the increase of 1.9% in the last month. The core inflation excluding 8 volatile components, amounted to 2.1% after 1.9% in March. The economists surveyed by Bloomberg, assumed that both indices would remain unchanged at 1.9%.
In addition, the Bank of Canada declared last month, that the consumer prices will increase by aggregated 2% during the current quarter and by 2.2% in the second half of the year.
The bank’s monetary policy is to attain the inflation of 2% and keep the key interest rate at 1%, which is so since September of 2011.
At the same time the economy of Canada was supported by the labour market data, according to which in March and April the employment rate was growing at the fastest pace for 30 years.
On a monthly basis both indices of the overall and core inflation added 0.4% in April with the experts predicting upmove by 0.3% and by 0.2% correspondingly.
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In Reply to: Re: Confirmed bachelor posted by Baceseras on March 15, 2010 at 14:43:
: : : : : : : I have searched the site for the phrase "confirmed bachelor" and it only came up once, but in reference to the phrase "cloverboy." I would like to find out the history of the phrase "confirmed bachelor," particularly to discover when it first held the connotation of homosexuality.
: : : : : : I didn't know that the phrase ever held to connotation of homosexuality. Obviously a man without female companionship in his life can expect gossip, but I don't think it has always accompanied the status of "confirmed bachelor," nor do I think it does now.
: : : : : : We don't have a parallel phrase "confirmed spinster," or at least I haven't heard it. Still women living alone except for a female comapanion can expect comments. Rosa Bonheur, possibly the most famous painter of horses in the 19th century and undoubtedly the most famous woman painter of her time, got all kinds of gossip because she lived with a woman. Geez Louise, who care?
: : : : : I disagree slightly with SS. It certainly was one of those 'coded' phrases that everyone understood that used to appear in obituaries (especially). In the days when homosexuality was a crime, and even after that when attitudes were considerably less tolerant than they are (thankfully) now, it was not 'done' to state that a man was gay.
: : : : : Another classic phrase that was widely used was 'he didn't suffer fools gladly' - which was code for 'he was bloody rude'.
: : : : : DFG
: : : : [DFG is in line with the most up-to-date presumptions, but that is not necessarily correct - "confirmed bachelor" (from, let's say, the mid-19th to the mid-20th century) could not have been obit-code for "gay" (or for "homosexual," either) because obit-writers were under no obligation to tell their readers, even by code, about their subject's sexual life, whether it was regular or irregular. The same phrase, "confirmed bachelor," would have appeared in the obits of men who had lived celibate lives; and if it had been "code for 'gay'," the writers would have had to explain that, in this case, they didn't mean it. Which would have made for interesting, but needlessly complicated, reading along with the morning tea and toast. - Baceseras.]
: : : I think you have a higher opinion of journalists and the newspaper-buying public than I do.
: : : Of course obit-writers have never been under an obligation to tell readers about the subject's sexual life, but it's what people want to read.
: : : Titillation or information? Well, which sells most copies, The Sun or the Financial Times?
: : : (For those not familiar with Right-pondian newspapers, The Sun is a very down-market, mass-appeal paper, with photographs of topless girls and which almost specializes in the sex lives of the rich and famous.
: : : The Financial Times isn't.)
: : : DFG
: : It may surprise you, David, but The Sun is at least somewhat known in North America for having originated that journalistic phenomenon, the Page Three girl. Even a local newspaper in my area has a Page Three girl. But because the Colonies were founded mostly by Puritans, the local Page Three girl is always a very demure young lady, well-clothed and not even faintly titillating.
: : SS
: [Actually, DFG, until recently the compact between a newspaper and its readers included the understanding that people did NOT want to read about the sex-life (or any other private concerns) of a private person on the occasion of his making perhaps his only appearance in public print, his obituary. Among many other reasons, people didn't want to think that their own privacy would be equally a dead-letter in the same circumstances. The expectation of privacy still is not completely dissolved, although weakened by many assaults; and during the years I referred to above it was as good as inviolate.
: [Furthermore, there really were "confirmed bachelors" - the phrase had a natural true referent. (If it had been commonly taken as "code for gay," all of these men could have brought suit under the libel law! Didn't English newspaper publishers use to dread libel suits? They would have gone a long way to guarantee the "innocency" of the phrase.) I expect that if a writer had wanted to _hint_ at homosexuality, he would have found the means to do it; examination of the more scurrilous papers of the period will make an interesting study. - B.]
You have a much higher opinion of both journalism and public taste than I do.
They might well dread libel suits. But. The subject of an obituary is, by definition, dead.
It is not legally possible to libel or otherwise defame the dead.
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At the most excellent Kitschies event last month, both Lauren Beukes and Patrick Ness said that one of the things they liked most about writing fiction was allegory, a good meaty allegory to get their teeth into.
(see what I did there)
Now, I, (like Tolkien) have a ‘cordial dislike’ of allegory, but give that two of my fave writers are so enamoured of it a reasonable question is, am I right to?
First – definitions. My internet dictionary tells me allegory is:
‘A symbolic narrative, the figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.’
As I’ve always understood it, where allegory diverges from simple metaphor is in extension and precision. Allegory, for me, is the narrow one-to-one mapping of a fictional entity onto a real world correllary such that you can say that when the author was writing about ‘x’ she was really talking about ‘y’. *
It’s that ‘really’ that trips me up. It’s the burr in my sock, the stone in my shoe. It rubs me the wrong way. It just feels vaguely… dismissive, of the fictional universe in the story, of the narrative you’ve asked the reader to invest in, it dismisses it with a hand-wave.
What’s more, and this may just be me, but when I’m reading a story and it becomes apparent that it’s allegorical, my brain starts to translate. Like an electrical pulse sliding down a well-worn neural pathway, it skips straight from the words on the page to the allegorical meaning spending ever less and less time immersed in the fictional bit. It’s a bit like someone who’s gotten really good at reading french as a second language seeing the word ‘singe’ and getting a mental image of a monkey without running it through their native tongue first.
‘So what?’ you might say. And you’d have a point, except that I (obviously) am pretty invested in the idea that fictional bit is important, both for its own sake and for meditating on whatever real-world issues it’s concerned with. If it weren’t, you might as well just write journalism instead.
Lauren Beukes actually put this the best I’ve ever heard it last year at the British Library when she said that the distance created by (science) fiction could ‘bring back the human’, bringing our emotions back off the bench when issue fatigue has set in. (There is a risk I’m paraphrasing here, it was a year ago). Fiction can derive a lot of power from real-world resonance, but that distance is key, and under the weight of an allegory, it can have a tendency to collapse.
From my point of view, there’s something of the tightrope in using fiction to meditate one the real world, and allegory falls down one side of it.
* This may not be a definition either Ms Beukes or Mr Ness recognize, and I certainly don’t mean to impute that they’re defending or enamoured with this kind of allegory. I have no idea, it was just their mention of it that got me thinking.
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Case No. 218
How’s this for the good life? You’re rich, and you made the dough yourself. You’re well into your 80s, and have spent hardly a day in the hospital. Your wife had a cancer scare, but she’s recovered and by your side, just as she’s been for more than 60 years. Asked to rate the marriage on a scale of 1 to 9, where 1 is perfectly miserable and 9 is perfectly happy, you circle the highest number. You’ve got two good kids, grandkids too. A survey asks you: “If you had your life to live over again, what problem, if any, would you have sought help for and to whom would you have gone?” “Probably I am fooling myself,” you write, “but I don’t think I would want to change anything.” If only we could take what you’ve done, reduce it to a set of rules, and apply it systematically.
Case No. 47
You literally fell down drunk and died. Not quite what the study had in mind.
Last fall, I spent about a month in the file room of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, hoping to learn the secrets of the good life. The project is one of the longest-running—and probably the most exhaustive—longitudinal studies of mental and physical well-being in history. Begun in 1937 as a study of healthy, well-adjusted Harvard sophomores (all male), it has followed its subjects for more than 70 years.
Ben Bradlee: "I Haven't Been Unhappy in My Life"
The famed editor reflects on his education, career, and experiences as a member of the Grant Study.
Donald Cole: "I Have Always Thought Adaptation Was a Wonderful Thing."
A historian and prep school teacher reflects on his life and how it has been affected by his participation in the study.
From their days of bull sessions in Cambridge to their active duty in World War II, through marriages and divorces, professional advancement and collapse—and now well into retirement—the men have submitted to regular medical exams, taken psychological tests, returned questionnaires, and sat for interviews. The files holding the data are as thick as unabridged dictionaries. They sit in a wall of locked cabinets in an office suite behind Fenway Park in Boston, in a plain room with beige carpeting and fluorescent lights that is littered with the detritus of many decades of social-scientific inquiry: a pile of enormous spreadsheet data books; a 1970s-era typewriter; a Macintosh PowerBook, circa 1993. All that’s missing are the IBM punch cards used to analyze the data in the early days.
For 42 years, the psychiatrist George Vaillant has been the chief curator of these lives, the chief investigator of their experiences, and the chief analyst of their lessons. His own life has been so woven into the study—and the study has become such a creature of his mind—that neither can be understood without the other. As Vaillant nears retirement (he’s now 74), and the study survivors approach death—the roughly half still living are in their late 80s—it’s a good time to examine both, and to do so, I was granted unprecedented access to case files ordinarily restricted to researchers.
As a young man, Vaillant fell in love with the longitudinal method of research, which tracks relatively small samples over long periods of time (as in Michael Apted’s Seven Up! documentaries). In 1961, as a psychiatric resident at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Vaillant found himself intrigued by two patients with manic depression who had 25 years earlier been diagnosed as incurable schizophrenics. Vaillant asked around for other cases of remitted schizophrenia and pulled their charts. “These records hadn’t been assembled to do research,” Vaillant told me recently, “but it was contemporary, real-time information, with none of the errors you get from memory or the distortions you get when you narrate history from the vantage of the present.” In 1967, after similar work following up on heroin addicts, he discovered the Harvard Study, and his jaw dropped. “To be able to study lives in such depth, over so many decades,” he said, “it was like looking through the Mount Palomar telescope,” then the most powerful in the world. Soon after he began to work with the material, he found himself talking about the project to his psychoanalyst. Showing him the key that opened the study cabinets, Vaillant said, “I have the key to Fort Knox.”
Dr. George Vaillant shares insights from his decades of following the Grant Study men.
Such bravado had defined the study from the start. Arlie Bock—a brusque, no-nonsense physician who grew up in Iowa and took over the health services at Harvard University in the 1930s—conceived the project with his patron, the department-store magnate W. T. Grant. Writing in September 1938, Bock declared that medical research paid too much attention to sick people; that dividing the body up into symptoms and diseases—and viewing it through the lenses of a hundred micro-specialties—could never shed light on the urgent question of how, on the whole, to live well. His study would draw on undergraduates who could “paddle their own canoe,” Bock said, and it would “attempt to analyze the forces that have produced normal young men.” He defined normal as “that combination of sentiments and physiological factors which in toto is commonly interpreted as successful living.”
Bock assembled a team that spanned medicine, physiology, anthropology, psychiatry, psychology, and social work, and was advised by such luminaries as the psychiatrist Adolf Meyer and the psychologist Henry Murray. Combing through health data, academic records, and recommendations from the Harvard dean, they chose 268 students—mostly from the classes of 1942, ’43, and ’44—and measured them from every conceivable angle and with every available scientific tool.
Exhaustive medical exams noted everything from major organ function, to the measure of lactic acid after five minutes on a treadmill, to the size of the “lip seam” and the hanging length of the scrotum. Using a new test called the electroencephalograph, the study measured the electrical activity in the brain, and sought to deduce character from the squiggles. During a home visit, a social worker took not only a boy’s history—when he stopped wetting his bed, how he learned about sex—but also extensive medical and social histories on his parents and extended family. The boys interpreted Rorschach inkblots, submitted handwriting samples for analysis, and talked extensively with psychiatrists. They stripped naked so that every dimension of their bodies could be measured for “anthropometric” analysis, a kind of whole-body phrenology based on the premise that stock character types could be seen from body proportions.
Inveighing against medicine’s tendency to think small and specialized, Bock made big promises. He told the Harvard Crimson in 1942 that his study of successful men was pitched at easing “the disharmony of the world at large.” One early Grant Study document compared its prospects to the accomplishments of Socrates, Galileo, and Pasteur. But in fact the study staff remained bound by their respective disciplines and by the kinds of narrow topics that yield academic journal papers. Titles from the study’s early years included “Resting-Pulse and Blood-Pressure Values in Relation to Physical Fitness in Young Men”; “Instruction Time in Certain Multiple Choice Tests”; and “Notes on Usage of Male Personal Names.” Perhaps the height of the study’s usefulness in its early days was to lend its methods to the military, for officer selection in World War II.
Most longitudinal studies die on the vine because funders expect results quickly. W. T. Grant was no exception. He held on for about a decade—allowing the staff to keep sending detailed annual questionnaires to the men, hold regular case conferences, and publish a flurry of papers and several books—before he stopped sending checks. By the late 1940s, the Rockefeller Foundation took an interest, funding a research anthropologist named Margaret Lantis, who visited every man she could track down (which was all but a few). But by the mid-1950s, the study was on life support. The staff, including Clark Heath, who had managed the study for Bock, scattered, and the project fell into the care of a lone Harvard Health Services psychologist, Charles McArthur. He kept it limping along—surveys dwindled to once every two years—in part by asking questions about smoking habits and cigarette-brand preferences, a nod to a new study patron, Philip Morris. One survey asked, “If you never smoked, why didn’t you?”
It was a far cry from Galileo.
But as Vaillant points out, longitudinal studies, like wines, improve with age. And as the Grant Study men entered middle age—they spent their 40s in the 1960s—many achieved dramatic success. Four members of the sample ran for the U.S. Senate. One served in a presidential Cabinet, and one was president. There was a best-selling novelist (not, Vaillant has revealed, Norman Mailer, Harvard class of ’43). But hidden amid the shimmering successes were darker hues. As early as 1948, 20 members of the group displayed severe psychiatric difficulties. By age 50, almost a third of the men had at one time or another met Vaillant’s criteria for mental illness. Underneath the tweed jackets of these Harvard elites beat troubled hearts. Arlie Bock didn’t get it. “They were normal when I picked them,” he told Vaillant in the 1960s. “It must have been the psychiatrists who screwed them up.”
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By Jim Loney
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - - Saddam Hussein once commanded one of the most powerful airforces in the Middle East with 40,000 personnel and 1,000 aircraft including Soviet MiG and French Mirage fighters.
Now its combat capability lies largely in three Cessna propeller planes armed with Hellfire missiles.
In a move to redress the balance in the face of an Islamist insurgency and regional turmoil, Iraq on Monday said it had signed a multibillion-dollar contract to buy 18 Lockheed Martin F-16s warplanes.
But their delivery is several years away and both U.S. and Iraqi officials say Iraq will need help to control its airspace.
"They will tell you, as will I, that (air defense) is their number one priority when it comes to gaps," said U.S. Brigadier General Tony Rock, who is helping rebuild Iraq's air force.
"When we leave here...there will not be air intercept capability until they (have) a multi-role fighter like the F-16."
Eight years after Saddam was toppled Iraq's two airborne units, the Air Force and Army Aviation Command, comprise 158 aircraft, including helicopters, and about 7,500 personnel, according to U.S. figures. That's just over 1 percent of Iraq's 650,000-strong military and security forces.
REFUELING DEPOTS, RADAR COVER
Its not just the lack of aircraft which is problematic. When the Army Aviation Command dispatches a helicopter to hunt Islamic militants, it often needs to refuel at one of the dozens of fuel depots installed and run by the U.S. across Iraq.
But with the U.S. military dismantling its bases and just three months from leaving Iraq, many of the Forward Arming and Refueling Points (FARPs) the Iraqis have relied upon to extend their aerial range against the insurgency are disappearing.
"I have found that the fuel truck is more important than the aircraft. We don't have enough mobile trucks to provide fuel for the Air Force and the Iraqi Army," said General Hamid al-Maliki, head of the Army Aviation Command.
"We can operate without the Americans. But we still need them."
To ease Iraqi worries the U.S. military has ordered eight HEMTT (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) fuel trucks and is turning over some of its far-flung fuel stations.
But a shortage of timely fuel is hardly the only deficiency in Iraq's air defense.
By the time U.S. forces pull out, Iraq will be able to monitor only 60 percent of its air space, mostly the heavily populated eastern areas, via two long-range radars stationed at Tallil in southern Nassiriya and at Taji northwest of Baghdad.
The air force wants two more long-range radars to cover more of the north, northwest and west, as well as ground-based air defense systems. Those are years away.
While it waits for its F-16s, the Air Force relies on what Rock called "nascent but credible capabilities" with 69 aircraft including three missile-equipped Cessnas, three reconnaissance Cessnas capable of capturing and downlinking real-time video, as well as C-130E transports, training and other planes.
The Army Aviation Command runs 89 rotary aircraft including Russian Mi-171s and is beefing up with 27 Bell 407 helicopters, most of them fitted with weapons. Delivery had been expected by December 31 but has been pushed back until March or April.
It could be late 2014 or 2015 before the first F-16s are delivered. But even when the warplanes arrive, Iraq will lag far behind its neighbors.
"Having these fighter jets will not mean Iraq is about to stand at the same level of neighboring countries' air forces," said an Iraqi ex-military commander who asked not to be named.
"If you compared the level of the Iraqi air forces with the time before 2003, I can say, if it is not zero percent, it does not exceed 10 percent," he said. "This is a long term mission."
The U.S. military will hand over six major air bases to Iraqi control in the next few months -- Tikrit, Kirkuk, Taji, Balad, al-Asad and Ali --- in addition to leaving behind some of the fueling stations and other hardware as Washington draws down from its current 43,000-odd troops to zero by year-end.
"You'll see what I call a tsunami of stuff coming their way in the next few months," Rock said.
Iraq shares borders Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Kuwait. Unrest in Syria threatens the government there, and Turkey and Iran regularly launch air or artillery strikes on Kurdish rebels along Iraq's northern border.
But in spite of the region's instability, General Nasier Abadi, the Defense Ministry vice chief of staff and a military pilot, said Iraq was capable of deterring internal threats from the insurgency and has no current external enemies.
"I think we are ready now to go solo. We will have lots of problems but in the end that's the way it has to be."
(Additional reporting by Suadad al-Salhy and Waleed Ibrahim; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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A concept applied in online marketing, private label rights basically talks about a license given to a buyer to edit the products and make them their own. These products include graphics, articles, software, websites, or articles as the most common stuff.
Private label rights content may vary in form but they’re all the same in terms of privileges. If a buyer purchases the product, the rights to own and edit and even sell it belongs to the buyer. Every buyer has the right to repackage the content in such a way that others would be interested in buying it.
The good thing about these products is the time you are able to spend for marketing a product rather than coming up with your own product. It takes a really long time to create a new product. It consumes a lot of time. With these products that are ready to be bought, you save yourself time and at the same time you are able to do more. You will be able to devote your time to just rebranding the products and marketing them. So you’re basically closer to money than you are when you’re still making the product by yourself. A lot of times, online entrepreneurs fail at getting to step two because they’re stuck with step one– the product creation phase. To be stuck there would lose you a lot of money at the same time other resources like time and energy. When you choose to buy Plr products, at least you will automatically be at step two then so on.
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- Biocatalytic synthesis of flavones and hydroxyl-small molecules by recombinant Escherichia coli cells expressing the cyanobacterial CYP110E1 gene (2012)
- Background: Cyanobacteria possess several cytochrome P450s, but very little is known about their catalytic functions. CYP110 genes unique to cyanaobacteria are widely distributed in heterocyst-forming cyanobacteria including nitrogen-fixing genera Nostoc and Anabaena. We screened the biocatalytic functions of all P450s from three cyanobacterial strains of genus Nostoc or Anabaena using a series of small molecules that contain flavonoids, sesquiterpenes, low-molecular-weight drugs, and other aromatic compounds. Results: Escherichia coli cells carrying each P450 gene that was inserted into the pRED vector, containing the RhFRed reductase domain sequence from Rhodococcus sp. NCIMB 9784 P450RhF (CYP116B2), were co-cultured with substrates and products were identified when bioconversion reactions proceeded. Consequently, CYP110E1 of Nostoc sp. strain PCC 7120, located in close proximity to the first branch point in the phylogenetic tree of the CYP110 family, was found to be promiscuous for the substrate range mediating the biotransformation of various small molecules. Naringenin and (hydroxyl) flavanones were respectively converted to apigenin and (hydroxyl) flavones, by functioning as a flavone synthase. Such an activity is reported for the first time in prokaryotic P450s. Additionally, CYP110E1 biotransformed the notable sesquiterpene zerumbone, anti-inflammatory drugs ibuprofen and flurbiprofen (methylester forms), and some aryl compounds such as 1-methoxy and 1-ethoxy naphthalene to produce hydroxylated compounds that are difficult to synthesize chemically, including novel compounds. Conclusion: We elucidated that the CYP110E1 gene, C-terminally fused to the P450RhF RhFRed reductase domain sequence, is functionally expressed in E. coli to synthesize a robust monooxygenase, which shows promiscuous substrate specificity (affinity) for various small molecules, allowing the biosynthesis of not only flavones (from flavanones) but also a variety of hydroxyl-small molecules that may span pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.
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<urn:uuid:91ecac36-2ed5-486d-8323-552cf2501706>
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http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/solrsearch/index/search/searchtype/authorsearch/author/%22Gerhard+Sandmann%22/start/0/rows/10/author_facetfq/Emi+Kitamura
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Updated: January 10, 2013 7:13 PM EST
Austrian court finds 3 guilty of glorifying NazismThe Associated Press
An Austrian court has convicted a leading neo-Nazi and two accomplices of glorifying Nazism through a website and sentenced them to prison terms of up to nine years.
Gottfried Kuessel was given a nine-year prison sentence Thursday for being the founder of the "Alpen-Donau" website. He already spent time in prison in the 1990s on conviction of trying to form a successor to the Nazi party.
The two others - Felix Binder and Wilhelm Anderle - were sentenced to seven and 4 1/2 years respectively.
The website is no longer active, but defied years of Austrian efforts to shut it down because it was housed on a U.S. server.
Austrian officials said that left their hands tried because of U.S. free speech laws. Austria bans glorification of the Nazi era.
|Austrian court finds 3 guilty of glorifying Nazism " data-url="http://www.goerie.com/article/20131301100983" data-count="horizontal" data-via="goerie">Tweet|
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<urn:uuid:4946c4bf-04a2-427b-917a-317aa5d73d73>
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http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130110/API/1301100983
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| 0.950721
| 252
| 1.507813
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September 6th, 2006
Katrina made New Orleans one enormous laboratory, which didn’t end with dumping the science projects growing in the fridge. We’re about to be one of the biggest things to ever happen to Urban Planning (and all the social theory that goes with it), we are, as far as I know, the first city in the U.S. to switch to a primarily charter public school system, the flood gates and levee repairs are the biggest nail-biter to date in the 21st century, and then there’s the over-arching test of whether and how we’ll survive at all (which plenty of latter-day Know Nothings are anxiously waiting for us to fail).
And then there’s the nonprofits. Last November, Pablo Eisenberg wrote about the future of the nonprofit world in International Center for Nonprofit Law‘s journal, which Karen at NorthwestCarrollton.com brought to my attention. There seems no better place or time to examine the ramifications of his questions “in the field,” than here in New Orleans, where every org worth its charter is involved one way or another, and when private money with a public mission is so critical at every level.
Eisenberg’s first matter of cocern for the future of nonprofits is hardly a new one. It seems there can’t be too much policing against fraud — something we do well to remember in these parts, where some people can’t seem to keep their hands off of donated Durangos. He goes on to detail other threats to the integrity of the sector, like conflicts of interest and increasing commercialization, but less obvious and more interesting to me is his call for all nonprofits in general, but foundations in particular, to promote democratic institutions and practices. By this he doesn’t seem to mean that cancer foundations or Save the Chinchilla drives, say, should quit funding medical research or chinchilla rescue and launch voter registration drives instead, but he claims that:
from its earliest days, a primary mission of the nonprofit sector has been the preservation and strengthening of American democracy. This role has taken many forms: protecting civil liberties and individual rights; leveling the playing field for all citizens; building strong democratic institutions; providing a social safety net for the neediest members of society; and assuring a competitive free-enterprise system.
An interesting assertion because, while I guess I’ve always assumed that nonprofithood should entail some self-sacrificial greater good, I’ve never seen it taken to that level of abstraction and articulated that way. I don’t know if I would have concluded myself that there’s a democratic obligation on the part of foundations and charities, but now I have a hard time saying why that shouldn’t be the case. Between tax-exemption and a stated mission to pursue, a fund or funder yields a certain control to the issue itself, whatever it may be — even if it’s Save the Chinchillas, just what constitutes the Good of Chinchillas is not entirely up to you to decide once you get 501
(c)(3) status for it.
Eisenberg goes on to point out that the combination of our eroding social safety nets and the ever-increasing gap between rich and poor have simultaneously made philanthropy more necessary and more concentrated in fewer hands:
The enormous expansion of foundation assets in recent years has added to the inequities in American life. As public support for social programs, job training, affordable housing, and projects to feed the poor and temporarily house the homeless have been reduced, the burden for such responsibilities has increasingly fallen on private individual and institutional philanthropy. Public responsibilities are becoming a matter of private charity. An elite, growing, and unrepresentative group of private foundations are now making decisions about the allocation of funds for social welfare. In a sense, “noblesse oblige” is slowly taking over what should be public decision-making.
Far from leveling the playing field, civil society appears to have acquiesced or, at worst, abetted a national policy that has slowly made it more difficult for many citizens to enjoy equal opportunities and, at the same time, made it easier for wealthy citizens to assert greater control over society.
Noblesse oblige is not what I want to rebuild New Orleans on. As luck would have it, shortly before reading this article, I was talking to my brother, Ben, whose reading list is always worth checking out. It turns out Ben is in the middle of Robert Caro’s The Power Broker, about Robert Moses an “idealistic advocate for Progressive reform” who went on to become more powerful than mayors and governors of New York, largely via sitting (unelected) on boards and committees. I haven’t received the copy I ordered yet, but from what I understand, Moses’ noblesse oblige was not much appreciated by the end (even around here: as an advocate for cars and freeways over public transportation, he happens to be the guy who proposed the Vieux Carre Riverfront Expressway, giving us the Second Battle of New Orleans).
One of the most interesting responses to Eisenberg is H. Peter Karoff’s. He ethusiastically takes up the call for greater transparency and public accountibility in nonprofit workings, lambasting paternalistic attitudes among some foundation trustees:
Major foundations more often than not have viewed themselves as the source of innovation, “the manufacturer,” with little if any input from recipient organizations and communities, “the users.” Strategic and Venture Philanthropists likewise often view themselves as crucial to innovation. It is assumed that the nonprofit organization recipients and programs will not, cannot, perform without them. Nonprofit organizations, which are often intermediaries between funders and communities being served, are sometimes guilty of the same patronizing assumptions about constituencies and clients.
Karoff points to the Internet and Open Source software development as the torchbearers of the new Democracy, and the exemplars for future nonprofit management. It’s an admirable and popular sentiment, praising the organization of the Internet and proposing it as a model, but I’m not sure it always means very much without a closer examination of what sorts of collaboration take off and why, and whether the problem being proposed for solution Internet-style lends itself to such a strategy and how. What does it get the chinchillas? And what does it mean for the GNOF, the NOCSF, the LRA Fund, etc.?
I don’t really know, but I think a large part of the answer comes from the zealous nut phenomenon (thanks to Karen again). To add a little to what Karen has already excerpted on her site from the Project for Public Spaces article on the passionate amateurs who are deeply engaged in the upkeep and development of their own communities:
More and more developers, designers and leaders are now realizing that the success of a public project depends on the participation of the public itself. That seems obvious, but it took a long time for many decision makers to figure that out.
The article goes on to note that foundations in some places (like the Ruth Mott Foundation in Flint, Michigan) are starting to shift their focus toward the crazy neighborhood ladies (and gentlemen) when it comes to civic improvement.
Whatever happens, it should be interesting to watch the numerous funds and organizations at work here, local, national and international, and their degrees of responsiveness to the public they aim to serve. This debate takes on so much more urgency when actual public policy is being determined by foundations (no offence to the chinchillas). I see some interest in “public input” on the part of the UNOP and its funders, but it’s not quite the same as the kind of democratic responsiveness and public involvement I see in the Eisenberg PPS articles, not yet anyway. How the planning teams themselves relate to their assigned districts will be the test, I suppose.
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Soldiers Escalate War Against Expulsion
Combat soldiers in the Nachshon battalion Monday morning raised an anti-expulsion banner on the roof of their base shortly after security forces destroyed two nearby Jewish homes and expelled the families living there.
“Nachshon also does not expel Jews,” read the banner, similar to the Shimshon banner, a protest action at a swearing-in ceremony last month at the Western Wall that resulted in two soldiers being sentenced to 20 days in a military jail and thrown out of combat service.
The unprecedented move by the soldiers in the Shimshon unit was aimed against repeated expulsions at the destroyed site of Homesh, where Jews were expelled by the government four summers ago.
Both battalions are in the Kfir division of the IDF. The Nachshon soldiers unfurled their banner Monday morning at their base in the southern Hevron Hills, less than a few miles from Negohot, where two families were expelled earlier in the morning. Police and soldiers carried out government orders at the community, escalating Civil Lands Administration policy by targeting sites where families have been living in their permanent homes for more than 18 months.
An American donor has provided money to the Shimshon soldiers' families for each night in jail, and a nationalist group in Israel has promised that a similar gesture would follow for any other soldiers who are punished for refusing to expel Jews from their homes.
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This morning I read an interesting article by Richard Curtis about how much it costs to produce an ebook. Okay, I think his estimation of the costs of labor are a tad on the high side, but he made some excellent points and I am pretty much in agreement with his breakdown. Where I heartily disagree is in his closing line:
But hopefully, some consumers who complain about e-book prices will take a more benign view of the challenges confronting publishers.
Um, no. Not even a little bit. Mr. Curtis makes an elemental mistake. You see, producers care about costs. The only thing consumers care about is value.
Value is a perception.
Take Starbucks, for instance. I can make a cup of coffee at home for about .15 cents a cup. A cup of coffee at Starbucks costs around $2. Why? Is it better coffee? It costs Starbucks more to produce one cup of coffee than it costs me. They have stores and supplies and advertising and employees to pay for. So it’s no surprise they charge two bucks. The surprising part is that people pay it.
Answer that and you’ll know how to price your ebooks.
When it comes to ebooks, as with anything sold in the free market, value is in the eye of the beholder. It only makes sense to me that to establish the optimum price of YOUR ebook is to know what YOUR readers value.
That means knowing who your readers are.
When you figure that out you can determine your ebook’s value and the highest price your market will bear.
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Like many other classical music lovers, I have long since grown accustomed to being able to locate a classical music station on my radio in almost any part of America. It all started for me in the 40's as a boy in New York City with WQXR, which may have been, for all I know, the original classical music station. It was the norm for WQXR to play entire classical works -- a Beethoven symphony, a Mozart quartet, even -- God help us all -- A Mahler symphony [although that required a health warning that older listeners might expire before Mahler got to the last movement.] When I went off to Harvard in 1950, I discovered to my delight that during the end-of-semester "reading period" [when slackards read all the stuff they were supposed to have read during term, and the rest of us crammed for finals] the Harvard radio station put on what they called a "classical music orgy" -- a two week twenty-four hours a day bonanza of classical music, arranged chronologically from medieval plainsong to Stravinsky. The announcer might say, at 4 a.m. [when I was doing my studying] "and here now are the symphonies of Beethoven," whereupon the station would literally play all nine symphonies in order! Chapel Hill has a splendid classical music station with a hefty serving of early music as well as more popular items from the classical and romantic periods.
When Susie and I bought our Paris apartment, an essential element of our decorations was a Bose radio and CD player, on which I confidently assumed I would be able to locate the Paris classical music stations and program them into the radio's pre-set buttons. Some tedious scanning of the bandwidth did indeed turn up two stations that seemed to be playing classical music -- 91.7 and 101.1 FM.
But when we turned those stations on, we made a horrible, astonishing, incomprehensible discovery. THEY ONLY PLAY SNIPPETS. The announcer promises a Haydn quartet, to be sure, but only plays one movement. He starts playing a Monteverdi madrigal, and then breaks into it for some useless discussion with a fellow announcer while the madrigal continues in the background. In eight years, I have never heard either station play a major work from start to finish! It is as though they think their listeners are incapable of the concentration required to listen to a complete work of music.
I have no idea what the explanation is for this mystery, and I welcome comments from anyone who is more knowldgeable than I. There is no doubt that when Susie and I attend an early music concert at a church or recital hall, an audience appears who seem quite capable of sitting through entire works, without the interpolation of chit chat designed to take the sting out of music that lasts for more than three minutes.
Susie notes that at least one of the classical music stations also plays jazz. Now really!
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It won't be long before someone discovers the potential of using architectural facades as a mass media real-time bar graph display. Before then, you can enjoy the newest video clip of Cold Mailman, titled "Time is of Essence" to discover how that might look like...
Recorded in the Oslo Municipality Groruddalssatsningen, the video shows how opening up the individual light switches of all apartments in several buildings to some smart, music-driven algorithm provides for some amazing imagery, especially for those neighbors living across the street.
By the way: it seems the video was not accomplished through smart electronic switching, nor through asking inhabitants to turn their lights on or off. It rather (I imagine) was created through painstaking frame-by-frame image manipulation starting from a set of predefined photos.
Watch the video below.
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On Wednesday, USPS leaders stopped waiting for the feckless lawmakers — “We want you postal officials to balance your budget but don’t reduce service” — to act. The USPS announced a bold move to cut mail delivery, but maintain package delivery, on Saturdays. That will begin in August and save the capsizing USPS about $2 billion a year. USPS officials believe they have the authority to do this ... unless Congress intervenes.
Memo to Congress: Don’t.
This is a smart, long overdue move by the Postal Service. Congress should build on this by dropping outdated laws and rules that bind the USPS’ ability to streamline its operations, properly price its services, and fully compete in a less regulated marketplace.
Cutting Saturday service only flicks at the Postal Service’s deeper financial problems. Despite massive consolidations in facilities and cutbacks in its bloated workforce, the USPS lost nearly $16 billion last year. That’s after the service defaulted last year on $11.1 billion in payments to cover future retiree health care costs.
The red ink will keep gushing out of postage meters unless postal officials can swiftly transform their business to compete in the 21st century. Congress, are you listening?
USPS needs to be able to raise rates on money-losing mail categories fast enough and high enough to make money.
This overhaul can’t be incremental. For instance: The Postal Service recently raised the price of a first-class stamp by a mere penny. U.S. stamp prices remain among the lowest in the developed world, according to a 2012 report by the nation’s largest mail-carriers union. A 2006 federal law limits rate increases to the pace of inflation. Lawmakers, here’s a start at helping the USPS survive: Repeal that law.
Lawmakers also need to end the Postal Service’s monopoly on delivering everything that lands in your mailbox. Invite more private competition, as some European countries have done. How about letting companies bid for the right to deliver first-class mail, nationally or regionally? Or maybe on Saturday only?
Let’s see what innovations, including innovations at the USPS, spring from opening the market to competition.
Yes, some Americans will miss their Saturday mail. But many will shrug because most of their mail already comes electronically. We’re guessing they won’t mind waiting a while longer for their daily dose of bills.
Jeanette Dwyer, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, said the end of Saturday delivery is “yet another death knell” for the USPS’ quality service. She called it “completely unacceptable.”
No, what is unacceptable is Congress allowing the USPS to hemorrhage to death.
Unleash the Postal Service to innovate and compete. No holds barred. Let’s find out if the Postal Service or other carriers can serve customers better.
Otherwise, this won’t be the last SOS from the USPS.
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Today I've decided not to focus on one surname but to instead focus on Surname Databases and what they can add to your family research. When I began researching I added my Surnames to almost every mailing list and database I could think of. For a while nothing happened. Then suddenly I was approached by someone who was also researching one of my surnames. We began emailing back and forth exchanging information and eventually we were able to fill in many missing pieces to both our family trees. Mind you, the information people provide you with is only as good as the source from which they themselves got it from so remember to validate your sources by either requesting where the information being given to you came from or by following up on each new lead yourself. I have learned to source my information as I enter it into my software program to avoid having to it at a later date and I always provide sources to people I exchange data with. This has proven to be a real time saver for me as I can go back to any name in my database and know exactly where I got the information and how accurate I believe it to be. It's also important (as I learned the hard way) to back up your database regularly to avoid losing information in the event of a power failure or breakdown. We'll talk about this later though.
So, here is my Italian Surname Database which I just updated this morning. We have had 25 new entries in the last few days. Surnames are grouped in alphabetical order and and require constant updating. The most common surnames being submitted seem to start with the letter C (with over 200 entries), followed by M, S and T. The page sees approximately 300 views a day and this number keeps increasing every few months. For this reason, I highly recommend submitting your name on one or more lists. You may get lucky and find someone who holds the answer to that missing puzzle piece!
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Cherry Blossom Festival
Textures of Influence
Twentieth Century Japanese Prints in the Collection of the University of Maryland University College
University of Maryland University College will exhibit Textures of Influence: Twentieth Century Japanese Prints from March 28 to July 26, 2003 at the new Edison Place Gallery located in the PEPCO Building, 701 9th Street, N.W. in downtown Washington, D.C. (Gallery entrance on 8th Street).
Local Japanese print collectors have joined with University of Maryland University College and PEPCO to provide a comprehensive view of the 20th century Japanese print from its 18th and 19th century roots to present day. The exhibit consists of about 80 Japanese prints by different artists, such as Saito Sekino and Munakata.
The exhibit opening will be on March 28 from noon to 8 p.m. After March 28, the exhibit will be open Monday through Friday, from noon to 5 p.m. The exhibit will also be open on Saturday, March 29 and Saturday, April 5 from noon to 5 p.m as part of the Cherry Blossom Festival celebration. A commercial parking garage is located in the building with the entrance on 8th Street adjacent to the gallery.
Opening Reception and Discussion
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Monday, April 1–Sunday, March 30, 2014
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Sunday, May 12–Sunday, July 21, 2013
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Powerfoods are packed with nutrition; the body loves them.
You may have powerfoods in your kitchen right now and don’t know it.
By eating powerfoods everyday you can energize and balance your body without costly vitamins and medical bills. Foods affect us on many levels and understanding these factors can help you make better health choices.
For a complete understanding of powerfoods and where they get their power, read below . But first a list of all the powerfoods we explain on our site.
Powerfoods have specific influences on the body. That’s why we say they have ‘power’. To read about where all those benefits come from click on this link: The 5 Sources of Power in Powerfoods
“Before understanding the power of the foods around me, I was unhealthy, unhappy and confused. Constant visits to doctors and health food stores had little effect on my deep fatigue and constant hunger. That was 30 years ago when Western nutritional science was not as advanced as it is now.
It was the 5,000 year old Chinese herbal knowledge that made the difference for me. Using specific foods and food combinations to feed specific systems and create balance brought me back to the energy and joy I had as a teenager.
Since then I learned from all cultures. The message is always the same: Food can heal. Food can be your medicine. Food has POWER!” Randy Fritz
At Real Food for Life we continue to bring people’s awareness to the power of foods. We also have used vital health testing to determine which foods are suitable for an individual at this time.
Sign up for our newsletter so that you will be among the first to know and enjoy the benefits of these hidden gems in the supermarket when we launch our program.
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Bicycle Network: Bike Futures Services
Greater Shepparton City Council
The Greater Shepparton City Council will use the responses to this survey to help support and inform future decisions on where to focus cycling programmes and projects within the municipality.
22 July 2011. Findings of the Greater Shepparton BikeScope included:
Greater Shepparton is predominately a Low Intensity - Recreation area, followed by a High Intensity Recreation area. Low Intensity - Transport is the next most common type of rider, followed lastly by the High Intensity - Transport rider.
Around 19% of repsondents ride on average 3 days a week, with another 14.4% of respondents riding 2 days a week.
22.4% of respondents indicated that they ride between 20 and 50 kilometres per week, with a further 22.2% of respondents riding between 5 and 20 kilometres per week.
The majority of respondents indicated that more bicycle friendly roads with more sealed shoulders would help them to ride more often in Greater Shepparton. See adjacent graph.
The majority of respondents believed that bike riding in Greater Shepparton has improved over the last 5 years.
Top destinations for riders within the City of Greater Shepparton were Mooroopna, followed by Dookie.
Almost 46% of respondents identified Violet Town as the top external destination, whilst Strathbogie, Rushworth and Bright received over 21% of responses each.
A significantly high proportion of respondents indicated that ‘I would like my children to walk or cycle to the above destinations’ (72%).
When asked which streets and intersection they avoid, respondents raised a high number of issues with the Wyndham Street route. The main issues being: ‘Buisy traffic / safety’, ‘Add / improve bike land’, ‘Widen’ and ‘Parked cars’.
Respondents raised a high number of issues with Ferguson and Verney Road in particular.
The main barrier to riding a bike for short trips (up to 5km) is the absence of on-road lanes (nearly 57%). This was followed by the barriers of no off-road bike paths to destinations (nearly 42%) and lack of secure bike parking at destinations (nearly 39%). See adjacent graph.
Upon evaluating the bike network, 'Conflict with pedestrians' was raised as an issue.
Respondents indicated that Council should focus its resources on 'Cycling for health and recreation', 'Cycling safety' and 'Cycling to school'.
27 May 2011. Congratuations to Deeanne for winning a $50 gift voucher from Don Ash Bike Hub, Marilyn for winning a repair kit in carry bag from Leigh Egan Cycles and Karen, Ken, Graham and Joanne for winning mini-pumps from Malcolm Hill High Street Cycles.
6 April 2011. Bicycle Network Victoria and the Greater Shepparton City Council invite all local residents who ride in and through the municipality, to complete an on-line BikeScope Survey, between 7 April and 5 May 2011. Go in to the draw to have the chance to win some great prizes. The Greater Shepparton City Council will use the survey date to inform their planning and building of new, better bike infrastructure.
The prizes for completing the survey have been donated by:
• Don Ash Bike Hub.
• Leigh Egan Cycles.
• Malcolm Hill High Street Cycles.
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In the second of a series, we visit the office of Beatrice Lorge Rogers, professor of economics and food policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and director of the Food Policy and Applied Nutrition Program.
Back when Bea Rogers was teaching economics and food policy on the Medford/Somerville campus in the late 1980s, there would be days when her daughter, Leah, didn’t have school. So she’d bring the six-year-old to class, where the child would dutifully sit in the back of the room. Sometimes Leah, now 28, would stay in her mother’s office, coloring with markers.
On one such occasion, Leah drew a sign, complete with skull and crossbones. It read: “Bow Down to Me … I am the teacher, and you are nothing but sea scum. Bow down to me. I can FLUNK you!” Along the bottom was a large X, with her mother’s “signature.” Rogers was amused, recognizing in the “sea scum” a family expression for something worthless. She enjoyed the drawing, but eventually stuck it in a drawer and forgot about it.
Some 20 years later, Rogers was clearing out her office to get ready to move to the Friedman School’s new digs on the Boston campus when she came across Leah’s sign.
“I’m cleaning out my desk drawers and out pops this picture,” she says. “I couldn’t resist putting it up in my new office—I wasn’t going to throw it away.” Now it’s ensconced on a shelf that visitors can see as they enter. “Every once in a while somebody notices it,” Rogers says. When students come in and do a double take, Rogers tells them it represents her educational philosophy. “I hope they know I’m joking,” she says.
Leah is amused by this artifact from her childhood. “I didn’t raise a child without a sense of humor,” says Rogers.
Rogers says it reminds her of her own childhood, when her mother was teaching high school in New York City. Rogers particularly remembers sixth grade. There was an entire month when Rogers was finished with school and her mother was teaching. She came to school with her mother every day and sat in the back of a business class, where students were learning how to touch type. Rogers followed along and learned, too.
Marjorie Howard can be reached at email@example.com.
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There will be ten events across the UK to help businesses keep ahead with the latest technologies. At the events SMEs will have the chance to speak to industry experts, who will discuss ways of generating new business, improving efficiency and productivity in addition to controlling costs and improving customer service.
The British Chambers of Commerce is campaigning to make 2011 a Year for Growth and ensure businesses are given the right environment to thrive and grow. And BT Business showed its support for this theme by emphasising how technology can help businesses to meet the ever-growing demands and expectations of their customers.
Nigel Stagg, managing director of BT Business, said: “Our own recent survey showed that small businesses can’t work effectively without their broadband link for more than two hours, which demonstrates how fundamental technology has become.
Business people told us they are focusing very sharply on their costs and productivity. One bright spot is that customers are paying half the price for twice the broadband speed compared to three years ago, as a result of a highly competitive market.”
Mr Stagg went on to say that new technology standards emerge on a regular basis, so keeping old or incompatible technology can be a “costly mistake.” Consequently, examples at the events will include solutions like the latest communication systems and broadband technologies that support business growth.
David Riches, Director of Operations at the BCC says: "We have been campaigning to ... restore confidence in the small- and medium-sized companies that will drive Britain’s future growth.
“BCC member businesses will be able to benefit from BT's expertise in driving success in website design and other online and print-based marketing solutions,” he added.
For more information, please visit www.twpaccounting.co.uk
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Stationers accused of selling fake goods
Zetta Florence owners say Cavallini's images are similar to artwork found on the internet.
Stationery retail chain Zetta Florence is accused of selling counterfeit goods and copying artwork for its own wrapping paper, calendars and diaries after an exclusive distribution deal with a key supplier collapsed earlier this year.
Zetta Florence has been downloading images from Pinterest, online craft store Etsy, libraries and museums to create products "of a similar genre" to Cavallini Papers under its own brand, according to documents filed in the Federal Court in Melbourne.
However, it denies using artwork supplied on disk by Cavallini Papers and argues "there is ample availability of this genre of vintage works out of copyright and available to copy".
And the owners of Zetta Florence said they believed Cavallini wrapping paper they purchased from online merchant alibaba.com was genuine product, but have now pulled it from sale.
The wrapping paper sells for $6 per sheet while printed notebooks cost $13 and calendars up to $30.
Cavallini's artwork includes vintage travel posters and stamps and scientific drawings of birds and plants.
San Francisco-based Cavallini launched action in September and is seeking an injunction and damages. Zetta Florence is also at risk of going into liquidation after the tax office this week took action to wind up the company over unpaid debts of $190,127. The State Revenue Office made a similar winding up application in the Victorian Supreme Court in July this year, but the application was withdrawn a month later.
Owner Philip Knightley declined to comment when contacted by The Age.
Zetta Florence has stores in Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, High Street Armadale and recently opened a new store inside the Chadstone shopping centre. It sells stationery supplies, photo albums, boxes, binders and specialist archiving supplies.
Cavallini said it terminated the exclusive distribution agreement with Zetta Florence in March 2012 due to "persistent failures" to pay for goods and has since found a new supplier. And while its artwork may be "derived from earlier artistic works" Cavallini employees have made alterations to the images to make "new artistic works", according to its statement.
However, Zetta Florence owners Mr Knightley and Georgina Knightley said Cavallini's images are very similar to artwork they found on the internet with "very little in-house manipulation of the original". Further, that it was necessary for Zetta Florence to create its own products because the "marketplace would be frustrated with the lack of supply" after Cavallini terminated the distribution contract abruptly. The matter is due to be heard on November 14.
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I won't know either. The Groups.Google-Beta works - as ever - properly in all other postings that I receive or send.
effectuated by your system?
In recent years, all fruit juices (in supermarkets), which are so-called concentrates, were enriched (additionally) with refined sugar to make it taste sweeter. As consumers complained mbuttively that they are getting thick and fat merely by drinking those types, meanwhile, most of the European producers (large corporations) offer such juices now with the tag "ohne Zucker" (without sugar) - which indicates that there is *no extra* refined sugar added to such concentrates.
CARPACCIO vs. CARAPACE
"Carapace" according to Hutchinson Encyclopaedia: "n. exo-skeleton; protective shell of tortoise, etc. carapacic, a."
Probably, I had some pieces of Zwieback all the time that I even won't remember. But, at around 11 or so, I discovered that 1 litre of milk along with almost 1 package of Brandt Zwieback is most suited to me for breakfast - in order not get hungry during the school morning.
International Stuff 1853
no you don't and yet you do! LOL. it is basically a movie in the adventure genre, sort of like an indiana...
And, btw, I really liked that half-soaked stuff (eating it with a spoon from a bowl) that would still crack in the mouth when chewing it :-)
International Stuff 1852
i don't think i have ever heard of orange juice with extra sugar in it. Yes other fruit juices but not that. US has...
Sounds romantic, and thanks for presenting Frankie to me!
-- www.haplif.de & www.haplif.de-61820.html
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Employment Freeze Thaws in Some Industries
In this Sunday, May 20, 2012 photo, Congressman Tim Ryan takes a photo before running in the Cleveland Marathon, in Cleveland. In whatās become a daily ritual, Ryan finds a quiet spot, closes his eyes, clears his mind and tries to tap into the eternal calm. Increasingly, people in settings beyond the serene yoga studio or contemplative nature path are engaging in the practice of mindfulness, a mental technique that dwells on breathing, periods of silence and concentration to keep oneās thoughts in the present moment. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) (Tony Dejak)
"Folks that would never have thought to work in retail before are coming out of the woodwork," Steve Krom a vice president of AT&T New England.
Since the recession began in December 2007, 7.2 million jobs have been lost and the unemployment rate has doubled, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason.
"I think the worst is over, but that doesn't mean you go straight up from here. I think it is going be a long slog to get us out of this hole we've dug ourselves into," said David Wyss, chief economist with Standard & Poor's.
According to a new survey, only 40 percent of employers are planning to rehire former workers. So new jobs will need to come from new industries.
Cubicles at Integra Life Sciences aren't empty because of layoffs, this company wants to put workers in them.
"Currently throughout the company we have over 100 open heads," said Simon Archibald, the chief scientific officer.
Integra makes artificial skin, nerves and joints.
"This is artificial skin. It's completely manufactured here," Archibald said. "And it's used for wounds and burns, etc., and reconstructive plastic surgery."
The company has openings in everything from manufacturing to the legal department.
"Each device we make is more or less completely handmade," Archibald said. "So it provides a lot of opportunity for jobs."
"The modern economy is different. It's a much more knowledge economy," Wyss said. "It's a much more technological economy."
But those jobs could take years to develop. For now, some economists expect the unemployment rate could continue to rise until the middle of next year.
- Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble
- Storm spotter: Oklahoma tornado "a nightmare"
- Survivors pulled from Okla. school hit by tornado
- Oklahoma tornado survivor: "Everything is gone"
- Injured third-grade teacher tells of trying to protect students
- Okla. family mourns child killed at school following tornado
- 5/21: Plaza Towers Elementary School: A look at the damage; Tornado injuries: A doctor's point of view
- Tornado in Moore, Okla., was an EF5, the most powerful there is
- Oklahoma native's home destroyed for the second time
- Mother and daughter share stories of survival
- 5/20: Deadly tornado strikes Okla.; Fmr. Cincinnati IRS office worker speaks out
- 5/21: Family's last-minute decision likely saved their lives; Closer look reveals extent of destruction in Moore
- At least 51 dead after tornado strikes Oklahoma City suburb
- Saving the kids: One teacher's mission to keep her class safe
- The next day: Search-and-rescue operations become search-and-recovery efforts
- Tornado survivor: "I'm very lucky I am still here"
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It is not a coincidence that only old women go into your churches and temples, because that is the only place they were allowed to go, knowing perfectly well that the church is defensive of the family. The church knows perfectly well that once the family is gone, the church is gone. And the church of course is the last place where some romantic affair can happen. They have made every certainty: the priest has to be celibate…These are guarantees – that the priest is celibate, he is against sex, he is against women – in different religions in different ways.
The Jaina monk cannot touch a woman; in fact the woman should not come closer than eight feet to the Jaina monk. The Buddhist monk is not allowed to touch a woman. There are religions which don’t allow women to enter into their religious places, or they have separating partitions: man has the main part, the woman has a small corner – but separated. The men cannot even see them; meeting is impossible.
Many religions, like Mohammedanism, have covered their women’s faces. Mohammedan women’s faces have become pale, because they never see the sunlight. Their whole body is covered; their face is covered. In every possible way…The woman is not to be educated, because education gives people strange kinds of thoughts. People start thinking, people start arguing…
The woman was not allowed to have any paid career – because that means independence. So she was cut off from every nook and corner, just for this simple reason: so that you are certain that your son is really your son. Those who were really powerful – for example kings – had male servants castrated, because they were moving in the palace, working, serving. They had to be castrated; otherwise, there was a danger…And there was danger, because every emperor had hundreds of wives, many of whom he would never see. Naturally they would fall in love with anybody…but only castrated men were allowed into the palace, so even if they fell in love they could not create children. That was the basic thing.
The family has to disappear and give place to the commune. A commune means that we have pooled all our energies, all our money, everything into a single pool – which will be taking care of all the people. The children will belong to the commune, so there is no question of individual heritage.
And it is so economical…I have seen in my commune: five thousand people were there; that means two thousand five hundred kitchens would have been needed if they were living separately and two thousand five hundred women would be wasting their lives in the kitchen.
There was only one kitchen for five thousand people, and only fifteen people were running it. And remember, every woman is not a good cook! In fact, the best cooks are always men. All the books on cookery are written by men, and in all the great hotels you will find the best cooks are men.
Two thousand five hundred people cannot afford the best cooks separately, but a five-thousand-person commune can afford the best cooks, the best food. It can afford doctors to look into whether what they are eating is junk or food – most people are eating junk.
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Everyone knows Google Maps. Google has gone out of its way to make Google Maps something that everyone knows about, uses, and talks about. There are blogs that are just about all the mash-ups and hacks people have come up with for it.
And now, O'Reilly has released Google Maps Hacks, showing how anyone can use the Google Maps API for their own benefit, with a little help.
The book starts off with a basic tutorial on how to add a Google Map to your site — if you're going to mash up, you have to have something to mash, after all! It also shows you (in Hack 27) how to use Greasemap to add Google Maps functionality to any web site (assuming you've already got Greasemonkey and Firefox is your browser). As with all hacks books, Google Maps Hacks includes some basic hacks that just about anyone can do (and points to some great places to see great hacks already done!), and some that are going to require a bit of work and programming skill.
There were several hacks in the book that I really loved. First, the book pointed me to a site promising to show me where I could find cheap gas. They've integrated Google Maps with GasBuddy to create something incredibly useful, though I wish it were updated more often. (My local station hasn't been updated since September of 2005!)
To use the really good hacks, you'll need a GPS. Many of the mash-ups are best used when you're out on the road. Hack 35 shows how to dump Google Maps data to your GPS system, and #37 shows how to reverse that process and import your GPS Tracklogs to Google Maps.
The most useful part of the book, though, is when we get to see how various mash-ups work. It's one thing to see a great use of the Google Maps API, it's another thing completely to understand how that's done so that you can do it yourself. And that's really what's valuable about the Hacks books — you're shown how something is done, so you can take that understanding and apply it to what you want to do. That's what hacking is all about — information and application of that information in new ways.
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Release Date: November 20, 2012
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Robert G. Shibley, dean of the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture and Planning, has received the Robert and Louise Bethune Award, the highest accolade that the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Buffalo/Western New York chapter bestows.
The award, announced on Nov. 15, is a lifetime achievement award. It recognizes Shibley's contributions to the profession of architecture over the past 30 years through practice, mentorship and community leadership.
The architecture honor comes two years after the New York Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association recognized Shibley with a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the planning profession.
Over a long and distinguished career, he has helped to shape the region's landscape, playing a leading role in urban design and planning initiatives including the City of Buffalo's comprehensive plan, the "Queen City Hub" plan for downtown Buffalo, and master plans for the Buffalo waterfront, the Larkin District, the Buffalo Olmsted Park System, and the City of Niagara Falls.
This past year, Shibley led a jury of community leaders and Kaleida Health officials in developing and then judging a design competition for the reuse of the Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital in Buffalo.
As UB's first campus architect, Shibley has played a pivotal role in shaping UB's campus footprint, including its expansion downtown.
Shibley chaired the committee that conducted the design competition to select an architectural team for designing the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences' new downtown Buffalo home. He also led the international competition that chose world-renowned landscape artist Walter Hood as designer of The Solar Strand, a 3,200-panel photovoltaic array that opened on UB's North Campus this April.
Both of these impressive facilities are part of the university's award-winning master plan, "Building UB: The Comprehensive Physical Plan," whose development Shibley spearheaded.
The plan guides development of facilities and public spaces on UB's three campuses. It envisions UB's North Campus as a vibrant, sociable living and learning community, and UB's South Campus as a center of professional education. Under "Building UB," UB's Downtown Campus is undergoing a transformation into a hub for teaching, research and clinical care in the biomedical sciences.
Shibley, a professor of architecture and urban and regional planning, joined UB's faculty in 1982. He assumed his position as dean in 2011. In 1990, he founded the Urban Design Project, an award-winning center for the study and critical practice of urban design that recently aligned with the UB Regional Institute and continues to engage in the region's most prominent planning and development initiatives.
A certified planner and licensed architect, he was elevated to the status of Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 2010. The designation of Fellow is the highest honor the national AIA can bestow upon a member.
In the community, Shibley has gained a reputation as a consensus building visionary, engaging members of the public in discussions about how the region's urban design and architectural landscape can meet their needs. In the classroom, he has helped to train the next generation of architects and planners, teaching courses from large undergraduate lectures to intimate graduate seminars.
"Over the past three decades, Bob has contributed to all aspects of the built environment in Western New York based on his commitment to design excellence and the principle that design is the public's business," says Kelly Hayes McAlonie, president of AIA New York State and interim associate vice provost of UB's Capital Planning Group. "But his legacy, as a professor before all else, is in the work of his students as they carry these principles in their practice across our region and world."
"I view the award as the celebration of a long-running collaboration among colleagues at the University at Buffalo, the School of Architecture and Planning and the communities that host us," Shibley said. "It is wonderful to work with people who understand that city- and region-building are team sports."
A biography of Shibley is available at http://www.ap.buffalo.edu/planning/people/shibley.asp.
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Every time I was ready to tear my hair out, I would remind myself that Chris was not really his chronological age, but was three years younger. This always served to help me calm down and see the situation in a new light. With this insight his “inappropriate behavior” was not so inappropriate after all. And my response then could be geared to what he could understand and appreciate.
Dr. Martha Denckla, our closing plenary speaker at the CHADD conference in San Francisco earlier this month, added a new twist to this insight. She suggested we consider our children with ADHD as both absolutely brilliant and three years younger than their actual age. What a fantastic combination.
Your precocious and delightful seven-year-old is hiding in the body of a ten-year-old. That sixteen-year-old teen who wants desperately to get his driver’s license is really a twelve-year-old who wants to do what all the big kids do. No wonder there is such a sense of disconnect with what is expected in life and what our kids do.
Today my twenty-five-year-old son is a well-grounded and successful twenty-one-year-old. He is thriving as a junior in college who has found his passion in life. He is my late bloomer. And he is blooming beautifully.
Ruth Hughes, PhD, is the CEO of CHADD.
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Schieffer Ignored Key Social Issues, Protected Obama
In the final presidential debate, moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News steered clear of several key issues that would have shined a bright light on the character of the respective candidates – and probably would have been embarrassing to Barack Obama – including marriage, military personnel policy and guns.
Schieffer inquired instead about the economy, education, health care, energy and climate change, most of which have been covered in previous debates. He did ask a question about negative campaign ads that gave some insight into the candidates' capacity for leadership.
It's not as if the issues that Schieffer ignored are not topical.
–The Connecticut Supreme Court last week struck down the state's law upholding the traditional understanding of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Three states –
–Obama said during a primary debate that he favored requiring women to register for the draft, and has pledged to open the military to homosexuals.
Schieffer also ignored important issues like illegal immigration, religious liberty, English as the nation's official language, and the unfolding national story about Sen. Obama's ties to the leftwing activist group ACORN, which has been caught committing voter fraud in several key states.
Schieffer did ask two questions about abortion as it related to appointing Supreme Court justices, but failed to ask about the candidate's positions on abortion restrictions such as parental notification, or on the proposed Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would wipe out all restrictions on abortion in all 50 states. In 2007, Barack Obama told a Planned Parenthood audience that “the first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.”
Why would marriage, the military and gun rights have proven particularly embarrassing to Obama?
Definition of Marriage. Obama says he supports marriage as the union of one man and one woman, but his Web site calls for overturning the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage that way for federal purposes and allows states to have their own policies. He also opposes state constitutional amendments preserving the traditional definition of marriage.
If Obama believes “marriage to be between a man and a woman,” as he told the gay pressure group Human Rights Campaign (HRC), why wouldn't he support laws to keep it that way? And why did he also tell HRC that “I would oppose any effort to stifle a state's ability to decide this question on its own” while opposing DOMA, which does just that? Finally, why would he support giving the legal privileges of marriage to same-sex couples, such as federal recognition for purposes of benefits and taxes, Social Security and adoption? Inquiring moderators like Schieffer should want to know, so that millions of Americans can know.
Schieffer should have asked Obama: “How do you account for this gap between your rhetoric and policies?” He also should have asked McCain about his own confusing record: “Why did you oppose a federal marriage amendment even though you voted for DOMA? Do you support the state ballot measures on marriage? Why did you issue no statement when the
Earlier this week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted that Obama believes that women should register with the Selective Service, which would run any reinstated military draft, and that “Obama would consider officially opening combat positions to women.” McCain has said he does not believe woman should have to register for the draft or serve in combat positions. Wouldn't these differences be of interest to millions of American parents, not to mention millions of draft-age women and the men and women already serving?
Schieffer, like the moderators in the two previous presidential debates and the vice presidential debate, also ignored the issue of homosexuals in the military. Obama's Web site states, “…we need to repeal the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy and allow all servicemembers to serve openly. Obama will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure we accomplish our national defense goals.” McCain has said he supports the current law passed by Congress in 1993, which, in contrast to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' explicitly bars homosexuals from military service. But he told a D.C. homosexual paper that “he would 'defer to military commanders' after a 'review' of the issue.” Schieffer failed to make either candidate explain his positions.
Guns. One would also expect a question on the issue of Second Amendment rights, especially in a year in which the Supreme Court upheld that right in the District of Columbia vs. Heller case, which struck down
Gun rights would have been a tough topic for Obama because he apparently flip-flopped on the D.C. gun ban. When the ruling was announced, Obama told the Fox Business Network he “said consistently that I believe that the Second Amendment is an individual right, and that was the essential decision that the Supreme Court came down on.”
In November 2007, however, the Chicago Tribune reported that Obama thought the D.C. gun ban was “constitutional.” An aide later denied that Obama had taken that clear a stand. In early 2008, Washington D.C.'s local ABC affiliate anchor Leon Harris asked Obama this question: “You said in Idaho recently – I'm quoting here – 'I have no intention of taking away folks' guns' but you support the D.C. handgun ban.” Obama responded “Right.”
When Obama was asked in the April 16, 2008 debate by ABC News's Charlie Gibson if he considers the D.C. law to be consistent with an individual's right to bear arms, Obama said, “Well, Charlie, I confess I obviously haven't listened to the briefs and looked at all the evidence.”
With McCain, there has been no ambiguity. He signed an amicus brief in the District of Columbia v. Heller case contending that the D.C. gun ban is incompatible with the Second Amendment.
With the exception of the questions about Roe v. Wade and judicial appointees, Schieffer continued the pattern established in the other debates: to avoid the questions on character and values that would have sharply defined differences between the candidates on key social issues.
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Daniel Markey answered questions about the U.S.-Pakistan relationship in a live chat on washingtonpost.com.
One week after Bin Laden's death and it is clear that the central issue now is how all of this will shape the future of US-Pakistan relations.
Before I get started answering your questions, I wanted to share two links.
First, here's one for the CFR Crisis Guide: Pakistan. It has a lot of great material in an interactive format. I believe it has been (or is being) updated in the aftermath of bin Laden's death:
Second, here's the Random House website, where you can see the "instant e-book" Beyond Bin Laden where I have a chapter on Pakistan:
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your questions,
– May 09, 2011 1:49 PM
Trust in Pakistan
Can we trust that Pakistan will legitimatly investigate any connections its government had to Bin Laden? Is there the prospect of further deteriorating relations between Us and Pakistan? How Bin Laden's death affect the war in Afghanistan? – May 09, 2011 1:40 PM Daniel Markey :
There is no doubt that the Pakistanis will have an investigation, but don't expect that it will be "legitimate" in the way you might like. Their goal is to figure out if anyone will lead the US government right back to them (a smoking gun of guilt). If past is a guide, they may be willing to pin the blame on a few people, place them under house arrest. But they will not allow US government to interrogate or have access.
More generally, yes, this will send relations between Washington and Islamabad downhill. I'm sure we can get into more details as this chat goes on. But US-Pak relations were already in crisis before Bin Laden...
As for Afghanistan, this is clearly influencing perspectives of people back here in the States. Those who thought the war was more trouble than worth think so even more.
– May 09, 2011 2:08 PM
Role of Islam
Would solving Kashmir issue resolve tensions in South Asia? What, in your view, would be the best possible solution to the Kashmir problem? – May 09, 2011 1:45 PM Daniel Markey :
Solving Kashmir would be great for US interests. It would serve the interests of stability throughout the region, and it would probably allow far better cooperation between Washington and Islamabad. But that's like saying that solving the Israel-Palestine dispute would help relations between Israel and Syria. It is true, but it doesn't get us past the fact that it's an incredibly tough thing to do.
In general, my sense is that top leaders in India and Pakistan see benefits to normalizing their relations, but there are a lot of spoilers - like the LeT who attacked Mumbai in November 2008 - and they tend to have the upper hand.
– May 09, 2011 2:11 PM
As we consider our relations with Pakistan, how much does our diplomacy have to also consider our influence over Pakistan in stablizing relations with India? How volatile or calm are current relations between Pakistan and India? – May 09, 2011 1:53 PM Daniel Markey :
To stick with the India angle, I would note that India and Pakistan just restarted a dialogue that had effectively been frozen since the Mumbai attack. So that's a good thing. But it is a process, not a solution. If we're lucky, neither Pakistan nor India (nor the US) will inject the Indo-Pak issue into the latest crisis, as we have enough on our hands already.
But clearly many Indians are in some way happy to see this episode play out, if only because they think it vindicates their position - that Pakistan is the global hub of terrorism.
– May 09, 2011 2:15 PM
Realistically, even if Pakistan's own investigation reveals that people in their government or military knew or even harbored Bin Laden, what will come of it? – May 09, 2011 2:05 PM Daniel Markey :
Well, this is the nightmare - at least for me. Because we really can't continue with a strategy of cooperation and engagement with a country that knowingly - at the seniormost levels of leadership - harbored a Bin Laden. I think it would simply mean the end of the cooperative game and we would shift to coercion and containment, sort of like the policies we have had for countries like Iran, or North Korea.
But this is very unlikely. It is far more likely that while there were some Pakistanis who knew where bin Laden was, they didn't share that information very widely, and the vast majority of the Pakistani intelligence establishment was in the dark.
The material collected from bin Laden's computers should tell us a lot more. But I suppose my sense is that if the ISI were as all-seeing as some suggest, they should have known that CIA was in Abbottabad. They also should have been able to save themselves a lot of bloodshed - hundreds of their officers have been killed, their own headquarters attacked, etc.
In the end, this is a country that has lots of different factions, likely even within its intelligence agency and certainly within the wider army.
– May 09, 2011 2:20 PM
Over 10 yrs ago, I lived in India. The Indian media constantly complained about foreign terrorists in Pakistan. The U.S. always turned a blind eye to the sprawling terrorist camps and madrassas where young children were indoctrinated. How could the U.S. trust Pakistan pre-9/11 and post 9/11??? – May 09, 2011 1:59 PM Daniel Markey :
Yes, Pakistan has been at the game of nurturing various militant and terrorist groups for decades. In an earlier era, they were sometimes called "freedom fighters," especially in the Kashmir and Afghanistan context.
The question is not whether the United States trusted Pakistan - ever - but whether it believed that its interests would be best served by some frustrating cooperation or by active confrontation or circumvention.
Time and again, Washington has concluded that even frustrating cooperation was better than the alternatives. This continues to be the case, even today.
The broader point, however, is that we need to start to see the challenge of Pakistan in and of itself. This is not just the home to al-Qaeda, but there are many other extremist and terrorist groups in its society, a fast growing nuclear arsenal, and a population that will be over 300 million by mid-century.
Given these facts, anyone who thinks that we can just turn our backs on Pakistan and leave it to solve its own mess is deluding himself. This is going to be a challence we all face for decades to come, best - in my opinion - to keep at it now rather than later.
– May 09, 2011 2:24 PM
Pulling Out of Afghanistan
Dr. Markey, in light of our Pakistan conundrum, what do you think it would actually take for the U.S. to accelerate pulling our troops out of Afganistan ? – May 09, 2011 2:22 PM Daniel Markey :
We can certainly start pulling more forces out of Afghanistan, and in some ways it is possible to argue that such an action would make it easier to deal with Pakistan. Above all, we wouldn't be as dependent upon their logistical routes (through Karachi and overland into Afghanistan).
But the question is what we get from accelerating withdrawal. My sense is that we would be better off pressing our advantage gained by killing bin Laden. We can use it (along with the present military surge) to try and convince allies and adversaries in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and wider region, that we intend to root out international terrorists - including top Taliban, Haqqani network, and LeT - and that we have the capacity to pull it off. This should help our negotiating position more than looking like we are running to the exits.
That said, we have no interest in sticking around for the long run, so the faster we can pull this momentum shift and begin to find political solutions, the better.
– May 09, 2011 2:30 PM
Pakistan and China
What is your understanding of the Pakistan-China relationship? It has occurred to me that Pakistan punches far above its weight-class, according to usual national figures, and yet it seems strangely unafraid of American retaliation. Perhaps this is because of the less publicized Chinese relationship, a country that - unlike Pakistan - we really cannot effectively attack or counter? – May 09, 2011 2:23 PM Daniel Markey :
I was recently in China asking similar questions. I think that the Pakistanis place greater emphasis on the relationship than the Chinese do. The Chinese seem to have little desire to see a breakdown in US-Pakistan relations, in part because they don't want to run the risk (or cost) of filling in the gaps we'd leave behind. For China, the best possible situation is one in which they can continue to enjoy a special relationship with Pakistan at relatively low cost, while still having enormous trade relations with the United States and a fast growing trade partnership with India. Many of the Chinese I met were worried about a possible split between Washington and Islamabad, because they didn't want to have to pick up the pieces, and they certainly didn't want to see a US-Pakistan crisis turn into a US-China crisis.
– May 09, 2011 2:33 PM
CIA Operative Name
Why would Pakistan try to release the CIA director name? What good for them or our relationship? – May 09, 2011 2:10 PM Daniel Markey :
Good question. Seems like a bad move if your interest lies in trying to patch up relations and move on.
There are many possible reasons for this step, all speculative though. But let's make one thing clear - this is just another example of how the Pakistani state and society have deep divisions within them. I can't imagine that the top civilian leaders would have wanted this to happen.
When the last station chief was outed, similar questions were raised. Only thing we can determine for sure is that some part of the ISI/army or their close affiliates see this as a way to punch back at the CIA. Last I read though, this station chief is tough and intends to stay in place...
– May 09, 2011 2:37 PM
Is Imran Khan a rising star who is more nationalist then Zardari or Nawaz Sharif?
– May 09, 2011 2:12 PM Daniel Markey :
Imran Khan is a loud voice and a nationally-recognized figure, owing to his time as a huge cricket star. But he doesn't command a strong political party, and he hasn't been able to win many votes. This points to the challenge of being a politician in Pakistan - you need a strong and disciplined organization, and there are only 2 (at the national level) who have this at the moment: Zardari's PPP and Nawaz's PML-N.
These big parties are dynastic and not internally democratic, so not great places for rising charismatic stars.
It is possible that we will start to see changes in Pakistani politics though. Their relatively more free press, communications technologies, etc. make organizing easier than in the past. But it could still take a long time, and I don't expect that Imran Khan will be the beneficiary.
The one real chance he has to catapault to power would be if the army were to take over and place him in a figurehead role. But not at all clear they seek to be in the political limelight now, and not clear they would see him as a helpful figurehead anyway.
– May 09, 2011 2:41 PM
With OBL found and killed in Pakistan, the US public opinion is going to be very high in favor of stopping aid to Pak, and rightly so. How long can US continue this alliance of convenience and keep sending billions of dollars to Pakistan just because of their geographical situation and access to military routes? – May 09, 2011 2:33 PM Daniel Markey :
This is a very important issue. Congress is hopping mad over this - rightly so - and the American people have an impossible time accepting that a country like Pakistan could be a partner in some respects while it is an adversary or enemy in others.
Again, I believe that we need to remember the fact that Pakistan is engaged in an internal debate - sometimes it looks like a civil conflict, even a war - over its future. Our goal should be to influence the outcome of that debate in ways that serve our purposes over the long term.
So if we can use bin Laden's death as a point of leverage, finally pressing home the fact that Pakistan's military and ISI cannot work with us in some areas and against us in others, then we will have made a big step forward. I'm not optimistic, but I think it is worth a try. AND, we shouldn't expect it to be pretty - the Pakistanis who lose from seeing their government work with ours will fight every step of the way.
Right now, however, the ball is in Pakistan's court. The mixed messages from PM Gilani won't make the US congress happy, but they could have been worse. What is being said behind closed doors by the military and ISI will eventually filter out and influence US congressional action even more.
This is going to be one rough ride.
– May 09, 2011 2:49 PM
Thanks everyone for all the great questions, unfortunately at this point we all have more questions than answers about the future of US-Pakistan relations.
– May 09, 2011 2:53 PM
This article appears in full on CFR.org by permission of its original publisher. It was originally available here.
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The really sad part? Dying without knowing whether the men who raped and killed her would be adequately punished.
May she rest in peace…the living will sort out those beasts and then they will be sorted out some more in the underworld for eternity.
I share your sentiments, though my disbelief in an afterlife means I prefer to see the perpetrators punished while they are alive.
Ultimately, I hope the 23 years of her life on this planet, all that energy and hopes and dreams lost to a mob of monsters in a violent act, won’t be wasted.
The 23-year-old or the 17-year-old who committed suicide? Regardless, I think the saddest part is still the fact that the culture is such that there are potential victims who will face the same plight in the future. It could be the little girl on the street playing with her toys now or the young lady who is celebrating her 21st birthday in a deli with her family. These victims will not only have to face the impending horror of sexual violence but the aftermath too — being surrounded by a culture too horrid to describe and entirely self-evident enough to be exposed on the Internet. As people like you and me watch on.
The 23-year old. She had become the Malala of rape culture in India, so it would have been sweet justice if she had lived to see the violence against her had roused an entire nation to anger, and her murderers punished severely for their crimes.
Anyone can watch, but it is with the hope that by contributing our voices against gender-based violence that we will shift the cultures around us to be less tolerant of sexism — and thus laws which make it safe to be a woman anywhere in the world.
It's like Spam, only more ethical, because I am a vegan.
This work by Rewarp is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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Terror attacks hit U.S.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- In an apparently coordinated terrorist attack against the United States, four commercial passenger jets crashed on Tuesday, three of them into significant landmarks.
U.S. intelligence officials tell CNN "there are good indications that persons linked to Osama bin Laden may be responsible for these attacks." The sources say they based the statement on specific information that had been gathered Tuesday. Bin Laden is the Saudi millionaire who has been blamed for terror attacks against U.S. interests and is believed to be in Afghanistan.
American Airlines Flight 11, carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members, slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan shortly before 9 a.m. About 15 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles, with 56 passengers and nine crew members on board, crashed into the south tower.
Both towers eventually collapsed in a shower of debris and plume of thick dust.
A half-hour after the second crash, American Flight 77 took off from Washington, D.C.'s Dulles Airport en route to Los Angeles, California, carrying 58 passengers and six crew members -- but crashed into the Pentagon instead. Less than an hour after the third crash, United Flight 93 en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, with 38 passengers and seven crew aboard.
Huge chunks of debris falling from remains of World Trade Center towers more than six hours after the crashes. Firefighters could get no closer than 2 blocks from the burning hulk.
The FBI said it believes all four planes, carrying a total of 266 people, were hijacked.
The Pentagon, the White House, the State Department, the Justice Department, the Capitol, the CIA and all other government buildings in Washington are evacuated.
Federal Emergency Response Plan is implemented immediately after first attack, according to White House. All U.S. embassies and U.S. forces around the world are put on high alert. The highest alert is THREATCON DELTA.
All federal agencies implement continuity plans to make sure U.S. government continues to function effectively.
President Bush calls the crashes "a national tragedy." Later in the day, Bush issues a statement from Barksdale AFB near Shreveport, Louisiana. "Make no mistake: The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."
Secret Service secures President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and key members of Bush's Cabinet and national security team. Air Force One lands in Omaha, Nebraska, and spokeswoman Karen Hughes says Bush is in a secure location.
Mullah Omar, the Taliban spiritual leader, condemns the attacks and denies that Osama bin Laden, was responsible.
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, says in reaction to the terror attacks that "we want to tell the American children that Afghanistan feels your pain and we hope that the courts find justice."
In the first-ever national ground stop of aircraft, all flights nationwide are stopped at their departure airports.
International flights are initially diverted to Canada; FAA says later, however, that 22 U.S.-bound international flights will be allowed to land.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta tells FAA to suspend operation of all flights until at least noon Wednesday. He also issued orders controlling the movements of all vessels in U.S. waters.
In New York, more than 10,000 rescue personnel rush to the scene. Evacuation of lower Manhattan begins.
Israel evacuates all of its missions around the world.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is evacuated. CDC prepares emergency response teams in case they become necessary.
Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, Republican leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, Sen. Don Nickles, R-Oklahoma, House Democratic leader Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Missouri, and House Speaker Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, were taken by helicopter to an undisclosed location.
Philadelphia landmarks are evacuated.
In Chicago, the Sears Tower is evacuated; United Nations in New York is evacuated.
Two aircraft carriers and five other ships are deployed along the East Coast of the United States, and two aircraft carriers go to New York area, all from Norfolk, Virginia.
The New York Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels into the city.
U.S. stock markets close after the New York attacks and will remain closed Wednesday.
NATO sends home all non-essential personnel from its Brussels, Belgium, headquarters.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service puts the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada on highest state of alert.
Los Angeles International Airport is evacuated.
Disney closes its parks in Orlando, Florida, and Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
FEMA implements plan established for such events: FBI leads investigation and Justice Department heads crisis management. White House spokeswoman Karen Hughes says FEMA activates eight urban search and rescue teams in New York and four teams are at work at Pentagon.
Three Palestinian groups -- Hamas, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamic Jihad -- deny responsibility for the attacks, but blame U.S. policies in the Mideast.
Washington, D.C., and San Francisco declare states of emergency.
A Delta flight makes emergency landing in Cleveland and all passengers are safely evacuated. Federal officials search the plane for a possible bomb.
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Today is Yom Kippur. Now, let's be honest, you don't know what that is, do you? In fact, you probably don't even know anything about the Jewish religion or her many dozens of devoted followers. It's OK, you racist pig, we're here to help. We've made all of our writers work overtime to point out some common misconceptions about the faith. Now, take a minute to learn an untrue thing or two about the great religion that gave us Moses, Paula Abdul and half the Beastie Boys.
Dan Levy Jewish teenagers were the first teens to take a stance against drinking and driving after a young Jewish rabbi drove a Jewish van drunk into a Jewish house in a Jewish area in 1982.
John Roy The Jews control which callers win all radio contests.
Max Lance Jews have enormous penises, but promote circumcisions so as to not offend gentiles.
Matt Boor Jewish people are filled with crunchy peanuts, smooth caramel, and creamy nougat.
Mindy Raf If a young Jewish girl says the name "Jessica Simpson" aloud, she will die before her 16th birthday.
Chris Wylde They live in a tree and drink gummy beary juice so they can bounce real high (on their asses).
Chris Richman Originally, the city of Hollywood wanted to give Jewish actors and actresses Stars of David on their walk of fame.
Jake Hurwitz Jewish people can breathe not only under water, but in outer space as well.
Jesse Costello Jews have been busy cloning Sammy Davis Jr. since his 1990 death for a magical assault on all five senses entitled, "700 Sammys," scheduled to debut on Broadway in Spring 2006!
Tom Sunnergren 94% of Jews have either killed a man in cold blood or eaten pastrami!
Melanie Ethand Despite their name, Juji Fruits are not kosher.
Thorton Papadopoulos Most Jews do not eat pork, but almost all of them eat dachshunds.
Sarah Schneider If you cut off the arm of a Jew, it will regenerate itself. Not only that, but a new Jew will form from the severed arm.
Ricky Van Veen The Jewish religion has an official football team (the Atlanta Falcons, of which they own 50.5%).
Streeter Seidell Jewish people love irony but don't understand sarcasm.
And finally, Ethan who may have misunderstood the assignment gives us one certainly false Jewish stereo type.
Ethan Trex Panasonicstein?
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Communication and cultural skills are more important now than ever before for businesses accross the world. For those companies seeking a competitive edge in their HR or sales or marketing processes, language and cultural training is now an essential part of their growth strategy.
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LINGO will work closely with you to ensure your course adds value at every stage. Whether your course takes place at your offices, at one of our Language Centers or online with our LINGO Virtual Classroom, we have a programme to suit every requirement and schedule.
LINGO Provides Separate Language Training for Kids, Adults, Professionals, workers, House wives etc, who are keen to study separate. Our training teams work with you at all stages to ensure that your training is highly productive, rewarding and above all, enjoyable. Our highly experience teachers have given us a unique understanding of how learning a new language can be transformed into one of the most rewarding experiences you will ever undertake So, whether you are starting Business for overseas travel, or need to delivers Speeches or Presentations or going for higher study. LINGO has a course for you, whatever your chosen learning objectives.
With LINGO kids, through live instruction, children up to 11 years old can learn ENGLISH or other languages the same way they learned their first language – by laughing. Playing and eventually conversing. Songs, crafts, games and illustrations are used to build a child's confidence and increase cultural awareness. Whatever your child's age… Whatever your child's language of interest… LINGO kids has the right program for you. English for kids, through live instruction, children up to 11 years old can learn ENGLISH or second language the same way they learned their first language – by laughing. Playing and eventually conversing. Songs, crafts, games and illustrations are used to build a child's confidence and increase cultural awareness. Whatever your child's age… Whatever your child's language of interest… LINGO kids have the right program for you.
When it comes to understanding the world's languages and cultures, on one is better prepared to help corporations and their employee succeed than LINGO. We offer an extensive range of training specialization for Executives and Professionals. LINGO offers Executive Business English courses, English for Customer Care, English for Marketing and Advertising, English for Sales and Purchasing, English for Meeting and Presentations, English for Socializing and English for Telephoning.
How We Do?
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When Washington’s right-wing wants to take military action to foster Middle Eastern “democracy and freedom,” as Sen. John McCain said attacking Syria would do Monday night on CNN, they often cite the willingness of the U.S.’s Gulf Arab allies to go along with their plans. But if increasing crackdowns against merely dissenting Twitter users is any indication, many of the Gulf Sheikhdoms need to get their own houses in order first.
In recent weeks, rights groups criticized arrests of activists in Kuwait and Bahrain for doing little more than tweeting criticisms of their governments or religion. The crackdown follows the rise of Twitter in these Gulf countries as a central means of political discourse, utilized by a spectrum of dissenters and government supporters, according to the Financial Times. Only dissenters, obviously, face the wrath of their governments. The FT reported:
The arrests –- together with other detentions in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates –- show how social websites are expanding Gulf public life in contrasting and sometimes conflicting directions, as nationals traditionally served only by heavily censored media grapple with rapid social change at home and the political turmoil gripping the Middle East.
On June 7, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said a Kuwaiti court’s ten-year prison sentence for Hamad al-Naqi for the charge of “insulting” the prophet Muhammad “violates human rights standards.” Moreover, al-Naqi’s lawyer told HRW that the conviction also came on national security grounds because of insults against neighboring rulers.
In Bahrain, human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was arrested on June 6 for the second time in as many months, this time for calling on the country’s prime minister to step down. “Nabeel Rajab’s comments concern political discussion and therefore are clearly protected under his right to free speech,” said HRW deputy Middle East director Joe Stork of the case. Last month, Amnesty International criticized Bahrain’s Sunni Muslim rulers for their crackdown on the Shia majority’s political rights, including Rajab’s arrest for “insulting” the government (he already faced charges of participating in “illegal” demonstrations). Authorities “continue to compound their violations of his basic right to free speech by adding to the charges against him as he continues to criticize the government,” Stork said of the latest arrest.
The growing crackdown rises in tandem with the inceased use of Twitter in Gulf Arab countries. The FT noted a recent infographic created by Khaled El Ahamad and Lama Zaitoon. Here’s a portion of their charts, outlining some 1.3 million Twitter users in the Arab world:
Kuwait and Bahrain have the deepest Twitter penetration of any of the other countries, measuring in at more than 4 and 8 percent of their populations, respectively. And Bahraini users issued the highest volume of tweets — almost 59 million in March 2012. The tiny nation of Bahrain, meanwhile, issued more than 8 million tweets that month.
As Twitter grows as a direct citizen-publication platform in these heavily restricted societies, the governments face a stark choice. Their decision to crackdown on Twitter users reinforces the pattern in place before the information revolution came to the Persian Gulf. For many, the lesson of the Arab Spring was that repressive dictatorships are not, as long-thought, stable. Blocking free use of Twitter for political expression does little to alleviate those strains, likely instead creating a situation waiting to boil over.
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Too much of a good thing?
By: Frank Cadenhead
Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is a monument of world culture. It is not just a musical masterpiece but an extraordinary gift to our collective humanity. It is like a Michelangelo, a Titian, a Shakespeare play, a poem by Goethe – so utterly astounding that anyone has to wonder how the artist, a mere mortal, can produced a work that goes beyond the limits of time and space, creating something at once human and eternal.
Beethoven was old and deaf when it was finished and heard this work only in his mind. The complex rhythms, so difficult for the musicians, seemced easy for him. Some parts, I confess, baffle me to this day but I never think for a second that the fault is not mine. To experience it is to be as near to ecstasy as I have ever been. My favorite recording is the early Karajan one, when he was still enjoying bringing a work to life and finds much juice and originality in this work.
Banal matters kept me away from the Paris performance at the Salle Pleyel on October 8. John Eliot Gardiner was touring with his Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique and the Monteverdi Choir. Hearing a Missa Solemnis performance with “historically informed” early-Romantic instruments and musicians who know them would certainly stretch my ears. Gardiner very rarely disappoints and is one of the major conductors of our time. The fact that he is at a senior member of the “original instruments” crowd and focuses on the baroque means that Americans, missing most of that movement, have had less contact with him. Fortunately much of his important work, his Bach particularly, has been recorded and is always recommended. His 1991 recording of the Missa Solemnis with the same forces (but different soloists) is still available.
A little item in a French classical magazine mentioned this tour and described its extraordinary extent. It started in Pisa on the 29th of September and included Cologne, Amsterdam, Baden-Baden, Bern, Vienna, Budapest, Valencia, Madrid and London (on October 17). On this stage, the soloists were Lucy Crow, Jennifer Johnston, James Gilchust and Mathew Rose. In November, with different soloists, he returns to Spain, then to America and will finish in Costa Mesa, California on 20 November. I hope the entire team has their frequent flyer cards handy. They will certainly have free trips after this tour!
One could reasonable ask, however, how much Missa Solemnis is too much? Imagine spending two months with this man on the tour and sharing each evening with him. Does he snore? Does he always leave the toilet seat up? Yes, there are moments of ecstasy. Yes the music transcends. But playing it night after night, each time in a different hotel, each time in a different drafty hall with its own acoustical problems. I imagine that, for the musicians, at some point into the tour, this just becomes another job. Living out of a heavy suitcase and hauling it to a different room each night are accepted so you can make the payments on your house and car. If even I were obliged to listen to the Missa just every night for one week I might have to reflect on the over-the-top praise of the first paragraph. If any reader has a chance to meet this touring orchestra and its team in an after-concert party in California I would avoid the question “How is the trip so far?” There could be too much of a good thing.
Tags: Beethoven, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, Salle Pleyel
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One man "fell through the cracks" and another had moved out of state. Both men had received fungus-tainted steroid injections.
Minnesota health officials have identified two more cases of fungal meningitis, both involving men in their 50s or 60s who fell ill after receiving contaminated steroid injections.
A total of nine Minnesotans have now been linked to the month-long nationwide outbreak, said Richard Danila, deputy Minnesota state epidemiologist.
One of the newest cases, a Twin Cities man in his 60s had tested positive for the fungal infection weeks ago, but for some reason did not receive prompt treatment, Danila said.
"He should have been admitted and treated about two weeks ago," Danila said. "He fell through the cracks."
Danila said the Health Department discovered the case on Thursday and advised the man to seek immediate treatment. However, Danila had no details about the patient's condition.
The ninth case involved a man who had received the steroid injections in Minnesota but moved to Tennessee before his illness was diagnosed. Danila said it took several weeks to correctly identify it as a Minnesota case.
All nine Minnesota patients received steroids produced by the New England Compounding Center, a Massachusetts specialty pharmacy now under federal investigation. Federal authorities say that three lots of the firm's steroids were contaminated with fungus that caused the outbreak.
As of Thursday, 328 people have fallen ill and 24 have died in 18 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Minnesota, health officials say they are continuing to investigate possible additional cases.
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An estimated 928 million units of skincare products were sold on the European market in 2010. Growth in volume sales has come from a widening of the consumer base, particularly with the reunification of Germany to include the East German Lander, and an increase in multiple purchase. By 2014, the European skincare market will be worth an estimated $9 billion, increasing by 24 per cent in value terms. Frost & Sullivan says: "The increasingly sophisticated formulations used in the manufacture of skincare products have met with positive consumer reaction overall and suggest that, with continued technological innovation, growth can be sustained into the next century."
Unsurprisingly, the largest European market for skincare is France, with a 31 per cent share of the total expenditure in 2010. Germany ranks as the second largest spending nation with a 27 percent share in 2010, followed by Italy, accounting for 15 percent of the market. By far the largest share of European skincare sales is accounted for by facial skincare products with a 62 percent value share in 2010, an estimated $4.4 billion and forecast to reach $5.7 billion by the end of the study period in 2014. Growth rates will be relatively buoyant due to consumer demand for specialist treatment products. The rise in share of the population accounted for by the over 50s will ensure increased demand for anti-ageing ranges in particular.
The second largest segment of expenditure in the European skincare market is represented by bodycare lines with a 21 percent share, an estimated $1.5 billion, predicted to reach $1.8 billion by 2104. Growth will be fuelled by the increased demand for body-specific products and consumer interest in looking good, particularly from the over 40 age group.
According to the report, expenditure in suncare products is the third largest portion of sales, with a 12 percent share in 2010, estimated at $486 million and expected to rise to $1.1 billion by 2014. This is fuelled by a widening of the consumer base and more market segmentation.
The market in Europe is now largely dominated by a handful of large international suppliers, mostly European and American. Japanese suppliers have a limited presence in Europe, although it is believed that this will change over the next decade. But there is a number of smaller indigenous suppliers with key shares on home markets, such as Manetti & Roberts in Italy, Antonio Puig in Spain, and Boots in the UK.
The report continues: "The skincare market is characterised by the polarisation between selective and mass market suppliers. National markets, in particular France, Italy and Spain, are very clearly mapped out in terms of distribution structure which clearly delineates the premium or mass structure of the product and the brand."
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Simple Jury Persuasion: “Personalized persuasion”
If you read our blog post on checking out jurors’ shoes as part of jury selection, then you understand the longing for a silver bullet in voir dire. It’s like the litigation advocacy version of the quest for the holy grail. You know we didn’t think much of that shoe study for selecting or deselecting your jurors, but what about a personalized approach to persuasion? Is this a true silver bullet?
Researchers looked at whether tailoring advertisements to the personality profile of the intended recipients would make the advertisements more effective. They assessed personality traits using the “Big Five” personality dimensions: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness.
They showed participants an advertisement of a cell phone with a text message tailored to varying personality dimensions. For example, the extravert was hypothesized to be more persuaded by an advertisement with text saying “With XPhone, you’ll always be where the excitement is” while neurotics were seen as more likely to respond positively to a message saying “Stay safe and secure with the XPhone”.
So once the participants had rated the advertisements for persuasiveness, effectiveness, willingness to purchase the product, wanting to learn more about the product and liking the advertisement overall–their personality traits were assessed using the Big Five Aspect Scales measure.
And sure enough! When a message is tailored to you, you find it more persuasive.
“For a single product, we constructed five advertisements, each designed to target one of the five major trait domains of the human personality. In a sample of 324 survey respondents, advertisements were evaluated more positively the more they cohered with participants’ dispositional motives.”
The researchers comment that electronic retailers are already using this sort of tailored advertisement/person matching and comment that very recent research shows you can infer much about personality from a Facebook account, email address and language use–all of which can be culled via “lingering signatures of online behavior”.
There has been a good deal of discussion among innovative trial lawyers and trial consultants about data mining to discern characteristics of jurors, for two reasons: first, you may be able to determine clues about predispositions toward the case that could inform decisions about strikes (the silver bullet!). Second, and much more reliable, you can tailor the language and thematic messaging to fit the jurors to whom you are speaking. Perhaps not quickly enough for tweaking an opening statement, but in a longer trial such ‘message tailoring’ is an important consideration.
The risks involve the distraction that too much input and ‘cleverness’ can introduce, and the potential for you to lose focus. Jurors judge authenticity automatically, and what you say has got to ring true.
So what about personalizing your persuasive efforts to your actual jurors? Will you be more successful in persuading if you explore their “lingering signatures of online behavior” and determine how to pitch your case based on who you have in the box?
These strategies are employed by our firm, but with great restraint. To apply them in jury selection ideally involves creating a model for juror profiling that requires a good deal more research (focus groups/mock trials/attitude research) than most cases can justify. And when the matching of juror characteristics to trial themes is the goal, it is beyond the skill set of most gifted trial lawyers, and is most effectively achieved with some expert input.
So alas, we are left again without a silver bullet, but we have a better understanding of what ‘smart’ can look like in strategy, both for jury selection and case theming. One good takeaway from this study is that the quality of the message is highly related to persuasive impact. The higher the quality of the message, the greater the persuasive impact.
Hirsh JB, Kang SK, & Bodenhausen GV (2012). Personalized persuasion: tailoring persuasive appeals to recipients’ personality traits. Psychological Science, 23 (6), 578-81 PMID: 22547658
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Life is all about choices, thus this connotes that living a peaceful life is a choice. But what if the choice of living peacefully is impossible because of Ffos-y-Fran opencast mine was build at the residents of Merthyr Tydfil. I have read the news from BBC news about this coal mine to the nearest houses of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales for about 40 meters away. Health should one to be consider when planning an investments especially if the place is near to the people living in the area. I’m not against of this coal mine but the people living there really affects their daily living especially those kids who had asthma problems or any diseases that may worsen. The Government should know the effect of this and should know the concern of the people living near the area. And do new planned for this coal mining. We should be aware of what happening of our surroundings.
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Today's entry is about the extent to which good design
should be a feature of nationally significant infrastructure
Everyone agrees that the built environment should be designed to
a high standard, but what does the Planning Act regime have to say
about this and to what extent does it require it? How much
might an independent review of a project's design cost?
On 31 May I attended a discussion convened by the Design Council CABE, and
there was an interesting discussion about incorporating design into
nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs). CABE
stands for the Commission on Architecture and the Built
Environment, and it recently merged with the Design Council as a
result of the government's quango-cutting. They are now a
charity promoting design in the public interest.
In fact there are some provisions about design in the Planning
Act, but they only apply to projects indirectly. The
provisions require National Policy Statements (NPSs) to address the
achievement of good design, and since decisions on applications
should conform to the relevant NPS, this in turn puts a requirement
for good design on projects, depending on the wording of the
I tabled a paper on behalf of the National Infrastructure
Planning Association (NIPA) on the legal position on design and how
the NPSs that exist deal with it. They are all very similar but
subtly different. Let me know if you would like to see the
paper - I expect it will appear on the NIPA website in due
Although design is mainly concerned with what things look like,
and that will be the principal concern of those who will have to
put up with looking at a project once it has been built, there is
of course much more to it than that. The materials used, how
efficient operation will be, and so on. Perhaps the ultimate
goal is to design infrastructure so that people actually want to
live near it - not impossible, take the Millau Viaduct in France, for
The Design Council CABE is mentioned in each NPS (except the
Ports one, for some reason - one of those 'subtle
differences') as a recommended consultant on design issues for
project promoters. I can put some more flesh on that
recommendation, since the costs they would charge for a design
review were set out at the seminar.
These have a caveat that they will always be under review, and
will vary for particular projects but should give you a reasonable
idea. For a first design review, attended by members of a
panel of experts togther with Design Council CABE staff, plus a
site visit, they will charge in the region of
£11,000-£18,000. For a subsequent design review
for the same project, to be held at their London office (in Covent
Garden but moving to Angel on 22 June) they will charge around
£5,000-£8,000. More details are going to be provided in
a forthcoming document of theirs 'Design Guidance for
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects' due later
I hope that makes the idea of reviewing the design of an
infrastructure project more concrete so that it might be
incorporated into the project programme (although the result may
mean less concrete).
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
To print this article, all you need is to be registered on Mondaq.com.
Click to Login as an existing user or Register so you can print this article.
The Court of Appeal has recently refused to amend a legal charge registered at the Land Registry, even though it would have given effect to the parties’ common intention (which had been mistakenly missed out of the charge).
With the current economic climate, landlords are increasingly finding that they have vacant units which they will often wish to secure occupation of on a short term basis, while they market the unit for a longer term let.
Following Judge Pelling QC’s decision in Leisure Norwich (2) Limited & Others v Luminar Lava Ignite Limited (in administration) & Others EWHC 951 (Ch) (reported in the June 2012 edition of BDB’s Property & Insolvency Bulletin), rent which is incurred prior to a tenant going into administration must be proved like any other pre-administration debt and cannot be paid as an expense of the administration.
The FIDIC Contracts Committee has issued a Guidance Note dealing with the powers of, effect of and the enforcement of Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB) decisions.
Some comments from our readers… “The articles are extremely timely and highly applicable” “I often find critical information not available elsewhere” “As in-house counsel, Mondaq’s service is of great value”
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