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For many hockey players, the team is family. For Dylan Stevens, 17, his hockey family helped save his life.
Last spring, Dylan was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma, the same strain of cancer that afflicted Anaheim Ducks center Saku Koivu. But the disease and weeks of chemotherapy did not keep the Reidsville, N.C., native off the ice for long, much less derail his dream of trying out for his local travel team.
Dylan says hockey, and his extended hockey family, are what helped get him through the toughest year of his life.
The story began just before this past Easter when Dylan told his mother, Gidget, about a swelling in his neck. A biopsy came back negative, but a CT scan found five nodes in his neck that doctors said were too large not to be lymphoma.
According to the U.S. Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health website, Burkitt’s is a “very fast-growing” type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which attacks the body’s lymphoid tissue including the spleen and parts of the immune system.
Dylan, who is the second of three Stevens sons, had always been healthy. But doctors told him surgery could remove the nodes, but not provide a cure for the disease. He was looking at chemotherapy, which would keep him off the ice indefinitely.
Most who undergo chemotherapy have a port installed under their skin. The port has a catheter, which leads directly to a vein and can make a very unpleasant round of treatment a bit more comfortable. The alternative is multiple needle sticks to deliver the chemo as well as to draw blood.
“Hockey has always motivated me. It’s my sport. I’ve been playing it so long
“Somewhere back in [Dylan’s] mind, he was going to play hockey, even though if he was hit it could possibly rip the port out and we would have major issues,” Gidget said.
So Dylan chose to go through 10 weeks of chemotherapy without a port. Every Friday at 9 a.m., he went to Brenner’s Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem for a full day of chemotherapy.
“Hockey has always motivated me,” Dylan said. “It’s my sport. I’ve been playing it so long I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from playing.”
Beginning just after Easter, Dylan and his mom went to Brenner’s every Friday for a full-day session of chemo. The 10 weeks were painful for the Stevens family. At Brenner’s, they saw many children whose conditions were worse than Dylan’s. Gidget said seeing those other kids gave them perspective on Dylan’s fight.
“We talked a lot [and] I got to know [Dylan] a little bit better,” she said. “You walk into that world and you see kids that may never come home. I felt very lucky.”
Through it all, Dylan’s belief that he would get better never wavered.
“I always felt like I was going to get through it,” he said. “Personally to me it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was more worried about losing my hair than anything.”
Dylan did lose his hair and was seriously weakened by the chemo. But the worst news was that doctors told him it might take a year for him to have enough strength to get back on the ice.
As Dylan went through treatment, his hockey family began to rally around him. Two hockey benefits were held in early summer to help the family cover the high costs of the treatment. The first was a roller hockey tournament in June and the second was a benefit game at the IceHouse of Greensboro.
Dylan played in both events. In fact, three weeks after starting chemo he was back on the ice playing pick-up.
“I felt a bit weaker, but it was great to be back on the ice,” Dylan said, remembering that first time back. “I hadn’t been on in so long.”
Playing pick-up was one thing, but Dylan had two other much more difficult goals. He wanted to finish the school year and he wanted to try out for, and make, his 16 & Under Midget travel team.
“He knew he would be given a spot, but he wanted to earn his way,” Gidget said.
“It didn’t feel right to me,” Dylan added. “Other kids were getting cut. I had to work my way on the team.”
In the end, Dylan accomplished both of his goals. He finished his sophomore year of high school and tried out for his travel team. Not only did he make the team, but he was ranked fifth out of the 18 skaters on the roster.
Once the chemo treatments ended, Dylan’s battle wasn’t over. Medicine left him still weakened and doctors said there was a 60 percent chance of a recurrence in the first six months. That was in December, but as of January, Dylan is still in remission.
Gidget and Dylan are quick to point out that hockey helped get them through a very tough time. The benefit games raised thousands of dollars. The NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes donated a jersey signed by the entire team, a stick signed by former captain Rod Brind’Amour, and a signed photograph of Eric Staal to be auctioned off at one of the benefits.
“Our hockey friends really stepped up to the plate with emotional and financial support,” Gidget said. “He’s got friends that we didn’t even know we had that were awfully generous.”
Beyond that, Dylan says he learned how much he could achieve in the worst of times.
“It felt like I accomplished something in my life,” Dylan said. “This obviously was a big moment in my life. I’ll never forget it. It will be a part of me for the rest of my life.”
Michael Huie is a freelance writer in North Carolina. | <urn:uuid:9e7525c1-4ca6-4138-bd41-a5867d6e0310> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usahockeymagazine.com/article/2012-02/carolina-courage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990505 | 1,332 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Freeside Hackerspace is a 5,500 square foot facility that feels like it just goes on and on...If you have a project in mind, they’ve got the space and tools to make it happen.
...it’s a place where people passionate about science, technology, and digital projects can meet, collaborate and hang out. It can be an open community lab, a machine shop, a work shop, a studio or a combination of these where people can share resources and knowledge to build neat stuff.
'You don't just have to hack computers,' says interim President James Sheheane. 'You can hack metal, you can hack wood.'
'That speaks to what we're all about,' Storey says. 'Making cool stuff out of nothing.'
If you would like to do a story about us, please let us know by contacting email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:961fc240-b7ee-4f65-8752-153261792bb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wiki.freesideatlanta.org/index.php?title=Press&oldid=567 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930474 | 189 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Terry reaches over and shuts off the water as his wife brushes her teeth. “You don’t need to run the water when the toothbrush is in your mouth,” he chides. “You’re wasting a valuable resource.”
“Our marriage is a valuable resource too,” Deb responds. “And if you want to conserve it, you’ll get the hell out of this bathroom and let me brush in peace.”
“Suit your self,” says Terry. “But when this lovely planet becomes a cesspool due to just this kind of thoughtless waste, you may come to regret your selfishness.”
Deb, reluctantly, turns off the water. The planet is saved. But her mood is ruined.
Terry leaves the bathroom smiling. He’s discovered the unique thrill that comes from saving the earth and annoying his wife at the same time.
Sixteen year old Sara conserves water by showering infrequently. “You’ll never attract a boyfriend!” protests her mother.
“I’ll attract an environmentalist.” says Sara smugly. “And we’ll live happily ever after, working together to rescue the earth from people like you.” What teenage girl doesn’t love to drive her mother nuts? And Sara has found a great, Green way to do just that.
Are you a hostile person who gets into trouble when you express your anger? Would you like to annoy the hell out of friends, family and co-workers and get away with it? Then join folks like Terry and Sara, who have mastered the art of being Greener Than Thou. You’ll drive people crazy. And they can’t tell you to go to hell — because you’re saving the planet!
Greener Than Thou is a game anyone can play.
Take Meg. She’s an aggressive recycler. She never misses an opportunity to guilt trip friends and family about tossing a magazine into the trash. or committing the heinous ecocrime of enjoying bottled water.
Or Seth. Seth refuses to flush. “Flushing whenever you go wastes water,” he proclaims. Even when his room mates protest that the stench that builds up in their tiny shared bathroom makes them want to puke. “I love planet earth,” Seth says proudly. “Deal with it.”
Of course, these folks could quietly model good ecological behavior, setting an example that others will want to follow, in a manner that is harmonious rather than provocative. But where’s the fun in that?
Liza’s dad recently divorced her mom after decades of marriage and bought a grand new house with his brand new wife. How does “Greener Than Thou” Liza respond?
Whenever she visits Dad in his new home, Liza saves the planet by unplugging every appliance not actually in use. “You do realize,” she explains as she moves through the living room unplugging everything, “that these things gobble electricity even when they aren’t turned on?”
“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Dad’s new wife says through gritted teeth as Liza unplugs the flat screen television.
“I’m just helping you reduce your egregious carbon footprint,” Liza explains patiently. “My mother raised me to care about this planet.”
Liza is not only saving the earth while annoying Dad’s new bride, but she can look forward to entertaining her mother by telling her about it later. Liza is a veritable GTT black belt.
Susan re-gifts. Give her a present, and within a year, you’ll get it right back, wrapped in used newspaper. Her friends call her a tightwad, but Susan proudly claims eco-hero status. “I refuse to buy one more piece of useless junk. Our landfills are too full already.” Jane won’t let you throw away even a single piece of paper. “You can still use this!” she’ll cry, grabbing it out of the wastepaper basket. “Just turn it over. There’s plenty of room on the other side!” When a pal bites into a burger, Sam invariably remarks, “It takes 350 gallons of water to produce just one hamburger. You ought to care about that, even if you’re unconcerned about how bad eating dead cow is for your heart.”
These folks have all discovered how satisfying it is to save the earth while annoying other people. You can too! Learn to express your own hostility in a socially acceptable and eco responsible way. If you put your mind to it, I’m sure you’ll come up with hundreds of ingenious ways to save the planet by zinging friends, family and co-workers. They may all end up hating you – but Mother Earth will love you for it.
(This essay first appeared on www.womensvoicesforchange.org) | <urn:uuid:e660af5f-26ad-444f-902c-8b5f556ed271> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://community.feministing.com/2012/08/13/greener-than-thou-saving-the-earth-one-smackdown-at-a-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949821 | 1,092 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Update, 3:30 p.m. | A state Supreme Court judge in Manhattan invalidated the city’s sugary-drink ban on Monday afternoon. Read the article.
It has incited protests and lawsuits, inflamed public debate and inspired other cities to develop anti-soda tactics of their own. Dozens showed up at a Board of Health meeting in July to request changes to the proposal.
Businesses are preparing revamped menus but with a pending legal challenge to the new ban, some owners are taking a wait-and-see approach.
But for all the hand-wringing, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s much-derided ban on the sale of large sugary drinks, unveiled in May, will go into effect on Tuesday exactly as the city proposed.
The city argues that the measure, which forbids the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces in restaurants, movie theaters and other food-service establishments, will help combat the spread of obesity. But giant cups of soda are not the only beverages on the hit list. Here is a Q. and A. on the ban:
How will it work?
At its most basic — and there are plenty of complications — the new rules mean that food-service establishments in New York City will not be able to sell sodas and other sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces. Customers may buy as many refills as they want.
What places are excluded?
Large drink containers will still be available at convenience stores and grocery stores — in other words, places that are not regulated by the city’s health department. Places that receive regular health inspections from the city, including street vendors, bowling alleys and restaurants, will all have to abide by the ban. The convenience store 7-Eleven will not, so the Big Gulp will live on.
What drinks are covered?
The new rules are known as the “soda ban,” but many other sugary drinks will be affected: fruit-juice drinks including lemonade, sports drinks like Gatorade, energy drinks, slushies, fruit smoothies, and coffee- and tea-based sweetened drinks. Bubble teas are affected, as are presweetened iced coffees and teas, and possibly even the famous papaya juice at the city’s hot-dog-and-fruit-juice outlets. Of course, there are a few caveats.
For one, drinks that are more than 50 percent milk (or milk substitute) are exempt from the regulations because the city considers milk a valuable source of nutrition — especially compared with soda, which is considered to contain empty calories. Any establishment trying to preserve its drinks under the milk exception must prove its milk content. So far, Starbucks’s pumpkin spice lattes and machiattos are exempt; no word yet on Frappucinos.
What’s the definition of a sugary drink?
The city defines it as a nonalcoholic beverage that is less than 50 percent milk and has been presweetened by the manufacturer or the vendor with sugar or another caloric sweetener, like high fructose corn syrup, honey or agave nectar. To qualify, the beverage must cross a certain caloric threshold: 25 calories per 8 ounces.
What else isn’t affected?
Milkshakes and lattes are safe, because of the milk exception; so are drinks that fall under the caloric threshold, like diet sodas. Fruit smoothies and juices that contain only fruit and fruit juice, with no added sweeteners, are also exempt.
What about beer growlers?
Alcoholic beverages are safe, no matter the size. But that does not mean alcohol drinkers will be completely unaffected: because nightclubs are subject to the regulations, those who can afford bottle service will find that the carafes of sweet mixers like tonic and cranberry juice can no longer be served alongside the Grey Goose.
What about coffee?
Plain old coffee can be sold in any size as long as it is not presweetened. Baristas can add around three to five teaspoons of sugar to larger cups of coffee before handing them to the customer, depending on the size. After that, customers can add as much sugar as they want. Different coffee shops are approaching the rules in different ways; some chains, like Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s, will ask customers to add their own sugar and flavored syrups.
Are there any less obvious effects?
Domino’s and other pizza joints will no longer be able to offer the two-liter bottles of soda that are a staple of children’s birthday parties and pizza dinners. Nor will they be able to deliver large soda containers. (But two-liter containers can still be bought at grocery stores.)
How will the ban be enforced?
Health inspectors can issue violations carrying fines of $200. But the city will not start levying fines until June, after a three-month grace period to allow vendors to adjust to the new rules.
Is it permanent?
That remains to be seen. The beverage industry has filed a lawsuit over the legality of the mayor’s ban, but the court has not yet ruled. And with a new mayor replacing Mr. Bloomberg in January, the ban’s future is even more uncertain. | <urn:uuid:bb0650dd-ecbe-4baa-9f98-611fd5aa04f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/your-guide-to-new-yorks-soda-ban/?hp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949483 | 1,105 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Walt Neilson, maintenance team leader at Mercy Hospital in Grayling, MI has worked at the 99-bed hospital for 36 years. With winter upon this facility in northern Michigan, Neilson discussed with TFM his department’s purchase of snow melting mats from HeatTrak, a Paterson, NJ-based manufacturer of electric outdoor heated matting products.
TFM: Where on the Mercy Hospital property do you use HeatTrak matting products?
Neilson: We have been using them at two modular outbuildings on our campus—one is a clinic and one is an office. And for this winter, we just ordered mats for a third building—a specialty clinic which is a permanent structure.
TFM: When and why did you first purchase the heated mats?
Neilson: We bought them two years ago for the modular buildings. There were cement steps leading up to one of the clinics, and with the snow and ice we get here in the winter our staff had to put a lot of salt down to keep the stairs clear. Well, in addition to the labor expended on this task, the salt also ate up the concrete. So we removed the concrete and put down treated lumber steps, along with a handicap ramp. We ran into a problem with the treated lumber, because it would get very slippery when wet. So that was an issue.
At that point, someone suggested heated mats and we found HeatTrak. That was when we first ordered them, and they have worked out great. The first order was for the clinic with the treated lumber steps; this facility is used by staff. We use a combination of the full mat along with the stair mats. The company will make the mat to fit the number of stair treads you have and will join them with the landing area, so you only need one power outlet. Another nice feature is that the products have grommets, so we can screw them down to the wood deck and leave them there for the duration of the cold season. Then, when spring arrives, we roll them up and put them in storage.
And the mats don’t have to be on 24 hours a day. They are thermostatically controlled, so when the temperature drops to our preset temperature, the mats turn on. It’s automatic.
These technologies are very useful, because here in Michigan, temperatures can drop 40 degrees in one day. We’ve gone from 70 degrees to 30 degrees in 24 hours.
TFM: Why haven’t you installed the heated mats around the main hospital building?
Neilson: In front of the hospital, we have heated sidewalks with piping underneath. We installed those three years ago as part of an emergency room addition. This radiant heating approach was used from the ER entrance all the way to the main entrance. Turning those on and off is also controlled with temperature sensors.
TFM: Any other comments on how the heated mats have affected your operations?
Neilson: For just one slip and fall avoided, it’s worth it to prevent the injury and a possible lawsuit. For instance, for the clinic with three ramps, the groundskeeper would be clearing or salting one ramp and someone might be walking on the second ramp that hadn’t been cleared yet and then, oops, there’s a fall. You cannot clear or salt all three ramps simultaneously to prevent it. So that’s where these heat mats have been very beneficial to our maintenance operation. | <urn:uuid:eda633d2-b990-485e-8d52-e13a28a81a49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.todaysfacilitymanager.com/2009/12/winter-maintenance-can-be-eased-with-heated-mats | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962924 | 718 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Spain’s Pain Seen Intensifying as Slump Deepens Plight
Spanish data this week will reveal the extent of damage wrought on the euro-area’s fourth-biggest economy as the government fights to cap a swelling deficit that is propelling the country toward requiring international aid.
Retail sales fell 11 percent in September from a year ago, the National Statistics Institute said today. Figures on public finances, consumer prices, and gross domestic product tomorrow may confirm a deteriorating economy and debt profile amid the toughest austerity in its democratic history. The Bank of Spain estimated last week that GDP fell for a fifth quarter.
The Spanish statistics onslaught will extend scrutiny by investors on the country after unemployment data last week showed a record with one in four workers jobless. The prospect of a worsening growth profile threatens to defy the government’s forecast for an easing in a slump that has now extended for five years, adding pressure on the country to apply for help.
“What we see now is that the economy is worsening,” said Yannick Naud, a London-based portfolio manager at Glendevon King Ltd. who helps oversee $163 million in assets. “We have seen a sharp reduction of the 10-year bond yield which is not warranted by the economic situation, it has only occurred because of the threat of intervention by the European Central Bank.”
Spanish 10-year benchmark bonds, which have fallen more than 200 basis points from their euro-era high of 7.75 percent on July 25, had their worst week since August last week after third-quarter unemployment rose the highest since at least 1976. Yields rose to 5.64 percent at 3:03 p.m. in Madrid from 5.59 percent on Oct. 26. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.4 percent to 268.85 at 2:03 p.m. in London.
Spanish consumer prices probably rose 3.6 percent in October from a year earlier as sales tax climbed, a Bloomberg survey of seven economists showed. That follows a 3.5 percent increase in September and would be the most since October 2008. GDP fell 0.4 percent in the third quarter, according to the median estimate of 10 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, matching both the contraction in the second quarter, and the Bank of Spain’s Oct. 23 estimate.
Those data will all come tomorrow, the same day as central government figures showing the deficit for September. They will show if the shortfall for the year to date widened from 4.77 percent of GDP, at 50 billion euros ($64 billion.) That’s already beyond the government’s target for the full year.
Spain is resisting international pressure to seek a credit line from the European Stability Mechanism rescue fund. That would enable the ECB to buy Spanish debt on the secondary market, a prospect that helped lower the nation’s borrowing costs.
Any ESM help would be on top of a 100 billion-euro bailout for the country’s banks, agreed upon in July. The Bank of Spain’s deputy governor, Fernando Restoy, will set out plans for establishing a bad bank, ordered by the European Union as a condition of the rescue, at 5 p.m. today in Madrid.
“The sooner Spain gets a program and therefore closer monitoring, the sooner the credibility of its fiscal targets will improve,” said Ricardo Santos, an economist at BNP Paribas SA in London said in a telephone interview. “The monitoring will be tighter than this year and with the participation of the European Commission and International Monetary Fund, corrective measures will be implemented in more timely way.”
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast the economy will shrink 1.4 percent next year, compared with the government’s 0.5 percent prediction. Unemployment is seen rising above 27 percent by 2014, while Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expects joblessness to start falling next year.
“I can’t really see Spanish growth being strong enough to get them in to a sustainable position any time soon,” said Arif Husain, the London-based director of European fixed-income at AllianceBernstein Ltd., which oversees $419 billion. AllianceBernstein is “underweight” on Spanish debt, Husain said, meaning its funds hold fewer securities than the benchmark used to track performance.
Concern about the nation’s creditworthiness, rated one level above junk by Standard and Poor’s and two levels higher by Fitch Ratings, may increase as a surge in inflation pressures public finances.
The government next month has to decide whether to apply a law indexing pensions to inflation, which rose to 3.5 percent last month. Bank of Spain Governor Luis Maria Linde said Oct. 4 the pledge would cost around 3 billion euros when corrective budget measures are already necessary to meet deficit targets.
“Spain is going to miss on its deficit target this year making next year’s goal very unlikely to be achieved,” Justin Knight, a European rate strategist at UBS AG in London, said in a telephone interview. “Spain is eating into its cash reserves and is probably not going to be able to continue to fund itself in 2013 as it has done this year.”
Knight said the nation will need to step up issuance going into 2013 while its investor base has shrunk. Even after an increase in September, foreign investors’ share of Spanish debt was 35.4 percent in September compared with 50 percent in December.
August balance of payment data on Oct. 31 will show the state of Spanish portfolio investment after capital flight accelerated in the seven months through July. Non-residents withdrew 95.7 billion euros of stock and bond investments, compared with 21.9 billion euros a year earlier.
“The current data set is having a very large influence on market sentiment,” said Harvinder Sian, a fixed income strategist at RBS in London. “Medium-term to long-term, the growth outlook is absolutely critical.”
Elsewhere in Europe, inflation in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, unexpectedly remained unchanged at 2.1 percent in October as declining energy costs were offset by higher food prices. Economists had predicted it would drop to 2 percent, according to the median of 18 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
U.K. house prices fell for a fourth month in October and a property-market recovery is unlikely without sustained economic growth, according to Hometrack Ltd., a London-based researcher. Prices declined 0.1 percent from September and 0.4 percent from a year earlier, the smallest annual decline in two years. Mortgage approvals rose to a four-month high in September, the Bank of England said in a separate report.
In Asia, China’s government spent more than planned in the first nine months of the year, and revenue gains moderated, leaving little room for public outlays to stoke the economy this quarter without an expansion of the budget. Japan’s retail sales rose less than forecast in September as the expiration of government subsidies for car purchases sapped consumer demand. South Korean manufacturers’ confidence fell for the second straight month as slowing economic growth weighed on sentiment.
In the U.S. consumer spending climbed more than forecast in September as incomes grew, a sign the biggest part of the economy was picking up as the quarter drew to a close. Household purchases rose 0.8 percent, the most since February, after a 0.5 percent gain the prior month, a Commerce Department report showed today in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 71 economists called for a 0.6 percent rise.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at email@example.com | <urn:uuid:efbdc163-4b85-4e76-ba38-d1e777f05020> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/spain-s-pain-seen-intensifying-as-slump-deepens-plight.html?cmpid= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950579 | 1,608 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Personal Papers Collections
William C. Caldwell Collection
William C. Caldwell was born in Athens, Louisiana. He received an AB in 1911 and an MS in 1912 from Louisiana State University. He enrolled in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1916 and received his MD in 1920. Caldwell had an active medical and surgical practice in Evansville, Indiana until April, 1961.
|1916 - 1920||Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, student|
Scope and Content
The William C. Caldwell Collection contains two folders of class notes during his years as a medical student. Lecture notes from Broedel, Barker, Meyer, Richardson, Clough and Fuchter, and the medical and surgical clinics are included.
Policy on Access and Use
This collection may contain some restricted records. Materials pertaining to patients, students, employees, and human research subjects, as well as unprocessed collections and recent administrative records, carry restrictions on access. For more information about the policies and procedures for access, see Policy on Access and Use.
Permissions and Credits
When citing material from this collection, credit The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. For permission to reproduce images, contact the holder of the copyright.
archives at jhmi dot edu. | <urn:uuid:98e891a9-7c16-4ae4-8b20-dc46da62a6b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/papers/caldwell.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93223 | 262 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Amwal Al Ghad English - 2013-03-06 09:26:41
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died after a two-year battle with cancer, ending the socialist leader's 14-year rule of the South American country, Vice President Nicolas Maduro has said in a televised speech.
Maduro, surrounded by other government officials, announced the death in a national television broadcast on Tuesday.
"In the immense pain of this historic tragedy that has affected our fatherland, we call on all the compatriots to be vigilant for peace, love, respect and tranquility," Maduro said.
Maduro said the government had deployed the armed forces and police "to accompany and protect our people and guarantee the peace".
Elias Jaua, the foreign minister, said Chavez's hand-picked successor Maduro would take over as interim leader pending the next election, declaring: "It is the mandate that comandante President Hugo Chavez gave us."
Venezuela's constitution, however, specifies that the speaker of the National Assembly, currently Diosdado Cabello, should assume the interim presidency if a president can't be sworn in. More» | <urn:uuid:18d6e1e1-3410-4a42-81a5-9de4377d5b59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amwalalghad.com/en/news/international-news.html?start=80 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961522 | 236 | 1.539063 | 2 |
( Baptism Traditions), opened in 2003, is a charming boutique located on a tranquil working farm in Aschim, Norway along the Randsfjord lake in central Norway. The owner and creator of this unique boutique wanted to combine her current farming lifestyle and her deep-seeded interest in traditional Norwegian sewing, knitting, embroidery and hand-made lace making.
The owner’s first creation was a beautiful baptismal dress decorated with hand-made gold lace and was meant for a clientele with expensive means. In April 2008, however, she and her husband expanded and restored the farm’s blacksmiths building, which now contains a larger selection of baptismal dresses in a wide range of prices. The new boutique contains a bright traditional Norwegian showroom, a functional sewing/work room for lace making demonstrations and a selection of dresses for rentals.
is also proud to announce that it has opened a museum of antique baptismal wear from around the world. Groups and individuals are always welcome to visit the boutique and museum and to meet with the creator of this truly special store. | <urn:uuid:73589607-c20a-4eb0-a0c7-784a2d032348> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.daapstradisjon.com/?side=hoved_en&lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963725 | 224 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Take part in our dog studies
The dogs that take part in our studies are normal pet dogs living with their owner. We are interested in dogs that live in their natural environment – together with humans. Nearly any dog can take part in our studies, independent of age, breed, sex, whether trained or not. The dog only needs to fulfill three requirements.
Requirements for your dog's participation
For the individual studies, playful settings are established. Your dog will be presented with a problem to solve, with either food or toys serving as reward. Your dog's participation is always voluntary. We are constantly aiming to make your dog's stay in the testing rooms as comfortable as possible. Only a content and motivated dog will be able to prove all his skills. During the stay, your dog gets to play with other dogs or with the person supervising the study. Your permission will be asked about this beforehand. We are also happy to provide you with a copy of your dog’ s study participation.
The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology maintains a dog database, in which the information of interested dog owners and their dogs is saved. We select potential participants from this database, call their owners and invite them. The inclusion in our dog database does not obligate you to participate. If, for instance, you receive a call and the date for the dog study is inconvenient for you, you are always free to decline participation without giving any reasons. In addition we guarantee that your data will not be passed on to unauthorized individuals and that a deletion from the database is possible at any time.
The length of the individual studies might vary from ten minutes to more than one hour. For some studies you will be invited only once whereas other studies imply several sessions. Of course you will be informed about the duration prior to your participation. How frequently your dog will be invited to our studies depends on the study and your dog’s motivation, but also on your own interest. Usually your dog will not be invited more often than three or four times a year.
Registration for studies
If you and your dog would like to take part in our dog research, we would be happy to register you in our database to invite you to one of our studies. For this purpose, please fill in this registration form and send it to the following address:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
or email it to: hundestudieneva.mpg.de
with subject: Registration of a dog
or send us a fax: +49 (0)341/ 3550-444
You can also phone us if you have questions or would like to register your dog:
+49 (0)341/ 3550-412.
Click here to learn more about our dog studies team.
If you are interested in dog cognition in general:
Kaminski, J. & Bräuer, J. (2011) - So klug ist ihr Hund. Kosmos Verlag | <urn:uuid:dfd7df2e-6751-421f-814e-8fab703c53a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eva.mpg.de/psycho/dog-studies.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931999 | 618 | 1.75 | 2 |
Your Best Rest
Recovering from a workout? Run better tomorrow by getting off the couch today.
Many runners look forward to days off as an opportunity to set new PRs in channel surfing. But if you want to perform your best, there are better ways to spend your non-running time. "You don't want to run on your recovery day—it's an opportunity to recuperate from the stresses of training," says Stephen McGregor, Ph. D., an exercise physiologist and advisor to the cross-country team at Eastern Michigan University. "But doing nothing isn't ideal either, unless you are injured. Light exercise increases blood flow to the muscles, which clears out waste products that contribute to soreness and inflammation."
Research shows that an active recovery can soothe aches and set you up for stronger workouts. The International Journal of Sports Medicine reports that cyclists who exercise at a low intensity and get a rubdown on their off days recover faster and perform better on their next training day than those who are inactive.
Lots of runners take the day off after their longest run of the week. But Dennis Barker, head coach of Team USA Minnesota, says when you're gearing up for a challenging workout, like a 20-miler, it can be beneficial to not run the day before. "If you've had a training week that has included an increase in mileage or hard workouts like intervals, you could take an easy cross-training day before your long run," Barker says. "You'll give your muscles a break from running, so you'll feel fresher. But you're not sitting around, which could make you feel stiff the next day."
Ride a bike, swim laps, walk the dog for about 30 minutes. Keep the intensity low—your maximum heart rate shouldn't exceed 50 to 60 percent and you shouldn't be out of breath. "On a scale of 1 to 10, your effort level should be at about a 4," says Chris Chorak, a San Francisco-based physical therapist. But if you're preparing for a long run tomorrow, McGregor says you can take up the intensity a notch (to a 6), which will energize you and keep you from going into your run feeling flat and stale. A note of caution: If you're limping, experiencing sharp pain, or suspect you're on the brink of injury, put your feet up, and take a true rest day.
It's tough to squeeze in quality stretching sessions when you're racing from the track to the office or to day care. So here's a chance to pay your penance. After your muscles are warm from your bike ride or walk, stretch your tight spots—for most runners, that's the hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. "A tight muscle can't perform at an optimal level," Chorak says. "If you're imbalanced—one side of your body is less flexible than the other—it can throw off your stride and lead to injury." Time-crunched runners might appreciate the benefits of yoga, which gets you moving while giving your muscles a good stretch. A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine finds that runners who do yoga exercises experience a boost in running performance. | <urn:uuid:37059050-0be8-47d6-8852-b19636c85078> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/your-best-rest?page= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962947 | 665 | 1.59375 | 2 |
— The repercussions of the terrorist attacks continue, as small retailers and manufacturing businesses in Downtown Manhattan face tough economic times following a dramatic decrease in tourists and customers to the area.
To help buoy smalland manufacturing businesses affected by the World Trade Center attack, the Alliance for Downtown New York, Seedco and Asian Americans for Equality have launched a $6 million assistance program.
The effort, called the Lower Manhattan Small Business and Workforce Retention Project, was established with support from The Ford Foundation, the September 11 Fund, and The New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund. The project will provide wage subsidies, technical assistance,enhancements, loans and grants to lower Manhattan employers with fewer than 50 workers located below Canal Street.
One small business owner, Sammy Castro, who owns Samuel’s Hats on Nassau Street, which participated in the Downtown Alliance’s storefront improvement program, is just one example of a retailer who said he plans to apply for a grant to help his business survive this period of economic uncertainty. | <urn:uuid:2320bd91-747d-44fe-846f-9406c1690847> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nreionline.com/news/downtown-manhattan-retailers-receive-financial-help-survive | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937729 | 208 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Meningitis now strikes 8 in N.H.
SOMERSWORTH — The state Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that two additional cases of fungal meningitis have been confirmed in New Hampshire — bringing the state's new total to eight. Currently, 257 cases have been confirmed — with 20 deaths — across 16 states.
Locally, Somersworth Mayor Matthew Spencer informed the public in a press release earlier this week that he is being treated as a precautionary measure for symptoms related to the widespread outbreak. Spencer was treated for several days as an in-patient at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover.
“I am currently following through with home treatments and being monitored by doctors. I appreciate the care I received from the caring professionals at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital and support from PainCare LLC in Somersworth,” he said Tuesday. “I am heartened by the concern and warm thoughts shared by many city employees and residents of Somersworth.”
In a press release issued Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging all health care providers to contact patients who received any injectable products from the New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Massachusetts since May 21, 2012. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided states with a list generated by the Food and Drug Administration which included all facilities that received products from the pharmacy in question after May 21.
In New Hampshire, three separate PainCare clinics — in Somersworth, Newington, and Merrimack — have been linked to the tainted medication, which is used primarily as an injection to treat back pain.
However, this new precaution includes an expanded list of products compared with just the initial recalled medication. This list includes any injectable product from the pharmacy, as well as any ophthalmic drug that is used in conjunction with eye surgery and a cardioplegic solution — a solution that can be used in certain cardiac surgeries.
The Division of Public Health Services is posting online the names of the 24 healthcare providers in New Hampshire who received these products. These healthcare providers, who have been contacted by DPHS, are currently reviewing records to verify if these medications were used to treat patients.
“We recognize that there is a great deal of confusion around the medications and who is at risk during this quickly evolving situation,” said New Hampshire's Public Health Director Jose Montero. “We do not yet have confirmation that other medications have been contaminated, but it is important that New Hampshire residents who received these injections be informed and watch closely for any change in their status possibly related to these drugs.”
For patients who received back injections, symptoms to be aware of include headache, fever, nausea, neck stiffness, sensitivity to light, and signs of stroke such as weakness or numbness in any part of the body along with slurred speech.
Patients who received joint injections should report to their provider if they have local symptoms including increased pain, swelling, and redness or warmth at the site of injection.
Patients who had eye surgery should monitor for visual changes, pain, redness, or discharge from the eye. Patients who have had chest pain should monitor for chest pain or drainage from the surgical site.
Patients should contact their healthcare provider if they experience any of these signs or symptoms.
This investigation remains active and information on cases continues to be gathered in order to understand the extent of this outbreak. | <urn:uuid:132bb1f4-db8c-45ec-91f5-1a8cc9543b87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121019/GJNEWS_01/121018984/-1/FOSNEWS0107&template=DoverRegion&CSProduct=fosters | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970449 | 702 | 1.65625 | 2 |
The Widget Factory has just started a new program for their employees. From now on, all employees can work on a flexible time schedule. The employees greeted this new program with great enthusiasm and soon productivity in all areas was much improved. Determine the full name of five of the Widget Factory employees, their start times, and the department in which they work.
1. Ralph doesn't work in marketing. Elliot didn't start before 8:30am. The finance person didn't start at 7am.
2. Amanda's last name wasn't Station. Mr. Flannagan, the first to arrive, started at 5:30am. Miranda started before 8:30am but after the marketing person.
3. Ms. Recluse didn't start work at 6am. The person in engineering came in before Mr. Hanson, but after Ralph.
4. Amanda doesn't work in manufacturing. The person who worked in manufacturing arrived last, starting at 9am.
5. George didn't arrive at 5:30am, but he did start before the person who worked in finance.
6. Miranda Recluse didn't work in purchasing.
file size 169 KB
If you enjoyed
this puzzle and want to play another one online, go
here for another online logic problem.
May 17, 2007 | <urn:uuid:841b5327-5acd-467e-a213-f895ba175eab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.puzzles.com/Projects/LogicProblems/FlexTime.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971147 | 272 | 1.601563 | 2 |
For Oregon journalist Paul Linnman, covering a story about blowing up a giant sperm whale with a ton of dynamite
was just another day on the beat.
"When you're 23 and you're chasing cops, fire trucks and presidential candidates, it's exciting, but that was yesterday," Linnman told Asylum. "Tell me what I'm doing tomorrow. "
Little did he know that almost 40 years later, the story would find its way on the Internet, spawn its own Web site
and become the fifth-most-viewed viral video of all time
. We checked in with the star of this Web sensation to get the real story behind the infamous exploding whale vid.
"At the time, it had 350 million unique hits on the Internet," Linnman said. "I think I was right behind Paris Hilton's hamburger commercial
Linnman was working as a correspondent for ABC affiliate KATU Channel 2 in Portland on that fateful day in 1970. His boss and friend, Pat Wilkins, told him to cover the removal of a dead 8-ton, 45-foot sperm whale that washed up on a beach just south of Florence. Linnman said he didn't think it would be very interesting until "someone tipped him off from the Oregon Department of Transportation that they're going to try and blow it up with dynamite." The station flew him to the coast, the first time the station had ever hired a plane for a story, to grab footage of the explosion.
"The smell was already tremendous when we arrived at the beach, and we were about 1,000 yards away when they blew it up ... There was a signal system. We were watching a guy who would wave a flag to signal us to roll our camera. I was working a silent camera in slow motion and my partner, Doug Brazil, you can actually hear his voice laugh when the thing blows up."
This quirky story soon became an embedded warfare report as shards of freshly exploded sperm whale started falling all around them.
"We're hearing this noise around us and we realize it is pieces of whale blubber hitting the ground around us (from) 1,000 yards away. A piece of blubber the size of a fingernail could kill you if it hit you in the right part of the head, so we ran away from the blast scene, down the dune and toward the parking lot. Then we heard a second explosion ahead of us, and we just kept going until we saw what it was: A car had been hit by this coffee-table-size piece of blubber and had its windows flattened all the way down to the seats."
The footage and Linnman's report made the evening news and eventually found its way into the national media, something that only earned him $90 extra bucks and $110 for Brazil "because he had a better union than I did apparently."
The story made its way through the pirate video underground where it eventually landed on humorist Dave Barry's desk and first found infamy in one of his Miami Herald columns
. It became an instant viral classic when pirated copies of Linnman's story found their way onto the Web.
Linnman, now a reporter and morning host for KEX Newsradio 1190 AM in Portland
, said not a day goes by that someone doesn't mention or reference the story to him.
He has learned to accept his fame and people's undying interest in the bizarre story by writing a book, "The Exploding Whale and Other Remarkable Stories From the Evening News
," featuring detailed accounts of his day on the beach along with some of his favorite feature stories from his career.
"When it airs now, it's kind of tough for me to watch. I don't think it's that good and I've got four grown sons who are able to repeat any part of that story word for word and they do so frequently just to bug me," Linnman said with a laugh.
We wouldn't change a word, Paul, and we're glad you were there to capture Jonah's most sweet revenge | <urn:uuid:cbac1162-29f5-4a33-8001-08ed648238fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asylum.com/2009/11/25/exploding-whale-video-reporter-looks-back-4-decades-later/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985234 | 842 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
It’s amazing to me how quickly we forget the good things that God has promised us and done for us — and not only do we forget, we begin to grumble!
Twice in the book of Luke, it is mentioned that Mary kept these things and pondered them. It seems that Mary always kept a place in her heart where she stored away God’s promises.
We, too, must create a place in our hearts to store away Gods gifts and promises to us so that we can always remain in a state of joy all the days of our lives.
Let’s reflect this holiday season, and unearth the many buried treasures with which God has blessed us. Let’s ponder those things and praise God for His goodness. He has already done so much in our lives and He wants to do more!
Copyright 1999-2013 Worthy Devotions. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:15a00cad-1764-42d5-b288-9afddaa50860> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/dont-forget | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956781 | 207 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Finding adequate insurance coverage at a price you can afford is important. There are several items to keep in mind when buying almost any type of insurance.
- Shop Around. Insurance premiums can vary substantially from company to company so it usually pays to check with several companies before making a final choice.
- See Selecting an Agent or Insurance Company below.
- Never pay cash. Payment by check provides proof of payment and allows you to stop payment if necessary. Always make the check payable to the insurance company. Avoid making the check payable to the agent.
- Don't feel pressured into making a decision on the spot. Any insurance policy available today will still be available tomorrow.
- Know what insurance benefits you already have before you consider buying additional policies. You may have the same coverage in a current policy. Be sure to understand the costs, benefits and conditions associated with each policy, as well as risks associated with a change.
- Do not assume that the policy premium quoted will be the actual premium of the policy or that the policy will even be approved for coverage. Premium quotations are based on the information provided at the time. If the insurance company finds any of the information provided to be incorrect or develops some additional information, the original premium quoted may change or the company may even refuse to issue a policy.
- When changing insurance companies do not cancel your existing insurance policy until you are assured of the price and that you have been accepted by the new insurance company. When a policy first becomes effective, the insurance company may cancel that policy any time within the first 60 days without providing you with a reason for the cancellation. The cancellation is not effective until at least ten days after the insurance company mails or delivers to you a written notice of cancellation.
- Make sure you read and understand what you are signing. When answering questions on an application for insurance, your answers should be accurate, truthful and recorded as you stated. You are responsible for information that bears your signature. Your policy could be declared void if information is misrepresented.
- When you receive your policy, read the policy carefully, particularly any sections relating to exclusions and limitations. The time to understand your policy is before you have to make a claim. If you do not understand something in your policy or have additional questions, contact your agent.
For the most part, insurance is sold directly through an insurance company or through an agent or broker. An independent agent may represent more than one, and sometimes several insurance companies. An exclusive or captive agent sells solely for one insurance company or group of related insurance companies. Independent agents, as well as exclusive agents, may place business with another insurance company if the insurance company(s) he or she represents does not write the type of insurance needed. A broker represents you in your dealings with an insurance company.
In buying insurance, price is certainly a big consideration. But your insurance agent also performs an important role. An agent makes sure that the insurance is up-to-date, reflecting the actual values of the business, such as additional or replacement equipment, new structure or expanded operations. It is important to discuss with your agent, at least once a year, any changes that have occurred during the year, any increases in values, and increases in payroll and receipts.
An agent can offer advice on the amount and types of business insurance you need. You may need to work with several agents to make sure that you are getting the needed coverage at the best available price.
When you first talk to an agent, be sure that he or she is willing and able to explain various policies and other insurance-related matters. An agent should look for ways to get you the most protection at an affordable cost. Make certain that your agent agrees to review your coverage from time to time, advises you about other financial services, and assists you when problems develop.
Many people are interested in selling package products or services to as many people as possible. While there is nothing wrong with low cost, standardized products, they should fit your needs. If you are not convinced that a particular agent understands your needs and will give you the service you want, seek another agent. Agents and companies differ. Check with friends and relatives for recommendations. Agents and companies are listed alphabetically and by location in the yellow pages of the telephone book.
All companies and agents doing business in Wisconsin are licensed by the OCI. To find out if an agent or company is licensed call 1-800-236-8517. Licensing information about agents and companies can also be found on OCI's home page under "How do I? Search for . . ." An agent/agency (https://ociaccess.oci.wi.gov/ProducerInfo/PrdInfo.oci) and A company (https://ociaccess.oci.wi.gov/CmpInfo/CmpInfo.oci).
Buying Insurance on the Internet
As insurance companies expand their businesses online, consumers need to be aware of ways they can protect themselves when buying insurance on the Internet. Shopping for insurance does not change simply because you are on the Internet. OCI publishes a fact sheet that gives tips for buying insurance on the Internet. For more information on buying insurance on the Internet, call the OCI at 1-800-236-8517 and request a copy of Tips for Buying Insurance on the Internet. A copy is also available on the OCI's Web site at http://oci.wi.gov/pub_list/pi-220.htm.
For Your Protection
Information is available to consumers from a number of sources. These sources include public libraries, state insurance departments, consumer groups, and consumer publications. Financial strength and being able to meet financial obligations to policyholders is very important.
Independent organizations such as A. M. Best, Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service, and others publish financial ratings. These rating organizations do not rate the quality of the company's policies, practices, agents, or service. You should consider checking with at least two organizations to evaluate a company's strength. If you want to check on an insurance company's financial stability, you can check the reference section of your public library for published ratings, call the OCI at 1-800-236-8517 or (608) 266-0103 (in Madison), or check with your insurance agent. | <urn:uuid:d0307ccc-f1c2-40e9-b7fb-692e4e19413e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oci.wi.gov/consumer/buytips.htm?subnav=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94284 | 1,290 | 1.703125 | 2 |
IBM Pledges $1.3 Million in Education Grants to States With Innovative Early Education Programs
Armonk, N.Y. - 20 Sep 2012: IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced that it is awarding early childhood education improvement grants of technology, services and cash valued at $1.3 million to five U.S. states whose progressive and successful early education programs have been recognized as exemplary by the federal government.
These states -- Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and Rhode Island -- have all received funding from the United States Department of Education under its $500 million Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge competitive grant program. Race to the Top, which encourages and rewards innovation and reforms in early care and education, recognizes states that have effective educators; are improving programs; and implementing standards and assessments that better prepare students for education and the workplace.
The Department of Education has encouraged researchers, entrepreneurs, foundations, non-profits and others to work with the early learning communities in these states to fortify their efforts. IBM has responded by providing grants over the next three years to states that have secured Race to the Top funding.
The grants include IBM's KidSmart Young Explorer™ computer learning centers. These are computers housed in brightly colored, child-friendly furniture and equipped with award-winning educational software to help children learn and explore concepts in math, science and language. IBM grants also include Reading Companion, technology specially designed to assist children as they learn to read. Accessible online, this innovative software uses IBM voice recognition technology to "listen" to new readers and provides feedback. It helps children improve fundamental reading skills and pronunciation.
For some of the states recognized with Race to the Top grants, IBM is also providing installation and training to ensure the effectiveness of the donated KidSmart and Reading Companion technology. In some instances, IBM is providing additional services, such as helping to create project management software, developing mobile apps or providing advice on capturing data.
"With the right hands-on instruction, the use of technology to engage and enhance young children’s learning experiences can make a lifelong impact," said Shelley Pasnik, director of the Center for Children and Technology. "IBM is providing such technology and related services to states that have earned Race to the Top funding. No doubt these states, given their visionary approach to technology and education, will put these resources from IBM to good use as they strive to prepare children for a lifetime of learning and accomplishment."
IBM is focused on providing its innovative technologies to increase the number of children who acquire the skills needed to be successful. The company believes that success in early childhood learning is a critical first step, and that technology, used effectively, can be a vitally important aid.
"IBM congratulates all states that have earned Race to the Top grants," said Stanley S. Litow, IBM vice president of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, and president of IBM's International Foundation. "These states clearly are in the vanguard when it comes to providing innovative educational models for their youngest children. We thought it was important that the private sector, led by IBM, support their efforts by providing them with exciting technology and expert services that can be a valuable component in taking their efforts to even higher levels of success."
Young Explorers are the centerpiece of IBM’s KidSmart Early Learning grant program which, along with Reading Companion, IBM developed nearly 15 years ago to help reduce the digital divide, especially in urban areas, where it was becoming apparent that children from less affluent backgrounds needed access to specialized technology tools and educational materials to better prepare them to enter school.
IBM’s KidSmart Early Learning grant program enriches pre-kindergarten curriculum with interactive teaching and learning activities using the latest technology. The program includes access to the KidSmart website www.kidsmartearlylearning.org. Accessible in eight languages, the site helps parents guide their children's use of technology, and helps preschool teachers use technology more effectively in their classrooms.
Since the inception of the KidSmart Early Learning Program, IBM has invested more than $133 million, donating more than 70,000 Young Explorers to schools and nonprofit organizations in 60 countries, reaching more than 105,000 teachers and more than 10 million students.
To stay abreast of the civic, social and business issues that IBM's corporate citizenship department addresses, and to participate in an ongoing conversation, please visit www.citizenibm.com You can also follow @CitizenIBM on Twitter. | <urn:uuid:60dc7d75-7ba9-4c14-819e-64609078bf67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ibmsystemsmag.com/newsupdates/IBM-Pledges-$1-3-Million-in-Education-Grants-to-St/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955539 | 922 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Development Research at Lund University
Lund University has a proud history of producing research outcomes that benefit the populations of developing nations. The University remains committed to contributing to this existing body of scientific knowledge
The current staff and students of Lund University conduct research into issues affecting developing nations through the various departments and centres, development research groups, masters programs and PhD programs within the university.
While all faculties at Lund University undertake research that impacts on developing countries and graduates of Lund University who build careers in development research come from all departments within the university, certain departments and centres have a stronger focus in the area.
To promote collaboration between these researchers, the annual conference Development Research Day is held during the autumn semester. | <urn:uuid:f097ea66-7550-4056-a53e-003b740082dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lucsus.lu.se/dr/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932904 | 140 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Council pay in Wales is a post code lottery says Unison
Council workers in Wales face a "postcode lottery" in trying to access the "Living Wage" of £7.20 an hour from employers, it has been claimed.
The Unison trade union said it was "unacceptable" that local authorities varied in their approach to introducing the wage level.
But some authorities have warned it will lead to unemployment.
The Living Wage is defined as the minimum income necessary to provide shelter, clothing and nutrition.
Unison's Dominic McAskill said: "We're heading very quickly to a minimum wage workforce in local government, which is completely unacceptable."
Caerphilly council, is increasing wages to at least £7.20 an hour, which is over £1 an hour more than the minimum wage, now set at £6.19 an hour.
End Quote Steve Phillips Chief executive, Neath Port Talbot Council
Generally speaking there is an equation which goes something like this - in the sense that, if you increase your costs you reduce, over time, your ability to employ people”
Cardiff Council has also made the change, which is being considered by Neath Port Talbot and others.
More than 2,000 staff in the capital will see wages rise by around £1,500 a year, at a cost to the authority of £1m a year, or £500 per staff member.
But many other Welsh local authorities, including Bridgend, Gwynedd, Pembrokeshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Wrexham have announced no such plans.
At a time of financial cutbacks the Living Wage poses a puzzle to the Welsh government and council bosses alike.
Neath Port Talbot Council chief executive Steve Phillips said: "There is a cost to the Living Wage.
"Generally speaking there is an equation which goes something like this - in the sense that, if you increase your costs you reduce, over time, your ability to employ people.
"So we have to balance these things in the round."
Welsh Labour is committed to rolling out the Living Wage and Local Government Minister Carl Sargeant has set up a policy group to explore how it might be done.
Caerphilly council's Labour deputy leader Keith Reynolds said: "Naturally we would like to see the implementation of the Living Wage right across Wales and not only with local authorities."
Welsh civil servants and NHS workers are already paid at least £7.20 an hour.
The Sunday Politics with Andrew Neil and Carl Roberts is on BBC1 Wales at 11:00 BST on Sunday. | <urn:uuid:98188760-0e92-43a0-9931-1150388e191a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-19857121 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957998 | 544 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Today, Nebraska Public Power District's Board of Directors approved a 3.75 percent average rate increase for both its wholesale and retail customers that will take effect Jan. 1, 2013. NPPD has been discussing this rate adjustment amount with customers since early this year, and is down slightly from the four percent originally forecasted.
NPPD's wholesale customers include rural public power districts and municipalities who purchase their power requirements from NPPD and distribute it to their end-use electric customers. Retail customers are those that receive an electric bill directly from NPPD.
NPPD's wholesale rate increase will be applied to debt payments and capital expenditures related primarily to investments in plants and facilities. Over the past five years, NPPD has invested approximately $1 billion in its system.
Many of the investments are a result of increased compliance and security requirements, along with the cost to operate and maintain the reliability of its existing generation and transmission infrastructure. NPPD's retail rate increase is due primarily to the continuing upward pressure on costs to generate and deliver energy.
"It is important to keep rates affordable, but we also know how important it is to ensure reliable service for our customers," said NPPD President and CEO Pat Pope. "To lessen the increase we took steps this year to lower our cost-based budget $15 million by cancelling or deferring projects, travel and training that did not jeopardize safety or reliability."
While the average increase for all retail residential, commercial, and industrial classes is 3.75 percent, individual customer percent increases will vary depending on customer use. NPPD's retail residential customers (using approximately 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month) will incur an average increase of $5.50 on their monthly electric bill.
NPPD establishes rates based on what it costs to do business, but continues to face escalating costs, as many utilities across the country are. Finding a way to balance these cost pressures and meeting customers' needs continues to be challenging.
"NPPD's rates continue to be competitive both regionally and nationally, and we fully understand the vital role electricity plays in the lives of our customers," said Pope. "We are not happy with where we are at from a rates perspective and remain committed to working internally and with our customers to best manage cost challenges going forward." | <urn:uuid:68cc909f-37fd-402c-a09c-9f95db393cf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.custercountychief.com/content/nppd-board-approves-rate-increase?quicktabs_4=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965561 | 465 | 1.59375 | 2 |
How many times have you heard the term “pain in the neck?” You’ve probably heard it more times than you care to remember. With this term being used so much, it’s only emphasizes the fact that millions of people are affected by neck pain every day. To add insult to injury, throw in morning stiffness and it creates a never ending recipe for chronic neck pain. Studies have shown that developing increased strength and flexibility in the neck can help decrease chronic neck pain. Listed below are 6 basic neck exercises that are designed to restore flexibility to the joints and muscles of the neck. Before trying these exercises always consult your DC to see if they are safe for you to try.
Posts Tagged ‘Neck Pain’
Before I answer any questions, you should ask yourself a couple. Have you ever had pain that lasted so long that it never seemed to end? Are you unable to spend quality time with friends and family because of pain? Do your pain pills make it harder and harder to do the things you love? Do you feel depressed and anxious because of pain? Does it feel like you’ve tried everything but you’re still in pain? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, you could benefit from Pain Management. Just because it can help doesn’t mean you want to rush out and get it without knowing what it is first. That’s where I step in and answer the question, “what is Pain Management and do I need it?”
Wikipedia says Pain Management (also called pain medicine by definition), “is a branch of medicine employing an interdisciplinary approach for easing the suffering and improving the quality of life of those living with pain.”
Doctors specializing in pain management know the complex nature of pain, and will approach the problem from several different directions. Treatment of long term pain may include pharmacologic measures, interventional procedures (epidural steroid injections), physical therapy, application of ice or heat, and psychological measures. Whatever method is used to treat your pain you can be assured that it’s always with your best interest and comfort in mind.
Now that you understand the benefits of Pain Management a little better, if you or a loved one lives in the DFW area and has answered yes to any of the questions above, contact WOLMED Back & Neck Pain Center and see how Pain Management can help you change your life.
We’ve all heard it before, often accompanied by a tone of irritation: “what a pain in the neck.” Analogies and phrases like this are always used to describe something very unpleasant, because neck pain is just that – unpleasant. The degree of discomfort may always vary based on the type of injury from simply sleeping in an awkward position to sprains or even because of chronic neck pain from the result of an accident. (more…)
With nearly 80 million people in the United States suffering from some form of Chronic Pain, it’s easy to assume that many people lose sleep due to pain. In fact the National Sleep Foundation says that two out of three people with chronic pain have trouble sleeping at night. Since an essential part of managing chronic pain is sleep, it starts a vicious cycle that makes recovering from chronic pain more difficult. Since there is no cure, aside from sleep, exercise, time and proper medication dosage that helps with chronic pain, we have decided to post what real patients are saying helped them sleep better when dealing with their pain. Listed below are real quotes pain sufferers have given on how they sleep better when dealing with chronic pain. (more…)
A study published by the American Pain Foundation reports that over 76 million Americans suffer from pain. The study found that pain actually affects about 1 1/2 times as many people as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer COMBINED. Adults age 45 to 64 are most likely to experience pain, with slightly more women than men experiencing pain. Most startling of all of the data is that 42% of people in pain report experiencing pain for more than one year.
20% of adults said that pain interrupted their sleep at least a few nights per week. The most common source of pain was low back pain, followed by severe headaches and migraines, and neck pain. Adults with low back pain were found to be more than 4 times more likely to experience serious psychological distress than those without low back pain.
The final part of the study describes the sad reality that so many people never get treated for their pain symptoms or wait until their symptoms are as bad as possible before seeing a doctor. This happens for lots of reasons, but none of them are good ones. If you’re experiencing pain, call your doctor. If pain is keeping you awake at night, call your doctor. If pain has made you feel depressed, call your doctor. If your pain won’t go away, call your doctor. Don’t let pain take control of your life – call your doctor.
WOL+MED CARF Pain Management has been a good solution for hundreds of other people who have suffered from persistent, chronic pain symptoms. Our medical doctors can help you TODAY. Don’t be one of those people who continue to suffer without getting help. Call your doctor. Call WOL+MED.
Denton: (940) 484-7000, Dallas: (972) 572-5000
For more information on this pain study, go to http://www.painfoundation.org/newsroom/reporter-resources/pain-facts-figures.html. | <urn:uuid:9f380dea-d516-47a9-b344-d5c84b5b2e65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wolmed.com/blog/tag/neck-pain/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954822 | 1,151 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Blessing Same-Sex Marriage For The "Right" Reasons
A Baptist Minister Ponders The Question of Same-Sex Marriage
By: Rev. Timothy Shirley
Virginia-Highland Baptist Church
As a Baptist Minister, I find the task of writing on the issue of allowing
gays and lesbians to marry an assignment that brings with it much fear and
trepidation. There is not a lot of healthy debate and dialogue within the
Baptist community on the subject. On this issue, however, the subject should
not be limited to the confines of the religious community. It involves much
more than theological speculation. It is first and foremost a civil matter,
subject to the laws of the land and it is in that arena where gay and lesbian
fights are really won or lost.
You see, within the religious community, churches have always had and will
always have the right to determine whom it will marry and whom it will not.
Separation of Church and State issues will always guarantee that. The battle
for gay and lesbian rights to marry, will be waged in the court house, not
the church house, understanding that unfortunately the two often are found
in compromising relationships. If this country is to remain true to its
principles, especially its Constitution, which exists to protect individual
freedoms, then to deny a couple's access to all of the rights and privileges
of a legal marriage is an afront to those very founding guidelines.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the issues of this subject, persons of authority
in the decision making arena have been guided mostly by ignorance and even
worse, bigotry. There is still an incredible lack of reason and knowledge
when it comes to the issue of sexual orientation. The theory that to allow
gay and lesbian marriage will lead to a further compromise of the nation's
moral fiber and will encourage an outbreak of all sorts of depraved actions
is absolutely incredible and nowhere
grounded in factual data. If the truth be told, the opposite will occur.
Committed relationships taken seriously by the community at large, will
create a stronger and more productive society.
It has been clearly documented that many problems of substance and sexual
abuse, as well as low self-esteem within the gay and lesbian community can
be attributed to our society's failure to acknowledge and embrace these
relationships. If we cannot embrace them for the "right" reasons,
then let us at least embrace them for practical ones, gays and lesbians
are a driving force in our nation's economy. They pay a high percentage
of the total taxes that benefits us all. They are citizens in every respect.
Marriage is a basic right.
As a nation, however, we should bless these unions for the "right"
reasons. When two people desire to publicly commit to one another in love
for life, that should be cause for celebration- not consternation. Let us
continue to educate and inform. As an issue of social justice, this bridge
too, will eventually be crossed. | <urn:uuid:2e37c07b-c7d4-44ce-be68-572b96fee41a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whosoever.org/marriage3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951106 | 632 | 1.625 | 2 |
Chew On This America
by Kris Trites
Much of the buzz since Obama’s Inauguration speech has been hopeful. I couldn’t watch. Inaugurations are classically full of pomp and circumstance that seem incongruous and prodigal. The inauguration festivities cost was around $180 millon, paid in part by ExxonMobil.
You may have noticed when you received your first paycheck of 2013 your FICA deduction was more. Thank you fiscal cliff deal! And the Republicans have the nerve to talk about the privatization of Social Security. There are so many reasons why we need Social Security. Here’s the lowdown on your paycheck from MoneyLifeandMore:
So the least productive Congress since 1940 got a raise this year because Obama issued an executive order ending the pay freeze on federal workers. Funny, I didn’t hear them complaining about that executive order. So we are taking less home, they got a raise and it’s still business as usual on the hill. Maybe they should think about the minimum wage!
Congress last raised the minimum wage in 2007 in increments to 2009 and the amount when adjusted for inflation was less than what minimum wage workers earned in 1968. Raising the minimum wage is proven to spur the economy and isn’t that what we need right now? Here is what RaiseTheMinimumWage.org has to say:
A 2009 study by the Economic Policy Institute estimates that Obama’s campaign pledge to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011 would inject $60 billion in additional spending into the economy.
When the federal minimum wage was first enacted in 1938 at the height of the Great Depression, its twin goals were maintaining a wage floor to keep workers out of poverty and stimulating the consumer spending necessary for economic recovery. President Franklin Roosevelt called for its enactment as “an essential part of economic recovery,” explaining that by increasing the purchasing power of those workers “who have the least of it today, the purchasing power of the Nation as a whole – can be still further increased, (and) other happy results will flow from such an increase.”
I love to ask questions in Google, like Martin Scorsese asking Siri in that Ipone commercial, so when I asked “Why can’t anything get done in Washington?”, the answer was a Washington Post Opinion article by Mark Miller “It’s the filibuster, stupid.”
Here is a statistic from CitizensForEthics.org:
I don’t usually think of myself as a pessimist, but what will change when the Republicans control the House and the Democrats control the Senate? I guess that is a true balance of power but Obama’s wheels of change will, once again be stuck in government gridlock. Honestly it’s not Obama per say, looking back at history as money and corruption have insidiously spread throughout all areas of our government, while Wall Street and big corporations have become rich and the rest of us just watch, ones can’t help but wonder what can possible happen going forward for the better…How can we change it?
Joe Costello, a government insider has written an incredible book “Of By For” that not only outlines the reasons why our government is failing us but talks about how to make a difference and is agitating for change. Get your copy here OfByForTheBook by Joe Costello
Climate Change is another article. What will happen when the Co2 levels are irrevocable! Check out CO2.org
― Thomas Jefferson | <urn:uuid:3edb3f4a-8d16-4c8a-b9dc-9ce7ac9023d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpossibilities.org/chew-on-this-america/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953823 | 741 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Cranial Osteopaths are trained to feel a very subtle, rhythmical shape change that is present in all body tissues and use very gentle guiding pressure to encourage the release of stresses throughout the body, including the head. It is extremely effective in treating a wide range of conditions in people of all ages.
'Cranial Osteopath' are Osteopaths who practise a gentler, more subtle approach to therapy. Cranial Osteopathy treatment is safe and pain free. One of its most common benefits is that the treatment is so gentle that it often has a soporific effect, whilst tissue and tensions are relaxing. This makes it an ideal treatment for newborns, children and pregnant mothers, which North Shore Osteopaths specialise in.
Cranial Osteopathy Can Treat:
Back and neck pain
Headache and migraine
Period pain and irregularity
Asthma and chest complaints
Stress, depression, and fatigue
General ill health
What are the added benefits of treatment?
Osteopathic treatment can not only relieve symptoms and pain. Many patients feel an improvement in general well-being, energy levels, sleep patterns, and with symptoms that the patient did not originally come to their practitioner for.
Need more info? Call Sharon on 0414 529 203 | <urn:uuid:fed807d0-99e1-480e-8818-a26fd52c0499> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nso.com.au/_blog/NSO_Noticeboard/tag/sleeping_issues/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939215 | 269 | 1.726563 | 2 |
EIA serves as the leading voice for education entrepreneurs, advocating for the interests of businesses in the PreK – 12 market and serving as the knowledge center which integrates best practices and research that raise student achievement through innovation and improvement strategies.
We Embrace Innovation, Quality and Accountability.
Every student, regardless of economic circumstance deserves the opportunity for a world-class education. Education entrepreneurs meet these challenges by creating innovative, scalable, and high-quality solutions that enable students to be better prepared for success in college and the workplace. The Education Industry Association (EIA) is the point of connection for these entrepreneurs.
EIA is the leading professional association for private sector providers of education services, suppliers of educational content and management support to the industry. We are a broad-based organization that represents the collective strengths and contributions of the multi-faceted education industry, and projects a unified voice for innovators of college and career readiness services.
EIA's Board of Directors developed its new strategic plan for 2012-2015. This new vision underscores our focus on supporting education entrepreneurs through advocacy, research and information to help both start-ups and mature enterprises go to scale.
EIA-Working Together To Improve Business Outcomes For Members:
Since 1990, the EIA has worked to expand business opportunities for education entrepreneurs of all sizes in preK-12 markets. Benefits include federal-state-local advocacy, public relations support, professional development, peer-to-peer networking and much more. To join > | <urn:uuid:da3e4022-9128-4033-b777-b0f3bdeabd2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.educationindustry.org/about-eia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936763 | 303 | 1.570313 | 2 |
From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
| The Legendary Pokémon Appears!
Legendary Pokémon Appears!!
| Collected in
|| Vol. 1
| Chapter number
The Legendary Pokémon Appears! (Japanese: 伝説のポケモン現る!! Legendary Pokémon Appears!!) is the third chapter of the Golden Boys manga.
The chapter begins with Nurse Joy and Professor Oak at the Violet City Pokémon Center wondering about a large black thundercloud in the shape of a spiraling whirlpool that suddenly appeared over the city. They check their watches, and the times they have are different. Professor Oak states that Bill had created a time capsule, and then he deduces that the time capsule must be creating a time warp. They run to check out the Violet Gym, only to find Gold facing Falkner and Articuno, who only returns to the Gym every four years. Professor Oak expresses his concerns for Gold, and his battle against Articuno. Gold offers to battle Articuno himself so that his Pokémon don't get hurt, but gets chastised by Falkner. He then realizes that having an Electric Pokémon would be helpful in defeating Articuno.
Suddenly, the time warp bursts through the roof, opens, and a Pikachu appears before everyone. The clouds clear from the sky. Pikachu instantly warms up to Gold, but upon seeing Articuno, jumps right into battle. Falkner states that it must be at an extremely high level, because it won't listen to its Trainer. Gold sends Totodile and Pidgey out to help Pikachu. Falkner transforms the Gym when he realizes that it is much too small for Articuno. Pikachu and Articuno exchange attacks: Pikachu uses Thunder while Articuno uses Ice Beam. Because Thunder is such a large scale attack, it misses. Gold yells to Pikachu that if Articuno is going to be weakened, it has to be hit with something like Thunderbolt. Pikachu refuses to listen, and its leg freezes because of Blizzard. Articuno readies another Ice Beam, but Gold commands Totodile to use Water Gun, thus creating an ice shelter protecting Pikachu. Pidgey uses Peck to remove the ice from Pikachu's leg.
Pikachu, although being a high level, agrees with Gold that it can't defeat Articuno alone. Pidgey distracts Articuno while Totodile utilizes the cold air around to create a pillar of ice leading to Articuno with its Water Gun. Pikachu strikes Articuno with electricity and tires out. Articuno then lets Pikachu fall to the ground and admits defeat by flying away. Falkner accepts defeat and awards Gold with the Zephyr Badge.
Outside the Pokémon Center | <urn:uuid:236e65fc-9970-4a3a-8ec4-08a07a9e7591> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/GB03 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937881 | 565 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Congratulations, you have taken the first step into having your Lexington Fayette KY based company enter The Cloud, and the first step is trying to figure out what The Cloud, or Cloud services are, and how The Cloud applies to your Company in Lexington Fayette KY.
So, the first step, what is The Cloud or Cloud computing, what does it mean for you here in Lexington Fayette KY? We are going to keep it simple; we aren’t trying give you a Master’s degree concerning Cloud Services. If you use the internet in any regular fashion, then you have partaken of The Cloud. A few examples of the ways the Cloud has already touched your life is online banking and any service that stores your documents (like Google Apps) or music (like Amazon). Cloud services have been growing steadily over the last decade and are now at the verge of geometric growth in next few years.
A good example of how The Cloud has and will evolve would be to look at similar examples of technical advancements in our society. When electricity first was available, it was so scarce that individual companies had to create their own electricity to help advance their business. As availability and affordability of electricity advanced, the production of electricity became centralized.
Computing has come of age, where Lexington Fayette KY Corporations had to provide most all their own back office computer services to help run their Lexington Fayette KY based company, now Cloud computing gives a centralized, affordable option for most all computer services needed. Your Lexington Fayette KY based Company will not need to purchase new servers every three years because you can now outsource to a Cloud service company like Paruzia.
Along with not needing to buy new back office equipment, you will no longer need to maintain that equipment either. There are other benefits to using Cloud services like built-in back up of all your data, having data secured on The Cloud… not on Laptops or on a desktops that are much more vulnerable than the Cloud. Imagine if your office was destroyed by a fire. If all of your workstations operated in the cloud, you could open up a new Laptop and be back to work in no time – with no loss of data! Furthermore, Workstations, either Laptop or Desktop, do not need to have all the power or be replaced as often because you are using the up-to-date power of The Cloud.
Again, we don’t want to make you an expert in the first brush with The Cloud; we just want to give you enough knowledge to take the next step and contact us about what Cloud services we can offer you. Give us a call and learn how the Cloud Services Paruzia offers will benefit your Lexington Fayette KY Company. | <urn:uuid:d7d78849-c2ea-4e1a-a8d4-0f25d0fd6aac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forerunnerrecycling.com/cloudservices/city/lexington-fayette/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963327 | 559 | 1.6875 | 2 |
According to the Elections Act, Lederer’s decision rendered Opitz’s election “null and void,” which means he has lived in a legal grey zone, serving his constituents in limbo while the top court considered his appeal.
Justice Lederer ruled that the election should be tossed because the Liberal incumbent, Borys Wrzesnewskyj managed to prove that at least 79 votes in the riding were irregular, and should not have been counted, or at least did not have the appropriate paperwork to show they should have been counted.
Wrzesnewskyj, a determined man, has spent about $350,000 on his court challenge. He has alleged in the media that there were shady doings on election day, but he did not assert that in court, and Lederer noted that “there was no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of either the applicant or the respondent.”
In court, Wrzesnewskyj’s lawyers agreed to consider just 10 of 130 polls in the riding, and managed to show that 79 ballots were in boxes without proper paperwork. It appears that at least five people voted twice.
None of this suggests wrongdoing on the part of Opitz, who spent 33 years in the Canadian Forces, retiring as a lieutenant-colonel.
When the justices release their decision Thursday morning, one of the two men is going to have a terrible day.
The justices will either rule that Lederer erred in law, in which case Opitz is likely to serve until the next election, or they will uphold Lederer, which means the prime minister has six months to set a date for a byelection, and Opitz and Wrzesnewskyj will likely have a rematch.
Court watchers can’t guess which way the court will go.
The act requires the court to “hear the appeal without delay and in a summary manner.” Opitz’s legal team, playing for time, sought to have the case heard in October, but the court agreed to sit in July, which is unusual, and they have produced a decision in what is, for them, short order.
To overturn an election, the Elections Act puts up a two-part test, requiring an applicant to first show that there were irregularities, and second that those irregularities “affected the result of the election.”
Opitz beat Wrzesnewskyj by just 26 votes, which makes that the “magic number,” a number easily surpassed by the 79 votes.
The “magic number” test has been the established standard in Canadian courts for decades, but the top court has never ruled on it.
In his appeal, Opitz’s lawyer, Tom Barlow, argued that that test is wrong, since there is no way of knowing how many of those 79 votes were cast for each candidate.
He also argued that Lederer erred in ruling some of the votes invalid, and warned that interpreting the law to make it too easy to overturn the result opens the door to mischief makers who could game the system by improperly voting and then launching an appeal.
Some observers are nervous that if the court rules for Wrzesnewskyj, it will set the bar too low, and allow all sorts of election results to be challenged. Others worry that if the court rules for Opitz, it will set the bar too high, and allow elections to be stolen.
Everyone, including the people who run Elections Canada, think the organization needs to work harder at training and directing their huge army of one-day election workers, which is easier said than done.
The court faces, as Lederer wrote, “a conundrum.”
“At its core, this case concerns the confidence that Canadians must have in our electoral process. If that confidence is diminished, it follows that our interest in, and respect for, government will be similarly diminished. It surely follows that if people who are not qualified to vote were permitted to do so, or if there is a concern that people may have been permitted to vote more than once, confidence in our electoral process will fade.”
Thursday morning, we will see how the Supremes cope with that conundrum.
Veteran election lawyer Jack Siegel, who is a Liberal, and is pulling for Wrzesnewskyj, said Wednesday that the ruling will be good news, whichever way it goes.
“The plus side is, after 145 years of confederation, we’re finally going to have word from on high as to how these disputes are actually supposed to work.” | <urn:uuid:6e3a1cb3-db16-420c-b700-a42a6d73deda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://o.canada.com/2012/10/24/top-court-faces-a-conundrum-in-etobicoke-centre/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97909 | 954 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Obama Announces Total Iraq Troop Withdrawal
President Barack Obama on Friday declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in U.S. history, announcing that all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year’s end.
Obama’s statement put an end to months of wrangling over whether the U.S. would maintain a force in Iraq beyond 2011. He never mentioned the tense and ultimately fruitless negotiations with Iraq over whether to keep several thousand U.S. forces in Iraq as a
training force and a hedge against meddling from Iran or other outside forces.
Instead, Obama spoke of a promise kept, a new day for a self-reliant Iraq and a focus on building up the economy at home.
“I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year,” Obama said. “After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.”
Obama spoke after a private video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and he offered assurances that the two leaders agreed on the decision.
The U.S. military presence in Iraq stands at just under 40,000.
All U.S. troops are to exit the country in accordance with a deal struck between the countries in 2008 when George W. Bush was president.
Obama, an opponent of the war from the start, took office and accelerated the end of the conflict. In August 2010, he declared the U.S. combat mission over.
“Over the next two months our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home,” Obama said. “The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops.”
More than 4,400 American military members have been killed since the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq in March 2003.
Two U.S. officials had told The Associated Press last week that the United States would not keep troops in Iraq past the year-end withdrawal deadline, except for some soldiers attached to the U.S. Embassy.
In recent months, Washington had been discussing with Iraqi leaders the possibility of several thousand American troops remaining to continue training Iraqi security forces.
Throughout the discussions, Iraqi leaders refused to give U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans refused to stay without that guarantee.
Moreover, Iraq’s leadership has been split on whether it wanted American forces to stay.
When the 2008 agreement requiring all U.S. forces to leave Iraq was passed, many U.S. officials assumed it would inevitably be renegotiated so that Americans could stay longer.
The U.S. said repeatedly this year it would entertain an offer from the Iraqis to have a small force stay behind, and the Iraqis said they would like American military help. But as the year wore on and the number of American troops that Washington was suggesting could stay behind dropped, it became increasingly clear that a U.S. troop presence was not a sure thing.
The issue of legal protection for the Americans was the deal-breaker.
Pulling troops out by the end of this year allows both al-Maliki and Obama to claim victory.
Obama kept a campaign promise to end the war, and al-Maliki will have ended the American presence and restored Iraqi sovereignty.
The president used the war statement to once again turn attention back to the economy, the domestic concern that is expected to determine whether he wins re-election next year. “After a decade of war the nation that we need to build and the nation that we will build is our own, an America that sees its economic strength restored just as we’ve restored our leadership around the globe.” | <urn:uuid:002b9a51-a58a-43ee-b5c5-0405dd7caec7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nj1015.com/obama-announces-total-iraq-troop-withdrawal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97037 | 821 | 1.75 | 2 |
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Unlike other many other spyware tools, Spy Sweeper also offers protection against rootkits - specialised malware which has been designed to disguise the fact that an infection is present. The scanning and removal process is made as simple as possible and the program keeps its impact on system performance to a minimum so you can enjoy complete protection without slowing your computer to a crawl - there is even a special Gamer Mode that ensures that you are not interrupted when watching movies or playing games.
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I joined a mountain bike cycling club and I remember one occasion when the group cycled up a mountain and we all took turns to ride down this hill. The hill was a very steep decline that was full of mud from the rain the night before.
Now I am not a person who scares easily, but looking at that muddy decline conjured up all sorts of wild images – me flying off the bike, me landing in the mud, face down first and on and on. I must have circled that muddy decline about five times before someone told me to stop focusing on the mud and the actual steep decline and keep my eyes on where the decline ended and where the sand was dry and firm.
I took that advice and cycled down that muddy decline with all the grace of a ballerina (although I am certain I didn’t actually look like a ballerina to all the rest!) And landed without incident on the dry, firm sand at the end, feeling oh-so-chuffed with myself.
I tell the story often because it had such a profound effect on me. It taught me not to look at all the obstacles on the way to my goal, but rather to keep focused on the goal and plough through the obstacles.
So in your journey towards weight loss, keep your eyes on the dry and firm sand and not on the muddy decline. Practically speaking, what does this mean?
- Keep looking at that image of what you desire to be, instead of what you consider to be your failures right now
- When you encounter obstacles in your path on the way to achieving your goal, don’t allow yourself to start focusing on them. In other words, if you are trying to develop self-discipline but slip and end up overeating, don’t focus on the fail. Get up, dust yourself off and go on. You ARE going to fail sometimes and that’s ok. Getting back up alone is a major accomplishment.
Keep looking towards the finish line. And focus on it. Use all your senses to make your goal real to you right now. Smell it. Taste it. Touch it. See it. Hear it. How?
- Smell – does your goal have a smell? If it had a smell, what would it smell like?
- Taste – if your goal had a taste, what would it taste like?
- Touch – how does it feel when you touch it?
- Sight – what does your end goal look like?
- Sound – if your goal has a sound, what does it sound like?
If you apply this to weight loss, it could go something like this:
When I saw myself as thin, I saw myself as unburdened, carefree, dancing in the sand on the beach. The smell for me was a sea smell and when I envisioned it, I could smell it. I would touch the sand, dip my toes into the sea water. I could touch my then-thin body and feel the curves where they should be, my flat stomach, etc. I saw myself wearing a dress and twirling in it, so happy. The sound I heard in the background was the waves crashing down and my joyful laughter. I would feel the sensation of twirling round and round in my pretty dress, my face upturned to thank God for setting me free. In essence, make it real to your brain so that it begins to work on getting you there.
Picture the end goal using all five senses to make it more real. This is focusing on the end goal and not getting stuck in the obstacles that arise.
If you need help, consider the Get Thin for Good online weight loss program for food addicts. It’s a 3 phase program and one of its kind. It encompasses the physical (what you eat and how much you move), as well as the emotional (why you overeat or depend too much on food), and the spiritual (forgiveness, spiritual principles and finding fulfilment). It really is an awesome program that has the potential to change your life completely.
Simply type your details in below to be added to the newsletter.
The information we provide is not readily available anywhere else on the internet. Don't miss out; sign up now. | <urn:uuid:14325ae2-7c19-4e65-bfdc-3e9af8a94618> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.get-thin-for-good.com/how-to-plod-along-successfully-and-reach-your-weight-loss-goal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970041 | 878 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Brady's prophetic intervention23 March 2013
The Primate of All Ireland made what turned out to be a prophetic speech during the pre-conclave meetings by suggesting that the new Pope should be marked by a love of the poor.
Cardinal Sean Brady, 74, also stressed that the Church is more likely to win people over with "prophetic actions" rather than words.
The conclave went on to elect Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio SJ who as Pope Francis has said he wants a Church that is "for the poor".
In his address Cardinal Brady is understood to have said that the Lord could be calling a new Pope who would not only engage minds but also inspire through acts of love, especially work with the poor.
For other recent bulletins, select from the list here: | <urn:uuid:857d5c4c-cf48-48ba-b633-c6ce19430a2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetablet.co.uk/latest-news/5147 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982103 | 161 | 1.703125 | 2 |
President Obama has signed the toughest set of Wall Street regulations and consumer protections against greedy financial practices since the Great Depression.
“In the end, our financial system only works – our markets are only free – when there are clear rules and basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excess, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system,” Obama said Wednesday before signing the landmark financial reform bill.
He also emphasized that because of the new law, “the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes. There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.
“If a large financial institution should ever fail, this reform gives us the ability to wind it down without endangering the broader economy. And there will be new rules to make clear that no firm is somehow protected because it is “too big to fail.”
Click here to view photos: | <urn:uuid:7db4ca4e-c052-47ae-9ea3-3b27974fe8ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsone.com/608445/wall-street-reform-signed-into-law-by-obama/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94094 | 198 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Thank you for writing.
Actually, the Bible says that God clothed Adam and Eve, but there is no mention of any death. He could have used the shed skin of the serpent, much like the albatross that was hung around the neck of the mariner in The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, or made skins as He made everything else in creation.
The giving of flesh to eat was a concession because of the hardness of heart of the humans and was never God's creation or heavenly intent.
Jesus did call a number of fishermen to be His disciples, but He also turned them away from fishing to become fishers of men (to save mankind).
There is a huge difference between living as peacemaking children of God in His heavenly will, and justifying a life in this corrupted and fallen world.
You of all people must know that in order to take the life of another living being, we must first harden our hearts and souls so as to no longer have empathy for that being and their desire to live.
In the Love of the Lord,
Frank and Mary | <urn:uuid:31e5d186-55e4-4820-b046-91063cf399d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-creatures.org/discuss/bowhunt-20111017-fmh.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978089 | 224 | 1.617188 | 2 |
|Zelaya's Return: Neither Reconciliation nor Democracy in Honduras|
|Written by Adrienne Pine|
|Sunday, 29 May 2011 18:05|
Over the past few weeks U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and latter-day media "experts" have hailed Manuel Zelaya's return to Honduras and the pending reintegration of the country into the OAS as a restoration of democracy. Here in Honduras, it is clear that such claims could not be further from the truth. Despite the triumphal language of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, Honduran president Porfirio Lobo, and even Zelaya himself following their signing of the Cartagena Accords, Honduras today is no closer to reconciliation than it was in the months following the June 28, 2009 military coup.
As Dana Frank points out in The Progressive on May 27, the Cartagena Accords ensure the reinstatement of Honduras into the OAS in return for only one "concession" that is not already ostensibly guaranteed: that the trumped-up charges, leveled against Zelaya by the same court that legitimated his unconstitutional expulsion from the country, be dropped. That this should be sufficient for Honduras's return is perplexing, given that the country was expelled under Article 21 of the OAS Democratic Charter, which reads in part:
When the special session of the General Assembly determines that there has been an unconstitutional interruption of the democratic order of a member state, and that diplomatic initiatives have failed, the special session shall take the decision to suspend said member state from the exercise of its right to participate in the OAS by an affirmative vote of two thirds of the member states in accordance with the Charter of the OAS.
Today, the same businessmen, politicians, and military officials who funded, engineered, and carried out the coup are in power, having been guaranteed impunity for their crimes by a coup-supporting president who came to power through an illegal, fraudulent election that was legitimated by the U.S. government. Human rights abuses committed by police and military forces, rather than decreasing with the Lobo presidency, have surged in recent months to levels at or above those just after the coup.
The current Honduran government, which markets itself as one of "reconciliation"—a concept that historically means bringing those responsible for crimes against humanity to justice—has shown no interest in reconciling with anyone who disagrees with its policies of displacement, privatization of public services, and the auctioning of the country to the highest bidder. Diverse figures such as Carlos Slim (the wealthiest man in the world), former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, and former State Department official Craig Kelly have lauded the Lobo government’s eagerness to divest itself of Honduran resources at the Honduras is Open For Business conference earlier this month. Meanwhile, criminalization and the violent repression of citizens exercising their right to protest such policies has intensified. The Anti-Terrorist Law, passed last November by "Zero Tolerance" strongman and Minister of Security Oscar Álvarez, expands the legal revocation of civil liberties for opponents of government policies, building upon the 2003 Anti-Gang Law passed by Lobo (as President of the National Congress) and also on the 1980s Anti-Terrorist Law, when Álvarez's uncle Gustavo Álvarez Martínez led the infamous CIA-trained Battalion 3-16 death squad in disappearing, torturing, and killing opponents of the "democratic" regime then in power.
Just this week in Tegucigalpa, police ambushed a high school, shooting tear gas canisters and live bullets at students as young as 16 who were protesting the Lobo government's suspension of their math teacher for speaking out against the privatization of education. One student was sent to the hospital and 21 others were arrested—along with the mothers of two students, who had come to beg for mercy—for threatening the public order.
The State Department's response to the excessive violence of the Honduran police and military in recent months has been far from satisfactory. The U.S. Human Rights and Labor Attaché in Tegucigalpa, Jeremy D. Spector—instead of condemning the reprehensible acts (including murder) carried out by Lobo's security forces—has labeled protestors "thugs,” and blamed the violence on protesting teachers, students, parents, and other Hondurans resisting repressive state policy. There are opposing voices both within and outside of the U.S. government. At least 86 members of Congress have signed a "Dear Colleague" letter to Hillary Clinton calling for a halt in U.S. police and military aid to Honduras until there is accountability for human rights abuses. Another recent letter, signed by 107 organizations, calls for the continued suspension of Honduras from the OAS, stating that "the regime of Porfirio Lobo should not be rewarded for continuing the repression and impunity." A May 16 letter from 20 Honduran and international NGOs to OAS ambassadors cautions against Honduras's return to the OAS before substantial progress has been made in addressing human rights violations and impunity.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has been rapidly expanding its occupation of the country, with the implicit approval of the Lobo administration. SOUTHCOM has installed two new military bases and recently announced a plan to construct permanent barracks in contravention of Honduran law, which recognizes the U.S. military as having only a "temporary" presence in the country. On Thursday, a letter written by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and signed by over 70 religious leaders, organizations, and academics, was sent to “contractors and bidders on contracts for U.S. construction on military bases in Honduras,” urging them to withdraw from such contracts or from bidding on them.
Perhaps most importantly, here in Honduras, nearly all sectors of the massive resistance movement, while celebrating the return of Zelaya, have publicly and outspokenly opposed the re-entry of the Lobo government (which the movement itself does not recognize) into the OAS. Some have gone even further, criticizing the bargaining away of human rights and the anti-democratic procedure of the Cartagena Accords as a threat to democratic processes. A May 23 statement titled "Human Rights Are Not Subject to Political Negotiation"—issued by the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), one of the most respected human rights organizations in the country and a member of the anti-coup Human Rights Platform—rejects the notion of "reconciliation" under current conditions, which it describes as follows:
Nearby, five teachers sustain an indefinite hunger strike due to violations of their social and economic rights; hundreds of campesino families in the zone of Aguán are surrounded by legal and clandestine forces acting against their lives and lands; and an average of 16 violent deaths occur each day throughout the country, in total impunity.
On May 26 the influential collective Artists in Resistance issued an open letter to former President Zelaya, in which they welcomed him back, but announced their refusal to perform in Saturday's festivities, stating: "Our song and our voice is political and not simply backup for a cathartic euphoria over a success that we have yet to achieve." They also presented a brief assessment of the current state of affairs:
We will be there to receive you, compañero Manuel Zelaya, and we will not forget that the Lobo regime is murderous, that it continues murdering the campesinos of Aguán and Zacate Grande; that this very week it has ordered police to stomp on the necks of the students of Luis Bográn, that it ignores the martyrs and desperate hunger strike of the teachers, that it permits the targeted assassinations of artists like Renán Fajardo and Juan Ángel Sorto, that it carelessly ignores the deaths of poets of universal standing like Roberto Sosa and Amanda Castro, that it continues ordering protection for the murderous businessmen of the coup d'état and that it attacks and persecutes its people and has sold off our territory piece by piece, with the help of a police force and army converted by the empire into occupation forces within our country.
In a statement on May 27, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), the largest and most powerful indigenous organization in Honduras, similarly welcomed Zelaya to the country while condemning the Lobo administration. It reserved its strongest words for the OAS:
[I]f you think you will wipe the board clean and start over, you are mistaken; you are mistaken in your cold economic calculations, in your political pragmatism, in your urgent desire to serve imperialism in its project of rearranging the continent; you are mistaken in your hypocrisy of recognizing a murderous regime that is the inheritor of a coup d'état and that has not complied with the conditions for return imposed by the OAS itself, for which it was expelled in the first place.
COPINH signs its statement, "We will not forget, We will not forgive, and WE WILL NOT reconcile!!"
So far, only Ecuador has declared its firm opposition to Honduras's reentry into the OAS. President Rafael Correa, himself nearly overthrown in a coup attempt last year, said on May 26, "There is one requirement; anything else is impunity. What is the requirement? That those responsible for the coup be punished."
Zelaya will walk a treacherous line as he steps off the plane on Saturday. Many Hondurans, for whom he has become a hero of saint-like proportions, will be surprised to discover that his first order of business is a luncheon with Lobo and OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza. But whether or not Zelaya retains his enormous popularity in the months to come, one thing is certain: without justice, there will be neither reconciliation nor democracy in Honduras.
Adrienne Pine is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at American University, and the author of Working Hard, Drinking Hard: On Violence and Survival in Honduras (University of California Press, 2008). More of her work can be found at quotha.net. | <urn:uuid:46dce504-7c7a-4ce8-8857-1e622dfcb6a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/3052-zelayas-return-neither-reconciliation-nor-democracy-in-honduras | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958931 | 2,116 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
You have probably noticed “Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!” at the end of my letters. And some may be skeptical that simply chanting: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare will produce happiness. However happiness is one of the very first symptoms that becomes manifest in a person advancing in Krishna consciousness. And this is my practical, personal experience. Ever since I started chanting the Hare Krishna mantra it has given me a sense of great transcendental happiness.
Not being happy is a sign of not being Krishna conscious. Because Krishna consciousness is a self-manifested joyful condition. Why is that? It is because by nature every living entity is joyful and is in Krishna consciousness. The only reason we are not joyful here in the material world is because our original Krishna consciousness is covered by maya. This chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra has the power to uncover our original consciousness and when our original Krishna consciousness is uncovered we will be in our eternal natural constitutional position of ever-increasing happiness, full knowledge and we will realize that we are eternally youthful spiritual living entities who’s only purpose is to serve Krishna.
This process of ‘cleansing the mirror of the heart’ [ceto darpana marjanam] is described by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in one of the only eight verses that He wrote. These eight verses written by Lord Caitanya very perfectly summarize Krishna consciousness and one of the verses is:
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam
Glory to the Sri Krishna sankirtana which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss and enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.
Lord Caitanya says if you chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra all the dirty things which have accumulated in your heart due to material contamination will be cleared off. He gives the example that the heart is just like a mirror. If on the mirror there is heaps of dust accumulated one can not see his real face by the reflection of the mirror, therefore it should be cleansed. In our present conditional life our hearts are so overloaded with so much dust due to our material association from time immemorial, if we chant this Hare Krishna mantra then the dust will be removed. It will begin to be removed immediately and as soon as the heart is cleansed of all dust we can see our face, what we really are. Seeing our face means knowing our real identification.
By chanting Hare Krishna mantra we will understand we are not the body. This is our misconception. The dust means this misconception, accepting this body or the mind as self. Actually, we are not this body or the mind. We are spirit soul. So as soon as we can understand that we are not these bodies, immediately the blazing fire of material conditions, or the blazing fire of material miseries, becomes dissipated. No more misery. Aham brahmasmi.
As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, brahma-bhutah? prasannatma. Immediately one understands his real identification as spirit soul, he becomes joyful. In the material world we are not joyful. Due to our material contact, we are always full of anxieties. By chanting Hare Krishna mantra, we shall immediately come to the stage of joyful life. This is called liberation. When one becomes joyful, free from all anxieties, that stage is actual liberation because every living creature, the spirit soul, is by nature joyful. The whole struggle for existence is that he is searching after that joyful stage of life, but he missing the point. Therefore, every time we try for a joyful life we are being defeated. This constant defeat can be overcome immediately by chanting this Hare Krishna mantra. That is the effect of this transcendental vibration.
The spiritual pleasure that we enjoy from chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is not like material so-called pleasure. For example we may be hungry but as soon as we get food, with every mouthful we take the pleasure we receive from eating that food decreases. Until after we have eaten a few mouthfuls and our hunger is satisfied we do not like to take any more of that food. This means here in the material world whatever pleasure we can experience, it will decrease. But spiritual pleasure is different. Lord Caitanya says: anandambudhi-vardhanam, the spiritual pleasure is just like the ocean. Here in the material world we have the experience that the ocean does not increase, the ocean always remains within its limit. But the ocean of spiritual pleasure increases. Anandambudhi-vardhanam. Sreyah-kairava-candrika-vitaranam. How does that spiritual pleasure increase? Lord Caitanya gives the example of the moon. On the first night after the new moon the moon is a very thin curved line in the sky only. But on the second day, third day, the moon increases, gradually it increases. Similarly in spiritual life the spiritual pleasure increases day after day after day until it reaches the full moon night. And then our lives become full of knowledge because spiritual life means eternal life, full of bliss and full of knowledge
So we increase our pleasure because proportionately we increase the volume of our knowledge. It is just like the ocean, but still it increases. It is so nice that once situated in this state of life, one thinks that “I am fully satisfied.” Just like if one takes bath dipping into the water, he feels refreshed immediately. Similarly, in spiritual life the increasing joy day after day makes one feel that he is fully satisfied.
One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman. He never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally disposed to every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me. (Bhagavad Gita 18.54)
A materialist who is working very hard for sense gratification is miserable but for a devotee, who does not work for his own sense gratification but works for the gratification of Krishna’s senses, there is no misery. The devotee has nothing to lament or desire, because he has no desire except the desire to serve his spiritual master and Krishna. Because the devotee is serving God and God is full and completely satisfied in every way the devotee engaged in the service of Krishna also becomes full and completely satisfied in every way. He becomes just like a river cleansed of all the dirty water.
Because the pure devotee has no thought other than Krishna he is naturally always joyful. He is not at all disturbed by material loss or gain because he is fully engaged in the service of the Lord. The pure devotee has no desire for any type of material enjoyment because he knows that every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and therefore eternally a servant. The devotee’s peace and happiness comes from this realization that he is eternally a servant of Krishna and the only purpose of his life is to serve Krishna. He is attached to nothing except being engaged in the service of his spiritual master and Krishna. This is the real, natural and eternal constitutional position of every living entity: nitya krsna dasa, “every living entity is eternally a servant of Krishna.” As soon as we realize we are servants of Krishna and give up all personal desires and aspirations and simply work for the pleasure of Krishna under the direction of Krishna’s pure devotee, the bona fide spiritual master, we will at once be relieved of all the sources of anxiety and distress in the material world and at once we will relish transcendental happiness on the spiritual platform.
The world is miserable for the materially infected person, but for a devotee the entire world is as good as Vaikuntha, or the spiritual sky. The highest personality in this material universe is no more significant than an ant for a devotee. Such a stage can be achieved by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, who preached pure devotional service in this age.
The stage of perfection is called trance, or samadhi, when one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one’s ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact. (Bhagavad Gita 6.20-23)
This is from the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad Gita which we have been discussing for some weeks now. By practice of yoga one becomes gradually detached from material concepts. This is the primary characteristic of the yoga principle. And after this, one becomes situated in trance, or samadhi, which means that the yogi realizes the Supersoul through transcendental mind and intelligence, without any of the misgivings of identifying the self with the Superself. In this verse transcendental pleasure–realized through transcendental senses–is accepted.
When the yogi is once situated in the transcendental position, he is never shaken from it. Unless the yogi is able to reach this position, he is unsuccessful. Today’s so-called yoga practice, which involves various sense pleasures, is contradictory. A yogi indulging in sex and intoxication is a mockery. Even those yogis who are attracted by the siddhis (perfections) in the process of yoga are not perfectly situated. If the yogis are attracted by the by-products of yoga, then they cannot attain the stage of perfection, as is stated in this verse. Persons, therefore, indulging in the make-show practice of gymnastic feats or siddhis should know that the aim of yoga is lost in that way.
The best practice of yoga in this age is Krishna consciousness, which is not baffling. A Krishna conscious person is so happy in his occupation that he does not aspire after any other happiness. There are many impediments, especially in this age of hypocrisy, to practicing hatha-yoga, dhyana-yoga and jnana-yoga, but there is no such problem in executing karma-yoga or bhakti-yoga.
As long as the material body exists, one has to meet the demands of the body, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating. But a person who is in pure bhakti-yoga or in Krishna consciousness does not arouse the senses while meeting the demands of the body. Rather, he accepts the bare necessities of life, making the best use of a bad bargain, and enjoys transcendental happiness in Krishna consciousness. He is callous toward incidental occurrences–such as accidents, disease, scarcity and even the death of a most dear relative–but he is always alert to execute his duties in Krishna consciousness or bhakti-yoga. Accidents never deviate him from his duty. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, agamapayino ‘nityas tams titiksasva bharata. He endures all such incidental occurrences because he knows that they come and go and do not affect his duties. In this way he achieves the highest perfection in yoga practice.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! | <urn:uuid:951d205c-a62c-46c6-b922-54f58233ca85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://krishna.org/chant-hare-krishna-and-be-happy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948596 | 2,512 | 1.695313 | 2 |
|by Karen Handley • September 11, 2007|
One of America’s leading authorities on international affairs, Michael Mandelbaum, will present the 2007 Benjamin A. Rogge Memorial Lecture at Wabash College. Mandelbaum’s lecture, "Democracy’s Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World’s Most Popular Form of Government," will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, September 28, in Baxter Hall, room 101.
In addition to his evening lecture, Mandelbaum will lead an open forum discussion on "Democracy’s Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World’s Most Popular Form of Government" at 4:15 p.m. in Baxter Hall, room 114.
Mandelbaum is the Christian A. Herter Professor and Director of the American Foreign Policy Program at Johns Hopkins University. Mandelbaum received a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University and has been on the faculty of Harvard University, Columbia University, and the U.S. Naval Academy. The author of 10 books and editor of 12 more, his latest book, Democracy’s Good Name: The Rise and the Risks of the World’s?Most Popular Form of Government, was released in September 2007. The book investigates the reasons for democracy’s exponential rise in the last century and critically examines democracy’s potential in the Middle East, Russia, and China
Mandelbaum writes a regular column for Newsday. His analyses of global challenges are informed by his experience with the U.S. government. He served in the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, working on national security issues. For 22 years he has served as Associate Director of the Aspen Institute Congressional Project, working with leaders of Congress and exposing them to the latest thinking on American foreign policy. He has contributed op-ed pieces to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Los Angeles Times. From 1986 - 2004, he was a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he also ran the Project on East-West Relations. The World Affairs Councils of America named him one of the most influential people in American foreign policy.
Mandelbaum’s lecture and open forum are free and open to the public. This annual event honors the late Wabash College professor of economics, Benjamin Rogge. Mandelbaum will have a book signing in Rogge Lounge following his evening lecture. | <urn:uuid:0e5379a2-12ed-49fc-938b-86e68236fcfb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wabash.edu/news/displaystory.cfm?news_ID=4942 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941487 | 519 | 1.625 | 2 |
Anatomy of an Elevator Pitch
Okay, so 30-60 seconds may not seem like a lot of time. But in the confines of an elevator, it’s an eternity. And in pitching your business to someone, it’s ample time to show them what you’ve got. Of course, every word and second counts.
To win anyone over with the perfect pitch starts well before you step inside an elevator, a boardroom or take center stage. Avoid being lost for words or leaving money on the table by mastering these 5 P’s to the perfect pitch.
Doing your research is a must for anyone looking to convince someone about anything. Know your stuff and come correct with the information. (Don’t just arbitrarily drop stats and facts.) From the ins and out of your industry (i.e., How large is it? Where/How does your business fit within in?) to statistics on the problem your product or service looks to solve.
Who are you? What does your service, product, or business offer? If you are already in business, briefly note how profitable or impactful it is to date; if not, provide realistic estimates related to your business’ performance. Think: Results. Also include what you look to do, especially if this speaks to how the listener(s) can be of support to you.
Your pitch is not about what the listener can do for you, but rather it’s to illustrate how you and your business can be of help to them (consider your audience as potential customers). Think: What is the problem that your product or service solves? Or better yet, what’s in it for them?
Being brief is an understatement here. Think: Get in and get out. But it’s not about rushing; it’s about delivering a pitch that’s quick, simple and to the point. Pace yourself; speak clear and fluently. The goal is to win someone over in at least 30-60 seconds, not run them off or have them walking away asking, “What the heck was that?”
This is neither the time to freestyle nor to approach someone with a memorized speech. Bottom line: Come ready to play. In crafting your pitch, start from a macro of what you want to say, and then reel it in with bullet points in order to create a micro (unscripted) message to work from. For some it easier said than done, but make it enjoyable. Aim for being calm, cool and collected. Who wants to give money to someone who looks like they’re about to implode from nervousness? The more familiar you can become with the information, the less anxious and better focused you’ll be in order to nail it.
Whether it’s an angel investor offering $10,000 or $10, give them all you’ve got. You never know who can help and how. If you truly believe in your idea and are passionate about seeing it come to fruition, then you’ll forget fear and have no qualms about asking for what you want.
So, are you ready to pitch your business and enter for a chance to win $10,000?
Enter here for the Black Enterprise Elevator Pitch Competition; the winner will receive $10,000 to help jump start their business. The competition is during our annual Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo, taking place May 22-25, 2011 in Atlanta Georgia. Visit blackenterprise.com/ec for more details. As an incentive BE is offering you a discount on early registration: Just enter code BEDG295 and receive $200 off. | <urn:uuid:c991e7a3-9e1c-48e9-8eb5-4057fb81100c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blackenterprise.com/benext/2011/03/24/anatomy-of-an-elevator-pitch/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952867 | 760 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Let's go over a history first: Palm (makers of the devices) split off PalmSource (makers of Palm OS) several years ago. ACCESS (makers of the NetFront web browser among other things) bought PalmSource. Palm the device maker got rights to the Palm name, so the company formerly known as PalmSource, a wholly owned subsidiary of ACCESS is now called ACCESS Systems America, and the OS formerly known as Palm OS 5 (called Garnet to differentiate it from the forever upcoming OS 6 Cobalt) is now officially called Garnet. The phrase Palm Powered will go away and will be replaced by ACCESS Powered.
Here's the offical press release from ACCESS:
SUNNYVALE, Calif., January 25, 2007-- ACCESS CO., LTD., today debuted the new ACCESS Powered? logo and announced it is renaming Palm OS? to Garnet(TM) OS. The new ACCESS Powered(TM) logo replaces the Palm Powered(TM) logo and is now used with products from both ACCESS and PalmSource, Inc. (now known as ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc.).
"ACCESS' technology and software product portfolio cover a wide array of functions from comprehensive mobile platforms to integrated browser-based suite solutions that deliver state-of-the art full-Internet browsing and related services, to individual applications that support specific device and network functions,? stated Tomihisa Kamada, ACCESS co-founder and CTO. "The new ACCESS Powered logo provides a way to easily identify those mobile phones and other devices that include software from the entire ACCESS product portfolio.?
Last October (2006), ACCESS announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, PalmSource, Inc., had begun the process of changing its name to ACCESS. As part of that process, along with its previously announced agreement with Palm, Inc., to sell PalmSource's rights in the Palm Trademark Holding Company to Palm, ACCESS is renaming all products that originally had Palm-based names. The first product to be renamed is Palm OS, which is now known as Garnet OS.
"ACCESS and PalmSource continue to move forward as it becomes one fully integrated company,? continued Kamada. "The new ACCESS Powered logo that encompasses ACCESS product offerings, and renaming Palm OS to Garnet OS are two more milestones in our evolution as a leading provider of a range of technologies, solutions, platforms and products specifically designed for the mobile phone and converged device markets.?
The ACCESS Powered Logo
Software products and technologies developed by ACCESS have been deployed in millions of devices throughout the world representing a broad selection of device categories and markets ranging from smartphones to digital televisions to automobile telematics.
The new ACCESS Powered logo identifies this wide range of products available worldwide. ACCESS customers may include the ACCESS Powered logo on their ACCESS compatible devices, either on the hardware itself, or on splash screens. The logo may also be included on customers' packaging, marketing and sales collateral, tradeshow exhibits and other promotional items. The ACCESS Powered logo enables ACCESS customers to showcase that their devices include leading-edge technology and software from the one of the industry's leading providers of solutions for mobile phones and other converged mobile devices.
Featuring four spheres emanating from the word ACCESS, the logo is a metaphor for the technologies and products ACCESS generates, incubates and releases to the world. The dynamic arc crowning the logo with the "Powered? element forming the foundation symbolizes the power contained within the product. Together these elements represent the technologies, products and industries ACCESS empowers. The overall design represents the ability for innovation that we are providing our customers as they develop their products.
Garnet OS (formerly Palm OS?) supports a broad range of screen resolutions and expanded support for wireless connections including Bluetooth. It also includes enhanced multimedia capabilities, a suite of robust security options, and support for a broad set of languages. Garnet OS also offers flexibility for licensees to customize the software to build devices for different market segments such as phone, multimedia, educational or enterprise.
Garnet OS is delivered to licensees as part of the Product Development Kit (PDK). A Software Development Kit (SDK), that allows third party developers to create applications or test their compatibility with Garnet OS, is also available on the ACCESS Developer Network website:
ACCESS Linux Platform(TM)
In addition to Garnet OS, ACCESS is developing its next-generation platform for mobile phones and converged devices--the ACCESS Linux Platform(TM) -- the industry's first fully integrated, commercial grade Linux?-based platform for mobile phones and devices. The ACCESS Linux Platform will include a Garnet OS compatibility layer, currently known as GHost (Garnet(TM) Host). ACCESS has publicly demonstrated that most properly written 68K Garnet OS applications will run on ACCESS Linux Platform-based devices with little or no modification.
About ACCESS CO., LTD.
ACCESS CO., LTD., is a global company providing leading technology, software products and platforms for web browsing, mobile phones, wireless handhelds and other networked devices. ACCESS' product portfolio, including its NetFront(TM) browser, Garnet(TM) OS (formerly Palm OS?) and the ACCESS Linux Platform(TM) provide customers with solutions that enable faster time-to-market, flexibility and customizability. The Company, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operates 29 subsidiaries and affiliates within Asia, Europe and the United States. ACCESS is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Index under the number 4813. | <urn:uuid:d1649544-4545-42f2-9946-efdbb7237b20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=26612&an=0&page=463&vc=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942031 | 1,159 | 1.664063 | 2 |
“If she didn’t want to be raped, she shouldn’t have dressed like such a slut.” Sound familiar? That’s the typical blame-the-victim response, as if there are certain instances in which a crime is justified. This sort of reaction distracts from the issue at hand and suggests that the victim is actually to blame.
Around midnight on February 15, in Gresham, Oregon (Gresham was also in the news recently when Sweet Cakes refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple), a young gay man, Adam Salnardi, was at Vance Park, reportedly to meet another man for some sort of sexual encounter. Little did Salnardi know, he had been tricked by teenagers (a 19-year-old, three 16-year-olds, and a 14-year-old), who had lured him there to beat and rob him. They punched and kicked him, called him derogatory names, stole his shoes, and even pulled a gun on him (read more here).
After looking at the comments in response to some of the news stories about this, I’ve seen a common theme: We shouldn’t feel bad for this young man because he was at a park so late at night and because he was meeting someone for sex. One such comment read: “Anyone foolish enough to go meet a stranger in a park after midnight might deserve what he got.”
Something that struck me about the story is that, as KOMO News reported, Salnardi said “it was his first time meeting a stranger for such a date.” Maybe it was his first time, but there’s also a good possibility that the victim anticipated the reaction of others and thought he would be judged less harshly if he said he hadn’t done it before. After all, when I knew only the basics of this story, I knew the young man would be judged for meeting up for sex, his victimization devalued because, apparently, the rest of us are either virgins or are married to our one and only sexual partner. And we’ve all only had sex when accompanied by love.
How have we become so judgmental, cruel, and heartless?
I realize we live in a dangerous and unkind world, a world where we cannot leave our doors unlocked for fear of being robbed or worse, where our cars are broken into if we leave valuables out for thieves to see, where women can’t walk alone at night because they’ll be attacked and raped. But have we become so callous and cynical that we can’t feel pain, sorrow, sadness (anything!) when a person has been hurt? Because that’s what happened here: A person was attacked and made to fear for his life, something most of us never have to face in our lives. His sexual orientation and the circumstances surrounding the attack do not matter. He is a person; and he did not deserve what happened. No one deserves to be violated in that way.
And if you think they do, I ask you to think of a time when you have done something others wouldn’t approve of (we all have) and consider how you would feel if you had been beaten and robbed only to be told by others that you shouldn’t be complaining because you put yourself in that situation.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Andrea Free is a freelance writer and co-creator of the Facebook page Gay Marriage Oregon and creator of the website for Oregon Marriage Equality. She has an MA in English from Bowling Green State University as well as a graduate certificate in International Scientific and Technical Communication. She completed her undergraduate work at Oregon State University, majoring in Liberal Studies with minors in writing and anthropology. As a gay rights advocate, she hopes to write articles that will inspire others to create a positive change.
2 comments on “Gay man attacked in Gresham: passing judgment on the victim instead of the perpetrators”
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You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:94550e90-46dd-4f95-be03-4249b1c4c352> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oregonmarriageequality.com/2013/02/16/gay-man-attacked-in-gresham-passing-judgment-on-the-victim-instead-of-the-perpetrators/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977457 | 875 | 1.5625 | 2 |
I have an older Abit AX8 mobo with a Phoenix D686 BIOS that I'm trying to make use of. All is installed and seemingly ready to go. On power-up, I get a beep code of Long, Short, Short, Short. This does not correspond to ANY Phoenix beep code sequence I can find online. Does anyone here have great insight into what that beep code is telling me?
I know it's a Phoenix D686 because it says so right on top of the chip. Nonetheless, since this beep code corresponds to a video error for an Award BIOS, I swapped the video card with a working card from another machine. Still no joy. Tried both a PCI and a PCIe card. Same beep code.
I've stripped the mobo down to a single stick of ram and nothing else. No change in the beep code.
I appreciate any help that can be offered. I'm stumped!
Hmmm, that's a possibility. So, you're saying it could be a "Phoenix" label with an "Award" beep code, in which case the Long Short Short Short is complaining of a video issue. For the moment, I've put an Asus mobo in this box and will continue to set it up, but I'd like to get this Abit board going as well. Will continue to troubleshoot it this weekend.
Possibly. I wouldn't be able to tell for sure. The actual label on the chip doesn't mean anything. All that chip is is an EEPROM which stores arbitrary data which just happens to be whatever firmware program the motherboard manufacturer puts on it. It could be Award, Pheonix, Pheonix/Award, AMIBios, or new UEFI implementations of each. Motherboard manufacturers then take these and modify them [poorly] to suit their hardware. PC BIOS and UEFI are just two standards which do not specify an exact implementation, that much is left up to the manufacturers. | <urn:uuid:b8ad7279-ce96-415f-aa38-e1fe0ed67f56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/315581-30-phoenix-d686-beep-code-mystery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952244 | 414 | 1.507813 | 2 |
In November, 1911, citizens of Spencer, West Virginia met to discuss banking in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Their goal was to establish a community bank that could offer the same services as a larger banking conglomerate, but on a more personal scale. In December, their charter was granted and First National Bank was established.
First National Bank officially opened for business a few months later. With deposits steadily growing, by the end of 1912, the site of the old Adams and Johnson Livery barn became home to the new three-story bank.
In 1944, a committee headed by president T.V. Foster led the merger with First National Bank of Reedy. Five years later, the Roane County Bank was purchased, tripling capital stock from $50,000 to $150,000. Under the leadership of James F. McCulty, who took over as president and CEO in August 1994, FNB continued to flourish. In 1998, President McCulty spearheaded the expansion of FNB into Parkersburg, WV.
Now, our three offices still maintain the same mission of bringing superior service to our customers. November of 2006 marked another milestone for us as we changed from a national to a state-chartered bank, bringing with it our new name - First Neighborhood Bank. We've always been about neighbors helping neighbors, and now our name reflects that commitment to the communities we serve. | <urn:uuid:86c3fa0e-07ac-4ca0-87cc-e11671a310f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.firstneighborhoodbank.com/history.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973309 | 281 | 1.578125 | 2 |
"I have to take those risks for others, because people didn't take them for me. They didn't know how. They didn't really know what risks to take. But now I know what my risk options would be; what paths I can help guide people down. Because I've come from it, I can see it from their point of view. I can understand when they're scared. So, I really think you just have to take those risks because hopefully those people, once they're out of the situation, will be able to look back and educate other people in turn. It will keep spreading; it will have a ripple effect. 'I came from there; I turned around, now I'm helping you because people didn't help me. "
"...I continued my outreach to the shuls. I sent out more letters and I made appointments to actually talk to the youth coordinators at the shuls. We got a few programs going, which was great. The first couple of times the kids were really quiet about it, very hush-hush. But I have not done a single training where I have not had kids come up to me and make disclosures about themselves, about people they know."
"During my whole five years [of being involved in an emotionally abusive and physically intimidating relationship], the kids at school and the friends I was with, didn't understand [what I was going through] because they hadn't had the education. They didn't know what to do or say or what it meant, or what was really involved in it. So they couldn't really help. So that's why I want these kids to be educated, so that when it happens to them or their friends, they can be more active. If people just knew the warning signs of domestic violence, they could help earlier. So the people around me didn't know what to do. Only the staff at REACH knew because they were informed about the issue."
"There was an article published in the Sharon Advocate about me when I was honored by the Boston Celtics. I got random people from Sharon I didn't even know calling me at home. I got many, many, many calls from people coming forward with their stories, just from that one article. I responded to them the way I would if it was a Hotline call: give them resources, counsel them, tell them what their options are, help them piece together that it is domestic violence, the cycle, about shelters, and restraining orders."
How to Cite This Page
For a bibliography:
Jewish Women's Archive. "Jewish Women's Archive - Women Who Dared - Rebecca Chernin on IMPACT ON WORLD." <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wwd/jsp/fullAnswer.jsp>.
For a footnote:
Jewish Women's Archive, "Jewish Women's Archive - Women Who Dared - Rebecca Chernin on IMPACT ON WORLD," <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wwd/jsp/fullAnswer.jsp>. | <urn:uuid:f05b5e05-2807-4398-8833-b270822c6a5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jwa.org/exhibits/wwd/jsp/fullAnswer.jsp?themeID=3&questionID=13&answerID=2900 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990129 | 624 | 1.539063 | 2 |
|<< Ezekiel 3 >>|
New International Version
1And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”
2So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
3Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
4He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.
5You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—
6not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
7But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.
8But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are.
9I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.”
10And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you.
11Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.”
12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing.
13It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound.
14The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me.
15I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—deeply distressed.
Ezekiel’s Task as Watchman
16At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me:
17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
18When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for
their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.
19But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.
20“Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.
21But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
22The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.”
23So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.
24Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.
25And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.
26I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people.
27But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Ezekiel 3 Online Parallel Bible
Ezekiel 3 Bible Apps | <urn:uuid:a922232f-c8f0-4596-aa51-b9c3713c027f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://niv.scripturetext.com/ezekiel/3-17.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971738 | 1,052 | 1.546875 | 2 |
When Dick Clark died two weeks ago, one fact revealed was that he never had Elvis on American Bandstand. This actually is not too surprising. Until August 1957, Bandstand had been just a local show on a Philadelphia TV station. When ABC picked it up and broadcast it nationally as American Bandstand, Elvis was already in a situation where Col. Parker refused to let Elvis appear on TV. Parker’s reasoning was that the fans should not get free looks at Elvis on television. If they wanted to see him, they had to go to his concerts or watch his movies.
However, Elvis was soon drafted into the Army. Once he got shipped off to Germany, Dick Clark used his well documented business savvy and set up phone calls to Elvis. The audio from these calls were rebroadcast on American Bandstand, and they were a good PR move for both the show and Elvis. Here are the transcripts, with a few minor sentences deleted.
Phone Call # 1 — from Dick Clark to Elvis in Germany – February 1959
Clark: Hello, Elvis.
Elvis: Hello, Dick, How are you?
Clark: Fine, thank you. Where on earth are you at this minute?
Elvis: The town I’m in is Freidberg, Germany; however, I live in a place called Bad Nauheim, just north of Freidberg.
Clark: Tell me a little bit about your activities. What did you do, say, today?
Elvis: Mostly classroom work.
Clark: What are you studying?
Elvis: Map reading and then how to grease my Jeep. Just the regular things.
Clark; Do you have time for music anymore?
Elvis: Only at night. You see, I get off work at five o’clock in the afternoon, and I have a guitar up here in the room… I don’t want to get out of practice, if I can help it.
Clark: I should hope not. Let me tell you some good news. In the annual American Bandstand Popularity Poll you walked away with a couple of honors this year. The Favorite Male Vocalist Award and the Favorite Record of 1958 Award. The kids voted you top man all around.
Elvis: Well that’s sure tremendous, Dick. It’s really great, boy.
Clark: Do you have any idea when you’ll be travelling back home?
Elvis: No, I don’t, Dick. I wish I really did know.
Clark: How about it, do you miss home?
Elvis: Oh, boy, I can’t hardly talk… I mean, I’m glad that I could come in the Army and do my part, but you’ll never know how happy I’ll be, boy, when I can return to the entertainment world, because once you get a taste of show business, there’s nothing like it.
Clark: You know it. Elvis, thank you ever so much for talking to us. We look forward to your return.
Elvis: Well thank you very much. I’d just like to tell all those wonderful kids that they’ll never know how happy they made me, and I’m longing for the time I can come back out and entertain them again, travel around and make movies, records, and things like that.
Phone Call # 2 — from Elvis in Germany to Dick Clark – August 1959 (2nd Anniversary of American Bandstand)
One of Dick Clark’s questions below makes it sound like Elvis called him, but that seems improbable. Surely, Elvis didn’t just happen to call on the 2nd anniversary of American Bandstand, so Clark’s staff probably set it up. Plus, why would Elvis’ gold record for “A Big Hunk of Love” be in Clark’s hands before Col. Parker’s?
Clark: Hello, Elvis.
Elvis: Hello Dick, how are you.
Clark: I would imagine they’ve got you kind of busy these days, don’t they?
Elvis: Oh yeah, well we’re getting’ ready for a big inspection. A new inspection, so we’ve been workin’ pretty hard for that.
Clark: Elvis, so many of us here are interested in your activities and I think probably the big question on most people’s minds these days are when and if everything goes right, you’re out in February, what will be your plans?
Elvis: Well, as you know, I have a contract with ABC… for some television. I don’t know what Colonel Parker has arranged… And then I have the three pictures to make; one for Mr (Hal) Wallis, and then the other two for Twentieth Century-Fox
Clark: Elvis, I’ve got some good news. I imagine by now they’ve passed the word along to you. With the latest RCA Victor recording out, “A Big Hunk of Love” and “My Wish Came True,” you got yourself another Gold Record to add to the collection.
Elvis: That’s great, Dick. That sure is nice. I was surprised to hear it, really.
Clark: I’ll tell you what. We’re gonna show it to the folks here on American Bandstand, and then I’ll forward it down to Colonel Parker, and he can save it for you when you come back.
Elvis: Okay, that’ll be fine.
Clark: Elvis, do you have any idea of how many Gold Records you have now in your collection?
Elvis: To my knowledge, Dick…this one will make thirty-one, I think.
Clark; Boy, that is a fantastic record. There’s no getting away from it.
Elvis: I’ll ask my daddy to go down and (laughs) and count them.
Clark: Elvis, one more quick question that might interest the gals in this country. I know probably you don’t have much time to yourself but when you go out amongst the German people, what is the thing that strikes you as most interesting? Are they very different than the people back home?
Elvis: The main difference is naturally the language barrier. It’s kinda hard to talk to most of ‘em, especially older ones because a lot of ‘em don’t speak English at all and I don’t speak any German.
Clark: How do you find the reaction of young people toward you, mainly the girls,,, [Do] they go crazy for you? Do you get along well with them?
Elvis: Yeah, I get along real well. Every day when I finish work and come in, well there’s always a crowd at the gate from all over Germany… And they bring their families. Especially on weekends, I have a lot of visitors here from all over Germany, all over Europe in fact. They come here and bring pictures and take pictures and everything.
Clark: You’re kind of a man torn between two careers, both of which are very, very important. Elvis, I did want to thank you very much for calling this day. As you probably know, this is our special anniversary day.
Elvis: Oh, well, congratulations.
Clark: And many, many thanks and we all look forward to your return.
Elvis: Thank you very much… Bye-bye, Dick
Call # 3 – From Dick Clark to Elvis in Germany, January 8, 1960 (Elvis’ 25th birthday)
As the year 1960 began, there was much speculation in the press that Elvis would soon return to the United States. Dick Clark certainly realized that if he wanted one more phone conversation with Elvis, he’d better hurry up. What better time than on Elvis’ birthday?
Clark: Hello, Elvis.
Clark: Hi. We had no idea we could catch a-hold of you today.
Elvis: Oh, yeah, well I just came in the door, Dick.
Clark: What were you doing?
Elvis: Well, I just came in from the day’s work. It’s about five-thirty here.
Clark: You know, Elvis, I called Colonel Tom and had words with his assistant and say, gee, do you suppose there’s any chance we could talk to Elvis on his birthday, and they seemed to think you ought to be off on maneuvers. Have you been pretty busy?
Elvis: Yeah, we’ve been pretty busy. I don’t go on maneuvers until the twenty-second.
Clark: Oh, I see. What is the situation regarding your release from the army? Do you have any word on it?
Elvis: The only thing definite, Dick, as far as the way it stands now, I leave Germany somewhere between the twentieth of February and the second of March.
Clark: When you come back, I understand you’ve got a television show with Frank Sinatra and a few movies to make. How are you gonna squeeze ‘em all in?
Elvis: Well (laughs), I’m told Colonel Parker will have everything arranged. I know the first picture is for Mr. Wallis. It’s called G.I. Blues, I think. The other two’s at Twentieth Century-Fox, and I don’t know exactly when the television show will be. In fact, I don’t even know what’s gonna happen, really.
Clark: Elvis, what is your general feeling about doing your first television show upon your return with Frank Sinatra? You two fellows have sort of different musical stylings. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Elvis: Well, I really do. I consider it an honor, really, Dick, because this man…he’s really proven himself.
Clark: He’s somewhat of a legend, I guess.
Elvis: He is, and I admire him very much, and I really am honored.
Clark: Let me ask you about your Christmas and New Year’s. How did you celebrate the holidays?
Elvis: We had a Christmas party here. I had a lot guys from all over the post. I had as many of the boys here as possible at my house…try to make ‘em feel at home around Christmastime. Then on New year’s night we had another little party. This one was pretty nice, but it was better last year.
Clark: Elvis, I want to thank you very, very much for taking the time out from your busy schedule, to reassure you once again that we’re all awaiting your arrival back home, and on this day to wish you a happy birthday.
Elvis: Thank you very much, Dick, and I’m kinda lookin’ forward to it. Yeah, there’s still a lot of stuff in print about my getting out early and all that stuff.
Clark: It’s not true, as far as you know, uh?
Elvis: Well it’s been in print and I had a lot of people ask me about it. The only time I heard about it is when I read it.
Clark: Elvis, all the best. We’ll see you on your return.
Elvis: Okay, thanks a lot, Dick, and tell everybody hello from me.
Elvis’ service in Germany officially ended on March 2, 1960. He resumed his recording and movie careers, and never did appear on American Bandstand. The photos above are stock images, not the actual shots taken during the Elvis/Dick Clark phone interviews for American Bandstand.
© 2012 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. | <urn:uuid:529f5b90-7e96-44af-9746-4600ea72656c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elvisblog.net/tag/dick-clark/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961537 | 2,552 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Professional boxing champion Sean O'Grady was born in Austin, Texas, on February 10, 1959, to Pat and Jean O'Grady, who moved the family to Oklahoma City in 1969. After a brief amateur boxing career Sean O'Grady turned professional at age fifteen in January 1975.
Trained, promoted, and managed by his father, O'Grady had an eight-year career in which he compiled a record of eighty-one wins and five losses, with seventy wins by knockout. On July 27, 1980, he won the United States Boxing Association lightweight championship in Omaha, Nebraska, with a twelve-round decision over Gonzallo Montellano. Fighting in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 1, 1980, the young boxer failed to capture the World Boxing Council lightweight title from champion Jim Watt. On April 12, 1981, he won the World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight championship in Atlantic City, New Jersey, defeating Hilmer Kenty over fifteen rounds. The WBA soon removed O'Grady as champion for not defending against their top contender. In response, Pat O'Grady formed the World Athletic Association with as lightweight champion, a title he lost in his first defense. After two additional losses he retired in 1983. A popular fighter, Sean O'Grady was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in1992. Since retiring, he has worked as a boxing analyst for several television networks.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Herbert G. Goldman, ed., The Ring 1984 Record Book and Boxing Encyclopedia ([New York]: The Ring Publishing Corp., 1984). Mike Katz, "The Sean Family Robs-A-Son: Or, How One O'Grady Plus One O'Grady Equals No Crown," The Ring 51 (February 1982). Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 17 June 1982, 7 April 1987, 31 March 1988, 29 October 1992.
Jon D. May
© Oklahoma Historical Society | <urn:uuid:08b0d085-ba98-452d-9e07-faf30cb4891d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OG001.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962759 | 400 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Supreme Court Might Deliver a Tiny Victory for Common Sense
The FISA surveillance act had its day in court yesterday, but the subject was solely whether the act would ever have a real day in court. Adam Serwer explains:
Here's what the civil libertarians and human rights activists are upset about: The FISA Amendments Act authorized the warrantless surveillance aimed at targets abroad, including correspondence where one of the points of contact is within the United States. That means the government could spy on American citizens without a warrant or probable cause. Surveillance in cases targeting suspected foreign agents previously had to be approved by a special court. The FISA Amendments Act allowed the government broad latitude to spy without ever needing to ask a judge's permission, even if that means picking up Americans' emails and phone calls.
The arguments before the Supreme Court on Monday weren't about whether this kind of surveillance violates Americans' constitutional rights. Instead, the justices are deciding whether or not the lawyers, journalists, and human rights activists involved in the case can sue at all. To move forward with their case, the plaintiffs need to prove they have what lawyers call "standing"—they have to prove that the law will affect them. That's hard because who the government spies on is by definition a secret.
David Savage tells us how things went:
Supreme Court justices were surprisingly skeptical Monday about arguments by a top Justice Department lawyer who in a hearing sought to squelch an anti-wiretapping lawsuit brought by lawyers, journalists and activists.
....[Elena] Kagan said lawyers who represent foreign clients accused of terrorism-related offenses cannot speak to them on the phone. They said they had to fly overseas to speak to them in person. That suggests these plaintiffs have suffered some harm because of the prospect of their calls being overheard, she said....Kennedy said he too found it hard to believe that the NSA is not engaged in broad monitoring of international calls.
"The government has obtained this extraordinarily wide-reaching power," he said. "It is hard for me to think the government isn't using all of the powers at its command under the law."
This is obviously a tiny victory, but it's a victory nonetheless. The government has been playing this card for over a decade, claiming that literally no one has standing to sue over its secret surveillance programs because no one can prove they've been surveilled. It's an absurd Catch-22, and the court is right to be skeptical of it. One way or another, there should always be somebody who has standing to challenge a law in court. Even if the Supreme Court eventually rules that FISA and its amendments are all constitutional, it would be nice to at least get a ruling that no law is entirely unassailable merely due to technicalities of standing. | <urn:uuid:0d33ae81-5dbc-438c-a444-dd99e223a77d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/10/supreme-court-might-deliver-tiny-victory-common-sense | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973163 | 561 | 1.695313 | 2 |
||[from The New York Times - July 4, 2004]
Golfing Mongolia: A 2.3-Million-Yard Par 11,880
By JAMES BROOKE
ARVAYHEER, Mongolia -- André Tolmé sized up the day's golfing terrain thousands of yards of treeless steppe rolling toward a distant horizon. Without a golfer to be seen for 100 miles around, he loosened up at his own pace, taking practice swings with a 3-iron.
Then, with a powerful clockwise whirl and a satisfying swak! he sent the little white ball soaring far into the clear blue Mongolian sky.
''I feel good about that shot,'' Mr. Tolmé said, intently tracking the ball until it disappeared from view. ''You could just hit the ball forever here.''
In a sense, he is. This summer, Mr. Tolmé, a civil engineer from New Hampshire, is golfing across Mongolia. Treating this enormous Central Asian nation as his private course, he has divided Mongolia into 18 holes. The total fairway distance is 2,322,000 yards. Par is 11,880 strokes.
''You hit the ball,'' he said, explaining his technique in a land without fences, a nation that is twice the size of Texas. ''Then you go and find it. Then you hit it again. And again. And again.''
Moving across the rolling steppe, he is walking a route favored almost a millennium ago by Genghis Khan. The fairway may be something less than manicured, but to the north are Siberian forests and to the south is the Gobi Desert, one of the world's largest sand traps.
With his caddy, Khatanbaatar, carrying water, food and a tent in a Russian jeep customized with an upholstery of hand-woven rugs, Mr. Tolmé teed off May 28 and calculates he will finish his game in the trading center of Dund-Us, which is also known as Khovd, sometime around the end of July.
That a lone American, armed only with a 3-iron and an easy, impish smile, can golf across Mongolia reflects several factors: the friendliness of largely Buddhist Mongolia to Americans; Mongolia's geography of vast expanses; and a new extreme golf movement that is prompting young Americans and Europeans to break way out of country clubs.
For Mr. Tolmé, 35, it is also a summer adventure: a night listening to a chorus of howling wolves; standing dumbstruck as children race horses down the steppe toward him; enjoying the hospitality of the nomads, drinking fermented mare's milk inside a yurt; and watching as sheets of rain and lightning bolts march down the open plain.
''Hey, I watched the movie 'Caddyshack,' I know to keep my club down when there is lightning around,'' he said. A few minutes later an early summer hailstorm struck, driving him into his jeep.
To Mr. Khatanbaatar, Mr. Tolmé's golfing style is a bit of a mystery. ''I don't know anything about golf, but what I saw on TV, they put the little ball in a little hole,'' said Mr. Khatanbaatar, a retired soldier who still wears camouflage military fatigues.
Mr. Tolmé, who learned rudimentary Mongolian while golfing across the eastern half of the country last summer, explains that he considers each major town to be a golf hole. Pocketing the ball upon arrival, he walks through the town and then tees up on the other side.
''I only use the tee when I start a hole,'' Mr. Tolmé said, adding that he plays by ''winter rules because Mongolia can be often cold.''
Last summer, Mr. Tolmé teed off on June 5 in Choybalsan, an old Soviet Army garrison town in Mongolia's far east, facing the Chinese border. Fifty days and 352 lost balls later he surrendered to nettles and high weeds and halted his march in this interior town, his ninth hole, a place described in the Lonely Planet Mongolia guide as of ''little interest'' with ''dreary hotels.''
But Arvayheer is about 100 miles west of Mongolia's geographical center, and Mr. Tolmé is confident that, about 5,000 strokes from now, he will putt his last ball into Dund-Us, reaching a Western Mongolian destination popular with tourists for its deep lakes, high mountains and fast rivers.
Guided by a hand-held Global Positioning System device, he expects to golf about 10 miles a day, skirting mountain ranges and passing sites like crumbling monasteries and a dinosaur bone quarry.
Mr. Tolmé's only deadline is to beat the late July rains and the subsequent weed explosion. On the steppe, one of his greatest pleasures is meeting people. Alone under the big sky, chatting occasionally with sympathetic sheep, he now places a new value on human relations.
''I am amazed at how easy it is to live very happily with very little, without gadgets and toys,'' he said as he bounced along a potholed road leading from Ulan Bator, the capital, to here for his second summer tee-off date. ''When I meet people living in a yurt, simple homes in the countryside, they laugh, they joke, they all know how to have fun.''
Mr. Tolmé's Web site about his adventure -- www.golfmongolia.com -- is filled with amiable encounters with nomads: a pair of teenage boys teaching him how to shear a sheep and how to hobble a horse; free golfing lessons that left a few more rock scratches on his 3-iron; and major drinking sessions that left everyone fast asleep in a cozy yurt.
The human encounters, he said, more than made up for the flies, the blisters, the sunburn and the poisonous snake that once curled around a ball, protecting it as if it were an egg.
''When I say I am American, the universal response is, 'Ah, American, very good country, we like Americans,' '' he recalled. Part of the response is geopolitical. Treated as a colony of China for hundreds of years, Mongolia won its independence in 1911, only to fall a decade later under the Soviet orbit. Today, the Mongolian government cultivates friends beyond Russia and China. Many Mongolians are followers of Tibetan Buddhism, and suspicion of China is high.
There are signs that Mongolians are awakening to their golf potential. Last year in Ulan Bator, the first golf course opened, complete with horse-mounted caddies who charge after balls, marking their locations with flags on arrows. Last month, the first indoor driving range opened, also in the capital, which was Mr. Tolmé's sixth hole.
But, some argue, Mongolia could skip the country club phase of golfing, and embark directly on cross golfing, a populist new trend for hitting balls through unorthodox settings like city parks and streets.
With an open, rolling countryside and fairways cut by roughly 30 million grazing animals, Mongolia is ideal for the casual backyard duffer. Here at a roadside yurt camp, a Mongolian man named Bayara looked at one of his five children preparing to take a hack at the ball and predicted, ''Within a few years, these kids will probably be holding sticks of their own.'' | <urn:uuid:f8c02d8f-eabc-463f-9e52-114f39a254c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://golfmongolia.com/The%20New%20York%20Times%20July%204,%202004.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94913 | 1,560 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Commerce's NOAA administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco and Adm. Thad Allen joined state, federal, and partner biologists today as they released 23 Kemp’s ridley sea turtles back into the Gulf of Mexico near Cedar Key, Fla., after the turtles were successfully rescued and rehabilitated from the effects of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill.
“I'm pleased that Admiral Allen and I were able to assist with the release of these turtles. And we thank all of our partners in this rescue and rehabilitation effort,” said Dr. Lubchenco. “This is a wonderful day for all involved--but especially for the turtles.”
“This area near Cedar Key provides excellent habitat for Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and has long been known as an important habitat area for this species,” said Barbara Schroeder, NOAA’s national sea turtle coordinator. “Thanks to the efforts of our rescue teams and rehabilitation facility partners all of the turtles we released today have an excellent chance of surviving in the wild and contributing to the recovery of this species.” Read full NOAA release | <urn:uuid:d591ef81-ecb4-4b2e-91ca-2519a21dee1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commerce.gov/blog/category/897 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958815 | 231 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Eyes on the Ball was one of those shows sponsored by the an organization trying to get a message across to the American public. This show was sponsored by the Better Vision Institute. The show featured singer Monica Lewis, sports announcer Bill Stern as the Better Vision Yarn Spinner, and the Alfredo Antonini Ensemble.
The show starts with Lewis singing a song. After the first song, Stern told a sports story that emphasized "seeing" or "watching". After Stern's story the Antonini Ensemble played an instrumental song. The 15 minute show ended with Monica Lewis singing another song.
The Better Vision Institute, founded in 1929, was created as an advisory board to make sure that messages about vision are correct, to suggest continuing education for professionals and to raise awareness. | <urn:uuid:d04b6525-bcfd-4613-be32-bb512e3db889> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.otrcat.com/eyes-on-the-ball-p-49313.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9643 | 157 | 1.570313 | 2 |
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 3, 2004; Page A21
Sixteen rocket warheads found last week in south-central Iraq by Polish troops did not contain deadly chemicals, a coalition spokesman said yesterday, but U.S. and Polish officials agreed that insurgents loyal to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and foreign terrorist fighters are trying to buy such old weapons or purchase the services of Iraqi scientists who know how to make them.
The Coalition Press Information Center in Baghdad said in a statement yesterday that the 122-milimeter rocket rounds, which initially showed traces of sarin, "were all empty and tested negative for any type of chemicals." The statement came just hours after two senior Polish defense officials told reporters in Warsaw, based on preliminary reports, that the rocket rounds contained deadly sarin and that actions by the Polish unit in Iraq kept them from being purchased by militants fighting coalition forces.
Yesterday's coalition release also said that two other 122-milimeter rounds, found by the Poles on June 16 with help from an Iraqi informer, tested positive for small quantities of sarin but were "so deteriorated" that they would have had "limited to no impact if used by insurgents against coalition forces."
The Poles' discoveries generated renewed talk that prewar claims about Hussein's stock of unconventional weapons might yet prove true. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, for example, told an interviewer on Wednesday that the Polish defense minister, Jerzy Szmajdzinski, told him about the weapons last weekend at the NATO meeting in Turkey. Though Rumsfeld made it clear he had no personal knowledge of test results, he said that the Poles "believe that they are correct that these, in fact, were undeclared chemical weapons -- sarin and mustard gas."
Szmajdzinski told Polish radio that the rockets and mortars had probably been hidden from United Nations inspectors. "Our predictions and reports that Saddam Hussein did not come clean with a large sum of weapons, artillery shells and of weapons of mass destruction were proven true," he said. "Some of those warheads were old, but it could not be ruled out some could still be used."
Charles Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, told Fox News on June 24 that "some" old sarin and mustard rounds have been discovered in scattered places, demonstrating "that the Iraqi declarations were wrong at least in . . . amount." But Duelfer cautioned he was not ready to make any judgment whether there were any "still concealed" military-capable stockpiles.
Duelfer said the current danger he sees is that some anti-coalition forces and foreign terrorist groups are trying to tap into Iraq's weapons expertise for use against the United States. "Former experts in [Hussein's] weapons-of-mass-destruction program," he said, "are being recruited by anti-coalition groups." As a result, he said, his Iraqi Survey Group (ISG) is "keeping a very close eye on some anti-regime people."
In Warsaw yesterday, Marek Dukaczewski, Poland's chief of army intelligence, told reporters: "We were mortified by the information that terrorists were looking for these warheads. . . . An attack with such weapons would be hard to imagine."
Dukaczewski said the Polish unit in Iraq paid an undisclosed sum of money to buy the rockets last month after an informer there told the Poles that militant groups were seeking to buy such weapons for up to $5,000 apiece. "We bought all the shells available," Dukaczewski said.
In Washington yesterday, a senior intelligence official said he was unaware that the Poles purchased rather than found the weapons. He said the United States had been told they were discovered at several sites, mixed in with conventional 122-milimeter rockets and without any distinctive markings.
Duelfer, who as CIA Director George J. Tenet's personal representative directs the ISG's weapons search, told Fox News that the rocket rounds were found in former depots but that so far "we're not able to establish how these rounds got to where we found them" or "who had custody of them, if anyone."
In January 2003, U.N. inspectors discovered a dozen old 122-milimeter rockets that chief inspector Hans Blix described at the time as "designed to carry chemical weapons." Iraq later turned up several more, and all were destroyed. Blix later said he was not sure whether Iraq mentioned them in the 12,000-page weapons declaration it submitted in December 2002.
Correspondent Craig Whitlock in Berlin contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:f397cd52-6f6d-4ec5-816d-5a4a66668cbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christusrex.org/www1/news/wpt-7-3-04a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98158 | 958 | 1.632813 | 2 |
September 7, 2011
Lee Baca: Talk to people—Then arrest the right ones
For many, the world changed on Sept. 11, 2001. For Lee Baca, who had been elected Los Angeles County Sheriff three years earlier, his job changed, too.
“It had to change radically,” Baca said.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, it was Baca’s job to tamp down tensions between Jews and Muslims locally. What he gained from that experience led him to establish an Interfaith Advisory Council of clerical leaders to foster better communication between faith communities and his department.
Baca also has focused particular attention on engaging with Los Angeles’ Muslim community. In response to the London bombings in 2005, he established the Muslim American Homeland Security Congress in an effort to uncover “homegrown violent extremism.” His department also has a Muslim Community Affairs Unit, staffed by Arabic-speaking Muslim deputies, in support of this effort.
Baca also established a Sheriff’s Department office of Homeland Security — and as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the department is increasing its presence across the Los Angeles public transit system.
“Transit systems are the highest targets,” Baca told The Jewish Journal, “even more than airports.”
But Baca’s job is hardly limited to counterterrorism. The sheriff’s department staffs the county’s jails and has 24 sheriff’s stations across the sprawling county. In July, to the surprise of many, Baca made an unsuccessful bid for his department to take charge of the county’s parolees, which would have added a new area of responsibility for the department.
But it is Baca’s counterterrorism strategy — particularly in establishing meaningful ties with local Muslim leaders and communities — that has brought Los Angeles County’s top cop both national and international renown.
Baca plans to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with a speech to the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya. In an interview at sheriff’s headquarters last month, he offered a preview of what he plans to say in Israel.
“You have to engage Muslim support as best as possible,” the 69-year-old sheriff said. The goal, Baca said, is “to have common-sense relations that are based on mutual interests of national security.”
Baca has spoken at the Herzliya conference once before and has been to Israel on multiple occasions. He was in Sderot during the Gaza war in January 2009, where he had to take cover in a bunker during a Qassam rocket attack. The sheriff acknowledged that Israeli law enforcement officials probably understand as well as anyone the importance of engaging local Muslims.
“I knew the prior police chief in Tel Aviv,” Baca said. “All the police chiefs in Tel Aviv have a great rapport with the [mostly Muslim] citizens of Jaffa.” Baca travels widely, and he receives at least as many international visitors as he visits. Among the items in his fourth-floor office at the department’s headquarters in Monterey Park are law enforcement officers’ hats from around the world. One came from a Beijing police chief who visited Los Angeles in 2007 to see how the city handled the Olympics in 1984.
The hats fill up about half of the sheriff’s bookshelf. The other half is filled with the books given to Baca over the years. Baca, who calls himself “a weak Catholic” and “a God-fearing man,” has collected a handful of scriptural books, including two copies of the Torah and four different translations of the Quran.
“The Quran — and this is a big part that needs to be said constantly — the Quran refers to Moses and the Bible and Judaism, and refers to Mary the mother of Jesus,” Baca said. “And to be a true, practicing Muslim, you must honor Judaism and Christianity as well as the prophet Muhammad. All three are part of the teachings of the prophet. Not many people know that.”
In just the last few years, Baca has become a vocal defender of Islam against attacks on the religion and its practitioners — and for this, he has drawn intense criticism from a cadre of anti-Islamic activists and writers.
Baca doesn’t use a computer — “a public official that is a computer junkie is determined to get toppled,” he said — so he presumably hasn’t read the posts by blogger Pamela Geller referring to him as “Hamas-Linked CAIR ‘International’ Sheriff Lee Baca.”
But Baca has heard the criticisms of his engagement with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) directly. Twice in the last two years, Baca has vociferously defended his attendance at CAIR fundraisers on Capitol Hill.
“CAIR is not a terrorist-supporting organization,” Baca said to Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) in his feisty testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security in March 2010. “That is my experience. That is my interaction. And if you want to promote that, you’re on your own.”
When Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) announced his hearings into “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and That Community’s Response,” the ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, was entitled to call one witness for every three called by King. He invited Baca to the first hearing in March, which was widely covered.
At that hearing, Baca was again asked about his connections with CAIR. “We don’t play around with criminals in my world,” the sheriff said. “If CAIR is an organization that is a criminal organization, bring them to court, charge them.”
The sheriff knows who the anti-Islamic writers are — there are two copies of Robert Spencer’s “Stealth Jihad” on the sheriff’s bookshelf alongside copies of “They Must Be Stopped” by ACT! for America founder Brigitte Gabriel and “Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The books were gifts, Baca said, and he hasn’t read them.
“They perpetrate fear by what their messages are,” Baca said. “They’re on the shelf because you should know what people are doing.”
And Baca said he pretty much knows what’s in those books.
Baca paraphrased: “You cannot trust Muslims, no matter who they are. That you must stamp them out because they are determined to take over the world, and they have extreme views.
“And so,” Baca continued, “a vulnerable person will believe those things as though they’re truth — and then they’ll go over the edge, over the top, and they’ll plan a violent, extreme act.”
The sheriff was referring specifically to Anders Behring Breivik, the self-described “anti-jihadist” who admitted to killing 77 people in Norway in July. In his lengthy manifesto, Breivik quoted Geller, Spencer and others who see Islam as an irredeemably malevolent force that must be defeated.
Those writers, Baca said, are offering interpretations of Islam — while simultaneously walling themselves off from Muslims. What Baca does, instead, is to talk to people — all people.
“You have to be with people to know who they are,” Baca said. “You can’t be distancing yourself and using interpreters. And I see those books as interpretation books, as opposed to books based on relational knowledge.”
In his pursuit of that kind of knowledge, Baca has traveled to mosques around the county as well as to Muslim countries around the world.
“I know what the Muslim society is essentially challenged by — and it’s not by their religion,” Baca said. “It’s by the common political realities that all governments are challenged by: feeding their people, jobs, health, education — that’s what most of the focus is in all societies.”
Which isn’t to say that Baca has all the answers when it comes to the challenging law enforcement situation facing those societies — especially now that the events of the Arab spring have upended a number of longstanding, powerful leaders.
In October 2010, just a few months before Egyptian protesters filled Tahrir Square, Baca visited the country’s chief of police,who is now being tried for ordering attacks on anti-government protesters, but before the 2011 protests, he was, Baca said, “very instrumental in calming the violence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Sinai region in the early 1990s.”
Baca said he understood the need for “accountability for police activities that are violent,” but at the same time he believes that the methods employed in fighting the Muslim Brotherhood in the Sinai might be worth emulating.
“They did not do random sweeps of suspects,” Baca said. “They took the patient approach and were building the trust of the public in order to acquire a rapport that would be valuable for the future.”
“The people got fed up with the murderous ways of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Baca said — which is when the police acted.
“The police were arresting suspects that were precisely the right suspects,” Baca said. “And that’s what you have to do. If you arrest the wrong people and charge them with crimes they didn’t commit, it’s not a good counterterrorism strategy. You have to get the right suspects.” | <urn:uuid:eb60e6ed-6c81-4e39-aeb4-52c138a88ab3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/print/lee_baca_talk_to_people_then_arrest_the_right_ones_20110907 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973109 | 2,107 | 1.601563 | 2 |
CINCINNATI.- Faith and fashion come together in Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats, a photography exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum. This exhibition, featuring 30 black-and-white photographs by Michael Cunningham and interviews by Craig Marberry, will be on view through June 12.
This exhibition enables visitors to experience live the best-selling book Crowns, said Dennis Kiel, associate curator of photography for the Museum. The vivid photos and text provide a meaningful and entertaining journey through African-American culture.
For this exhibition and the book, photographer Michael Cunningham worked with author Craig Marberry to explore the tradition of wearing hats to worship because it is socially, culturally and biblically correct.
Along with the photographs, the exhibition features vivid commentary on hats, drawn from interviews with hundreds of women. These interviews by Marberry explore the reasons why women wear them, why they own so many and what rules of etiquette apply to wearing them.
When the apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians decreeing that a women should cover her head at worship to symbolize her obedience to God and the church, he could not have imagined the flamboyance with which African-American women would comply, said Marberry.
Crowns is truly a celebration of African-American women that provides unique insights into their traditions, said Kiel.
The Crowns exhibition coincides with the presentation of the gospel-fueled musical Crowns, which is based on the book and exhibition. Cincinnati is one of only a few select cities that will present both the exhibition and the musical simultaneously. Produced and directed by actress Regina Taylor, it runs from April 26 through May 26 at nearby Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. | <urn:uuid:6e873feb-e753-42bd-ad5d-44b1328d3e9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.com/section/lastweek/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=13130&int_modo=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967528 | 352 | 1.5 | 2 |
The key to maximizing your Android tablet's potential is building a solid library of apps that are cool -- but still age-appropriate. Don't worry, we've got you covered. Our Android app picks for teens help build the foundation they need to pursue their interests, stay in touch with friends, play games, be creative -- and, hopefully, practice their vocab, too.
This tool offers teens an easy way to create slideshows using their own photos, videos, and music. Any event -- a family vacation or holiday, an art project, a graduation or recital, or just an everyday walk in the park -- can become an impressive mini-documentary.
This side-scrolling action game is the epitome of the "one more turn" title. Playing the game's hero, you must elude captors, avoid obstacles, and try not to die. Power-ups, funny bonus weapons, and ricocheting bullets make this addictive, wholesome fun.
Download this Internet radio app and unlock a world of music with infinite selection -- from calypso to alt-country. Teens can create their own stations based on favorite artists, songs, or composers. Pandora nurtures teens' interest and understanding of music.
A combination of words, pictures, audio, and contextualizing sentences make learning new vocabulary easy and fun. Teens get a new word every day, plus some interesting extras to spark learning. It is an excellent app for parents and kids to use together.
Yes, it's all about words, but this Scrabble clone rewards players who use strategy and math concepts to maximize scores. You can compete remotely or against an opponent taking turns on one device, so it's an ideal game for families.
Facebook is like breathing to today's teens: They need it to live. With privacy settings and parental oversight, Facebook can be a positive way for teens to stay connected with friends. Help your teen practice safe, responsible, respectful online behavior.
Although it is only a fraction of the size of its high-end PC game counterparts, this app manages to capture the same level of endless features and options for which the series has become so renowned. There's plenty for teens to sink their teeth into.
What started as a quirky "microblogging" site has matured into an essential communications channel. Tweets (140-character notes) are now a chief news source for teens. They can tweet their own 140-character comments and follow others, but privacy settings are key. | <urn:uuid:aed96162-5972-4067-8eec-3534fb71586b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commonsensemedia.org/guide/best-first-kids-apps/android-tablet/age-13-17 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935929 | 513 | 1.601563 | 2 |
SDS Beats Teamsters at Their Own Game, Organizes Hospital Workers in Roxbury
SDS Is Now Helping to Organize About Six Major Area Hospitals
(The following article was written after discussions with members of the SDS Labor Committee. The views an hospital organizing techniques represent the policies of the United Hospital Workers as developed by the union members and officers with participation by SDS members. -- Ed.'s note.)
Two workers from Jewish Memorial Hospital in Roxbury approached the Harvard chapter of Students for a Democratic Society last April and asked SDS to help them organize the non-professional workers at the hospital into a union.
They also asked the Teamsters for help. But the Teamsters weren't interested. Organizing hospital workers involved too many problems. It didn't look like good business to them. But it was good business for SDS.
Non-professional hospital workers--kitchen employees, maintenance men, housekeepers, laundry women, supply employees--are very low-paid. So they can't pay very high union dues.
They are hard to organize for several other reasons. They are a high-turnover group. The strike has only limited use for a hospital worker since patients' lives are at stake. A further difficulty is that non-professional hospital workers are not covered by the state labor relations law, which requires management to recognize a union as soon as it has the support of a majority of the workers in a shop.
But for SDS, the plight of the hospital workers was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. It gave them a chance to make their conception of the ideal labor union a reality. In addition, since most of the workers at Jewish Memorial are Roxbury Negroes, the union would provide them a good base for community organizing in the ghetto.
The day after the two workers asked for help, SDS representatives met with them and offered the active support of their organization. The chances of successfully organizing a union looked dim. Harold B. Benenson '67, an SDS organizer, recalled that first meeting: "There were only five of us then. We sat around and despaired."
But four months later, the administration of Jewish Memorial recognized the newly formed Hospital Workers Association as the bargaining agent for the non-professional workers and had negotiated a contract with the union which granted most of the workers' demands. About 170 of the 180 non-professional workers had become card-carrying members of the union.
A Considerable Victory
It was a considerable victory for the workers and SDS since Jewish Memorial was the first private voluntary hospital in Massachusetts where non-professional workers have succeeding in forming a union. SDS joined with organizations like the Congress of Racial Equality in 1959-60 to organize the first private voluntary hospitals in New York City. The New York City hospital workers union now has about 20,000 members, but tha tprecedent had not been followed with much success nationally until Jewish Memorial.
Flushed with success, SDS is now trying to organize about half a dozen of Boston's largest private hospitals, members of the powerful Greater Boston Hospital Council, Inc. Jewish Memorial's 200 beds are small stuff compared to any one of these hospitals. SDS and the union are limiting organizing to private hospitals because workers in state hospitals are represented by public employees' unions.
Catches on Quickly
The idea of a union caught on quickly with the workers at Jewish Memorial, but it was accepted by the administration only after considerable skirmishing.
As an initial step, the organizers drew up a petition of demands and circulated it among the workers. It called for a minimum wage of $1.65, which represented a 35-cent raise for most of the workers. It also demanded time and a half for overtime, Blue Cross-Blue Shield coverage, creation of a procedure of dealing with worker grievances, seniority provisions, and recognition of the union as a collective bargaining agent.
In a week, 75 workers had signed the petition. Francis P. Keady, an X-ray technician and one of the workers who had originally contacted SDS, presented it to Murray Fertel, Executive Director of Jewish Memorial. Fertel immediately fired Keady and granted none of his demands.
The workers picketed--before and after their shifts only--in protest of Keady's firing, and the incipient union quickly grew to include a large majority of them. But Fertel repeatedly refused to meet with them to discuss their grievances.
The showdown came when Fertel fired a kitchen-worker who was unable to perform his old job because of swollen hands. The workers claimed that there was no reason for the firing. The kitchen-worker could have been transferred to a new job. They demanded that Fertel reinstate the kitchen-worker and Keady and that he recognize the union.
Ninety workers sat-in Fertel's office to dramatize the demands. After about three hours Fertel gave in and agreed to negotiate with the union.
SDS's help was important, probably crucial, to the victory. Its support consisted mainly of a commitment of time by about 25 students. In the early critical stages of organizing they stood outside the hospital from 6:30 to 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. several days a week leafleting and talking with workers as they came on duty. They also attended all the evening union meetings and advised on strategy. They manned the picket lines and stirred up support for the movement among various professional men, clergymen, and Jewish organizations in the community. But about the only material aid that SDS could contribute was the use of its mimeograph machine.
The Hospital Workers Association at Jewish Memorial became Local 35 of the International Union of Wholesale and Retail Department Store Workers this fall. Keady, now president of the Jewish Memorial union, and SDS decided to affiliate with a major union in the hope of getting financial help for their organizing campaign against the GBHC hospitals.
The present drive is still in its initial, most difficult stages at most of the hospitals. The first task of the organizers is to win over a core of workers who will form an organizing committee inside the hospital. Ideally, the organizers will place a union sympathiser in each department who can talk to people and sign them up during work. At Jewish Memorial SDS had a ready-made fifth column in the two workers who approached them. But they are starting more from scratch at the GBHC hospitals.
Steven W. Raudenbush '68, a member of the SDS Labor Committee, who spends fifteen hours a week outside a hospital, described the early groundwork for putting together the fifth column: "You try to talk to people as they come to work. Usually, I start by asking them if they've heard of the union at Jewish Memorial. Often they just say 'yes' or 'no' and walk on. That doesn't necessarily mean they aren't interested: it's cold or they're in a hurry. You have to expect to go slow. You have to let them take the initiative. Sometimes one will show more interest and want to talk. All the time, I'm memorizing faces. I'm getting to know who are the potential leaders--whom you can talk with and whom you can't."
After about a week and a half of leafleting and talking last fall outside the several large hospitals, SDS called a general membership meeting of non-professional workers at all the hospitals. About 50 or 60 showed up, and Raudenbush considers that a good turn-out. They signed up several workers that day and the inside organizing committees were alive in several of the hospitals.
But that's a small beginning considering that there are 4000 to 5000 workers in this hospital complex. It will take a lot more work before the organizers win over a majority of the workers, a task that took just about a month and a half at Jewish Memorial.
Favorable, But Cautious
SDS characterizes the majority of these several thousand workers as favorable to a union, but very cautious. "Most of them want to sign up," Raudenbush said, "but they won't unless they think everyone else is." Consequently, after the hard-core inside organizing committee is formed, the union's task is to win over the cautious by generating confidence that the movement is snowballing.
At Jewish Memorial confidence was quite effectively generated with a lunchroom boycott. Most workers who favor the union -- no matter how slightly -- will participate in a tactic of such low-level provocation. "You can't get fired for not eating lunch," Raudenbush remarked. He estimated that even if only one-fourth of the workers are actually signed up on union cards, this tactic would get support from a majority. The boycott showed the administration at Jewish Memorial the solidarity of the workers. More important it showed the workers their own strength.
Most unions have their battle won when they get majority support. The state labor relations law requires man- agement to recognize a union which a majority of the workers in a shop have voted to authorize. But non-professional hospital workers are not covered by the law.
The right to strike is a delicate question where hospital worker's are concerned. "We'd never try to shut a hospital down," Raudenbush said, "Workers wouldn't go along. Any strike we would have would be of non-essential workers and there'd be plenty of notice so that the hospital could get volunteers to take their place." Such a strike can still be a powerful weapon. It would be very costly if a hospital had to call in a catering service to replace its kitchen staff, for example.
One hospital administrator rebutted SDS's contention that such a strike would not be detrimental to patient care by claiming that there are no non-essential workers in a hospital "when you come right down to it." "Even the housekeeping staff is essential to prevent the spread of infection, to maintain the antiseptic environment." But SDS's point is that hospitals can find temporary replacements to perform these functions if they are given advance notice of the strike.
Although the present organizing drive is still in its early stages at all the hospitals, the initial response has definitely been better some places than others. SDS is considering concentrating on just the most promising hospitals, but there is an advantage to hitting all GBHC hospitals at once.
These hospitals have interlocking boards of directors. Benenson and other members of the Labor Committee fear that if they just hit one of the hospitals at a time, the others in the council will be able to relieve the labor pressure with money and by sharing facilities. For example, if one hospital were struck, it might be able to resist worker demands by transferring many of its patients to another hospital and waiting out the strike. Of course this couldn't happen if all the hospitals were in danger of being struck simultaneously.
Benenson claims that the GBHC has met to discuss a unified strategy against the movement, but so far the hospitals have resorted to a pretty conventional bag of tricks to discourage the workers. They have threatened to fire workers who become involved in the movement. They have not carried out the threats, realizing that such action would just unite the workers behind the movement.
They have also tried what Raudenbush calls sweet-talking. They call a worker in and say, "We like you and have a lot of hope for your advancement. But we don't think you should get involved in this union." "This tack breaks down when the workers start talking and realize everyone's been promised advancement, Raudenbush said:
One GBHC hospital even carried out a ten cent raise. "This is to make the workers think their bosses are such a bunch of nice guys that there's no need for a union," Raudenbush said. He attributed the raise entirely to the pressure that the drive was beginning to exert in that hospital. There would be more raises when they really got organized, Raudenbush explained to the workers.
The hostility of the hospital administrations is one reason why many workers are so cautious about joining the union. There is a definite air of the underground to the movement. For example, Raudenbush related, "you never sign up a worker outside a hospital in plain view. They're afraid their bosses might see them. Some workers won't even talk to us they're so frightened."
But Raudenbush admits there are other reasons for the slowness with which the movement is progressing at some of the GBHC hospitals. In particular, he feels that students are handicapped by their youth when they try to organize adults. "When you've been getting the same salary for 25 years and supporting your family at a certain standard, and some kid tells you he's going to change your life, you're inclined to be skeptical."
Another reason for the slowness is that the organizers slacked off during Christmas vacation and exam period after a concerted drive in the fall. "If you stir up a lot of enthusiasm and then desert for a few weeks, you kill morale," Raudenbush said. "You've got to keep at it." Apparently impressed by the Jewish Memorial success, the teamsters recently asked SDS Labor Committee to help them organize insurance workers. The Committee declined in order to devote themselves entirely to hospital organizing.
Some workers are suspicious of the whole labor movement. "I was in a union for ten years at another job and all it did was take my money" is a typical complaint. But SDS has an answer for these workers: "We agree with you about the American labor movement and we hope to form a different kind of union here."
Essentially, SDS criticizes the labor movement for being undemocratic and for limiting itself to bread-and-butter issues. A good union, SDS believes, operates through participatory democracy. All questions--how shop stewards will be appointed, the amount of dues, the nature of the contract--should be referred to the rank-and-file to be decided by majority vote.
A good union also should create a political consciousness in its members by taking stands on a broad spectrum of questions which affect the workers, like civil rights and Vietnam. The union should educate its membership on these issues through film series, lectures and discussions.
The general worker response to a statement of SDS ideals is an unbelieving. "You really think you can succeed in doing that?" Even Raudenbush admits it's a very big question. After all, SDS doesn't run the unions they help organize. It has limited itself to a purely advisory role.
When the workers at Jewish Memorial invited SDS to take one seat on the committee that negotiated with Fertel, SDS refused. "We don't want to get involved in the bureaucracy of it," Benenson said. But neither do they intend to desert unions they have succeeded in forming. They continue to attend union meetings at Jewish Memorial and help plan educational programs. SDS speaks at the meetings, and SDSers are convinced that it speaks with great influence. Benenson says, "They respect us because we fought with them from the beginning. Several SDSers at Jewish Memorial have as much influence in the meetings as any of the members of the union. | <urn:uuid:c2d5f6df-fba3-4acf-bd32-81e85001a415> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1967/2/18/sds-beats-teamsters-at-their-own/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977277 | 3,149 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Why Do Short People Still Exist?
A friend emails to say he's sick and tired of Rick Perry and wants me to write a post about the first non-Perry item that comes up in my RSS feed. Fine. But who to choose? One potato, two potato, I haven't linked to Modeled Behavior for a while, so let's see what's up there. Sadly, their top post right now is about Rick Perry. But the next post down is from Karl Smith:
I am short. My wife is short. Chances are my son will be short. Here’s a question – why?
At this point in human history, height in the Western world is mostly genetically determined. Yet, as far as I can tell the advantages to having tall genes outweigh those to having short.
Even in a preindustrial environment this seems to be true. This is likely why taller people, especially men are more attractive and have higher status.
So, why did genetic shortness persist?
Hmmm. What kind of ill-informed ev psych speculation can I offer up here? Maybe shortness isn't especially maladaptive. Maybe the big, tall cavemen all went chasing after the saber-tooth tigers and got eaten while the short guys ran away to live another day. Or maybe the short guys, being less sexually attractive, had to develop a better line of patter and became more socially adept? Or maybe agility and climbing ability are as important as speed and strength. Perhaps the little guys tended to stay at home and help with the farming instead of going out on hunts, thus providing lots of opportunities for afternoon quickies while Og was away? Or maybe shortness genes were all conserved via women, for whom it was an advantage?
Hell, I don't know. So let's get back to Rick Perry. Authoritative information on his height is surprisingly hard to come by, but in this picture he's pretty close to standing up straight and looks to be about six feet tall or maybe a little under — but in any case clearly a bit shorter than Barack Obama. (Perry is also about six feet wide, but that doesn't matter.) Since it's widely known that the taller candidate usually wins in a presidential contest, this makes Perry a pretty chancy GOP opponent for Obama. Mitt Romney is 6' 2", which makes him a safer alpha male bet for Republicans. And pipsqueak Michele Bachmann is obviously doomed. So I'll stick with Romney as the favorite to win the Republican nomination this year. | <urn:uuid:65f019be-600c-4958-9807-ba18a996b90b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/why-do-short-people-still-exist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979125 | 521 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Music conferences are an amazing opportunity to network, meet new people, and move your career forward. But, they can be quite expensive as well. Here are some ways you can save money when attending a conference so that it doesn’t totally break the bank:
1. Volunteer for the conference
If you plan far enough ahead, and if you are willing to sacrifice some of your free time while at the conference, offer to volunteer. Conferences are always looking for good volunteers, and they are often artists. You can sometimes get your conference fee waived, or at least waived on the days that you volunteered.
But be prepared to work hard. If you show up late and you’re tired and/or hung-over because of all-night partying, chances are you won’t be asked back again. Remember, you might be dealing with the very people who could be deciding whether you get a showcase or not at a future conference. Arrive early. Be extremely polite. Work hard. Make the conference proud that they chose you as a volunteer.
2. Split hotel room with someone
This one is a no-brainer, of course. If you’re attending a conference alone but want to save money on the hotel room, try and find someone to share the room with. Chances are that there are plenty of other like-minded people in the same boat.
If the conference has a Facebook page, post on their wall that you are looking for a roommate. Same thing for Twitter, follow the conference on Twitter and Tweet that you’re looking for a roommate, and politely ask if they could re-tweet (RT) to their followers. You could also tag your tweet with a hashtag # for the conference, so other people can find your tweet in a search.
Another option is contacting the conference by e-mail and asking if they know of anyone looking for a hotel roommate. Chances are they have received similar messages and can put you in touch with those people.
3. Bring your own food
One way to save money that your Mom has probably already taught you is to pack a lunch! Specifically, bring lots of snacks. While at a conference, you’ll likely do more snacking than sitting down to eat large meals, as you’ll constantly be on the go. Chips and candies are an option, but healthier choices like nuts, dried fruit, power bars, etc., will help you avoid burning out. Being at a music conference can already put a lot of stress on your system, if you add junk food and high doses of salt and sugar, you’re just asking for a crash.
4. Shop for groceries
When you check-in to your hotel, ask where the nearest grocery store is. Room service can certainly be convenient late at night, however if you plan ahead, you can save a bunch of money and find healthier options at a grocery store. Load up on the aforementioned healthy snacks, plus pre-made sandwiches (to save on time) and lots of veggies.
5. Go to showcases that have food
Run out of snacks? Couldn’t make it to the grocery store before it closed? Don’t worry, you don’t have to go to bed hungry. Many showcase venues/rooms provide food & snacks as a way of enticing people to come check out the showcase. Keep a look out, ask around, and check your Twitter feed, word spreads quickly where to find free food.
6. Getting to the conference: Carpool, Bus, Train
Sometimes travelling by plane is unavoidable. However, often artists will carpool together and make a road trip out of it. Similar to finding hotel roommates, ask around and see if anyone in your town is driving to the conference, or passing through on their way. Every year artists from my hometown of Montreal organize carpools heading to Toronto for CMW or NXNE, and sometimes even a long-distance road trip to Austin for SXSW or Memphis for Folk Alliance. If you’re on a tight budget, this could be a great money-saver.
If carpooling isn’t an option, look for deals to travel by train or bus. Often trains and buses will have free WiFi so you can also be productive on your way to the conference.
7. Stay at a cheaper hotel
Another idea to save some money would be to stay at a different hotel than the one hosting the conference. Use a combination of Google Maps and travel deal websites to find the best options. There will no doubt be other hotels close to the host hotel that are cheaper.
Have you done any of these things to save money when attending a music conference? Is there anything you would add to the list? | <urn:uuid:aa737aca-7fe2-4294-b762-60ad675fe825> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/02/7-ways-to-save-money-when-attending-a-music-conference.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950273 | 981 | 1.53125 | 2 |
When a FEMA doctor finally arrived at the Louisiana Superdome with a refrigerated 18-wheeler to begin counting and collecting the estimated two hundred bodies, he was surprised to find only six. Of those, four had died of natural causes, one had overdosed, and one had committed suicide. Four other bodies were found outside the Dome. According to both Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron and officials of the state's Health and Human Services Department, no one was killed.
There were also supposed to be corpses piled inside the Ernest Morial Convention Center, but only four bodies were found there. One of those did indeed appear to have been killed. The Louisiana Health and Human Services Department did repeated searches of both facilities because of the rampant reports that a kind of war had broken out in them, but no one ever found any proof that anything of the kind had happened.
The rumor mill got an exceptionally powerful grind when both New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and New Orleans Chief of Police Eddie Compass told Oprah Winfrey that "hundreds of armed gang members" were inside the Superdome, and that countless bodies lay dead on the floor. Police Chief Compass changed his story from day to day. He told one reporter that the police confiscated thirty weapons from criminals; he told another reporter that the police recovered no weapons.
There was a lot of looting at the Convention Center, and gunfire was heard. It is hard to sort out truth from rumor, and we will never know exactly what took place. What is known is that the National Guard met no resistance when it took control of the facility. Lt. Col. John Edwards of the Arkansas National Guard, said the Guard received no hostility when it entered the building, and in fact, were welcomed by cheering.
Reports of rapes and armed robberies are the hardest to corroborate, according to both Guard officials and others who were there. So many witnesses have come forward to describe what they saw, it seems almost certain that some children were raped. One child molester followed the crowd from the Superdome to the Convention Center, and evacuees told authorities that they were prepared to deal with him if the Guard didn't.
The mainstream news media has been slow to acknowledge that the multiple shootings and rapes were just rumors, and that there were no piles of dead bodies on the Convention Center floor. The image of desperate savages murdering each other as flood waters raged around them is one that easily feeds the hatred that many Americans have of the poor, and especially poor people of color.
One thing is certain. As Louisiana National Guard Lt. Col. Jacques Thibodeaux reported: Both infants and the elderly were close to death, with no food or water, living in filth--a scene that Thibodeaux said shocked soldiers more than anything they had seen in combat zones. | <urn:uuid:3a023895-9540-4dc3-a7a8-7d924a4f08d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2005/09?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989009 | 572 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Intermodal Planning is one of the busiest sections of RIDOT, taking the lead on major expansion of passenger rail service in Rhode Island with new two new stations in Warwick and Wickford Junction and studies ongoing for future stations. Beyond those high profile efforts, Intermodal Planning is the lead in a host of other projects, all having to do with alternative transportation projects or those making improvements to enhance our transportation system. These efforts fall into two major project categories, those called Enhancement Projects and those done under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program.
The growing momentum towards intermodal transportation must be sustained and cultivated as an underlying philosophy for establishing a well-balanced transportation system in the state. Continued emphasis on modal diversification and intermodal linkages will strengthen the state’s transportation system, reduce pollution, and offer convenient, efficient, and enjoyable means for visitors to traverse the state.
RIDOT recognizes the potential for commuter rail service to reduce congestion and improve mobility throughout Rhode Island, including the busy commuting corridors of I-95 and Route 4 in South County.
To reach this goal, RIDOT has established a 20-mile extension of commuter rail service from Boston south of Providence. New stations at Warwick and Wickford Junction represent the first facilities to open as part of the South County Commuter Rail (SCCR) project.
Service to Wickford Junction represents the minimal operating segment of future Providence to Westerly service. SCCR service operates as an extension of the existing Providence to Boston commuter rail service operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).
Service to Warwick started in December 2010. Service to Wickford began in April 2012.
The Interlink at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick officially opened on October 27, 2010. The Interlink offers multiple transportation alternatives, including a consolidated rental car facility serving the airport, local RIPTA bus service and MBTA commuter rail service to Providence and Boston.
The rental car facility and train station are connected to the airport terminal by a 1,200 foot, elevated, enclosed skywalk with moving sidewalks, creating one of the closest physically enclosed rail connections to a major airport in the country. Additionally, the City of Warwick anticipates that the intermodal connection will serve as a catalyst for economic development within the city’s Warwick Station Redevelopment District.
The site of the station is in the Wickford Junction Shopping Plaza on Ten Rod Road (Route 102) in North Kingstown near the intersection of Route 4. Wickford Junction Station is a critical component in the SCCR plan, providing 58 percent of the total projected commuter rail ridership. The was built through a public-private partnership with an adjoining private developer and consists of a parking garage with 1,100 commuter spaces with 10 charging stations for electric cars.
RIDOT is undergoing a Phase II Study that will provide feasibility, operational and cost analysis for four future passenger rail stations, two existing (Kingston and Westerly) and three proposed (Cranston, East Greenwich and West Davisville). Phase II service will build upon the 20-mile MBTA commuter rail extension from Providence to Wickford Junction, potentially extending service another 24 miles south to Westerly. Also, connections to Connecticut’s Shoreline East service will be explored.
The Cranston Transit Station has emerged as one of the major concepts coming out of several public workshops in the development of an updated City Comprehensive Plan. The location chosen to study this topic is an underutilized area about halfway between the Providence Station and the proposed commuter rail station at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick. This location is defined by Park Avenue to the north, Elmwood Avenue to the east, Wellington Avenue to the south and west and the Amtrak Northeast Corridor (NEC) bisecting the project area.
The East Greenwich Commuter Rail station has long been a vision for the Town of East Greenwich. The station would simultaneously fulfill two strategic goals for the Town; the first being better public transit connections to the urban core of Rhode Island and the Boston region and the second being smart growth in a prime area for redevelopment within the Town. By combining commuter rail development with redevelopment of vacant and underused land, a transit-oriented urban setting could be created in the Town adjacent to its already urbanized core.
Located 3 miles from the University of Rhode Island (URI), this historic station was renovated by RIDOT in 1998. The station currently serves as an Amtrak station stop and as the trailhead for the South County Bike Trail. Recently, the station has experienced a substantial increase in Amtrak ridership, demonstrating demand for more frequent and affordable commuter rail service.
RIDOT will explore the feasibility of a potential commuter rail stop at West Davisville in North Kingstown. This area is part of the Quonset Business Park, the state's largest industrial park with more than 8,800 employees.
The renovated historic Westerly Station is located near the Connecticut state line and serves as an Amtrak station stop. Strategically located, the existing station and immediate surroundings provide a unique opportunity to enhance development, including Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), and will support rail service to Providence.
The City of Pawtucket, with its consultant Vanasse, Hangen, Brustlin (VHB), completed a study exploring the restoration of commuter rail service at Pawtucket/Central Falls.
The Federal Transit Administration has released $1.9 million in New Starts Program Funding for preliminary engineering and environmental review as part of the next phase of development for a proposed commuter rail station in Pawtucket.
A passenger rail study for a link from Woonsocket to Providence and Boston has been completed by the City of Woonsocket. RIDOT actively participated as a project stakeholder.
The study focused on potential passenger rail between Woonsocket and Providence, including ridership demand and potential station sites.
The Providence Foundation and the City of Woonsocket were awarded a Rhode Island Statewide Planning Challenge Grant to explore the potential for an intrastate passenger rail service operating between Woonsocket and T.F. Green State Airport in Warwick. The study found that intrastate commuter rail would serve two-thirds of Rhode Island's population and most major employment centers by operating on two active lines: Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) and the Providence and Worcester Railroad's main line.
RIDOT completed a passenger survey of MBTA commuters at Providence and South Attleboro Stations during the Summer of 2008. The purpose of the survey was to find origins and destinations of RI commuters using the existing MBTA service and if these passengers would consider using the new stations at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick and Wickford Junction in North Kingstown as well as other potential future stations along the Northeast Corridor in Rhode Island.
In 1994, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation evaluated several abandoned and underutilized railroad rights-of-way for reuse as transit corridors. Based on ridership projections, environmental issues and cost estimates, the study determined the feasibility of implementing light rail, commuter rail and busway technology on each corridor.
Transportation Enhancements are non-traditional transportation improvements with links to the intermodal transportation system. Enhancements serve to integrate a transportation facility into the surrounding community and natural environment. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) established 12 categories under which projects may be considered for Transportation Enhancement funding.
CMAQ funding is focused on investment in air quality improvements; it provides funds for projects that expand or initiate transportation services with air quality benefits. This program was designed with flexible guidelines that allow the CMAQ Program to cut across traditional boundaries and encompass projects and programs dealing with highways, transit, and non-traditional areas, such as vehicle emission inspection and maintenance, and traffic operations, to name just a few.
Commuter Resource RI
A free program, administered by the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) and funded by RIDOT’s CMAQ Program, Commuter Resource RI provides transportation information and services to Rhode Island corporations and employees in order to: reduce single-occupant vehicle trips, increase high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) commuting, reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality and maximize use of public transit.
Click here more information or call 1-888-887-4782
Rhode Island has become a leader in providing bike paths, bike lanes and bike routes to its residents and visitors. Today there are nearly 60 miles of paved bike paths in Rhode Island and more than 40 miles of paths under design. Rhode Island is also one of the few states on the East Coast that has a majority of its portion of the East Coast Greenway completed. Also, Rhode Island is dedicated to improving pedestrian access in cities and towns statewide. Please visit our informative BikeRI webpage dedicated to bicycling in the Ocean State. Downloadable bike path maps are available.
Safe Routes to School is a RIDOT-funded program designed to reach out to communities to develop programs and projects to promote walking to school. As a result of various state and local pilot programs over the last few years, federal legislation establishing Safe Routes to School programs in every state was passed. Eligible activities include:
Infrastructure projects that will substantially improve the ability of students to walk and bicycle to school. Examples include crosswalks, sidewalks and repairs, traffic calming, etc.
Non-infrastructure related programs and activities to encourage walking and bicycling to school. Examples include traffic enforcement, "walking school buses," walking clubs, bike rodeos, etc.
Please visit Statewide Planning’s Safe Routes to School website for more information.
RIDOT is responsible for the funding of capital improvements of ferry terminal sites for ferry services in the state. Ferry Boat Discretionary (FBD) grants are available through an annual application process with the Federal Highway Administration.
Current projects include Galilee Terminal Improvements for the Block Island Ferry and Pawtucket’s Town Landing Site, which is currently under design. Other Ferry Terminal Projects include the Newport Harbor Shuttle Project which will develop an inner-harbor service to various points of interest in Newport Harbor.
Several year round and seasonal ferry services are operated in Rhode Island:
These services provide an alternative mode of transportation or provide the sole means of transportation. Future ferry services may include some type of cross-bay ferry service, perhaps from the Warwick area to the Bristol area (roughly halfway between the new Providence River Bridge (I-195) in Providence and the Newport and Jamestown Bridges).
Intermodal Planning is responsible for the placement of new commuter Park & Ride locations. Working closely with RIPTA, new sites are evaluated based on highway proximity, environmental constraints, right-of-way and cost. The current 20 lots are monitored and evaluated on a regular basis to determine if expansion or an alternative site is warranted, or if closing is appropriate.
For Park & Ride service to Providence schedule information, visit RIPTA's Park & Ride site or call RIPTA at 781-9400 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).
Some of these intermodal hubs are full-service centers that have been created or improved in recent years. Others on the list provide minimal facilities at present and require upgrading. New intermodal stations, particularly new rail stations, will be required to meet travel demand in the future.
Northern Rhode Island:
Woonsocket Depot – Woonsocket
Blackstone Valley Visitors’ Center – Pawtucket
Metro Rhode Island:
Amtrak Station -- Providence
Kennedy Plaza (major RIPTA hub) -- Providence
Point Street Landing -- Providence
T.F. Green Airport – Warwick
East Bay Rhode Island:
RIPTA Hub (Ames Plaza), East Providence
Newport Gateway Visitors’ Center and Perrotti Park
Southern Rhode Island:
Quonset Davisville -- North Kingstown
Kingston Station -- South Kingstown
RIPTA Hub (Wakefield Mall) -- South Kingstown
Westerly Station -- Westerly
Port of Galilee -- Narragansett
Old Harbor -- Block Island
Wickford Junction -- North Kingstown
The Rhode Island Statewide Planning Program, in cooperation with other agencies, prepares a long-range (20-plus years) transportation plan that is part of the State Guide Plan. The State Guide Plan is a collection of plans and policy documents adopted by the State Planning Council that addresses the social, economic and physical development of the state. The last transportation plan was adopted in 2004, for the year 2025. Federal regulations for ozone non-attainment areas, such as Rhode Island, require an update to the long-range plan every four years. Therefore, in 2008, this Plan update was completed, and the planning horizon was extended to the year 2030. View Transportation 2030. | <urn:uuid:2709efea-9e89-496e-af24-1d1c47ce65e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dot.ri.gov/intermod/index.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933627 | 2,640 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Just recently, we launched a new component of our mobile app: a tour of the Gilbert Collection. You’ll find the app in iTunes or you can go to mobile.lacma.org using the browser on your iPhone or Droid. (The tour feature is designed to be used in the galleries. By entering the numbers you see on the labels, you’ll access information about highlights of the collection.)
The Gilbert Collection is an extraordinary example of decorative arts; at LACMA, we have 50 highlights of the collection on view, including works in gold and silver, as well as pietre dure, micromosaic, and gold boxes, all acquired by Sir Arthur Gilbert over the course of forty years, beginning in the 1960s. You’ll find the collection in a series of galleries on the third floor of the Ahmanson Building at LACMA. When you take the tour, you’ll hear Sir Arthur’s son, Colin Gilbert, recall that his father used to visit the galleries at LACMA in his tennis clothes, carrying a magnifying glass that he would offer to visitors to entice them to look a little closer at the treasures he had so carefully collected. He didn’t reveal his identity, he just sat back and enjoyed sharing his passion for these objects with others.
One highlight of the new tour is this interview with collector Julian Sands. Sands spoke about a Thomas Pitts 18th century epergne – stunning in real life, and even more stunning as one imagines the setting that Sands describes: a table laden with delicacies, lit by candlelight that would have danced on the finely-wrought silver.
I also love this interview with conservator John Hirx, who demonstrates and explains the construction of this elaborate set of 18th century gates by Russian artist Alexis Timothy Ischenko.
If you’re interested in the decorative arts, this tour is a can’t-miss. | <urn:uuid:1bee1e54-e79d-446b-a066-2fa431d01ef4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lacma.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/gilbert-collection-goes-mobile/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=d42062ed33 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944765 | 407 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Episode WCT-1610HSee all Episodes
First, Kris and Bob Garrison are shocked to discover that the original owner of their Queen Anne Victorian in Jennings, Ms., was a wealthy inventor who left behind some of the secrets of his craft. Next, imagine trying to uncover the history of your log-cabin house, but instead stumbling into a find that could change history. That is exactly what happens to Cascade, Idaho, homeowners Diana and Barry Bryant when they discover a stash of valuable tools on their property. Then, Tonyea and Terry Kellison knew the previous owners of their Salem, Ohio, home had a sense of humor when they noticed their walls had some interesting additions pasted into the wallpapered scenes. Finally, while restoring their nearly 200-year-old home in Rockland, Mass., Molly and Frank Schnabel knew they were bound to come across something interesting, but they weren't expecting to discover a virtual time capsule from 1860. | <urn:uuid:5a3bee76-9d6f-4197-b7d8-c40036d69ae1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hgtv.com/if-walls-could-talk-/time-capsules/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97662 | 195 | 1.671875 | 2 |
“Changes are needed so as not to impair the ability of the government-sponsored enterprises to meet their statutory mission of providing liquidity to the broader finance market,” said Howard. “The basic problem is that HUD has overestimated the amount of financing that could meet the goals and has not appropriately factored in the potential for future volatility in the mortgage markets.”
Suggesting corrections to these shortcomings, NAHB called on HUD to incorporate updated data into its market estimates, to eliminate single-family refinancing transactions from its goals calculations and to set its goals at the midpoint of its market range estimates instead of the high end.
Further, NAHB recommended ways to selectively strengthen the goals to more effectively address unmet housing finance needs in rural areas and communities where families earn less than 80% of the area median income — key market segments where the two financial institutions should be encouraged to increase their lending activities.
NAHB also said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be encouraged to increase financing for the production of small multifamily rental properties.
For NAHB’s full comments on HUD’s proposed affordable housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, click here.
For further information, e-mail Chellie Hamecs at NAHB or call her at 800-368-5242 x8425.
[ Go to Top ] | <urn:uuid:2ae9e64d-ccf9-473c-91c6-7e17dec57708> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/textonly/2004-07-19/Housing+Finance/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947393 | 280 | 1.609375 | 2 |
EOG Resources (EOG) has expanded the company’s Niobrara development program to areas outside of the Hereford Ranch Field during the second quarter of 2011. The company has an 80,000 net acre position here in Weld County, Colorado.
EOG Resources reported that the Fiscus Mesa 9-10H well into the Niobrara was drilled and completed and put onto production at a restricted rate of 335 barrels of oil per day, along with 174,000 cubic feet per day of natural gas.
EOG Resources also reported the Gravel Draw 9-09H well at a restricted rate of 277 barrels of oil per day, along with 146,000 cubic feet per day of natural gas.
EOG Resources estimates that it has proved up approximately 169,000 of the company’s 220,000 net acre position in the Niobrara Shale. The company believes that Niobrara wells will be “characterized by lower initial flow rates, but flatter decline curves than other crude oil resource plays.”
EOG Resources also updated production numbers for the Jake 2-01H and Elmer 8-31H Niobrara wells, which were the company’s first two wells into this formation.
Jake 2-01H – production rate of 645 barrels of oil per day during the first thirty days, and 250 to 300 barrels of oil per day in 2011 to date.
Elmer 8-31H - production rate of 283 barrels of oil per day during the first thirty days, and current production of 225 barrels of oil per day. | <urn:uuid:72686542-53c9-4975-9e81-ccab60477f4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://niobrarashale.typepad.com/niobrara-shale/gravel-draw-9-09h/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948358 | 331 | 1.640625 | 2 |
is a puzzle game where the flow of rolling cubes needs to be managed to bring them to their destination. Each of the puzzles is set on a floating platform of blocks, with elevated elements. There are squares of different colours that show in which direction the cubes will roll. The player's goal is to introduce signs to the playfield to influence the movement of the cubes, making sure they do not collide or disappear off the playfield. The cubes flow autonomously and the player cannot influence them once the sequence has been started. To make a cube disappear, it needs to rolls into a square of the same colour.
For each of the 70 levels players have a limited number of signs at their disposal. Directional signs (arrows) move the cube's direction when they roll over them, split signs send them left and right, alternatively, and warp points move a cube to a new location. The last type is the conveyor sign. It is similar to the directional sign, but it does not change the orientation of the cube, it just transports it. Next to that, cubes will automatically turn right and continue rolling when they bump into a wall. Once all signs have been placed (with no time limit) the player starts the sequence to test it. There is an unlimited number of retries for each level.
The 70 puzzles are divided over three difficulty levels (the harder are initially locked), along with a bonus world. For each level players can choose from a number of puzzles, skipping hard ones for instance, and completing one unlocks more environments on the main map. While placing the signs, the camera can be rotated freely in any direction. There is a limited amount of hints. After placing the signs the hint button can be activated and a green or red overlay shows whether they are correct. Squares that require a sign but do not have one are marked with white lines. Placing the signs is done through a drag-and-drop mechanic.
The Wii version references the famous Hungarian Rubik's Cube puzzle and contains an additional mode. Players can attempt to solve one of the four available cubes, each with a different size, or learn how to solve a classic Rubik's Cube.
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This entry was contributed by Sciere (208632)
and Ben K (22961) | <urn:uuid:f88cb63d-ab08-4b9b-acf5-e71d7856e5ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/rubiks-puzzle-galaxy-rush | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939776 | 505 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Interested in linking to "Ruel Rules for Use of PID, MPC and FLC"?
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Stan: When do you need to move beyond PID control?
Michel: Given that process models can be identified, model predictive control (MPC) is advisable if the interactions between controlled variables can't be sufficiently reduced by detuning or decoupling. Detuning where one PID (hopefully the least important PID) is made about five times slower than the other PID can handle weak interactions. A PID decoupler eliminates detuning and the consequential deterioration of loop performance. The decoupler can also deal with stronger interactions. A simple decoupler uses the output of one PID as the feed-forward for the other PID and vice versa. For interactions between more than two controlled variables or for more than one constraint, MPC is advisable.
Greg: The advent of adaptive tuners has recently automated the identification of process models and scheduling of tuning. MPC process model identification was an automated and essential feature from the beginning of MPC technology.
Stan: Oil, gas, petrochemicals and commodity chemicals are produced by large continuous processes with well-known process models where a 0.1% increase in process efficiency or capacity provides enormous benefits. MPC with the integrated LP for process optimization is the obvious solution. What industries don't have process models and why?
Michel: I have found that many processes in the mining industry can't be modeled. The process interrelationships and dynamics in the processing of ores are not defined due to the predominance of missing measurements and unknown effects. PID loops are often in manual, not only for the usual reasons of valve and measurement problems, but also because process dynamics between a controlled and manipulated variable radically change, including even the sign of the process action (reverse or direct) based on complex multivariable effects that can't be quantified.
Stan: What process did you recently tackle where process models could not be identified?
Michel: Last year, we worked in a nickel plant on a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill. The SAG mill process uses steel balls and large rocks for grinding. The load consisted of ore, steel balls and water. In addition to stabilizing the process and increasing production rates, the control system must protect the lining by ensuring the rocks fall on other rocks and not the lining. The controlled variables were density (inferential measurement), power, weight (bearing pressure) and recirculation flow. The manipulated variables were speed, feed and water flow. The disturbance variables were ore size, ore hardness and crusher opening. A camera provided the mean size, the percent below 4 inches and below 1 inch. The detailed population of ore sizes was not known.
Greg: What solution did you use to eliminate manual control when process models are not possible?
Michel: Since the operators could control the process manually, rule-based models would work. Since process performance varied significantly from shift to shift, we worked closely with operations to find the best operator logic, and put it in the form of simple linguistic rules with relative grading via a fuzzy logic control program.
Fuzzification of the controller inputs consisted of rating the measurements as to members of Lo-Lo, Lo, OK, Hi and Hi-Hi sets. The membership can be crisp where there the shapes are rectangles with no overlap.
More traditionally the membership consists of symmetrical triangles whose sides intersect at the middle of the side, providing equal overlapping. For our application, we used some special shapes and weights. Decisions were made with "If-Then" rules between each graded process input and a process output. An example of a rule is: "If the power is high and the weight is low, then the speed is medium and the feed is low." The rules of the best performing operators were nominated and closely reviewed by the process engineer (metallurgist). Defuzzification consisted of establishing a relative grading of the change in the controller outputs for each rule by a membership set. The resulting increment or decrement in each output is a velocity algorithm that inherently eliminates windup and the bumpless transition from manual to automatic. Weights for each rule and shapes for memberships were determined from a design of experiments (DOE). The resulting fuzzy logic controller (FLC) was commissioned in the advisory mode.
Stan: What were your controller inputs?
Michel: We used the controlled variables and rates of change of controlled variables as FLC inputs. A second order Butterworth filter was used to effectively reduce noise in the rate of change calculations.
Greg: An FLC I designed was used on a large waste pH neutralization system to minimize reagent use. The FLC worked quite well for decades, but when the control engineer who implemented the FLC in the DCS left the plant, the control engineer who inherited the system did not know how to maintain or improve the FLC. The process engineers never could figure out what the FLC was doing, and just knew the reagent cost was less when the FLC was in automatic. What did you do to help FLC analysis, troubleshooting and performance assessment?
Michel: We could see what rules were firing when and how often. It turned out that 20% of the 500 rules were doing most of the work. We also had online metrics of process performance. We paid particular attention to interfaces. Metallurgists had to be able to modify targets, constraints, production goals and limits. The control engineers must be able to easily adjust rules and tweaked weights.
Stan: How long did it take to commission and what were the benefits?
Michel: The FLC was on advisory control for three days. Operators could see the FLC was anticipating their actions. During the next four days, the FLC was on automatic during the day, and the shapes and ranges were modified. On the eighth day the FLC was used continuously and has been operational ever since. Every week metallurgists validate rules, make slight adjustments, and work with control engineers to make slight adjustments. A production record was achieved in the first week. The average use of energy per ton has decreased by 8%, and the tonnage per day has increased by 14%.
Greg: Fuzzy logic has uses beyond control of mining processes.
10. Model-predictive control did not work.
9. Decoupling all your kids' interactions requires too much dynamic compensation.
8. There too many states of nonlinearity for an adaptive tuner.
7. You can write your own rules.
6. You can claim to be an expert.
5. You can add and subtract rules at will.
4. Your children will be baffled.
3. It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
2. You can throw away your child psychology books.
1. Your children won't move back in after graduation. | <urn:uuid:cd787a79-e8e8-41c6-8b5e-4cae3ce86731> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2012/mcmillan-weiner-pid-mpc-flc.html?DCMP=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964026 | 1,459 | 1.578125 | 2 |
In September 2007, when gas prices and terrorists were all we had to fear, when CEOs could lay off half the factory and still award themselves fat bonuses without making news, when the government was a Detroit muscle car with a drunken frat boy at the wheel, glaciers were melting and health care costs rising. It was then that Saturn entered meticulous Virgo, the best possible zodiac sign for cleaning up a mess. In November 2008, boosted by the Uranus opposition and its electricity of hope, Saturn sent millions of us to the ballot box where we elected our first Pluto-in-Virgo president, with his Mars in this hard-working analytical sign too.
Being a Leo, Obama has a lion's charisma. But his well-run campaign showcased the power of Virgo's cool discipline and planning, something we clearly needed as homes were foreclosed, banks toppled, and 401K's deflated like carnival balloons. Saturn-in-Virgo sent worried families to their kitchen tables to crunch the numbers and trim unnecessary expenses. In some cases it packed their boxes and moved them into tent cities or relatives' back bedrooms. Saturn entered pragmatic Virgo just as our world collapsed. It took our wobbly legs and set them on the long slow road to a comeback, ever mindful that the problems which took years to create would require patient, persistent, Virgoic efforts to resolve.
Saturn exits Virgo in late October this year (editor's note: 2009), to make a brief return between April and July 2010. Before Saturn's done, we should sing the praises of this transit. In contrast to the sparkling self-importance of its preceding sign Leo, Virgo is modest, useful, methodical, and organized. It doesn't dance around waiting for appreciation. It simply rolls up its sleeves and gets to work, undaunted and efficient as my Roomba vacuum cleaner which daily whirs through the house and leaves it singing with new energy. Saturn in Virgo is like that; it steadily makes things better. It serves. It studies the details. It promises that if we take one small step, then another, and just keep moving, we'll eventually find ourselves beyond the pit of despair, anchored in a better reality.
Not everyone's world fell apart during Saturn's transit. For many I know it brought welcome improvements, prompting big and small changes in Virgo directions, toward greater order, discrimination, and purity. One of my friends entered a monastery. Another launched a de-cluttering business. My son voluntarily began eating healthier foods. With Virgo in my 1st house of appearance, Saturn nudged me into the best physical condition I've enjoyed in awhile, second only to twenty-nine years ago when Saturn was last in Virgo.
In my twenties, this transit encouraged new physical discipline. I'd had little interest in health until Saturn entered my 1st house and I was suddenly motivated to fast, cleanse, and exercise with a diligence bordering on fanaticism. Sadly in my fifties I can no longer muster the same intensity, yet Saturn wouldn't leave me alone. This time my already healthy diet became healthier through incremental shifts, reducing gluten one month, adding a fresh green drink the next. I went to the gym three to four times a week, without much fanfare and seemingly little improvement until finally a friend exclaimed, "My god how you've changed!"
Virgo is capable of extreme diligence, but more typically its miracles come through many small steps. These were among the ingredients making Obama's Saturn-in-Virgo campaign so ground-breaking. Its army of grass roots volunteers, knocking on doors, making phone calls and donating a mountain of small sums eventually wielded greater political power than the fat-cat big-money sources. It was nothing less than revolutionary, a word readily associated with Uranus but hardly ever Virgo or Saturn. So was it just the Uranus opposition to Saturn that brought about this big change? I wonder. In Kenya in the late seventies, Wangari Maathai's revolutionary Green Movement gained significant momentum during Saturn's Virgo transit. The Nobel Peace Prize winner had a simple Virgoic proposition: years of deforestation and damage to the country's rivers and topsoil could be overturned by one simple act - a woman planting trees, one seed at a time.
Virgo's archetypes include the Virgin, the Servant, and the Perfectionist. Pop astrology often collapses these images into the Librarian, the Secretary, and the Bookkeeper. There's nothing wrong with these occupations - I've happily worked at two of them myself. Yet they're usually received as unflattering Virgo stereotypes. Far from the juicy virgin, Virgo is seen as an uptight bespectacled spinster in supporting rather than leading roles. In a culture infatuated with Leo's performance and celebrity, Virgo's brilliance often goes unnoticed. Yet there's a reason Virgo follows Leo in the zodiac - not only to clean up its messes, but to lead us forward in new ways. Through small acts, Virgo accomplishes plenty. I remember from my corporate days that when good Virgos left the company, we often needed two new hires to fill their shoes.
There's much in Nature to remind us of Virgo. Some flowers have such carefully timed routines that the botanist Carl Linnaeus suggested one could plant a floral clock, a circle of marigolds, daisies and water-lilies that by opening and closing their petals could keep the hours as perfectly as a clock's hands. The evening primrose knows to release its scent at the precise moment its pollinating moths take flight. And bees keep a perfect schedule of appointments, visiting as many as nine different plant species in a day, always arriving just as their nectar is released.
We might recall these images whenever we find Virgo organizing the spice drawer or correcting our grammar. The world runs on such efficiencies, and they're no less magical than Pisces' crystal balls. We can find Virgo's footprints all over sorcery, in crisp details like "eye of newt" or "tongue of toad." JK Rowling, creator of Harry Potter's wizard world, has a strong stellium of Virgo planets: the writer's Mercury, language-charming Venus, along with Moon, Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto. It was initially rumored that Rowling "channeled" her plots and characters, but as reporters pried more deeply into her method, we learned that she conceived, outlined, and crafted the Potter series with a practical Virgo diligence, knowing while writing each book the steps every character would take in later volumes. Rowling's genius brought millions of technologically entranced children back to the joy of reading books. "Genius" is another word rarely linked to Virgo - but recently this has changed.
It should be no surprise that during Saturn's Virgo transit, several new books have appeared with a Virgo-friendly theme. Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, Daniel Coyle's The Talent Code, and Geoff Colvin's Talent is Overrated argue that it's not good genes, raw talent, some divine spark or a high IQ that separates geniuses from the rest of us. It's practice. Research has shown that what distinguishes top concert pianists from second-tier performers and high school music teachers is simply how many hours they've practiced-at least ten thousand to be exact. The biographies of phenomenal successes like Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, and the Beatles have one thing in common. Before each made it big, these icons worked at their craft for over 10,000 hours, progressively refining their skills to reach nearly divine levels of performance.
"Practice makes perfect" has always been Virgo's formula for success. Virgo's focus on perfection improves the quality of our world. During my Venus research, I discovered that the (often unfairly disparaged) Venus-in-Virgos were sensuous connoisseurs of quality. They liked jobs well done, exquisite textures and fabrics, tasty and nutritious foods, beautiful landscapes, fine literature, music and art. Today when I picture Virgo's Virgin, I don't see an uptight librarian. I imagine a vibrant goddess, much like the one described below by a woman with Venus in Virgo:
I once met a living goddess on the cobblestones of old town Zurich. She was an exotic-looking woman with deep set eyes that sparkled warmth and mischief at the same time. Silvery hair fell way down her back. Her shoes were stained orange and decorated in intricate delicate patterns. She became my mentor and opened my eyes to cultural imprinting and affectations. She had a great sense of humor and was hilarious at imitating the proper Swiss women sitting across from us at a restaurant. She was not above throwing a milk pail over a friend's head, justifying her impulsiveness with myth and philosophy. She demanded we buy organic food for our tea house and scolded us severely if we attempted to cut corners. Her gatherings became regular occasions of celebration, introspection and dancing with the energies of any given moment. Her sun sign was Virgo, but there was nothing bookish or restrained or overly controlled about her.
Virgo holds us to high standards, but she's not always proper and prim. She can be quite determined and saucy, unafraid to throw a drink in somebody's face if the moment requires it. Virgo is a humble sign, but it can be humbling too, as anyone who's been on the receiving end of a Virgo tirade can confirm. Virgo is often maligned for its judgments and criticisms, but sometimes the humiliations we suffer through Virgo are necessary, in service to the gods. We should pay particular attention to the humiliations endured during Saturn's Virgo transit. These are especially significant and transformative-something the CEOs of the big three automakers discovered when they flew their private jets to Washington to request a congressional bail-out. Saturn's outrage was so strong that sufficiently humbled, the executives drove fuel-efficient cars on their next trip to Capitol Hill.
A Virgo friend sailed to new professional heights when Saturn was in Leo. Her confidence grew so large that she collided with her peers as Saturn changed signs and conjoined her Sun. She was quickly ostracized, spending months alone and full of doubt. After much soul-searching, she found a deeper source of confidence and eventually mended fences, wearing her authority in a more graceful, inclusive way. My son was horrified when Saturn in Virgo squared his Ascendant and he was dropped from his Advanced Placement English class, just one point away from the acceptable minimum. With Sagittarius rising, he's used to skating along. "This is a life changing event," he swore. I was skeptical, but months later he studied for his Advanced Placement History exam with a diligence I'd never before seen. One of the worst humiliations I ever suffered came years ago when Saturn first conjoined my Virgo Ascendant. At a party, buoyed by wine and Virgo righteousness, I said something I shouldn't have said, which cost me an entire circle of friends. The next year was agonizing. Turning to spirituality was the only way I survived my pain; of course that changed the rest of my life.
So what happened to you in the past two years? Did Saturn dump a milk pail on your head? Did you discover new dedication and focus? Where has your life improved? Whatever Saturn brought (and likely there were both lessons and triumphs), thank him for his Virgo gifts.
Unfortunately Hera got wind of the matter. No fan of Hercules or of Aphrodite, the goddess spread a rumor through the streets that Hercules was planning to abduct the Amazon Queen. Hercules was already in the palace, heading up the steps, when he heard outside a furious clamor of horses, shouts and spears. He fell into doubt and his thoughts raced down familiar routes: "Ambush! The Queen was lying! She never meant to yield the girdle." Like an agitated teenager in over his head, Hercules rushed into the room and stabbed the Queen before she could say a word. He got the girdle just as he'd planned: by force.
On the way back home under a sunny sky, Hercules heard a distant and pitiful scream. He scanned the horizon and discovered a maiden lashed to a rock with a sea monster heading her way. Without thinking, Hercules jumped into the monster's path, speared it dead, and set the maiden free. The girl, named Hermione, had been offered up to appease the gods after her father had failed to pay the promised wages to two day-laborers, who were actually Apollo and Poseidon in disguise. Angered, Apollo had sent a pestilence and Poseidon roused a monster. To correct the situation, an oracle decreed that Hermione must be sacrificed. Now with the girl at his side, Hercules appealed to Zeus and the matter was set right with an exchange of horses. No further blood was spilled.
This is a Virgo story? It hardly sounds like one. It's so chaotic, with murders, a monster, a girdle, and a dead queen! For Virgo's labor we might have expected Hercules to clean the Augean stables or lop off Hydra heads till none were left - any number of jobs requiring patience, efficiency, organization, and analysis. But getting Aphrodite's girdle is the task Alice Bailey assigned to Virgo and I've been following her tradition for this series. Too, I've learned that the more peculiar the story, the more wisdom it often contains. So what does this labor have to teach us about Virgo?
Hercules makes a mistake when he panics and kills the Queen, but when he saves Hermione's life he helps clear his karmic balance sheet. Cleaning up mistakes and restoring order is this labor's recurring theme. The Paros citizens must make amends to Hercules' crew. Hermione's father must rectify his sin against the gods. Virgo is all about fixing problems and restoring order. Life is messy. Without some force to set things right, where would we be? Virgo brings a useful and necessary intention, but its performance must be developed and refined - or it will create more problems than it fixes. Hercules conceives his plan, sets his course, and soon runs into circumstances he cannot control. That's when Virgo's real training begins.
When meticulous Virgo meets the unexpected, it can become as crazy as Hercules on his Paros rampage. He's similarly unstrung when he stabs the Queen. He's lost confidence and entered Virgo's dark side. Brittle and insecure when life veers from the plan, Virgo will bind itself in judgments and either hide or hurl itself in fury at the world. I remember a computer technician from my corporate days. With Virgo rising, Jim worked hard, often until the wee hours of the morning. His office was lined floor-to-ceiling with a meticulously organized array of tools, parts, manuals, and magazines. Jim was happiest when he felt useful. He loved fixing employee problems, but if you visited these same people after he left, they'd often be fuming and pulling their hair. Everyone complained about Jim. He was picky and obstinate, prone to arguing about insignificant details. After a slew of personality warnings, for the sake of the company's peace, this hard-working man was eventually fired.
As a mutable sign, Virgo is meant to adapt and adjust to the world, but it lacks some of the ease and good humor of its fellow mutables Gemini and Sagittarius. Virgo is fearful and cautious, about which Robert Hand makes an interesting speculation: "It's almost as if Virgo is the result of the childishly exuberant egotism of Leo encountering its first severe defeat." Virgo does seem overly concerned about what's at stake. Its anxiety and self-doubt certainly interfere with its effectiveness. So what's the remedy?
Astrologers have a little saying for Virgo: "Serve or suffer." Suffering is painful, but service? Even without consulting a dictionary, we can sense this word's Latin origins: "to serve" originally meant "to be a slave." Serving implies we must give up something valuable: our time, our freedom, our dreams of big success. To serve can feel demeaning or self-negating, like we must forget about winning "American Idol" and volunteer instead at soup kitchens or build houses for the poor. In a culture that prizes individual creativity, suffering just might be preferable to serving like this.
Fortunately, Hercules' Virgo labor gives us a deeper view of service. That Hercules rescues Hermione is good work, but his act is nothing planned. The hero merely serves the needs of a moment that found him. This is Virgo at its best. Spontaneous, it liberates its skills to meet the present with effectiveness. Hercules lacks this ability at Paros and when the clamoring begins outside the Queen's palace. What makes him change?
After the Queen's murder, Hercules has gotten Aphrodite's girdle. In other words, he acquires the balancing strength of the receptive feminine. The girdle is an emblem for the Virgin at the heart of this sign - the part of us that's fresh, uncalculated, and willing. Through this deeper receptivity, we can more readily submit to the task at hand. We submit to it as a kind of destiny, without the suffering of resistance. Quite simply, we make ourselves available to the needs of our situation. We join the connected fabric of the world, doing what's required of us. This represents one of the earthiest components of this earth sign. It grounds us into our interdependence, the realization we are part of a living system bigger than ourselves alone.
After we explore the possibilities of self through Leo, through creative play and self-expression, Virgo moves us into a more practical engagement with the world. We discover we must serve - not just as non-profit volunteers - or as waitresses, hairdressers or librarians. Virgo's possibilities for service are as variable as people on the planet. Whatever our particular call to service, Virgo can empower our work with its humility, practicality, and dedication. Humility brings new balance to the ego that Leo strengthened. Practicality requires we take only necessary actions. Dedication delivers the capacity to become fully absorbed in our task. Whenever we're fully absorbed in the present moment, that's when the Virgo magic begins! | <urn:uuid:d112db62-92f3-4e75-b336-cfa41948f4ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.astro.com/astrologia/in_dg_virgo_i.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967307 | 3,862 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Martin Liefeldt has vacationed in the United States four times, and his experience entering the country has "steadily declined."
"Last time, I was made to feel most unwelcome," wrote Liefeldt, a general manager from Cape Town, South Africa, via e-mail.
"I understand the huge levels of paranoia that exist in the USA, but a bit of training in welcoming visitors (and their money) to the USA might go a long way," he wrote.
After a long overseas flight, visitors to the U.S. just want to land on terra firma, get some rest and get on with their business or leisure activities.
But there are a few more hurdles to getting out of the airport, and a survey released Tuesday suggests that clearing Customs and Border Protection is a big one. The government's recent forced budget cuts are likely to make Customs lines still more daunting.
"When you're greeted with something that's less than welcoming, that first taste in your mouth is quite disconcerting," said Geoff Freeman, chief operating officer of the U.S. Travel Association, the industry trade group that conducted the survey in partnership with Consensus Research.
In the survey, 43% of the travelers who have visited the U.S. said they would discourage others from making the trip because of the entry process.
The survey, which included responses from 1,200 overseas travelers, also found that more than two out of five potential business travelers won't come to the U.S. in the next five years for the same reason. About 64% of responders said they were frustrated by long lines and wait times. The survey was conducted in 2012, before the forced government spending cuts under the sequester went into effect on March 1.
Yet the government spending cuts are likely to make the entry process "exponentially worse" for travelers, Freeman said.
Automatic budget reductions must be applied to nearly every Department of Homeland Security program, including Customs and Border Protection, and "will negatively affect the mission readiness and capabilities of the men and women on our front lines," the agency said in a statement responding to questions about sequestration. | <urn:uuid:69116b1e-7283-4953-9f79-cb7eeb87ba98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wapt.com/news/money/travel/Survey-U-S-Customs-is-driving-visitors-away/-/9156654/19386432/-/v2j1eu/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97624 | 445 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Monday, December 31, 2012
Practicing my brush technique, after a hiatus of a dozen years. It's fun how you will recognice Bosch-ian characters in the paintings of his followers once you have done them yourself. On the left, is a study of a 16th century painting of an unknown follower of Jheronimus Bosch. The title is "hy soect de byle". (he is looking for the hatchet)
Now how cartoony is that? Whether this is a direct copy of one of Bosch's paintings is not known, but there is more earthly folklore in his paintings than is gererally assumed, so why not. It's not all fire and brimstone, mysticism and obscure references to the Old Testament.
The title refers to a common name for a tavern at the time, "The Hatchet". (Note the sign with the hatchet) The boozehound told his wife he went to chop wood, but he was off to the local, instead. . He was then exposed: "he fell through the basket" is a Dutch expression still in use. He is carried by his wife (financially supported?). Their sexual relation is suggested by his empty bagpipes. It is still unclear what the angry, rather butch-looking woman on the right is about, or the curious hobbit-sized archer in the bottom left corner. I'd like to know... | <urn:uuid:1b3a93ac-379c-4813-ab4a-b2c8a9d499e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eatenbyducks.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-hatchet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978994 | 294 | 1.820313 | 2 |
JERUSALEM — The winter assault on the Gaza Strip was officially portrayed in Israel as an attempt to quell rocket fire by militants of Hamas. But some soldiers say they also were lectured about a more ambitious aim: to banish non-Jews from the biblical land of Israel.
"This rabbi comes to us and says the fight is between the children of light and the children of darkness," a reserve sergeant said, recalling a training camp encounter. "His message was clear: 'This is a war against an entire people, not against specific terrorists.' The whole thing was turned into something very religious and messianic."
As armies elsewhere use chaplains, the Israeli military inducts rabbis to serve religious soldiers. Their traditional tasks include ensuring that kitchens are kosher and religious services are available.
But soldiers now going public with allegations of misconduct in Gaza portray the military rabbinate as a corps of self-appointed holy warriors whose sermons and writings demonized Palestinians.
"The army itself is a battleground of conflicting ideals in Israeli Jewish society," said Avi Sagi, a Bar-Ilan University philosophy professor who in the 1990s was a co-author of the military's code of ethics, which obliges soldiers to avoid killing innocents.
On one side, he said, are universal values that call for respecting all human life equally and are largely shared by Jews who seek accommodation with the Palestinians. On the other side are more nationalistic passages of the Torah, cited by religious thinkers who liken the Palestinians to Old Testament invaders and place a premium on Jewish life.
In the Gaza conflict, the argument has focused on how to fight Islamic militants who for years have fired rockets indiscriminately at Israeli communities, causing scores of civilian casualties.
Maj. Avital Leibovich, a military spokeswoman, denied that the military rabbinate takes sides. Army rabbis violated a directive to "stay away from politics" in Gaza, she said, but they were few in number and acted on their own.
In testimony reported by Israeli news media and in interviews with The Times, Gaza veterans said rabbis advised army units to show the enemy no mercy and called for resettlement of the Palestinian enclave by Jews.
"The rabbis were all over, in every unit," said Yehuda Shaul, a retired army officer whose human rights group, Breaking the Silence, has taken testimony from dozens of Gaza veterans. "It was quite well organized."
The army, which conscripts almost every Israeli Jew at 18, has been dominated for most of its history by secular officers. But over the last 15 years, as secular Israelis have soured on the occupation of Palestinian territory, religious nationalists have taken over senior positions in elite combat brigades.
With them have come hundreds of volunteer rabbis, who teach at pre-military academies for religious youths and serve side by side with the troops.
The rabbis' role in Gaza came into focus last week along with testimony from soldiers who said that loose rules of war led to unwarranted civilian deaths and property destruction.
The testimony reported by two Israeli newspapers was the first such criticism to surface from within the army since the assault ended Jan. 18, leaving an estimated 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. Most Palestinian casualties were listed as civilians.
The army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, said Monday that he did not believe soldiers shot Gaza civilians "in cold blood." He added that "isolated cases" of misconduct, if proved, "will be dealt with individually."
Responding to newspaper photos, the army also condemned soldiers who wore T-shirts depicting a pregnant woman in a rifle's cross hairs with the slogan "1 Shot 2 Kills."
During the Gaza offensive, critics contend, rabbinical propaganda was part of a broader effort to legitimize Israel's decision to use overwhelming force.
Before the assault, the army's legal office issued an opinion saying that Israel was entitled to use artillery against civilian neighborhoods from which Hamas was launching rockets.
And after the 22-day operation, a Tel Aviv University philosophy professor with close ties to the military, Asa Kasher, said the decision to shell Gaza's cities stemmed from an anti-terrorism doctrine he had helped draft a few years ago. It stated that in Gaza, as in other areas the army does not control, there is no justification for endangering soldiers' lives in order to avoid killing civilians in the proximity of targeted militants.
That doctrine appears to be at odds with the military code, which obliges the army to avoid civilian casualties, and it was never formally adopted. However, it was echoed in religious terms in literature distributed in Gaza by military rabbis.
"Our ancestors did not always fight with a sword and at times preferred to use a bow and arrow from a distance," one text read.
"Actions must be taken from a distance in order to spare our soldiers' lives." | <urn:uuid:d82f0590-8263-44e9-9b33-0aab3fc6ce13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/25/world/fg-israel-holywar25 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972424 | 1,009 | 1.78125 | 2 |
File photo shows an Iranian gas refinery.
Managing director of the National Iranian Offshore Oil Company (NIOOC) says the biggest gas refinery in the Persian Gulf will become operational in the southern Iranian island of Qeshm next year.
Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh said Sunday that the Qeshm gas refinery would be able to process about 80 million cubic feet of gas per day and will become fully operational next year.
The official added that the design, construction, installation, and commissioning stages of the project have been undertaken by domestic contractors and manufacturers.
Zirakchianzadeh said the construction of the gas refinery on Qeshm Island has started in parallel with the development of Hengam oil field which is close to the island.
Hengam oil field, which is shared with Oman, is currently producing more than 22,000 barrels per day of oil, with the target output of 30,000 bpd.
On April 23, Zirakchianzadeh said that about USD 450 million has been invested in developing the first phase of the field, with a total of about USD 800 million appropriated for the development of both phases of the joint field.
Since the beginning of its development, Hengam oil field has yielded about five million barrels of light crude oil.
Oman teamed up with a British company and started production by tapping 10,000 bpd of crude oil from the field, which is called Bukha in Oman, in March 2009, after building a 25-kilometer pipeline.
Iran began early production from the joint field in September 2010 by producing 10,000 bpd of light crude oil. | <urn:uuid:0c92b41a-6cae-49ca-903d-f09a6b34f1bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://presstv.com/detail/2012/05/20/242174/iran-to-open-biggest-pg-gas-refinery/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964189 | 345 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Normal processor fan is not enough if you are a hardcore gamer, especially when you equipped your PC with the strongest ever processor to pushed up your game’s fps.
The solution is to install a watercooling system right onto your PC processor for maximum cooling effect, which promises to kill heat produce by your processor.
Unfortunately, installing a watercooling system is not as easy as a newbie can handle. In a respond to this problem, Danamics has recently announced a new cooling system using “Liquid Metal” instead of liquid water.
Hey! Wait up, don’t link them with “Liquid Snake” or any “Metal Gear Solid” stuffs here. It’s completely unrelated.
This Liquid Metal cooler is called Danamics LM10, which looks strong and cool, furthermore it’s easier to install for newbies.
Danamics claims that LM10 is the most effective cooling device and has exceeded those water cooling systems.
The shape is no other than a silent cooling system which you could find it on any PC store nearby. The different is, according to the Danamics’ crew there is a liquid metal installed inside the pipes or somewhere that will do their task to suck heat out of your processor hell.
There is no certainty about where they put the liquid metal. Well, as long as it can help us enjoy our gaming time properly without any problem of overheating or noisy fan, I guess that’s okay!
(you can also click the link above to find more details)
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According to the Publisher's Information Bureau – the "closely watched industry barometer" that tracks consumer magazine advertising spending and related data — while most magazines did well in the first quarter of 2011, Newsweek's advertising pages fell 31% compared to the first quarter of 2010.
Other magazines, such as Time, The Economist, and The New Yorker all rose by several percent. Some of the highest performing magazines over the past year include Rolling Stone, which has increased by 70.6% and Businessweek — purchased by Michael Bloomberg in 2009 — is up by 48.8%. Another high-performing publication is Ducks Unlimited, the magazine of a wetlands and waterfowl preservation non-profit organization, which increased its advertising pages 47.4%
According to Media Decoder it is still very early in Tina Brown's tenure as head of Newsweek, as the new redesign didn't debut until March 14. That issue featured "72 percent more ad pages then it had in the same issue a year earlier." It was also reported that advertising for Newsweek was inconsistent from week to week this past March, suggesting that it is too early to make predictions about the future success of the news magazine.
Other well-known magazines lost a significant amount of advertising in the past year: Scientific American has lost almost 40% of its advertising pages in the last year; Condé Nast's Travel + Leisure is down 14%. Across the board, however, "ad pages across all magazines tracked by the bureau jumped 2.5 percent in the first quarter, compared with the first quarter of 2010." | <urn:uuid:1e10edff-a395-43bc-9dbb-45736912116e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.businessinsider.com/tina-brown-newsweek-advertising-lost--2011-4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973385 | 315 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Use a cup to vertically stack dice in towers of 3, 4 and 5.
New comedy with Anne Heche! Premieres Thursday 8/7c. Preview now.
1) Place dice on the table so that none are stacked vertically.
2) When the clock starts, player may pick up the cup and begin attempting to stack the dice.
3) Player's hands may be used to position dice on the table, but may not be used to stack them directly, or to help scoop, slide or toss them into the cup.
4) When attempting to stack the dice, the cup must be inverted with its bottom nearly parallel to the table surface. No credit will be given for "pouring" 1 die onto another.
5) Player must first stack 3, then 4, and then 5.
6) Player may have no more than the number of dice intended to be stacked (i.e. may not have 5 dice in the cup while trying to stack 3).
7) Each stack must remain freestanding for 3 seconds to receive credit.
8) To complete game, player must stack 3 dice, then 4 dice, and have the final inverted cup with the stack of 5 dice on the table within the 60-second time limit so that after the cup is removed, the final stack remains freestanding for 3 seconds.
Thanks for visiting the official site of "Minute To Win It." Hundreds of challenges were tested for "Minute To Win It," many of which are posted here. Some of the challenges you see on this site may be physically challenging, so please talk to your doctor before trying them, and don't do any that you think may not be safe for you. If you do try them, please make sure you are in a controlled environment with proper safety measures in place. Anyone practicing or playing the challenges as shown on this site, or with modifications, does so at his / her own risk. Materials provided on this site are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. | <urn:uuid:2017d8eb-9f5b-4c4a-8094-43b9ab4f697e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/how-to/episode-229/high-roller/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938446 | 414 | 1.679688 | 2 |
I know I said I was going to take Triduum off from blogging, and I know that this comes rather late in the day, but in case it’ll help anybody, here goes. . . .
You often hear it said that the law of fast allows one full meal per day and two smaller meals provided that the two smaller meals do not add up to a second full meal.
I’ve even said that myself.
But this is false. At least in the United States.
If you check the legal sources, the bit about the two smaller meals not adding up to a second one is not to be found.
First, here’s what the Church’s universal law–found in the 1966 Apostolic Constitution Paenitemini–says:
The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—approved local custom [Norms, III:2].
So there’s nothing in that about the two smaller meals (which aren’t even called meals, just "some food," with the implication htat it’s less than the "one full meal" that’s allowed) adding up to anything.
So if that requirement is not found in universal law, then it must be found in the particular law of the United States if it is to be binding here. So let’s check the complimentary norms issued by the USCCB.
If you read that, all it does is say that the norms established in the U.S. bishop’s 1966 document On Penance and Abstinence are still in force.
If you do that, you’ll see that the bishops didn’t address the subject there, either.
Therefore, while it may be customary in some places to try to calculate whether the two snacks add up to a second meal, this is not a requirement that has force of law in the United States.
Personally, I’ve always found the adding up of the two snacks to be really problematic, because my meals vary in size considerably, and I don’t have a fixed meal size. And how is that supposed to be measured, anyway? In calories? In food volume?
The good news is that this need not be a point of scrupulosity for people. You can have one full meal a day and two snacks, but you don’t need to scruple about what the two snacks add up to. | <urn:uuid:bffaf1cf-0b65-4960-8a26-22a98ab01368> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jimmyakin.org/2006/04/the_law_of_fast.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961043 | 534 | 1.632813 | 2 |
By David E Braden
Call me old fashioned, but I just don’t see marriage as a civil right. I think marriage should be defined by the Church.
We have beautiful language in our Scripture about the blessed nature of the marriage relationship. I love that in Genesis, God asserts that humans are relational creatures and that “It is not good that the man should be alone.” The description of Adam and Eve coming together as two individuals to “become one flesh” is powerful and sexy and actually quite intimidating (acknowledging that these stories are also very gendered in nature). What does it really mean to “become one flesh,” for two unique individuals to commit to one another and then somehow figure out how to work together as a cohesive unit, as an anointed team living out the rest of their lives together?
Marriage Isn't Easy
Although I do not know from personal experience, I do know that marriage is hard work. I look at my own parents who are divorced and my many friends who are married or in committed, monogamous relationships and I know that it is very difficult to constantly work at a relationship in order to stay healthy, mutually empowering, and in loving support of one another. With the constant coverage of sham Hollywood marriages, the glamorization of adultery, and the number of couples who get married because it seems like the natural next step, I just don’t think we give marriage the proper reverence and respect it deserves. And so, I think the Church should continue to play a significant role in defining marriage and cultivating covenanted, monogamous relationships.
Two Debates: The Church and Society
The problem with the marriage debate is that there are really two debates going on:
1. The definition of Marriage in the Church and
2. The definition of Marriage in Society
Far too often, I think we conflate these two debates. Personally, I believe that marriage is an institution ordained by God to bless the covenant partnership of two loving individuals. I see it as a responsibility of the Body of Christ to help gay and straight couples alike, united as One Flesh before God and the Church, to grow in their hunger for Christ and to grow in love and in covenant relationship to one another. If the Body of Christ can’t do this, what’s the point of being a community anyway?
In terms of secular society, it is just that. Not everyone in our country or the world knows God or the love of Christ. We thankfully live in a country, however, where our Constitution says that we have a right to be treated the same even if we believe different things. The problem arises in that we also live in a society that bases a significant portion of its tax system and hundreds of rights and privileges on a marriage certificate. To me, it seems innately unjust to claim that we have Separation of Church and State and then to define an institution, such as marriage, on religious terms and then deny access to the federal and state rights and privileges that such an institution affords, including tax benefits, rights of visitation, medical & legal protection, etc.
So What Do We Do?
If we want to be a country that treats all people the same and a country that continues to privilege couples in our tax code and elsewhere, then both straight and gay couples should be afforded the right to a civil union with all the rights and privileges that come with it. Give us all Civil Unions and leave the fight to define Marriage with our Churches. | <urn:uuid:e59272a3-6e50-4f66-b284-155c8f61387b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rmnblog.org/2008/11/marriage-should-be-defined-by-the-church.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966321 | 725 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Alumni Profiles - Ken Van Dyken '04
As their cloudy, brown drinking water turned clear before their eyes, villagers in Sri Lanka looked at Ken Van Dyken ’04 as if he had worked a miracle. Van Dyken sees himself as an engineer, a problem solver. But he acknowledges that project brought sudden, dramatic results.
“In the space of a few hours they had clean water,” he said. “Nothing I’ve done before has had anywhere near the impact this will have to help people.”
Van Dyken works for Extol Inc. in Zeeland, Mich., a company that designs and builds industrial manufacturing equipment. Co-owners and Calvin alums Ross Van Klompenberg ex ’82 and Chip Van Klompenberg ’86 had been praying for a while for a project that, in Chip’s words, “would call on the skills of Extol’s people and resources in order to relieve the affliction of orphans, widows, the fatherless and poor.”
The answer to that prayer began to unfold when the Van Klompenberg brothers were introduced to another alum, Konrad Marcus ’52, a board member of Water Missions International (WMI).
WMI is a nonprofit Christian engineering organization headquartered in Charleston, S.C., that works to supply people in developing countries and disaster areas with safe drinking water and safe wastewater management — and “an opportunity to hear the Living Water message.” Extol was drawn in by the way WMI pairs concern for bodily and spiritual thirst.
In 2004 the company began to examine the design of WMI’s Living Water filtration unit. Van Dyken was a member of that team. “The first thing,” he said, “was to develop a simpler system for chlorinating the water after it was filtered.”
Van Dyken and the team at Extol were working that problem out when the tsunami hit the Asian rim in December 2004. WMI mobilized to deliver 108 filtration units to the area. At Extol a decision was made to send Van Dyken to Sri Lanka to help with the units’ installation. “The point was to have someone from Extol get experience with the units in a real situation to see how we could make them better,” Van Dyken said.
For two weeks in April 2005 he traveled to Sri Lankan tent villages. Saltwater had contaminated their open wells, so survivors were dependent on the water in nearby ponds and streams. Each filtration unit Van Dyken and other WMI volunteers set up purifies 10,000 gallons per day, enough for 3,000 people. As relief work transitions to development work, the filtration units continue to supply water free of the pathogens that cause the deaths of 4 million children every year in the developing world.
Van Dyken returned with ideas for how the filtration units’ valves and hoses could be simplified. Its simplicity is the beauty of the Living Water Treatment System, he said, and critical in training local people to operate and maintain it.
Extol engineers have made the valve improvements, and the company continues to commit resources to WMI projects.
If the opportunity comes, Ken Van Dyken says he’d like to install more units: “I’d go again in a heartbeat.” | <urn:uuid:347e21bc-434c-4c73-8e65-3b964b34296e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calvin.edu/academic/engineering/alumni/vandyken.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965499 | 706 | 1.78125 | 2 |
MANY THE MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS that bowl me over. But few that I return to as frequently as to Dame Evelyn Glennie’s “teaching the world to listen”. Here is passion, here is excellence, here is an invitation to take notice … every day. There’s Gospel in here, not least because Dame Evelyn “hears” the beat, the rhythm, the soaring melodies of life (in a New York subway train clattering over a bridge, in street sirens, in a crowd of people on the move, for example) though she is profoundly deaf.
Would that I were able to take delighted notice of the music of life every day. I try, of course – that’s what prayer’s about: taking notice – of breath, of strength, of weakness, of vulnerability, of faith, of hope, of love, of joy, of gladness, of badness and sadness, of sounds and of silence, of the “still, small voice of calm”. And yet I know that my life would be immeasurably changed for the better if I didn’t constantly forget the reasoned reminder of Jesus: “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
There’s a balance to be struck between listening to our own inner voice and the wisdom and direction of the voices around us – what the Church might usefully call “body language” or “collaborative living” (a fuller extension of the more usual “collaborative ministry”). When my parish was looking for a new parish priest the Profile that the Parochial Church Council and other parish representatives drew up requested of the bishop a priest who would function like the conductor of an orchestra – not trying to play every instrument him / herself but, rather, noticing the music that emanated from the lives of those around him / her and encouraging a bringing together of these voices, encouraging harmony, encouraging what I myself think of as a kind of musical Shalom. And that’s a vision that has always spoken to my soul. Benjamin Zander, the charismatic conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, writes and speaks with passion of how fundamentally necessary it is for an individual player to listen out for the “voices” around her – in order to have a proper sense of the direction of a piece, of its life.
So we need breathing space. Listening space. Attention giving space. And we have to practice night and day. Dame Evelyn draws our attention to the spaces between sounds and she shows us that it’s possible to believe both in the music of life, and in the spaces, and in ourselves. Dame Evelyn’s vibrant life and example gives me courage and hope; she is living embodiment of what one of our more glorious Common Worship Eucharistic prefaces fabulously calls “the silent music of [God's] praise”; with the breath of God in her, with divine rhythm, she inspires. I aspire.
See also: Teaching the world to listen | <urn:uuid:4f02e476-cd66-4139-aa3f-2c18f4c723b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://simonmarsh.org/tag/benjamin-zander/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953273 | 647 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Albert J. Marro / Staff FILE Photo
The proposed site for a methadone clinic in Rutland is in building 10 at The Howe Center.
Rutland may need to wait a year for a proposed methadone clinic to open.
Originally scheduled to open in October 2012, the drug treatment program for addictions to opiate drugs such as heroin and prescription painkillers will be delayed at least a year from that date and maybe longer, according to state Department of Health officials.
In November, Health Commissioner Harry Chen said he hoped the facility would open at some point this year — the sooner the better.
Last month, Deputy Health Commissioner Barbara Cimaglio, who oversees Vermont’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse program, told legislators the clinic would be open by January 2014.
In an email interview Friday, Cimaglio said she anticipated an earlier opening date of October or November.
But whether the clinic opens nine months or 11 months from now, Rutland officials said Friday they’re upset with the delays.
“I’m very frustrated,” Rutland Police Chief James Baker said. “It’s a big part of what’s needed to address the opiate problem in this city. I’m frustrated that it will be at least a year later than expected.”
Baker spoke out at a number of public hearings held last month to inform city residents and hear their feedback to the proposed facility where addicts would be administered their doses of methadone — a drug that blocks the cravings for opiates without producing a high.
Supporters of the methadone clinic, including Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras, also deferred to public concerns about two proposed locations for the treatment center before achieving public consensus for a site inside the Howe Center.
Building 10 in the industrial complex is still the intended home for the clinic although renovations to the space still need to be made.
After all the work put into garnering public support and finding a home for the facility, Louras said the continued delays in opening the center were unacceptable.
“I was willing to accept a six- to nine-month wait from (the October 2012) date. Anything further than June or July would be very disconcerting,” Louras said. “The city did a lot of heavy lifting to make this happen and it’s needed even more now than it was before.”
The delayed opening has been mainly due to a financial impasse between the state and Rutland Mental Health Services, which had originally agreed to run the center.
Dan Quinn, CEO of RMHS, said last year the state’s plan of serving no fewer than 400 patients in the clinic’s first year would have cost his organization as much as $300,000 in uncovered expenses during the first two years of operations.
On Friday, Quinn, who operated a methadone clinic in Massachusetts, said the state’s plan of opening the clinic by October was doable but a challenge.
“I think you’re looking at a good five months until the doors could open,” he said. “If someone signed a contract to run it today you would still need five months minimum to find and train the staff, renovate the space, and get it all up and running. It’s not a small issue here.”
Alan Aiken, the director of methadone clinics in Berlin, St. Johnsbury and Newport operated by Baart Behavioral Health, said he too believes the state will be faced with a logistical challenge to open the clinic this year.
“It can be a slow, tedious and time-consuming process, and 400 patients in one year is certainly a challenge,” he said. “Just recruiting certified or appropriate people is a challenge in itself. There’s not a lot of people in the workforce who have that kind of training coming in.”
Cimaglio said earlier in the week she hoped the state and Rutland Regional Medical Center, which is assisting the department, are just weeks away from reaching an agreement with a provider to run the facility — a first step that would allow work on every other aspect of the start-up to begin.
While the methadone treatment clinic might be delayed for months, Cimaglio did say the health department has approved three primary care facilities in Rutland to help treat opiate addictions.
Those doctors will help by providing other forms of medication treatment, such as buprenorphine, and counseling, she said.
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SAN MATEO -- Three dozen college-age kids in T-shirts and flip-flops rise from their plastic Adirondack chairs in the great room of the Benjamin Franklin Hotel and place their hands over their hearts.
"I will promote freedom at all costs," they say in unison. "I will do everything in my power to drive, build and pursue progress and change. My brand, my network, and my reputation are paramount."
They continue their daily affirmation, aka the "superhero pledge," for another minute and then sit back down for morning announcements. The night before, they played "Monopoly" and their leader, a prominent Menlo Park investor, wonders if they absorbed the lesson of mortgaging to lever up.
If this doesn't seem like a snapshot from a traditional business school, that's precisely the point. This is Draper University of Heroes, brainchild of free-spirited venture capitalist Tim Draper, who is busy transforming a dilapidated Third Avenue landmark into what he hopes will be a world-class boarding school for young entrepreneurs.
The school has finished three weeks of a monthlong pilot program, a test run ahead of its anticipated opening in January, when it will begin offering four 10-week courses a year. The refurbishment of the nine-story building is incomplete, but it has been fixed up enough to house this first group of students.
Participants in the pilot have logged 12 hours a day on
The students have also been able to tap into Draper's expertise and vast professional network. On Thursday, they listened as the founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson quizzed executives of San Mateo tech company Backblaze about their business model. On Friday they paid a visit to the old NUMMI plant in Fremont, where they met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The program will culminate next week when each student pitches a business idea to a roomful of venture capitalists.
It has been a rewarding adventure for Cameron Barnes, a 19-year-old incoming sophomore at the University of New Mexico.
"The experience of doing something completely different from other schools is really beneficial," said Barnes. "All these different activities, we don't know exactly why we're doing them, but later in life we can look back and pull from them."
No light gamble
Draper said he's pleased with the program, which the early investor in Hotmail and Skype has personally overseen. Regarding the comic-book vibe of the school's name, he said it reflects his belief that "the world needs more heroes." The morning recitation expresses a value system of fairness, hard work and enthusiasm.
"I hope that when in their travels the students come to a fork in the road, the pledge will help guide them to make the right choices," he said in an email.
Draper, who already owns the Benjamin Franklin and a former bank on Fourth Avenue, recently purchased a third building in downtown San Mateo. He paid $6.75 million for the Tudor-style edifice on Third Avenue across from the hotel, bringing his total investment in downtown real estate to $15.15, plus more than $1 million in renovations to the Benjamin Franklin.
The money and time he has spent on the school show Draper, known to perform a song extolling innovators he dubs "the riskmasters," isn't taking this gamble lightly.
"With the town's support," he said, "we hope to open what we expect to become the premier entrepreneurial development school and environment in the world."
Contact Aaron Kinney at 650-348-4357. Follow him at Twitter.com/kinneytimes. | <urn:uuid:de9849d6-caf2-4800-9c2c-8039d65eb548> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-times/ci_20930398 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965325 | 749 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Feeling vulnerable? Your department is viewed as overhead, and most of your costs relate to labor,making you an inviting target for accountants. Meanwhile, you're a victim of your own success: The more effective you are, the harder it is to justify your existence. "Why do we need to keep spending money on safety when our injuries are so far below the industry average?" asks the boss. You try to document a return on investment, but how do you prove safety training actually increases productivity? Many safety and health pros have lived with this sense of insecurity for years. Their out has been OSHA,there's a reason they said, "Our Savior Has Arrived" when the agency came on the scene in 1970. "We've always been viewed as a regulatory shield," says one pro. But now OSHA isn't the driving force it once was. What do you do when your shield isn't needed? "In the last ten years, I bet our 60 facilities haven't received $100,000 total in OSHA penalties," says an industrial hygienist. "We seldom get hit with a fine over $20,000, and OSHA will knock it down to $10,000. That's not going to get management's attention." Today, most businesses across the U.S. see OSHA as weak, muzzled,basically not an issue. Only small employers still seem intimidated. Republicans in Congress and powerful industry groups have effectively blocked new standards. OSHA's two regulatory priorities,setting rules for ergonomics and basic safety and health programs,are years from becoming law. Inspections, meanwhile, hover around 35,000 annually,half the number conducted in OSHA's go-go years of the 1970s. Complicating matters is the fact that injury and illness rates have never been better for many safety and health pros. Across U.S. industry, in 1996, (the most recent year reported) the total incidence rate of injuries and illnesses reached an all-time low,7.4 cases per 100 full-time workers,according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only seven percent of readers responding to Industrial Safety & Hygiene New's most recent 'White Paper' survey said their rates deteriorated in 1997. These rates are often the only measuring stick used by plant managers to assess safety and health activity. When rates are low, it's tempting for harried managers to cross safety off the long list of agenda items to worry about. Workers' compensation costs will get management's attention, too. But here again, good news is a mixed blessing. After escalating an average of 15 percent every year from 1985 to 1992, comp costs decreased three percent annually from 1992 to 1995. "Our workers' comp costs are just not that significant," says the industrial hygienist. "It's tough to convince managers to invest in safety and health when comp costs are running $7,000 to $10,000 a year. Especially when they need to hire people for production." So how do you convince managers to maintain or increase safety and health budgets when other priorities are more pressing, and no new standards loom on the horizon? The question may be less urgent at the moment because six straight years of economic growth in the 1990s have allowed many safety and health departments to be bankrolled without great scrutiny. But what happens when business slows, as it inevitably does, and the hard questions start coming? Living in a world beyond OSHA requires you to ask tough financial questions before someone else does. To deal with your fears and prejudices about business realities. To learn the language of accountants. And to perhaps think of safety and health work as you never have before. The remainder of this report offers five specific steps to help you survive and thrive, and three case studies show how savvy professionals are adjusting to safety and health's "new world order."
Case Study Imagine a safety and health specialist solving a manufacturing problem and saving his company $500,000 a year. That's what Stephen Gutmann did for 3M Corporation. Gutmann, senior ergonomics specialist in 3M's industrial hygiene services group, and his staff applied their expertise,and some business sense,to a tape coating operation. Employees begin the process by picking up and inserting metal shafts weighing up to 70 pounds into huge rolls of film. The six-foot wide, four-foot in diameter rolls, each weighing 2,000 pounds, are then hoisted mechanically and moved through a coating and drying process. Gutmann's staff was concerned that one employee lifted the metal shaft and inserted it in the roll. NIOSH's lifting guide indicated that 70-pound loads could lead to back and shoulder injuries. But they also noticed that the aging steering mechanism did not maneuver the film through the process evenly, leaving much of the film uncovered and wasting thousands of rolls of tape. That discovery turned into a key selling point for ergonomic improvements. Gutmann told management that a new steering mechanism would eliminate tape waste and save money, in addition to reducing ergonomic injuries and saving workers' compensation costs. Management bought the idea, and a new steering mechanism for $30,000. 3M is now saving $500,000 a year in tape waste. Gutmann suggests backing up your ideas with a second opinion from others in the company, such as an engineer. For example, if Gutmann wanted management to buy a lifting table for workers setting boxes of 3M products on pallets, he says, "I would tell execs, 'A company engineer agrees with the safety staff that if you eliminate this productivity problem [by purchasing a lift table], workers' comp costs will decrease'." Gutmann uses productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction issues when he can. The lift table, for example, would make lifting and packing tasks easier for workers, especially new ones, he says. "It would also cut down on shipping errors because of a simplified packing process." Finally, Gutmann would tell 3M management that the new lift table could help workers lighten loads of products in boxes, which customers would appreciate.
Building a business case
Case Study "We track our accident rates by Sigma levels to which engineers can relate," says Leslie Peterson, manager of safety and industrial hygiene for Motorola's Land Mobile Products Sector in Schaumburg, Ill. In tying the information to the company's 6 Sigma quality initiative, her department taps into the corporate culture to convey health and safety messages to management. "You can have only 3.4 defects per million opportunities, and we see every accident as a defect," she explains. By 1999, Peterson's department aims to achieve a ten-fold reduction in the facility's accident rate, compared to a 1994 baseline. Despite the fact that the safety performance has been 70 percent below the industry average over the past four years, according to OSHA statistics, Peterson and her staff are striving to reduce overall incidents of accidents by another 65 percent. Their work is aided by 100 small-group safety committees that conduct inspections, review accident statistics, discuss safety issues, and recognize coworkers who have done something to improve safety awareness. Peterson's department prepares Total Environmental Management charts that use Motorola's performance measurement system. TEM metrics cover recordable incidents, that is OSHA 200 log cases, hazardous waste generation, landfill waste disposal, and hazardous material usage. It's another way of expressing health and safety issues in engineering and statistical terms, which can then be linked to Motorola's quality-oriented culture.
Forging links to quality
Case Study You won't find environmental health and safety performance metrics tied to the bottom line at ITT Industries. "We are beyond it," says Usha Wright, vice president and associate general counsel, environmental, safety and health at ITT in White Plains, N.Y. "Top management is already persuaded that [EHS] makes good business sense. Our CEO believes that the cost of preventing problems is cheaper than correcting them." That's not to say ITT isn't interested in measuring performance. Six metrics are used to evaluate environmental health and safety program initiatives: the frequency and severity of injuries and illnesses; workers' compensation costs; volume of hazardous materials used, including chemicals; reduction of waste; and tracking corrective measures. "We especially track corrective measures to find out whether they have been done or not done on time," Wright says. "And we do measure the delinquency rate of corrective measures because our ultimate goal is zero." Each plant sets its own goals for injury and illness frequency and severity, and evaluates its performance against all six metrics on a quarterly basis. Once every two to three years all manufacturing plants undergo internal audits to ensure that they are in compliance with regulations and with the company's own requirements and standards. But Wright doesn't track audit findings. "I want the plant managers to open up their plants to audits so that we can find the problem and fix it internally," she says. | <urn:uuid:e44b0544-299f-4f56-aca1-f074f6578daf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ishn.com/articles/living-in-a-world-beyond-osha | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961501 | 1,802 | 1.601563 | 2 |
On the demo tape that won him a record deal back in 1991, Bottle Rockets' leader Brian Henneman sang a song about Neil Young. Fittingly, Henneman's portrait (co-written with longtime collaborator Scott Taylor) was more of a woodcut than a watercolor. “Neil once voted Republican,” sings Henneman in one verse. “And that pissed off a lot of fans / He's just a guy who gets confused / He's a lot like me / He's a lot like you.”
The song nails both the confusion and the common touch in Young's politics. Ecology, poverty, the drug, and Richard Nixon are recurring themes, but the overall impression left with the listener is that of a man striking a series of eccentric postures. It is the politics of the wet middle finger held in the air to gauge the breeze.
Yet puzzling out those politics is essential to understanding Young's artistry. Throughout much of his career, and on his latest record, Greendale (Reprise), Young's middle finger has been more than a gesture. It has been a way to tell -- and without a Weatherman -- which way America's political winds are blowing.
Young offered few hints about his politics in his early songs. It was Steven Stills, not Young, who penned Buffalo Springfield's lone hit, the much-ballyhooed protest anthem “For What It's Worth.”
Young's first songs, meanwhile, reveled in self-absorption. Even as his skills sharpened (Buffalo Springfield's “Mr. Soul” and “Broken Arrow,” or early solo tracks such as “The Loner” and “Cowgirl in the Sand”), his lyrics remained fiercely jealous of their own privacy.
Young's initial stint with Crosby, Stills and Nash, in 1969, marked the first emergence of a political side to his music, but it was a surprising spark. After all, CSN's eponymous first record was a pure folk-pop confection, with nary a trace of the previous year's turbulence in its grooves. Yet it was Crosby, Still, Nash & Young that recorded “Ohio,” Young's bleak, anarchic elegy for those who died in the shootings at Kent State University on May 4, 1971.
Thirty-three years later, “Ohio” remains the touchstone for American protest rock. In its mere 55 words (one repeated verse bookending a repeated chorus), it proved more articulate than any other such song from that era.
Place the economical rage of “tin soldiers and Nixon coming” alongside the Doors' hammy dirges, or the Jefferson Airplane's histrionics (1969's Volunteers), or the hippy-dippy nonsense cranked out by Young's own bandmates (David Crosby's “Almost Cut My Hair” on Déjà Vu, or Graham Nash's hysterical agit-pop sing-along “Chicago” from 4 Way Street). Young's song trumps them all.
“Ohio” gave Young a taste for the megaphone. His first solo record after joining CSNY, After the Goldrush, infused his cryptic contrarianism with a new willingness to tackle issues larger than himself.
There were growing pains, of course. “Southern Man” was dated before the record's August 1970 release. After the Goldrush's title track was more successful: Its symbolism was dizzyingly potent, yet its despairing ecological message was unambiguous.
Young's biggest hit, Harvest (1972), put politics back on the shelf, aside from another slap at the South of George Wallace on “Alabama.” Yet the scandal brewing in Richard Nixon's White House threw politics on the nation's front burner, and America's anger, disillusionment, and sheer exhaustion found its quintessential rock reflection in Young's music of that era.
Much of what has been written about Young's classic mid-'70s troika -- Time Fades AwayOn the Beach (1974), and Tonight's the Night (recorded in 1973, released in 1975) -- focuses on the personal crises that inspired these records. Drug-related deaths among Young's musical colleagues and hangers-on did play a major role in shaping them, but the records also possess oft-ignored political and cultural commentary.
On the surface, there were the bizarre references to Miami Beach (where both Nixon and George McGovern were nominated in 1972) in the liner notes and on tour. The cover of On the Beach features a copy of a newspaper with the headline “Senator Buckley Calls On Nixon To Resign.”
Dig deeper into the songs, and there are many pronouncements. “All day presidents look out windows,” sings Young on the title track of Time Fades Away. “All night sentries watch the moonglow.” On the Beach's final song, “Ambulance Blues,” takes Nixon head-on with a verse that repeats to end the song: “I never knew a man could tell so many lies / He had a different story for every set of eyes / How can he remember who he's talkin' to? / 'Cause I know it ain't me, and I hope it isn't you.”
But it's not only Watergate that bothered Young. He was obsessed with the dark detritus that had washed up in the wake of the changes of the 1960s. On The Beach's “Revolution Blues” ranks among the scariest songs that Young has recorded, catching the gleeful psychopathic mayhem of Charles Manson and his followers in bold lyrical strokes such as “I see bloody fountains / And 10 million dune buggies / Comin' down the mountains.”
But perhaps Tonight's the Night strikes the most abrupt note, with the explicit rejection of the Woodstock where CSNY had performed and subsequently celebrated with a cover of Joni Mitchell's song on that record's “Roll Another Number (For the Road)”: “I'm not goin' back to Woodstock for a while / Though I long to hear that lonesome hippie smile / I'm a million miles away / From that helicopter day / No, I don't believe I'll be goin' back that way.”
When critics tout Tonight's the Night as a link in the evolutionary chain that created punk, it's usually these lyrics that they point to as proof. But these words -- along with the much-debated “Campaigner,” which appeared on his 1977 three-record greatest-hits collection, Decade -- were also Neil Young's final spade of dirt on the era's idealism and agony.
Re * Ac* Tion* Ary
“Campaigner” is a song that is much misunderstood. It has been cited countless times as the dawn of Young's reactionary politics, mostly due to the tune's repeated insistence that “even Richard Nixon has got soul.”
Extended and ultimately fruitless exegeses aside, let's simply observe that the song turns that notorious phrase over and over, as a cat might toy with a trapped mouse. What can be said with little dispute is that the era to which “Campaigner” belongs is the one in which Young transformed himself from an observer to a pundit of sorts.
1979's Rust Never Sleeps has been justly celebrated as one of Young's best works. Haunted by history, obsessed with aging and violence in equal measure, the record boasts some of Young's best work. But it also held hints of a newly minted reactionary strain in his songwriting. “Welfare Mothers” ranks high among the meanest songs that he's written, a theme song of sorts for the bashing of the poor that heralded Ronald Reagan's election.
It was around this time that Young began giving interviews in which he made himself out to be something of a redneck, insulting Jimmy Carter and celebrating Reagan's defense policies. Young's songs of the era made similar noises. Check out the title track of 1980's Hawks & Doves, which wallowed shamelessly in its jingoism. Once again, Young's wet middle finger had caught the wind of political change.
Just as his records in the 1980s and '90s ruthlessly shed musical skins (soft country to metallic rock to something akin to Kraftwerk on Trans), they also took up multiple causes and spoke with multiple voices. The effect was jarring and confusing. The voices not only mixed, they ultimately shouted each other down. There's Young championing the family farm at Farm Aid. There's Young railing against the corporate takeover of music on 1988's This Note's for You. There's Young touring with the ultimate nostalgia trip, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Young's restless contrarianism had become something closer to aimlessness.
It's a state of mind best summed up in Young's most popular song of the period. 1989's “Rockin' in the Free World” recycled the scuzzy street scene that he's been fond of evoking since 1973's “Time Fades Away.” There's anger in the song, but it's a directionless anger, bouncing from anti-American hatred (“Don't feel like Satan / But I am to them) to self-loathing and dread (“We got a thousand points of light / For the homeless man / We got a kinder, gentler / Machine-gun hand”). “Rockin' in the Free World” is less an anthem than a Babel of image and sloganeering that perfectly echoed its time rather than interpreting it.
Whether Young had lost his touch by the turn of the millennium was an open question. The terrorist attacks of September 11 didn't rouse his muse in any useful manner, if the blundering hamfistedness of “Let's Roll” (“We're goin' after Satan / On the wings of a dove”) on Are You Passionate? was any indication.
But Young's latest record, Greendale, offers strong evidence of his continuing relevance. Not that Greendale isn't complicated or messy or contrary -- it's all of those and more. But the record's gambit of short stories set in an imaginary town does yoke Young's political sloganeering to a sturdy narrative.
Greendale's story pivots on the senseless shooting of a cop in a sleepy, complacent town, and Young layers the voices of characters and shifts perspectives in a way that conjures the complexity and grit of HBO's terrific serial The Wire (which also essays America's war on drugs). It creates a space for Young to adopt personas who opine on politics, law enforcement, the media, and the environment.
The record is filled with gems of observation that recall Young's best work. On “Leave the Driving,” he relates the incident that shakes the town's complacency, then pulls back for a second to put this small tragedy in a larger context that “Let's Roll” notably fumbled: “The whole town was stunned / They closed the coast highway for 12 hours / No one could believe it / Jed was one of ours. / Meanwhile across the ocean / Living in the Internet / Is the cause of an explosion / No one has heard yet.”
Greendale's clumsy cops, earth freaks, and exploding nuclear families represent a refreshing return to form for Young -- and not a moment too soon. In a musical culture that's increasingly escapist, the contrary and changeable Neil Young is now the closest thing to a bastion of reality in rock and roll. That Young is once again saying something meaningful from that platform is a welcome development.
Richard Byrne's writing on music, politics and foreign affairs has appeared in Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Boston Phoenix and New York Press.
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(If there's one thing we know about comment trolls, it's that they're lazy) | <urn:uuid:ed03ce11-e061-4e51-986d-9d049b2737bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prospect.org/article/please-come-ohio | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964934 | 2,523 | 1.632813 | 2 |
New Pennsylvania Dairy Leadership Council to identify critical issues facing the dairy industry.
Rutter is one of 25 council members representing each key segment within Pennsylvania’s dairy industry named to the Leadership Council, which will make recommendations to the governor on policies, procedures, regulations and legislation that may aid in the development of the dairy industry.
Chaired by Agriculture Secretary George Greig, the council will be responsible for identifying critical issues facing the dairy industry in areas such as dairy farm profitability, environmental compliance for dairy operations, dairy cattle welfare, family and next generation dairy producer opportunities, U.S. Farm Bill and federal dairy policy as well as Pennsylvania dairy policy and legislation.
The council was created by executive order to coordinate the development and expansion of the dairy industry in Pennsylvania.
Rutter’s Dairy is a third-generation dairy business serving Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. Rutter’s Farm Stores debuted in 1967 as an additional outlet for Rutter’s Dairy products. Today, Rutter’s Farm Stores has more than 55 stores in Pennsylvania. | <urn:uuid:1796e48a-0895-4ac5-a966-ee0cac4c463f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csdecisions.com/2011/10/07/todd-rutter-to-join-dairy-leadership-council/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950776 | 217 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Election Day is almost a month behind us, and a healthy majority of the country — even healthier in Tompkins County — has been celebrating the victory of President-Elect Barack Obama. Still, I was amazed how many Cornell students I spoke with on Nov. 4, who did not vote. In such a historical election, I cannot understand how this is possible. For those people who used the excuse "my vote doesn't count in liberal Ithaca, New York" — you were wrong. Here is why:
This year in Tompkins County, two U.S. House of Representatives seats were up for election, as well as seats in the State Senate and State Assembly. Thanks to the interesting shape of the district we are located in, several seats held close elections.
Ithaca falls mostly in District 22 but the surrounding area falls mostly in District 24 in the U.S. House. Running, as incumbent in the 22nd District was Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), opposed by George Phillips (R). Congressman Hinchey was reelected by a two-to-one margin. In the 24th District, first term Democrat Michael Arcuri ran a highly contested race against Republican Richard Hanna in which he won with just 52 percent of the vote. Both Congressman Hinchey and Congressman Arcuri have spoken at Cornell several times. Hinchey, whose daughter Michelle is a senior, has been instrumental in bringing federal funding to Cornell. On his last visit, the Congressman addressed the need for more research in renewable energy.
In the State Senate races, Ithaca belongs to the 53rd District, with the 51st and 54th Districts also part of Tompkins County. All three incumbent Republican State Senators were reelected. In the 51st District, Democrat Don Barber, town supervisor of Caroline, ran a grass roots campaign focusing on economic development, environmental issues, health care and education. Barber — who constantly reached out to the Cornell community throughout his campaign — was defeated by Rep. James Seward (D-N.Y.). In Ithaca's 53rd District, Rep. George Winner (R-N.Y.) was reelected and is currently working to fasten liquor license applications within the District. In the 54th District, Rep. Michael Nozzolio '73 (R-N.Y.), defeated Paloma Capanna.
At the State Assembly level, Tompkins County falls within the 125th District, where Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (D) was reelected without opposition. When she first joined the legislature, Assemblywoman Lifton sponsored bill that would give partial compensation to areas in New York with state universities that were tax exempt, like Ithaca.
Regardless of political inclinations or the Electoral College, this year's election was an important one, whether you live in Cleveland, Ohio or Ithaca, New York. Here, the State Senate and Assembly have already played an important role in preparing for budget cuts. These are of tremendous importance to Cornell and Cornell students, who count on New York State funding for student loans, research grants, student activity funding and more. In sum, your vote counted as much as you think each dollar cut from your student loans counts. | <urn:uuid:c596aaa6-af68-4c29-8482-6c0a6686d5de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cornellsun.com/node/33863 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981685 | 663 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Quality is the cornerstone of every successful, customer-centered cleaning organization.
That''s why it''s one of the five key principles that make up the framework of the Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS).
Under CIMS, implementing a quality system is a must.
The criteria for quality systems includes defining cleaning service requirements, implementing a quality plan, measuring performance, obtaining customer feedback and committing to continual improvement.
While each cleaning organization can use its own tools and tactics to meet the quality systems requirement, the starting point is the customer''s definition of quality.
Quality is best defined as "meeting customer requirements."
For each customer, cleaning organizations should have a written scope of work or performance outcome that defines the customer''s expectations for each facility.
The scope of work includes mutually agreed-upon tasks and frequencies and/or a description of how the customer defines clean.
However, simply meeting what''s written in the scope of work may not be enough in customers'' eyes.
Customers'' needs and expectations constantly evolve, which makes providing quality services even more challenging for service providers.
To keep up with a shifting scope of work and be positioned to provide quality services, organizations can measure quality in two ways: Subjectively — with customers'' opinions — and objectively — using hard data and impartial information from customers.
Watch The Subjective
The definition of "clean" is very subjective and varies from person to person.
Subjective measures of quality in the cleaning industry are problematic because they are largely perception based.
Typical subjective questions are:
- How satisfied are you with the quality of the services?
- How likely are you to recommend the services to a colleague?
- How can we improve our existing services?
- What services would you like to see us offer in the future?
For example, consider the response from a property manager in a large building the day after the chief executive''s trash was missed.
A million square feet could have been cleaned perfectly, but the subjective answers would likely be poor.
The result is that cleaning service providers frequently find themselves in the unenviable situation of meeting or exceeding the performance requirements only to be confronted by a less than satisfied customer.
That''s why it''s imperative that cleaning organizations commit to objectively measuring the quality.
Objective measurement should be the foundation for your quality system.
Your measurement system does not need to be complex.
Review the scope of work and check to ensure what''s written in the scope is being performed by cleaning staff, focusing on tasks and frequencies and asking "yes" or "no" questions as to whether or not each was performed.
Simple "yes" and "no" answers produce more consistent measurements and can help you determine whether your organization is meeting the performance requirement.
Rigorous measurement, consistently gathered and tracked, is the key to proactively identifying opportunities for improvement.
Hard data provides an excellent counterpoint to a customer''s subjective feedback.
Objective data can also be used to validate the customer''s subjective feedback.
When data doesn''t match the customer''s perception, it''s useful to explore the reason for the gap.
When there''s a difference of this sort, one of two things should happen: The data collection method should be modified to more closely match what customer experiences or the customer may also need to be educated about performance levels, as providing objective data can help shape perceptions and can be used to build consensus.
In either case, the key is to use your quality system to build customer communication.
The goal for cleaning organizations is to drive the kind of customer satisfaction that leads them to tell colleagues and other potential customers about the cleaning organization and service.
Remember, quality is a process — not an end result.
Cleaning organizations that gather feedback, measure results and take action to achieve continuous improvement are the ones that build long-term customers.
Jim Peduto is the president of Matrix Integrated Facility Management LLC and the co-founder of the American Institute for Cleaning Sciences (AICS). AICS is the registrar for ISSA''s Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) certification program. Visit www.ISSA.com/CIMS for more information. | <urn:uuid:ed8711bf-77b1-400e-a700-e2dd897d5c28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cmmonline.com/articles/do-you-provide-quality-service-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940541 | 875 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Bob Lutz, Contributor
I'm a car guy, and that's (mostly) what I write about.
We should, I guess, have seen it coming. After years of breathless hype surrounding the imminent triumph of electric vehicles, (wherein all participants, be they battery companies, the federal government or EV startups, got roundly drunk on their own wine), we now see all the revelers waking up to a colossal hangover.
Reality, that pernicious thing that keeps nastily intruding into dreams and theories, has struck once again.
Fond near-term visions of millions of EVs plying the nation’s highways while sales of “antiquated” gasoline cars languish have been replaced by the facts of low fuel prices, abundant oil supply, high EV prices, dire straits for EV startups like Fisker and Coda, and even outright Chapter 11 for A123, the U.S. government’s high-tech battery company and showcase for the Department of Energy’s efforts in the “clean fuels” arena.
So, what happened? Where and when did the wheels come off? The answer is … nothing! And the wheels aren’t off, they’re just turning slowly. The electric vehicle market is moving exactly as I have consistently predicted.
I have always maintained that pure EVs will have a limited future until there are cars selling for $30,000 with a reliable 300-mile range. Extended-range EVs (EREVs), like the Chevrolet Volt, overcome the range problem, but at a steep price premium. (The only segment where I see fast adoption of extended-range EVs is in full-size pickups, sports utilities and vans because their gasoline counterparts use so much fuel that the owner of an EREV version will actually save money almost from day one.)
I have steadfastly maintained that, by 2020, EVs, EREVs and strong hybrids might account for 10% of the U.S. market, or about 1.5 million units. We’re a long way from that now.
Ultimately, of course, the world will be populated by EVs only, and I make that prediction frequently. Trouble is, nobody quite seems to hear “ultimately,” or can’t or won’t understand it.
There are amazing similarities between the “dot-com bubble” of the nineties and the “EV bubble” of today. In both cases, mindless, even dogmatic enthusiasm was rewarded by harsh financial penalties.
We never seem to learn! (And the media always seem to play their role in keeping us stupid.) | <urn:uuid:fc93e19b-f6b4-49ce-9a29-f52ed79a2933> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/boblutz/2012/12/20/whats-gone-wrong-with-the-electric-vehicle-market-nothing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949986 | 556 | 1.71875 | 2 |
You will not be surprised to hear that I am not a fisherman. And the idea of a fish stuffed for display just never appealed to me. I also never appreciated the artistic talent required to re-create one of nature's wonders. The sculpture created by Janet Messineo of a "Striper at Dawn" is better than nature. It is better because you can study the colors and the shape of the fish without it darting out of sight. It is a remarkable piece of work. Don't miss it.
It might help if I told you it is one of several displays by 12 Island artists at the Louisa Gould Gallery on Beach Street Ext. This is part of Louisa's second annual Holiday Show featuring Small Wonders and Wildlife Art. There is an artists' reception on Friday from 5 to 7 pm.
The show includes Steve London's Japanese fish prints, Janet Messineo's wildlife sculptures and pins, and paintings by Gray Parks, William Blakeslee, Tamar Russell, Marston Clough, Howard Park, Nathan Shepard and Traeger di Pietro, as well as ceramics by Bill Jewitt. They can all be viewed online at www.louisagould.com
While I am on the subject of sculptors, can anyone give me information on a sculptor named Sanford Evans who was working on the Island back in the early 1970s?
This is the season to consider helping others. Hear one woman's story of how she is making a difference in our global community and purchase some of the beautiful crafts she has brought from Africa. Marsha Winsryg will tell the story of her personal journey from the Vineyard to Zambia that resulted in a non-profit project that now benefits African artists and HIV/AIDS victims. Learn more at the Vineyard Haven Library next Tuesday at 6:30 pm.
Don't forget the Tisbury School Book Fair next week. You can get a good buy on all kinds of children's books: picture books, sports and activity books, chapter books, science books, and such things as science fair kits, etc. Shop from 2:45 pm Monday through Thursday and benefit your Tisbury School.
It would really be a happy turkey day if only we could figure out how to get every person to eat an Island turkey this holiday.
Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out to my favorite roofer, Chris Chandler. He celebrates on Sunday.
Heard on Main Street: "Count your blessings." | <urn:uuid:0dae1c75-f0b3-4786-bd88-5a16f0bebe7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mvtimes.com/calendar/2006/11/22/tisbury.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956693 | 507 | 1.726563 | 2 |
9.2-1 Burglary in the First Degree -- § 53a-101 (a) (1) and (2)
Revised to April 23, 2010
The defendant is charged [in count __] with burglary in the first degree. The statute defining this offense reads in pertinent part as follows:
a person is guilty of burglary in the first degree when (he/she) unlawfully (enters / remains in)1 a building with intent to commit a crime therein and <insert appropriate subsection:>
§ 53a-101 (a) (1): (he/she) is armed with explosives or a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.
§ 53a-101 (a) (2): in the course of committing the offense, (he/she) intentionally, knowingly or recklessly inflicts or attempts to inflict bodily injury on anyone.
For you to find the defendant guilty of this charge, the state must prove the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
Element 1 - Entered/Remained in
The first element is that the defendant knowingly and unlawfully (entered / remained in) a building. A person acts "knowingly" with respect to conduct or circumstances when (he/she) is aware that (his/her) conduct is of such nature or that such circumstances exist. <See Knowledge, Instruction 2.3-3>.
Ordinarily, "building" implies a structure that may be entered and used by people as a residence or for business or for other purposes involving occupancy by people, whether or not it is actually entered and used as such. <Insert one or both of the following parts of the definition as appropriate:>
The statutory definition expands this definition to include, in addition to what we ordinarily know as a building, any watercraft, aircraft, trailer, sleeping car, railroad car, other structure or vehicle or any building with a valid certificate of occupancy.
The statutory definition also provides that where a building consists of separate units, such as, but not limited to separate apartments, offices or rented rooms, any unit not occupied by the defendant is, in addition to being a part of such building, a separate building. In other words, any one of these separate units, separately secured or occupied, when intruded upon, may be considered a "building," plus the whole building is considered a "building" for purposes of any unlawful intrusion into any part of it.
You must also determine whether the defendant unlawfully (entered / remained in) the building. A person unlawfully (enters / remains in) a building when the building, at the time, is not open to the public and the defendant is not licensed or privileged to do so. To be "licensed or privileged," the defendant must either have consent from the person in possession of the building or have some other right to be in the building.
[To "enter" a building the intruder need not necessarily place (his/her) entire body inside the building. Inserting any part of (his/her) body, or an implement or weapon held by (him/her), within the building is sufficient to constitute an entry as long as it is done without license or privilege. It does not matter how an intruder may actually have entered; if (he/she) did so without license or privilege, (he/she) has entered unlawfully.]
[A person may have entered a building lawfully, that is, (he/she) had the right or had been given permission, but that right is terminated or the permission withdrawn by someone who had a right to terminate or withdraw it. You may find that the defendant "unlawfully remained" in the building under these circumstances.]
Element 2 - Intent to commit
The second element is that the defendant unlawfully (entered / remained in) the building with the intent to commit a crime in the building. A person acts "intentionally" with respect to a result when (his/her) conscious objective is to cause such result. <See Intent: Specific, Instruction 2.3-1.>
Even if the defendant never actually committed a crime in the building, if the evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that (he/she) was there with such intention, this is sufficient to prove that the defendant unlawfully (entered / remained in) the building with the intent to commit a crime therein. Furthermore, the necessary intent to commit a crime must be an intent to commit either a felony or a misdemeanor in addition to the unlawful (entering / remaining in) the building.
In this case, the state claims that the defendant intended to commit <insert crime>. <Refer to the count in which this crime is charged or, if uncharged, give the elements of the crime.>
Element 3 - Weapon or injury
The third element is that <insert as appropriate:>
the defendant was armed with (explosives / a deadly weapon / a dangerous instrument) This means that the defendant at some point of (entering / remaining in)2 the building had actual physical possession of (explosives / a deadly weapon / a dangerous instrument). [<If explosives or a deadly weapon are alleged:> It is not necessary that the defendant actually use or even show it, or that any participant even know that the other has it in (his/her) possession. It does not matter how long a period of time any participant was so armed, or how quickly (he/she) came into possession of or disposed of such arms.] <Insert appropriate definitions:>
"Deadly weapon" is defined by statute as any weapon, whether loaded or unloaded, from which a shot may be discharged, or a switchblade knife, gravity knife, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, or metal knuckles.
"Dangerous instrument" means any instrument, article or substance which, under the circumstances in which it is used or attempted or threatened to be used, is capable of causing death or serious physical injury. "Serious physical injury" means physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious disfigurement, serious impairment of health or serious loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ. It is important to note that the article need not be inherently dangerous; all that is required is that the article was capable of causing death or serious physical injury under the circumstances in which it was used. Any article or substance, without limitation and even though harmless under normal use, may be found by you to be a dangerous instrument if, under the circumstances of its use or threatened or attempted use, it is capable of producing serious physical injury or death. The state need not prove that in fact death or serious physical injury resulted, only that the instrument had that potential under the circumstances.
"Explosive" is any chemical compound, mixture, or device that functions by explosion.3
in the course of committing the offense,4 the defendant (intentionally / knowingly / recklessly)5 inflicted or attempted to inflict bodily injury on someone. "Bodily injury" means impairment of physical condition or pain.6 The defendant need not actually have inflicted bodily injury on anyone as long as (he/she) attempted to inflict an injury on someone in the course of committing the burglary. An act is deemed to be "in the course of committing the offense," if it occurs in an attempt to commit the offense or flight after the attempt or commission.
In summary, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant 1) unlawfully (entered / remained in) a building, 2) (he/she) had the intent to commit a crime, and 3) <describe the allegations concerning weapons or injuries>.
If you unanimously find that the state
has proved beyond a reasonable doubt each of the elements of the crime of
burglary in the first degree, then you shall find the defendant guilty. On the
other hand, if you unanimously find that the state has failed to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt any of the elements, you shall then find the defendant not
1 Do not instruct on both "unlawful entering" and "unlawful remaining" if the information and the evidence could support a conceptual distinction between the two. See "enters or remains unlawfully" in the glossary.
2 The person must be armed while entering the building or while in the building. It does not include "while in immediate flight from." State v. Belton, 190 Conn. 496, 509-510 (1983); State v. Owens, 39 Conn. App. 45, 53, cert. denied, 235 Conn. 927 (1995) (reversed for improperly charging so). In State v. Grant, 177 Conn. 140, 146 (1979), there was evidence that a tire iron was used to break the window to gain entry to the building, but not that it was used against the person. "Whether a person arms himself with a dangerous instrument after entering the dwelling or enters the dwelling already armed is irrelevant with respect to his culpability under the statute." State v. Rozmyslowicz, 52 Conn. App. 149, 153 (1999); State v. Brooks, 88 Conn. App. 204, 210-11, cert. denied, 273 Conn. 933 (2005).
3 Also see definition in General Statutes § 29-343.
4 Note that one cannot "recklessly" attempt to inflict injury.
5 "In the course of" includes flight from. General Statutes § 53a-101 (b). See also State v. Maxwell, 29 Conn. App. 704, 712 (1992), cert. denied, 225 Conn. 904, cert. denied, 509 U.S. 930, 113 S.Ct. 3057, 125 L.Ed.2d 740 (1993) (rejecting defendant's claim that the injury occurred during a later altercation after he had fled the scene).
6 See State v. Coleman, 48 Conn. App. 260, 270-71 (1998) ("bodily injury" need not exclude "pain"); State v. Phillips, 17 Conn. App. 391, 393-94 (1989) (defining bodily injury with reference to pain did not mislead jury into thinking it could convict based on the victim's mental pain).
The elements of § 53a-101 (a) (1) are outlined in State v. Weaver, 85 Conn. App. 329, 342, cert. denied, 271 Conn. 942 (2004).
Burglary in the first degree
pursuant to § 53a-101 (a) (1) and § 53a-101 (a) (2) are separate offenses,
requiring proof of different elements. State v. Peay, 96 Conn. App. 421,
428-29, cert. denied, 280 Conn. 909 (2006). | <urn:uuid:3bcf166b-42d7-4f13-8a69-a87b7fa3a648> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jud.state.ct.us/JI/Criminal/Part9/9.2-1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934724 | 2,240 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling
This guest post is by Karen Driscoll, who is a Marine wife, mother of three (one with autism) and ACT Today! For Military Families Campaign Director.
The expression “Warrior Mom” is often used throughout the autism community. It is a badge of honor describing the battles mothers have engaged in to help their children experience the opportunities in life every child deserves. As Warrior Moms, we put our dukes up to fight for care and treatment; we work diligently to educate and build awareness within our communities, and we mentor and support others along the journey. We are fierce. We are wise. We are compassionate. We are Mothers.
“Warrior Mom” takes on a whole new meaning when put in the context of the military family impacted by autism. The military family wages a battle on two fronts: one for our country and another for our children. As a Marine wife and a mother of a young child with autism, this is very personal. I understand all too well the challenges autism brings to the military family and I have become a vocal advocate for our children with special needs.
I work alongside several other military spouses (across all branches of service) who have children with autism, to raise awareness of the challenges that military families with special needs face. Our mission is to enhance the quality of life for military families with disabilities and special healthcare needs by advocating for the medical necessity of evidence-based treatments and other much-needed family supports and assistance. Working toward comprehensive policy and legislative reform is never an easy task, especially when putting things in context of the Department of Defense or the Senate/House Armed Services Committee.
The statistics are staggering. One in 88 military children has a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, and less than 10 percent of these special children are receiving recommended care and treatments. This is why First Lady Michelle Obama met with Marine Corps families at Camp Pendleton recently to discuss policy reform and to work toward improving services and supports for military children. I was fortunate to be part of this important meeting with the First Lady and witness what another Marine wife described as “the opportunity for parents of children with autism to break through the glass ceiling” and reach key individuals who are in a position to resolve many of the issues our families face.
Mrs. Obama listened as parents highlighted the challenges military families with special needs experience to access appropriate care and treatment services through TRICARE, the health insurance system for members of the U.S. military. Families impacted by autism discussed the tremendous emotional and financial strains caused by the limited services under existing TRICARE programs and emphasized the importance of improving TRICARE coverage of autism care.
“My goal is to help the rest of our country better understand and appreciate the incredible service of you and your families, and to make sure your voices are heard back in Washington and that your needs are met,” said Mrs. Obama. “I am launching a national challenge to Americans to find ways to rally support of the military family. One percent of America may be fighting our wars, but 100% of America needs to be supporting parents in that fight.”
I am humbled by the First Lady’s commitment to the military child. Military families shoulder significant responsibilities today and make tremendous sacrifices few can fully appreciate. Military families impacted by autism have additional stresses as they cope with extraordinary circumstances and limited treatments our precious children urgently need and deserve. Autism is treatable, and with treatment our children can make significant gains, but funding for these vital services is limited and often elusive for the military family. I echo the First Lady’s challenge to America to please support military families who have sacrificed so much and I ask for your particular attention to the unique needs of military children with autism.
In the words of First Lady Michelle Obama, “We’re working to be an America where more people not only understand the service and sacrifice that [military] families make, but where more Americans take action to help lighten your load.” Military families deserve the quality of care equal to their heroic service and sacrifice in defense of our nation, our people, and our freedom.
To learn more about legislation and policy initiatives for the military family affected by autism, please visit www.autismvotes.org/military.
ACT Today! (Autism Care and Treatment Today!) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing funding to families that cannot afford or access the treatments their children with autism need. It was founded by Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, a renowned expert in the field of autism and Applied Behavior Analysis. Through direct donation, corporate sponsorship, and community generosity, ACT Today! is changing the lives of children TODAY. Recognizing the extraordinary challenges military families impacted by autism experience, ACT Today! has launched ACT Today! for Military Families a fundraising campaign benefiting military children with autism to help defray out of pocket medical costs. For more information on how to help a military family impacted by autism, go to: www.acttodayformilitaryfamilies.org. | <urn:uuid:9a4b2ef1-d73f-45c8-b7eb-b759e3fbe44f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.autismspeaks.org/2010/07/06/gr-driscoll/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=3b93935130 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961366 | 1,036 | 1.835938 | 2 |
RIAD? What is THAT?
RIAD is the International Association of Legal Protection Insurers and was founded in 1969 in Rome as “Rencontres Internationales des Assureurs Défense” in order to promote, as an independent organisation, the interests of specialists in legal protection of 8 European countries. Since then, the Association has grown considerably and represents today more than 60 undertakings from 17 European countries, Canada, South America, South Africa and Australia. RIAD Members carry on specialised services in the area of legal protection insurance, in particular providing legal advice, representing insured persons out-of-court as well as in-court, and bearing the costs of legal proceeding. They generate premium income of over €2.65bn and as facilitators of access to law and justice contribute to the welfare of its insureds.
RIAD, the association of legal protection insurers and service providers, is committed to promote via its global members easy, affordable and high quality access to justice and the law.
- RIAD members are specialised in providing insurance and/ or services in support of enforcing and defending individual legal rights:
- they provide their customers with the necessary resources to access high quality and readily available legal advice and services,
- they effectively shield customers from financial risks associated with the cost of enlisting legal professionals and accessing the justice system
- RIAD members give customers the highest quality of services enabling effective legal protection.
- RIAD members are guided by the highest standards of professional ethics as laid down in the association’s Code of Conduct.
RIAD Brand Essence:
RIAD is an association of legal protection insurers and service providers who apply a rigorous code of conduct in delivering their services.
RIAD’s means to achieve this are:
Adopting a stance with regard to legislative initiatives concerning the industry.
RIAD attentively monitors initiatives at International, European as well as national levels which might impact legal protection insurers and, as spokesperson for the industry, pronounces its Members’ position. In the regulatory process, in order to promote and defend its Members’ point of views, RIAD actively cooperates with international authorities and organisations, consumer protection associations and professional unions and makes its know-how and expertise available.
Providing relevant information for members and interested parties.
The Association provides for its members and third parties information to make known relevant developments on all levels, to spread the knowledge about the activity of legal protection insurance companies in society and to allow an effective representation of the industry’s interests. In this respect RIAD sees itself as a contact point for institutions, politicians, supervisory authorities, other stakeholders and representative bodies. The hosting of annual conventions provides a platform for regular contacts between all interested parties to follow-up topical issues and to promote affordable and high quality access to justice and the law.
Reinforcing the industry‘s voice and standing.
RIAD Members give customers the highest quality of services enabling effective legal protection. In order to establish the highest standards of professional ethics and to satisfy customers’ needs, RIAD Members have agreed on a Code of Conduct. With a view to strengthening legal protection insurance and the Association’s representative power, RIAD promotes these standards and constantly tries to win new members. | <urn:uuid:314fd6ef-1524-4284-98be-58215fa27880> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://riad-online.net/4.0.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936941 | 671 | 1.546875 | 2 |
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When Crystal Crampton heard that someone had offered to pay for 10 headstones at the Bucktoe Creek cemetery, she broke down in tears.
“It took a few days for me to process it,” Crampton said. “For someone to be so generous, especially with today’s economy, is just a blessing.”
For the past two years, Crampton has spearheaded efforts to restore the Civil War-era cemetery adjacent to the Bucktoe Creek Preserve in Kennett Township.
The cemetery lies in the former location of the New Garden Memorial UAME Church, of which Crampton is a lifelong member, and is part of a larger historic district.
Crampton first became aware of the cemetery in her youth, hearing stories from church elders and even visiting the spot a few times with her grandmother.
With the cemetery in disarray and with nearly all of the graves either unmarked or poorly designated, Crampton took it upon herself to try and change things for the better.
She also said that, with many of the other UAME members being advanced in years, if she didn’t take up the reins on the project it was unlikely anyone would.
“I believe that everyone deserves to matter, whether it’s a marker or a full headstone,” Crampton said. “It just kind of fell into my lap and I said, ‘well I’ll take it as far as I can.’ And I’m trusting that God is going to help me do it.”
The donation for the stones came just days after Crampton and the Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County held a kickoff for their “Stewards for a Stone” program, spurred by an article that ran in the Daily Local News.
The sweetheart donation from an anonymous donor will pay for 10 stones for the nearly 100 graves in the sprawling cemetery.
“I call them the angel of the cemetery,” Crampton said. “I didn’t think we would get such a quick response, I figured it would take more than a few years.”
At $432 a stone, it would take a donation of over $43,000 to equip every grave; the kickoff donation of $4,320, Crampton said, is still a major drop in the proverbial bucket.
Gwen Lacy, executive director at the land conservancy, said the cemetery is an important component of its “Living History” walks as well as a connection between the land and its history.
“We really wanted to see it preserved because it’s within one of the largest contiguous historic corridors in the township,” Lacy said.
Lacy said that when the conservancy first got involved with the cemetery, the pieces fell quickly into place as far as making the right connections to help the project take off.
The biggest piece of that puzzle, she said, was meeting restoration coordinator Gene Hough, who makes the stones himself from a latex cast of an existing stone.
Hough, who Lacy called “a one-man corporation,” runs Heritage Guild Works in Bryn Mawr.
Hough is going to cast the new stones over the winter, and hopes to have some of them in place by spring of 2013, according to Lacy.
Crampton said it was the association with the conservancy that helped get word of the project out to the public in the first place.
“It’s been a nice ride and a good partnership with them. They have me for life,” Crampton said.
She’s also still overwhelmed by the generosity of the people in the community who have helped support the project, from the private donor to the people who helped them bring in more than $100 at the kickoff.
“These people do exist,” Crampton said.
“It’s like Gene always said, magic happens when you’re working in a cemetery,” Lacy said. | <urn:uuid:6d2e7393-3048-4f11-9049-cd4321c19653> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20121115/NEWS01/121119726/donor-kicks-off-cemetery-campaign-with-big-gift | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976234 | 860 | 1.640625 | 2 |
United in their support, they gathered with members of GABEO, the NAACP and Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda to raise awareness for those who have experienced voter suppression and have been disenfranchised.
The GLBC will use all available resources to make sure those involved receive a fair trial and are reinstated to the job they were elected to do.
Three school board members and nine Brooks County residents were indicted on Nov. 22, 2011, on multiple counts of alleged unlawful possession of ballots.
The three suspended board members, who have not been convicted of any wrongdoing, were removed from their position on Jan.10, 2012, by an executive order from Gov. Nathan Deal.
During the news conference Tyrone Brooks said the indictments were "systematic of what is happening across America. This is the tip of the iceberg, voter suppression, voter intimidation, voter ID, cutting early voting, and anything they can do to tamper down the vote leading into the 2012 election."
A statement issued by the GLBC stated: "Under the protection of the Constitution, citizens of the United States are assumed innocent until proven guilty by the court of law. We have yet to receive any explanation as to why these board members were removed from their position before their case has been brought before a judge."
Participants in the news conference included several members of the Quitman 10, Sen. Emmanuel Jones, chair, GLBC; Dr. Joseph Echols Lowery, chair and convener, GCPA; and Kevin Miles, regional director NAACP.
The Quitman 10 will host the annual GABEO Winter Conference when the organization meets in Quitman, Ga., Feb. 24-26. The conference is open to the public.
The next event will be April 7 at noon – commemoration of the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and annual march on the Moore's Ford Bridge, 1st African Baptist Church, 130 Tyler St., Monroe, Ga., 30655 (corner of Main Street and Hwy. 11)
GABEO meets with the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda every Tuesday, at noon, SCLC Women, 328 Auburn Ave. at Hilliard Street, Atlanta.
For more information contact: Rep. Tyrone Brooks, 404-656- 6372 and 404-372-1894. Or visit www.ga-gabeo.org. Also visit www.gainformer.com and Google The Quitman 10. | <urn:uuid:e6111602-8e0a-484f-b690-e7b99ff7307d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://atlantadailyworld.com/201202281154/Education/gabeo-georgia-association-of-black-elected-officials-glbc-georgia-legislative-black-caucus-stand-in-support-of-quitman-10/Print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964203 | 506 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Between the digitalbookworld talk I had with very smart people last Tuesday and spending a couple of days talking to equally smart people at ARGfest, I have a lot of thoughts about transmedia, games, writing, and how they all intersect swimming around in my head. So, over the next few days I’ll likely be making posts about some of the stuff I’m thinking about, once I get it all sorted out in my head. I’ll put them all in their own category for easy reference (“Transmedia Thoughts”).
But what is “transmedia”? To be honest, I’m not entirely sure – like many buzzwords, I’ve seen it used a lot of different ways by a lot of different people. It seems the intersection revolves around telling a story (interactive or otherwise, but mostly interactive) that is conveyed through more than one media. The scale of the story is where the questioning comes in, and sometimes transmedia is applied to a whole world rather than a specific story, but since there isn’t even a common definition of role-playing games, I’m not going to worry overmuch about it. The key to a lot of my thoughts are the use of multiple media in a cohesive experience and the application of interactivity in that experience. Since that’s a lot of what I do on a daily basis, I have a lot of interest in the topic, and therefore a lot of thoughts to share. | <urn:uuid:283aa019-92dd-4893-8a84-94285759e6ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eddyfate.com/2010/07/19/transmedia-thoughts-to-come/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964361 | 312 | 1.570313 | 2 |
It's sort of amazing to add up the number of electronic devices that power up the average Basking Ridge kid/young adult. It's not just video games, but also iPods, laptops and desktops, Kindle, cell phones..and whatever else may be on the list.
While some of those gadgets may be useful (even essential for educational purposes), when is it time to turn them off?
Especially video games. Today's Mom's Talk Q & A (also for dads, grandparents and empty nesters) is, "At what point do you turn off the video game?"
After a few hours? When the weather gets better? When a bunch of kids are fighting over the controller(s)? When it becomes a distraction from more important things, such as bedtime and homework?
And where do you draw the line in choosing which is better, say, an iPod or a Wii? How about that stupid game built into a cell phone? Is that at least more benign than "Call of Duty: Black Ops?"
As some of you may recall, the mom's talk question last week, Do Ridge High School Diplomas Get Students Into the College of Their Choice? was inspired by my trip down to see my older son (a Ridge graduate) at the College of Charleston.
So is this one — in a different way.
For this trip, getting from New Jersey to Charleston, S.C. took about 27 hours of solid driving. That requires some serious pre-planning for youthful passengers. My back seat was occupied by a 14-year-old carrying, among other things, an iPod, cell phone, homework, both on worksheets and online (long drives can be a great way to enforce homework time — see Today's Mom's Subject, How Do You Get That Kid to Do Homework?) and last, but not least, a seldom-used PlayStation Portable.
Hey, I didn't buy the thing, but it seemed to be a good idea to bring along when we were driving away from home. It even seemed okay as a distraction after getting in some homework and a few hours spent plugged into an iPod. However, when the game got frustrating, the wailing and groaning began.
So to answer my own question of when it was time to get rid of the video game, the answer is: Virginia, from either direction.
Eventually, I had to pull over at a rest stop on Route 95 and insist that MORE homework be done before play could resume.
Interestingly, during our other mom's talk last week, one mother observed that her daughter buried her nose in reading a Kindle as soon as she got in the car, thus avoiding conversation. I wonder — would it seem less objectionable if she were caught up in a real book?
Please join the conversation, and comment in the comments section at the end of this article, or in the comments section on the home page of the Basking Ridge Patch. | <urn:uuid:404bb317-169f-4f0c-b4ca-fd6bb9e2854a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://baskingridge.patch.com/articles/moms-q-a-when-is-it-time-to-turn-off-that-video-game-or-other-electronic-device | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97188 | 603 | 1.828125 | 2 |
I have had a few discussions with men and women working on their genealogy/family history which have lead me to wonder if there is a difference between the way men and women approach the subject.
I'm not saying this is so. This is just an observation I've made among several others who are also searching for family:
Men want to go in a direct line back to the oldest forefather they can find, generally branching out to collatoral lines only if it helps them go back in their direct line.
Women want to go back to their oldest living foreparents but try to find all the children/siblings in each family as they go back.
Is this generally true? Have you noticed differences in the way men and women approach genealogy and family history? What is your experience with this? If you are a guy, what is your approach? If you are a female, what is your approach?
Copyright © 2010 by Nancy Messier. | <urn:uuid:0ac480ab-0f5d-49d5-942c-c0b844f04240> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nancysfamilyhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/differences-between-men-and-women.html?showComment=1265690843914 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984356 | 196 | 1.5 | 2 |
In Steve Jobs' two stints at Apple, the company made some great products. Their most amazing products. But no one's perfect. Not even Steve Jobs. And Apple produced a few pieces of total crap during his reign. Here're the worst.
To ditch the gallery format, click here.
The Apple Lisa, named after Jobs' daughter, may have been the first computer to employ a GUI in 1983, but it cost $10000 and had a hulking, unsightly design. Few bought the thing. A year later, the cheaper Macintosh came out and rendered the Lisa largely irrelevant.
iMac USB Mouse
The mouse introduced with the iMac in 1998 is up there with Comic Sans and Clippy when it comes to inciting geek rage. Not only was it a single-button mouse, like all other Apple input devices before and after it, but it was round, like a hockey puck. And truth be told, it probably would have been more comfortable sliding a hockey puck around a desk all day.
The iPod Hi-Fi wasn't a terrible device from technical standpoint. Reviewers generally praised the sound that emanated from its drivers. But it just didn't make sense for anyone at the time. Audiophiles had no use for music that came from an iPod. The average consumer didn't need a speaker that was so big. And all gadget freaks could do is look at the $350 price tag and shrug their shoulders. Introduced in February 2006, the iPod Hi-Fi line didn't last two years before being discontinued in September 2007.
Apple TV (1st Generation)
When the first Apple TV arrived in 2007, it had all the tools to be successful. Intel processor. 720p support via HDMI. Wi-Fi. Up to a 160 GB HDD. But then came the limitations. It could only stream H.264 or MP4 video. It could play trailers and video clips from iTunes, but you couldn't buy or rent movies or TV shows. Nor could you buy MP3s. Aside from photos, which used Flickr, streaming was facilitated entirely through iTunes on your computer. People weren't exactly going crazy to get their hands on an Apple TV, which led the company to release a revised version of the software which supported TV and Movie rentals, and even that only offered limited success. Eventually, Apple reconceptualized the Apple TV in many ways, producing the awesome little black box that still exists today.
Buttonless iPod Shuffle (3rd Generation)
Yes, we all get it, minimalism is great. However, there's a point when the quest for simplicity buckles back on itself and actually makes something more complicated. That's what happened with the iPod shuffle. Aside from the power/lock button, It had no buttons on it. None! You had to use headphones with a compatible in-line remote to operate the thing. You solely used the morse-code like system for flipping through tracks, which was kind of a pain in the ass. AND OH, if you wanted to use headphones that weren't Apple's terrible earbuds, you needed a special adapter. It was received with a mix of novel curiosity and mockery. The following generation of the iPod shuffle was the first time I've seen Apple so blatantly return to a former design. And they aren't shy about advertising the fact that the current one has buttons.
Final Cut Pro X
For years, Final Cut Pro has been a favorite among Hollywood filmmakers. The UI is clean and simple, but extremely powerful. When Apple released the revamped Final Cut Pro X, however, that love turned to hate. Unadulterated hate. Professionals hate the lack of power features and its resemblance to iMovie (which means aspiring professionals probably feel the same way). Casual hobbyists probably won't pay $300 for it. What we're left with is a program that tries to please everyone while addressing the nobody's needs. Or maybe it's trying to address everyone's needs while pleasing nobody. Who knows!
When Steve Jobs introduced Ping, it was supposed to be the greatest thing to happen to music discovery since radio. But not even half-baked, Ping was just raw and underdeveloped. It was a feed hiding in the most unusable section of iTunes (the music store), that let you recommend songs from the store, which only existed in the store. It also told everyone when you bought something new. No playlists from friends. No top lists. It kept the collective attention of the technorati for about 14 minutes. Eventually they "expanded" ping to let you recommend tracks from your library view, but you know what they say about pigs and lipstick.
Power Mac G4 Cube
One of the best things to happen during Steve Jobs' second run at Apple is that the company began to experiment with form. While the company has been firmly entrenched in a minimalist aesthetic during its most successful phase, Apple wasn't scared to play around with some weird ideas in the late 90s and early 2000s (see also: iMac G4). The Power Mac G4 Cube is an example of one of those experiments gone wrong. Often viewed as a precursor to the Mac Mini, and despite costing more than the cheapest PowerMac G4, the 8"x8"x10" Cube was positioned somewhere between iMacs and PowerMacs when it came to power and functionality. Starting at $1800 and frequently suffering from case cracks, the computer was bust, lasting only a year on store shelves. But hey, MoMA showcased it, so it wasn't all bad. I guess.
In 2004, people wanted a video iPod. So what did Apple give them? An iPod capable of displaying low-res photos (220x176!!!). At $500, the 40 GB model cost $100 more than the regular 40 GB iPod, an eventually a 60 GB model popped up for $600. You won't see a lot of people fondly recalling the iPod Photo days like they did the Third Generation iPod (swoon).
What's your least favorite Steve Jobs Apple product? | <urn:uuid:df927368-4b0a-4498-9e63-730a653a4c0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gizmodo.com/5834321/steve-jobs-biggest-apple-flops/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972386 | 1,244 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Release Date: February 19, 2013
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Eva Zurek, University at Buffalo assistant
professor of chemistry, has received a Sloan Research Fellowship,
which provides leading early-career investigators with a two-year,
$50,000 award to conduct research of their choice.
The Sloan Research Fellowships aim to “stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise,” according to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which disburses the awards. Fellows, who were notified of their selection on Feb. 14, were chosen by a committee of distinguished scholars.
Zurek, PhD, a theoretical chemist, is one of 126 researchers in the United States and Canada to receive the recognition this year.
She is a member of UB’s recently designated New York State Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics, and her work focuses on using supercomputers to predict the structures and properties of novel materials.
Particular interests include modeling how organic molecules interact with the surfaces of metals, and modeling the catalytic reactions that result in plastics production. This research could lead to such technological advances as better organic light-emitting diodes for smartphones and TV screens, and new types of plastics that possess unique and desirable properties.
Zurek’s research group has also written an algorithm called XtalOpt that enables users to predict the crystal structures of materials. The team is using this algorithm to predict hydrogen-rich compounds that may be superconducting metals under pressure.
"Dr. Zurek's award recognizes the strength of her research program and the great potential that other scholars see in her work," said Alexander N. Cartwright, UB vice president for research and economic development. "Having joined UB in 2009, Dr. Zurek exemplifies the energy and research excellence that our newest faculty members are bringing to the university."
Michael R. Detty, professor and chair of UB’s Department of Chemistry, said, “We view Dr. Zurek as an emerging leader in our department — not only scientifically, but in all aspects of the academic endeavor. Her research in computational materials prediction is destined to have high impact in materials research in areas including superconductivity, catalysis, energy and molecular self-assembly.”
Prior to joining UB, Zurek conducted postdoctoral research at Cornell University and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research. She holds a PhD from the University of Stuttgart in Germany and a bachelor’s and master’s of science from the University of Calgary in Canada.
The computers used by the Zurek research group are stored and maintained at UB’s state-of-the-art supercomputing facility, the Center for Computational Research (CCR).
For more information on Zurek’s research program, visit http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~ezurek/. | <urn:uuid:e4831245-ae6c-46bc-848b-ee457f2cc875> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2013/02/022.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947381 | 623 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A short time ago I received a copy of the new book Coping with Anti-Americanism: A Guide to Getting the Most Out of Studying Abroad (2011, Potomac Books) from the author Carol Madison Graham. When I saw that this book had been published earlier this year I reached out to the author (I had already been following her blog Engage Abroad! and had interacted briefly a few times on Twitter) and asked if I could review her book on IHEC Blog. I ended up with my own copy to include on the shelves of Bury Book International Education Library & Archive!
I really enjoyed reading Coping with Anti-Americanism and feel it is a must read for prospective U.S. study abroad students and their parents as well as for the greater international education community and other campus/organizational stakeholders. Graham provides the reader with a clear picture of the realities American students face while abroad and she puts into perspective their place in the world outside of U.S. borders. Graham's work challenges U.S. students to take a step back and do some critical thinking on how the U.S. is viewed abroad and how they will be viewed and how they will represent the U.S. while studying abroad. In addition to providing prospective U.S. study abroad students with valuable insight and guidance on how to cope with the anti-Americanism abroad they are bound to encounter this book is a valuable guide for study abroad program staff to inform discussions with students and their parents as well as for preparing pre-departure orientations and related meetings.
Chapters in Coping with Anti-Americanism are as follows:
1. American and Americans Through Foreign Eyes
2. The Land Without a History
3. Perceptions of Religion and the American South
4. Multiculturalism, Political Correctness, and Perceptions of a Divided America
5. "American Idiots"
6. The President of the Earth
7. Sheriff to Gunfighter: The United States and the World
8. Superpower Diplomacy
9. Ambassador for Life
Coping with Anti-Americanism: A Guide to Getting the Most Out of Studying Abroad is published by Potomac Books and is available for purchase here.
A note about the author Carol Madison Graham: in 1981 Graham joined the U.S. Diplomatic Service and worked in France, Lebanon, Tunisia and in the United Arab Emirates. In 2002 she was appointed to the UK Fulbright Commission as Executive Director and was the first American to ever hold this position. She is now a board member of the Marshall Scholarships and a trustee of the Carnegie U.K. Trust. She is available for speaking engagements and you can contact her here if you wish to further explore such an opportunity.
Graham also maintains the Engage Abroad! (which I have on my blogroll) and she is on Twitter at @engageabroad. | <urn:uuid:71f7559a-c562-464a-a5bd-26bc9f386e0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/2011/12/coping-with-anti-americanism-guide-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967668 | 601 | 1.742188 | 2 |
‘Dress for success’ seminar teaches importance of style
LAHORE: Not everyone dresses with an eye to how it will affect their next business meeting or leave an impression on a new client, but “dress good, feel good, be successful” was the central message in a social mobility and power-dressing seminar held at the Pearl Continental Hotel and organised by shipping company TCS and textile company Lawrencepur in Lahore on Friday night. The seminar, called “Moving up & getting about”, focused on two aspects of dress and style believed important for today’s businesspeople: “Power Dressing” and “Charm Management”. Black Fish, a Karachi-based improvisational comedy troupe, provided slightly incongruous but well-received entertainment after the two main speakers.
Power dressing is much more than just an expensive shirt or a silk daupatta, according to the first speaker Rose-marie Fernandez, a Sri Lanka-based human resources practitioner. First impressions are made very quickly, and being assertive with your image can give real advantages in the modern business world; clients and colleagues are more receptive, and feeling good means being more productive “We have to look at our physical, emotional and spiritual lives. When they are in balance then we feel good, and we look good,” she said. “In the same way, when we make ourselves look good, then we begin to feel good.” And feeling good, Ms Fernandez believes, is one way to make that killer impression with friends and contacts alike. Dressing for success, she said, doesn’t mean spending a fortune on designer labels, it just means dressing in a way that asserts your own identity, and feels comfortable and appropriate. Ms Fernandez highlighted the importance, not just of clothing, but also shoes, accessories and posture for both men and women.
All this might sound a little vague, but Ms Fernandez and the second speaker, Zubia Leghari, a corporate ‘etiquette & protocol’ trainer and linguist, both provided tips to explain the application of their ideas as well as their importance. Ms Fernandez, for example, suggested that in Pakistan and other parts of the world, people tend to “ape the West” by wearing the same dark coloured suits that “Caucasian people get away with”, but that darker-skinned people look better in lighter colours. She went on to give some more helpful tips: first impressions are made from the feet upwards (following the natural movement of the eye) and therefore special care should be taken over footwear and feet if they are exposed. Indeed, Ms Fernandez claimed an anonymous survey had discovered that men judge women by their toenails. Shoes should match the belt on a man, and match the closest colour on a woman (shalwar or trousers). Accessories are important; belts should match ties, ties should match shirts, and cufflinks should be chosen with care. Clothing fibres should be natural, especially in the subcontinental climate where perspiration is unavoidable, and non-suit jackets should generally be a shade darker than accompanying trousers. Above all, Ms Fernandez said, power dressing is about feeling comfortable about appearance. “Clothes and grooming are the orchestration, but you have to be able to see the conductor,” she said.
Ms Leghari, the second speaker, left clothing behind and addressed the importance of mannerism and etiquette in a global environment that mixes cultures and peoples. “The end result of etiquette and protocol training can be the ability to feel comfortable in any situation,” she said, and even more importantly not being aware of the rules can cause problems: “Bad manners speak of incompetence”. The 1990s saw a steep decline in etiquette training. Yet it takes only 3seconds for a strong opinion to be made of a stranger, and 55 percent of the impression of someone comes from dress and manner, rather than content. She stressed the importance of etiquette training for professional advancement.
Ms Leghari, like Ms Fernandez, gave some examples of the things she teaches: People with more authority or importance should be the first name introduced. Handshakes should be firm but not crushing; forks dropped on the floor at restaurants should be left alone; desert cutlery lives above the plate; and mobile phones should be turned off when entering any event (a lesson not learned by the audience).
After both speakers, plagued by mobile phone rings, were thanked Black Fish took to the stage for an energetic series of quick-fire improvisational comedy sketches which drew on audience suggestions for their unpredictable style. Organised comedy is rare in Lahore, and the audience enjoyed the entertaining young group’s efforts, though the sketch about burgeoning love between a woman and a monkey had to be cut short. | <urn:uuid:a41cca6e-8049-404e-99b9-72e5efcb4325> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-9-2003_pg7_23 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947999 | 996 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The city of Frankfurt is not only the financial centre of Germany and Europe, it also has a great deal to offer tourists.
During the Second World War, the city was heavily damaged but a few historic buildings survived. The lovely Römerberg square is certainly worth a visit, with the impressive Frankfurt Cathedral just around the corner. Museum lovers are bound to love the city. Frankfurt has no fewer than 14 museums including the German Film Museum, the Rosso Bianco Car Museum and the Chaplin Archive.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt. The house where this author was born is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. Not far from this, you will encounter the town of Hanau, the birthplace of the Brothers Grimm. During your time in Frankfurt, don't forget to taste the local specialities: Frankfurter sausages and Stöffche, a kind of apple wine. | <urn:uuid:304cec6f-7018-4048-970e-261c8b42329f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brusselsairlines.com/en_ru/look-for/destinations/germany/frankfurt.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956029 | 190 | 1.734375 | 2 |
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