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Texas Women Seeking Abortion Must See or Hear About Fetus First
(AUSTIN, Texas) -- Women seeking an abortion in Texas must view an ultrasound image of the fetus or hear a description of it before having the procedure done, the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled on Tuesday.
The court's decision overrules a lower court judge who deemed that such a practice violates an abortion provider's free speech rights.
Writing for the three-judge panel, Chief Judge Edith Jones said, "The required disclosures of a sonogram, the fetal heartbeat, and their medical descriptions are the epitome of truthful, non-misleading information."
If a woman who wants an abortion refuses to view the image, she must hear the abortion provider's description. Exceptions are made in the case of rape, incest or fetal abnormality.
Those opposed to the Texas law say that it makes doctors a "mouthpiece" for an ideological message by anti-abortion advocates, thus violating the Constitution's protections against compelled speech.
Pro-choice supporters also said that viewing a sonogram or hearing a fetal heart beat aren't, "medically necessary." They say the law was intended to harass and intimidate women into not having an abortion.
Similar laws in North Carolina and Oklahoma have been blocked by the courts.
Copyright 2012 ABC news Radio | <urn:uuid:7d57bb99-6d9b-472b-bbec-509c7e535908> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eastidahonews.com/2012/01/texas-women-seeking-abortion-must-see-or-hear-about-fetus-first/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931267 | 273 | 1.5 | 2 |
An online appeal has been launched to raise funds for a memorial for a seven-year-old boy who was killed in a tragic accident at a County Durham museum.
Karl Doran, from Darlington, died after allegedly falling from a steam engine that was being driven by his father at the Beamish Museum, on July 25. Both Philip Doran, and his son Karl, were volunteers at the museum.
It's hoped the Just Giving appeal will raise around £500, which would be used to fund a memorial for the youngster. Organisers have almost met that target already.
In a statement, Beamish Museum said: "The fund set up to raise funds in Karl’s memory is a very touching gesture.
"It is very early days and we are in close contact with the Doran family about how they would like any money which is donated to be used."
An inquest into Karl's death is expected to be opened and adjourned at Crook coroner's court, County Durham today. The investigation into the tragedy is being carried out by Durham Police and the Health and Safety Executive. | <urn:uuid:aa52f4f8-154d-4308-9415-648bb19479f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/update/2012-07-26/online-fundraising-appeal-launched-for-child-memorial/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985783 | 225 | 1.570313 | 2 |
I prepared the following document as my testimony to the State Science and Technology Strategic Plan Joint Study Commission, meeting in Columbus on 30 November 2011. It’s going to be available on their website, but I decided to replicate it here.
Supporting Technology Entrepreneurs in Georgia
Vice President, Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
I. Background/Company Overview
The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation’s top research universities, distinguished by its commitment to improving the human condition through advanced science and technology. Georgia Tech’s campus occupies 400 acres in the heart of Atlanta, where 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive a focused, technologically based education. Georgia Tech is consistently ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s top ten public universities in the United States and has been ranked as #4 among all engineering schools (public and private) for the last six years.
The Enterprise Innovation Institute is Georgia Tech’s primary business outreach organization, and provides a comprehensive program of assistance to business, industry, entrepreneurs, and economic developers. Our goal is to help enterprises of all kinds apply science, technology, and innovation to improve their bottom lines. Specifically for entrepreneurs, our programs include:
- ATDC: The Advanced Technology Development Center is the oldest, largest, and most successful university-based business incubator in the country. Since 1980, ATDC has helped hundreds of Georgia entrepreneurs create great technology companies, and currently has over 500 member companies. Recently, it was honored as one of the ten best incubators in the world by Forbes magazine.
- VentureLab: In cooperation with the Georgia Research Alliance, Georgia Tech’s VentureLab helps launch over a dozen startup companies a year based on Georgia Tech research.
- Flashpoint: An innovative new entrepreneurial accelerator, combining shared learning, mentorship, and cutting-edge approaches to business model generation and startup creation.
- GCMI: The Global Center for Medical Innovation helps physicians and other medical professionals commercialize their inventions with a process based on the successful VentureLab model and a dedicated medical device prototyping facility.
The Enterprise Innovation Institute manages the Georgia Seed Capital Fund, which leverages private-sector investments into technology startups. This fund has not received any state appropriations in several years. EI2 also houses the Georgia SBIR Assistance Program, which has been drastically downsized due to the economic recession and the resulting reductions in the Board of Regents “B” budget in recent years.
II. Please address the following points:
a. What policies are currently in place that are barriers to your company/organization’s success?
The prohibition against investing state pension assets into venture capital firms has had a negative impact on local venture funds’ ability to raise capital. Although relaxing this prohibition will not have an immediate “silver bullet” effect, it should be done both for fiduciary and for economic development reasons.
b. What policies have aided in your company/organization’s success?
The state’s annual appropriation to the Enterprise Innovation Institute (through the Board of Regents “B” budget) is the basis for all of our entrepreneurial assistance programs as well as our other business-support services in 25 locations throughout the state. Due to the economic recession and the resulting reductions in the “B” budget, our appropriations have been cut approximately 30% over the last four years. We have maintained our focus and continue to be recognized as one of the best entrepreneurial programs in the country and as the hub of much of the technology entrepreneurship in Georgia. As tax revenues recover, it’s important to bring the “B” budget back in line with previous funding levels.
In addition, the state’s support of the Georgia Research Alliance has brought dozens of superb scholars to our state, and many of them have launched entrepreneurial startups. Georgia Tech averages over a dozen spinout companies per year; most of these have benefited greatly from the GRA commercialization grant program.
Finally, the recent angel tax credit appears to be stimulating private-sector investment by individuals into Georgia technology startups. This should be monitored and, if justified, extended in future years.
c. Where do you want to see your company/organization in ten years?
Currently, American business leaders think of Silicon Valley, Boston, Seattle, and Austin as the centers of technology entrepreneurship in this country. In ten years, I want Atlanta to be on that list.
d. How can the state of Georgia help your company/organization realize this goal?
Please see policy recommendations below.
|Create a new Georgia SBIR Matching Fund program||Georgia companies win approximately $6 million in Federal SBIR/STTR awards every year. These awards are for technical research, but further testing and business development are often still needed to move an innovation from prototype to commercialized product. The SBIR/STTR awards cannot be used achieve these higher levels, and the technical innovator often does not have the skills. We propose a matching fund program for SBIR/STTR recipients similar to those in neighboring states. Both Phase I (typically $100K) and Phase II awards (typically $750K) would be matched dollar-for-dollar by convertible loans through the existing Georgia Seed Capital Fund, which would receive annual appropriations for this purpose. Federal eligibility rules require that the companies have fewer than 500 employees, but approximately half of recipients have fewer than 20 employees at the time of their award.At the same time, we recommend restoring funding for the Georgia SBIR Assistance Program (managed by the Enterprise Innovation Institute) in the Board of Regents “B” budget.|
|Restore funding for the Georgia Seed Capital Fund||The Georgia Seed Capital Fund (managed by ATDC) is authorized by Article III, § IX, Para. VI(g) of the Georgia Constitution. It has the unique capability to invest equity dollars in technology startups (currently subject to a 3:1 match by private-sector dollars). There have been no funds appropriated to this program for several years, and $5,000,000 in previous appropriations were reversed in 2009 to fund another program. Restoration of this annual funding would re-enable a valuable tool in directly encouraging startups to remain in Georgia.|
|Modify investment terms of Georgia Seed Capital Fund||Under O.C.G.A. § 10-10-4(b)(1), the Seed Capital Fund is limited to investing in a 1:3 ratio with private investors: “At least $3.00 of equity contributions has been committed in writing to the investment entity by persons other than the state for every $1.00 of equity contributions committed by the state from the fund.” This limits the usefulness of the Fund since, if a company is sufficiently attractive to raise $3.00 from the private sector, it can probably raise $4.00.To maximize impact on creating new enterprises in Georgia, this language should be reversed. For every $1.00 committed by non-state entities, the Georgia Seed Capital Fund should be allowed to invest up to $3.00 on the same terms. This would provide significant leverage for private seed- and early-stage investors, and would increase the ability of small companies to grow and attract later standalone rounds of investment.|
|Expand the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)||In 2009, to respond to changing market conditions, ATDC expanded its mission by opening membership to all technology entrepreneurs in Georgia, from those at the earliest conception stage to the well-established, venture-fundable companies. At the same time, ATDC embarked on a geographical expansion that—without investing in bricks and mortar—is intended bring its services to entrepreneurs across Georgia, not just in Atlanta. Although maximizing its leverage through a network of volunteers and corporate sponsors, ATDC has found it difficult to meet demand (for example, after the change in strategy, startup membership ballooned from 35 companies to over 500 in the first two years under the new model).Since ATDC does not receive any Federal or local sponsorship, it is completely dependent on state funds (allocated through the Board of Regents “B” budget). Additional staff are required to serve the expanded pool of entrepreneurs building technology companies in Georgia. As tax revenues recover, it’s important to bring the “B” budget back in line with previous funding levels.|
|Create the Georgia Venture Capital Program||While Georgia is a technology and scientific research powerhouse, 92 cents of every venture capital dollar invested in Georgia companies comes from out of state. We lose many smart entrepreneurs and promising startups to other states because venture capital firms want a closer eye on their investments. Establishing a Georgia-based “fund of funds” program could be based on a combination of tax credits and private capital. A third-party fiduciary would select the Georgia-based venture capital and private equity funds to participate in the program. This has been done successfully in other Southeastern states, including Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, and Texas. The fund would invest in Georgia technology, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, logistics, aerospace and other high-growth sectors in which the state has expertise and a track record.|
|Create a new Georgia Independent Inventors Commercialization Program||Independent inventors have often accounted for the largest share of patents generated in Georgia, together outnumbering those owned by any single corporation or entity. Neighboring states have well-established support systems to assist independents in their bid to commercialize their intellectual property (IP). Georgia does not. Georgia has focused solely on commercializing university-based IP. This program would provide a similar infrastructure for the independent inventor; since 47% of these inventors are located outside of metro Atlanta, the staff would be geographically distributed around the state (and managed by EI2 under the “B” budget).|
|Create a new Georgia Technology Cluster Initiative||Georgia has many of the economic factors necessary to start up innovative technology clusters. But Georgia Tech policy researchers have shown that local startups lack the close working relationships necessary to for success, and therefore either fail to realize their potential or are recruited away from Georgia. The Technology Cluster Initiative would build inter-organizational connections to increase access to capital and talent, improve organizational capacity, and boost demand for Georgia technology solutions. The core of the initiative would be collaborative projects between executives of tech startups, locally-based Fortune 1000 companies, angel and venture capital investors, and other technology leaders to create business opportunities and improve cluster connectivity. The initial clusters would be those identified by TAG as “Where Georgia Leads”: information security, financial technology, health information technology, and logistics.|
|Create a Georgia Innovation Dashboard||This program would create a “dashboard” for innovation and emerging technologies, using state of the art analytic techniques and databases to highlight the relative strength and impact of the innovation economy in Georgia and identify niches in emerging technologies where technology-led entrepreneurial activity could be successful. The dashboard would publish a quarterly outlook on innovation in Georgia based on indicators from key datasets such as patents, publications presented, corporate activities, and startup investment activity. If funded under the “B” budget, EI2 would also host an annual showcase to publicize how the state stacks up with respect to these niches and where the opportunities are going forward.|
|Allow Georgia’s R&D tax credit to be saleable or exchangeable||Georgia is one of several states that offer an R&D tax credit. Such credits can be very valuable for firms that are research-intensive and whose products have a long development cycle. The availability of an R&D credit can also influence where a major corporation with multiple locations conducts its R&D. Allowing Georgia’s R&D tax credit to be saleable or exchangeable will allow a business that does not have any tax liability to exchange or sell its unused credits with the state for a percentage of the value of the credit. This makes the credit of far greater value to start-up firms that often are not profitable for a number of years.|
III. Please include a short bio and your company/organization’s background.
Stephen Fleming has over 15 years of private equity experience at the General Partner level. Prior to his venture capital career, he spent 15 years in operations roles at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Nortel Networks, and LICOM (a venture-funded startup).
An Atlanta native and summa cum laude graduate of Georgia Tech, Stephen returned to his alma mater in mid-2005 as Chief Commercialization Officer. In 2009, he was promoted to Vice President, Economic Development and Technology Ventures, and Executive Director of the Enterprise Innovation Institute at Georgia Tech.
In addition to his roles at Georgia Tech, he is also a member of the Investment Committee of the Seraph Group, an early-stage venture capital firm. Stephen is active in the “alternative space” industry; he is an investor in three private aerospace companies and is a founding member of the Space Angels Network. Mr. Fleming also serves on the boards of the Technology Association of Georgia, the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta, and Tech High School, a charter high school emphasizing science, math, and technology in urban Atlanta.
Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) helps enterprises of all kinds improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology, and innovation. During fiscal year 2010, the Enterprise Innovation Institute:
- Helped Georgia manufacturing companies reduce operating costs by $35 million, increase sales by $243 million, and create or save 1,350 jobs. EI2 served 710 manufacturers during the year.
- Evaluated 125 Georgia Tech research innovations and formed 16 new companies based on this intellectual property. Startups based on Georgia Tech innovations attracted $60.5 million in investment.
- Worked with 235 companies interested in collaborations with Georgia Tech, including 17 projects involving state economic development agencies. Projects resulting from those interactions generated 3,693 new jobs and produced $547 million in capital investment.
- Helped Georgia companies win $560 million in government contracts, creating an estimated 11,505 jobs.
- Assisted 71 minority entrepreneurs, who received $31.5 million worth of new contracts, sales increases, and financing.
- Served more than 250 technology startup companies that together generated capital activity (venture capital investment and mergers/acquisitions) of more than $157 million. Companies affiliated with the ATDC program reported revenues totaling more than $1 billion and nearly 3,500 jobs.
- Helped Georgia companies prepare 58 applications for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants. Companies assisted won nearly $7 million in awards. | <urn:uuid:823effac-c06b-4450-bf0f-32de46f55394> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://academicvc.com/2011/11/28/supporting-technology-entrepreneurs-in-georgia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945075 | 3,043 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Related BLS programs | Related articles
January 1998, Vol. 121, No. 1
Richard R. Nelson
This article provides a summary of significant enactments in labor legislation. It does not, however, cover occupational safety and health, employment and training, labor relations, employee background clearance, and economic developoment legislation. Articles on unemployment insurance and workers' compensation appear elsewhere in this issue of Monthly Labor Review.
Wages. Minimum wage was the most active area of State labor legislation and activity again this year as it was last year. Minimum wage rates were increased under Federal law and in 31 States, the District of Columbia, and Guam.
This excerpt is from an article published in the January 1998 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
Read abstract Download full text in PDF (2880K)
1 The Kentucky legislature met in special session only in 1997 and did not enact any labor legislation. The District of Columbia, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, and New Mexico did not enact significant legislation in the fields covered by this article. Information about the Virgin Islands was not received in time to be included in the article, which is based on information received by November 7, 1997.
Related BLS programs
BLS does not have any programs that directly relate to the topic of this article.
State labor legislation enacted in 1995. January/February 1996.
State labor legislation enacted in 1994. January 1995.
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State labor legislation enacted in 1991. January 1992.
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BLS Home | Publications & Research Papers | <urn:uuid:df090418-2b10-4eb3-8ec8-bb5545064a36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1998/01/art1exc.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939807 | 384 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The temptation to abandon one’s faith in “sustainable leadership” is always niggling, and can become overwhelming. It’s a notion that only broaches when the collapse and disappearance of leadership – the role and impact of a leader – becomes a real possibility in an organization, project, or movement. Otherwise, why worry about sustaining? We usually don’t in routine organizational settings, with their established cultures and standard operating procedure and predictable career paths. It’s when things are closer to the edge that this becomes of real concern: organizations in conflict, growth, mergers, bankruptcies, leadership transitions, social change movements, political campaigns, and so on.
“We’re not a leaderless movement,” enthused one of the participants in an Occupy Coordination conference call in November, “we’re a leaderful movement!” This attractive idea seems consistent with what some have observed in the OWS communities: collaboration, inclusiveness, emotional maturity, a warm spirit of welcome and camaraderie. Is this evidence of “sustainable leadership” in OWS?
The opposite has also been in evidence. At a working group meeting at 60 Wall Street in late October, before the occupation was busted up, and when the lobby swarmed with such meetings all day and every evening, it was clear that sustainable leadership skills were in short supply.
A guy had a proposal for the group that involved adopting a vision he had articulated, and then following his process to develop a strategy and action plan. This person, who appeared to have been a regular participant in the WG’s meetings, had brought some hard copy for the group, and it had apparently been available online for a day or two. Despite the best of intentions, the group’s process lurched from one dysfunction to another. There was confusion about whether the group was obligated to examine and decide the proposal or not. There was confusion about the meeting’s purpose. There were several false starts in terms of who would facilitate. For over half an hour, the group debated its own process, with impatience rising and tempers starting to flare. (It was evening, and a number of participants would be leaving early to attend the 7 PM General Assembly at Zuccotti Park.)
With a tone that gradually shifted from assertive to irritated, the guy pushed his agenda. He was offended by the fact that a previous meeting had allegedly reached consensus about an earlier version of his proposal, agreeing to put it on today’s agenda, and that all prior momentum seemed to have now stalled. I had not been at the last meeting, but his frustration appeared genuine. He had clearly put some work into the proposal.
Finally, as the meeting wandered off into a muddle about how the stack was supposed to work, the guy stood up and threatened to walk out. This got everyone’s attention. Within minutes, he would be gone, but what he did fascinated me, and has remained on my mind as an example of the mismatch between MBA-style managerialism and the OWS movement’s leadership needs.
Holding up his proposal, he assured us that he had an MBA and had done lots of this sort of vision/strategy work for corporate clients before. He also was a CPA. If the working group did not adopt his vision and proposal, he was “outta here,” and knew there were many other clients who would value his contributions instead. This was it. Take it or leave it.
The meeting, which consisted of about a dozen people, was in no position to respond. It was a Luhmann-ian does-not-compute situation. He was offering a challenge in an individualistic, I-am-empowered-to-negotiate fashion to an organizational entity that only understood the logic of collaboration, commitment, and inclusion. The meeting could not respond as a single-minded superorganism, nor could it respond through a person empowered to represent it (i.e., a spokesperson or chair), and neither the facilitator nor the stack-taker could speak for the meeting.
Through the guy and the meeting, two profoundly different paradigms of society clashed for a few minutes more – individualistic, expertise-based managerialism vs. collaborative community – and then he disappeared into the cool autumn night, pissed off and outta there. The facilitator admitted he felt that the guy’s walk-out was a “failure,” and there was a brief sense of regret. The meeting then muddled on to other matters, more harmonious now, and actually got a few things done before most folks ran off to the incipient GA.
What was accomplished, and what price was paid? Did OWS lose an expert because of its organizational inefficiency and chaos, its obsession with process over effectiveness? Does this pattern portend the ultimate failure of OWS as a movement because its collective hostility to managerialism, expertise, and discipline continually prevents effective action, burns people out, and chases away the competence it needs? As someone who saw a nascent US green movement in the 1980s remain nascent partly because of its organizational gridlock (e.g., the endless, inconclusive pursuit of consensus), I take this fear seriously.
Listen, for example, to a recent post by Sandy Krolick about his experience at a similar meeting two months later:
[M]y visit to the Big Apple indicates that the OWS movement is now officially on life-support. At my brother’s urging, we wandered into an organizational meeting of New York’s OWS crowd in the Atrium Building at 60 Wall Street, which, post-9/11, now houses more than 4,500 employees of Deutsche Bank, New York. There were approximately twelve generally disheveled and incoherent OWS comrades in attendance, and screaming over one another. The big issue of the evening appeared to be the question of who was going to be eligible to receive free subway metro-passes, an issue that never seemed to be resolved. Yet, several folks were pushing a side agenda aimed at ejecting one of their “members” for failure to cooperate. Can you imagine that… non-cooperation, in America? We can’t even get protest right; we must organize into general assemblies (a subordinating move itself), because we do not naturally understand cooperation. I could sense that this was not Tahrir Square in Egypt.
OK. I did not witness anything that trivial. Perhaps the caravan has indeed moved on, leaving few organizers or thinkers remaining in the cold, echoing spaces of 60 Wall Street. But, even in the heyday of OWS circa October 2011, many visitors to the atrium would have been forgiven for making similar observations.
I don’t believe that the greater “purpose” of OWS is to replace “management.” The guy should have stifled his Mr. MBA/CPA ego, realized that there would be other places and other times to contribute his expertise productively, and stayed at the meeting. Given his supposed expertise, he should have calmly participated, looking for real opportunities to apply meaningful leverage, and not reacting to false ones. What was really at stake: the progress of the OWS movement or his professional bravado/ego? He was offered a supreme opportunity to exercise sustainable leadership – leadership in expertise that he could sustain, as well as the working group – and it seems he passed it up. How often is this repeated? Is America so individualistic that almost all of its crop of potential sustainable leaders is destined to wither on the vine whenever they confront the logic of collaboration and mutual solidarity? (Or morph into warp-speed individualism-managerialism when offered non-collaborative opportunities to perform à la ENRON or Goldman-Sachs?) Is truly collaborative, sustainable leadership emerging nonetheless on the activist fringes of society, in the occupations and campuses and informal organizing where social change is relentlessly pursued? | <urn:uuid:1f50711a-4562-43fa-9c7a-4b1acbd48a68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://occupymba.com/tag/sustainable-leadership/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977095 | 1,667 | 1.640625 | 2 |
updated 11:30 am EST, Wed December 10, 2008
HP Enviro Battery
HP will claim an edge in notebooks with a new battery technology licensed from Boston-Power, the latter company has confirmed today. A new lithium-ion pack, nicknamed the Enviro battery, will last for up to three years of daily use without losing its maximum performance. The performance is about three times better than ordinary batteries and potentially lasts as much as four years for notebooks only used during regular weekdays.
The extra longevity is expected to reduce the amount of waste from lithium-ion batteries by keeping individual packs in use for longer amounts of time; accordingly, HP plans to extend the warranty for the battery alone to the full three years.
Boston-Power's core technology isn't exclusive to HP and will potentially be licensed to other notebook manufacturers in the future, though no customers have been named to date. The company also hopes to translate its technology to general electronics and electric vehicles. | <urn:uuid:c4d64e39-8c30-41a4-b6bd-658af0c0f0f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/12/10/hp.enviro.battery/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965533 | 197 | 1.578125 | 2 |
"They have deployed fresh troops in
the mountain posts," Gul said of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, pointing at peaks
across the border above the outpost in the Khyber Pass.
A Pakistan Frontier Corps official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, confirmed the Taliban buildup and said Pakistan has countered
with a fresh deployment of border troops on its side of the line. He didn't
say how many new soldiers were deployed.
The buildups came as the Taliban refused to hand over alleged
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and said U.S. attempts to apprehend him
by force could plunge the region into crisis.
American officials have warned of possible military action
against Afghanistan for harboring bin Laden, and the Taliban have vowed to fight
any country that helps the United States attack, including Pakistan, which has
promised its support for an American operation.
Fears of a U.S. assault have sent thousands of Afghans
fleeing toward the borders, compounding a refugee crisis already in full swing
before the terror attacks, with tens of thousands of Afghans on the run after
two decades of war and three years of devastating drought.
With the great steel gates in this border town shut tight
and Taliban troops preventing all but a few Afghans from reaching them Friday,
refugees in Torkham said thousands of others were trudging over tortuous mountains
paths in an effort to cross the frontier.
Hismat, an 11-year-old boy wearing tattered plastic sandals,
said he and 6-year-old sister walked for three days to reach Pakistan. They
left their widowed mother in Afghanistan.
"We said there would be war and that we had to get to Pakistan,"
Hismat said, his long eyelashes beating quickly as he tried to fight back tears.
For one whole day of their trek, they ate nothing.
"We just kept walking. My sister cried, but we had no food,"
Hismat said. His sister, Marsul, sat next to him, silently sipping an orange
soda. She wore sandals depicting the face of a blonde child and the English
words "good sport."
Hismat said he had sneaked back across the border into
Afghanistan to look for his mother, but could not find her in the crowds of
fleeing people, and returned to Pakistan.
"Near a mosque far from the border, there are lots and
lots of people. I don't know how many because I can't count. They were everywhere,
but my mother wasn't there," he said.
Hismat's aunt, Mariam, who like many Afghans uses only
one name, said she would stay in Torkham until she could get her sister across.
But that task seemed hopeless.
Taliban troops were shoving away the few Afghans who made
it to the big black gate. The only traffic allowed through in either direction
was food, according to Pakistani border officials.
A dozen brightly colored trucks lined up on the Afghan
side of the border, stacked high with crates of fruit and vegetables. After
two hours, Pakistani guards removed a heavy gray chain and padlock to open the
gate briefly to allow the trucks through.
Afghans were being allowed to cross into Afghanistan, but
no foreigners were let through the gates. At the passport office on the Pakistan
side of the border, which is usually filled with Afghans, there were only four
bearded men holding pale-blue Afghan passports.
They wanted to return to their homeland, and they did not
want to talk. One said they were traders returning home. Others said they had
family on the other side and wanted to be with them.
Most shops and businesses in Torkham were closed, and its
residents were tense. Groups of men sat on wooden benches sipping tea with milk,
discussing what might happen in the coming days.
"Every day, there are new rumors and new speculation,"
said Mohammed Saeed.
Saeed said the word in the market was that the Taliban
have deployed the medium-range Scud missiles they inherited from the Soviet
Union during its disastrous decade of occupation, which ended in 1989.
"But they are all rumors. We don't know," he said. "It's
impossible to tell from here. You can't see anything."
For people in Torkham, what can be seen comes as no comfort.
On Thursday, the Taliban allowed several hundred demonstrators to march on the
Afghan side of the border, shouting anti-American slogans, praising the Taliban
and promising a jihad, or holy war.
"This crisis is making us crazy," said Ghalib Khan, a storeowner.
"God only knows what will happen. No one knows. But we are afraid."
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:c697b59c-3a07-4619-b408-dc48bbe2b41c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2001/09/21/taliban-readies.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9761 | 1,039 | 1.632813 | 2 |
The Hong Kong City Hall, opened in 1962, is turning 50 in 2012. The purpose of the City Hall has indeed been richly carried through year upon year. Fifty crowded years have not only buried, once and for all, the myth of a Hong Kong deficient in culture, but also have helped produce a whole new generation of lovers of music, dance, drama, films, literature and paintings. It has continued to welcome genius and talent from distant lands and Hong Kong’s own.
Over the past 50 years, the City Hall has drawn together the people of Hong Kong into an integrated community. Having stood by the people through good times and bad, the City Hall is not | <urn:uuid:e8efa183-cd07-4546-98f6-29ec8bd590ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/CulturalService/CityHall/50/en/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963773 | 138 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Indoor Garden – The Super Cropper
The story of the Super Cropper
told by the founders of Urban Hydroponic Growers Union, Charles and Zach.
You can also visit the Super Cropper page on our Indoor Gardening Blog (urbanhydro.org)For a bit of the history of the system
The Super Cropper is really the culmination of our journey into hydroponics. Driven by our desire to found local hydroponic growers unions but faced with lack of knowledge about hydroponic food production, we set out to develop systems and methods of production that would further the concept of distributed urban agriculture.
Here is the idea… a community of growers each using indoor, backyard, and/or rooftop methods of hydroponic cultivation to grow a specific crop or crops. By specializing each grower will be able to be far more productive than when trying to produce a variety of crops. Coming together as a club, co-op, or even business these communities could produce for their members or clients a wide variety of valuable produce year round. Sort of a grow network.
Making this a reality really does require specific systems and methods for cultivation in spaces of all sizes. So we started with the smallest unit we felt could be a productive grow space, the 4×4 grow tent. After growing will all sorts of DIY and purchased hydroponic systems we finally settled in on our favorite method of cultivation, Aero-Hydroponics.
In our experience this method of cultivation is by far the easiest and most enjoyable in a 4×4 indoor grow room. It is clean, requires fewer timers and less medium. Only one problem. There really weren’t any Aero-Hydroponic systems on the market to fit in a 4×4 tent…at least not ones that we could afford.
After two years of trial and error with multiple self designed, self built systems, the Super Cropper emerged as our true favorite. Not only because it’s easy to grow in. Not only because plants grow incredibly fast in the Super Cropper, but also because it just looks so darn cool! We know you’ll enjoy growing with a Super Cropper as much as we do and we have worked very hard to deliver a great system at a great price. | <urn:uuid:27a5d137-4499-435e-9bee-f3419285f709> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.supercroppers.com/about/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94509 | 467 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Sangamo BioSciences is offering to sell 6,700,000 shares of its common stock pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement in an underwritten public offering. Barclays Capital is the sole book-running manager in this offering, and Sangamo will grant the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,005,000 additional shares.
Sangamo's technology enables the engineering of a class of DNA-binding proteins called zinc finger DNA-binding proteins (ZFPs). By engineering ZFPs that recognize a specific DNA sequence, Sangamo has created ZFP transcription factors (ZFP TFs) that can control gene expression and, consequently, cell function. The company is also developing sequence-specific ZFP nucleases (ZFNs) for therapeutic gene regulation and modification.
Sigma-Aldrich exclusively markets Sangamo’s ZFN technology through its CompoZr™ line of products and services. It supplies related research reagents as well as ZFP-modified cell lines for commercial production of protein pharmaceuticals and has rights to certain ZFP-engineered transgenic animals for commercial applications.
Reporting in the July 2009 issue of Science, Sangamo and collaborators said that they had created the first genetically modified rats using the ZFN technology. They used ZFNs to knock out an inserted reporter gene and two native rat genes without causing measurable effects on other genes. Importantly, offspring of the ZFN-mutated rats also carried the modifications, demonstrating that the genetic changes were permanent and heritable.
ZFNs are engineered proteins that induce double-strand breaks at specific sites in an organism’s DNA. Such double-strand breaks stimulate the cell’s natural DNA-repair pathways and can result in site-specific changes in the DNA sequence. ZFNs have reportedly been used to knock out specific genes in fruit flies, worms, cultured human cells, and zebrafish embryos.
ZFNs are also currently in clinical trials. The most advanced is SB-509, which is in a Phase IIb trial in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Sangamo is also evaluating the compound for the treatment of ALS, spinal cord and traumatic brain injury, as well as stroke. It also has a Phase I/II trial and two ongoing Phase I trials with SB-728-T for HIV/AIDS treatment as well as a Phase I study in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme with SB-313.
Most recently, in April CHDI Foundation signed on to use ZFP technology to develop a therapeutic for Huntington disease. The aim is to develop a ZFP TF capable of altering expression of the mutated huntingtin gene. | <urn:uuid:93a81735-36e9-49ff-a385-9acc273bf023> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/sangamo-offers-to-sell-6-7m-shares-of-common-stock/81244969/?kwrd=Cell-Line%20Development | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948276 | 550 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Supporting the Faculty of Engineering’s expansion
into emerging areas of research and study is the new
five-storey, 125,000 square-foot state-of-the-art
Engineering Technology Building.
The building is home to the first-year
engineering program and the McMaster-Mohawk Bachelor
of Technology Partnership. Teaching studios, tutorial
rooms, study space, and classrooms support an
enhanced first-year undergraduate experience.
The School of Biomedical Engineering and the Walter
G. Booth School of Engineering Practice are located
in the new building. Space is also designated for
a new Biointerfaces Institute and research initiatives
in nanotechnology and micro-systems.
The Engineering Technology Building is designed to
LEED environmental standards and as a teaching tool.
It is located at the campus’ Main
With the addition of the Engineering Technology Building,
the Faculty is located in, or shares, eight buildings | <urn:uuid:40e6d682-1921-46cc-84d6-7538594aba90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/newbuilding/newbuilding.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934313 | 196 | 1.523438 | 2 |
President Obama invoked a little-used law today to block a Chinese company from buying four wind farms in northern Oregon -- drawing criticism and threatened legal action.
The president cited national security concerns -- the wind farms are located near a Navy base where the U.S. flies unmanned drones and electronic-warfare planes on training missions.
"The president's action demonstrates the administration's commitment to protecting national security while maintaining the United States' longstanding policy on open investment," a Treasury Department statement said.
The department added: "The president's decision is specific to this transaction and is not a precedent with regard to any other foreign direct investment from China or any other country."
Tim Xia, counsel for the Ralls Corp., said in a statement that it regrets the decision, and "the project poses no national security threat whatsoever ... The president's order is without justification, as scores of other wind turbines already operate in the area where Ralls' project is located."
Xia added: "The selective and arbitrary singling out of Ralls' project drives our effort to seek redress in U.S. courts ... We are confident that the courts will vindicate Ralls' rights under the law and the Constitution, and we intend to pursue the remedies that the law makes available."
It's the first time in 22 years that a president has blocked such a foreign transaction.
"Obama's decision was likely to be another irritant in the increasingly tense economic relationship between the U.S. and China," the Associated Press said.
The AP also said: "It also comes against an election-year backdrop of intense criticism from Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney, who accuses Obama of not being tough enough with China."
Obama has also filed two trade complaints against China in the past three months, making both announcements in the politically pivotal state of Ohio.
Also from the Associated Press:
"In his decision, Obama ordered Ralls Corp., a company owned by Chinese nationals, to divest its interest in the wind farms it purchased earlier this year near the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility in Boardman, Ore.
The case reached the president's desk after the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, known as CFIUS, determined there was no way to address the national security risks posed by the Chinese company's purchases. Only the president has final authority to prohibit a transaction.
The administration would not say what risks the wind farm purchases presented. The Treasury Department said CFIUS made its recommendation to Obama after receiving an analysis of the potential threats from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. ...
The last time a president used the law to block a transaction was 1990, when President George H.W. Bush voided the sale of Mamco Manufacturing to a Chinese agency."
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: Obama blocks Chinese wind farm purchase | <urn:uuid:d4502ec2-36fa-4c7d-8742-2a11ade76976> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fdlreporter.com/usatoday/article/1600745?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955705 | 582 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The on-track injury reports and total starts utilized in providing the catastrophic injury rates presented by Dr. Mary Scollay at the March 17th Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit have been revised after being thoroughly reviewed.
The review established that the catastrophic injury reports actually covered longer periods of time with more races and total starts than was previously reported. In addition, further review and follow-up on the individual catastrophic injury reports provided a more accurate number of fatalities on both dirt and synthetic surfaces.
Dr. Scollay reports, “The revised statistics are based upon injury reports from a limited number of racetracks (34) and represent a reporting period of less than one year at some racetracks. Therefore, it is important to remember that these fatality rates are just a snapshot in time from a less than statistically significant number of tracks, and cannot be considered scientifically conclusive at this point.
“However, I would like to report that after a thorough review, the fatality rates I reported at the summit last month should have been 1.47 fatalities per 1,000 starts for synthetic surfaces and 2.03 fatalities per 1,000 starts for dirt tracks.
“As we said when this project was announced in May 2007, the goal of the injury reporting project is threefold: to identify the frequency, type and outcome of racing injuries using a standardized format that will generate valid composite statistics; to develop a centralized epidemiologic database that could be used to identify markers for horses at increased risk of injury; and to serve as a data source for research directed at improving safety and preventing injuries.”
Central to the system is a standardized form, created by Dr. Scollay and a group of participating regulatory and track veterinarians following the original summit, that is now being used at 48 racetracks. In addition, InCompass Solutions, as a service to the industry, has developed the necessary technology tools and created a database that enable track veterinarians to electronically submit injury reports from participating racetracks. The database will become operational in the next couple of months.
“I am proud of what the On-Track Injury Reporting System has accomplished to date, and I sincerely believe that the continued collection of this information is vital for the industry,” Dr. Scollay concluded.
Both editions of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit were coordinated and underwritten by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and The Jockey Club, and were hosted by the Keeneland Association. | <urn:uuid:a34abecf-26a0-43d6-bbae-4b06fff08bed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jockeyclub.com/mediaCenter.asp?story=327 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96417 | 513 | 1.726563 | 2 |
"How about we put tape here? That's OK, yes?" Peggy Cox of Diamond Bar queried her son, Teddy, 8. The third-grader nodded his affirmation, making no attempt to hide his excitement as he and his mother worked shoulder to shoulder to fashion a valiant Viking sword.
"This is good because we get to make stuff and do things," said Teddy, sharing his opinion of the boys-only party at the Diamond Bar library.
Although a few girls showed up at the late February "Vikings and Dragons" party for boys age 2 to 12, Teddy was adamant about his 6-year-old sister Bella staying home.
"He insisted `This is for boys only. You're a girl, so you can't come.' She was very disappointed," Cox conceded, noting the siblings share
Competitive or not, Teddy still made an extra shield and sword to take home to Bella.
Alison Ko, 4, was among the girls who crashed the outing. Alison, her 7-year-old brother Edward and mother Samantha Ko of Diamond Bar attend library storytime sessions together and saw no reason to break the family tradition of library funtime, Ko said.
"She promised to be good and Edward knows she usually plays with the boys, so it was fine for her to tag along," Ko continued, using masking tape to mark an "A" on her daughter's shield to avoid ownership confusion.
Jay Beydler, 3, showed off the jeweled cuffs of his Viking outfit for children's librarian Julie McCasland, then tugged her down for a
Wu and her husband, Mt. San Antonio College math professor David Beydler, "love this library and come here often," she said. "They take care of us. The kids read, play with computers and meet new friends here."
Mixing fun and learning make library programs pleasing for both children and parents, said Subbiyan Sudhagar of Pomona.
Sudhagar held younger son Suraj, seriously conversing with him about the bright overhead lights captivating the 7-month-old boy. Across the room, his wife Sharmila sat beside their older son, Vikrant, 6, her hands steadying his as he added tiny beads to his shield.
The couple said library programs let Vikrant mingle with children from diverse backgrounds and share cultural and creative activities.
McCasland initiated girls- and boys-only parties when she became children's librarian eight years ago.
"I was looking for fun ways to draw children to the library, then introduce them to everything else," McCasland said. "We make tiaras and bracelets and do girlie stuff for the girls parties.
"I figured if I could get them in they'd
The Friends of the Diamond Bar Library, literacy advocates and private philanthropists pay for culturally and educationally enriching programs.
Past boys' party themes have revolved around pirates, super heroes, Harry Potter and knights. The current theme was inspired by an animated feature film about dragons.
The library provided paper tubes which became battle axes, foil sheets to cover axes and swords, poster board to create swords and winged helmets, masking tape to hold everything together, fake hair for Viking helmets and Sharpie coloring pens, colored tape and self-adhesive jewels to aesthetically enliven shields and helmets.
Liam Gaytan, 2, battled dragons, picking people willing to become fire-breathing mystical and ancient animals winging across the sky and causing havoc on villages. Welding his paper sword, he slayed dragons and growled triumphantly, then made fierce faces for photographs snapped by his mom, Vivian Gaytan of Diamond Bar.
"I keep an eye out for library activities which encourage him to read and interact with other children," Gaytan said.
Alec Casas, 12, of Pomona painstakingly edged the yellow sunburst lines on his shield with purple ink while 4-year-old Igwe Ochuru mumbled to himself and declared "I'm making a pirate hat." He then grabbed his Viking sword to protect his 8-month-old brother Uwa from marauding dragons.
"This party promotes creativity in children and helps them relate well and properly to others," said Ahudiya Ochuru of Diamond Bar.
Retired teacher Linda Oddi of Diamond Bar and her husband, Gene, picked up grandsons Aidan and Austin from their Rancho Santa Margarita home to bring them to the Diamond Bar library. If it's educational and recreational with upbeat themes and involves multicultural outreach, personal development and team work, these grandparents are all for it.
Working beside 3-year-old Austin, Aidan, 6, announced "This is awesome!" He was equally enthusiastic about seeing a live performance of "How To Train Your Dragon" with Austin, 3, and his grandparents on another outing.
"They used robotic dragons in the play," Linda Oddi said. "We had as much fun as the kids did."
Although he admitted he'd truly enjoyed a "Disney On Ice" show when younger, Alexander Blake, 17, admitted the robotic show was probably more exciting. Alexander, one of 16 Diamond Bar High School Leo Club student volunteers, helped Austin and Aidan make Viking crafts.
Alexander, a senior, plans to attend Calvin College, a small Christian college in Michigan and major in engineering. Meantime, he balances his hours between academic endeavors and the club's community service programs.
Linda Oddi taught kindergartners and first-graders for 30 years in Brea and Walnut Valley schools.
"I'm very impressed with this library and its activities for kids," said now-retired Oddi. "There's a great variety of materials here, its customer service is excellent and it's well-kept, quiet and very user friendly.
"We love spending time with our grandchildren here. As grandparents, we're second role models for the children, so we welcome opportunities to be with them for activities like this library offers," she added.
Oxana Denisenko of Diamond Bar concurred with Oddi about the value of libraries. The local library has been particularly helpful to her sons, Daniel, 8, and Dennis, 6.
"Daniel started reading because of this library," Denisenko gratefully acknowledged. "I couldn't teach him English because I come from Russia. He learned English here, so I really appreciate this library."
In Daniel's eyes, the library is "pretty cool because I get to make all kinds of stuff here. I'm in third grade and Dennis is in first. I help him sometimes if I'm finished with my homework. We like coming to the library because we get to read books and play with computers here. This is a fun place." | <urn:uuid:af02f0ed-7f56-4078-b734-290f690dabd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sgvtribune.com/highlanders/ci_22698810/plenty-vikings-and-dragons-at-boys-only-event?source=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9745 | 1,412 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Ayako is an odd beast. Structurally, it resembles a Russian realist novel, using a once-powerful family of landowners to embody the political and economic upheaval caused by America’s seven-year occupation of Japan (1945-52). Temperamentally, however, Ayako feels more like a John Frankenheimer movie, with subplots involving a Communist organizer, an assassin who stashes orders in his empty eye socket, and a witness whose family condemns her to lifelong imprisonment in an underground cell. Though Tezuka makes a game effort to reconcile his literary and cinematic influences, the results are uneven: Ayako is powerful, disturbing, and, at times, flat-out ludicrous, yet it lacks the winking self-awareness of MW or the profound humanism of Ode to Kirihito, instead offering an engrossing but not entirely persuasive portrait of a family torn apart by the emergence of a new social order in post-war Japan.
Ayako revolves around the Tenge clan. The patriarch, Sakuemon, is a glutton and a bully, indulging his voracious appetites for food and sex while aggressively policing his family’s behavior. His sons aren’t much better: Ichiro, the eldest, is a manipulative coward who barters his wife for Sakuemon’s loyalty; Jiro, the middle son, is a disgraced war veteran who’s been coerced into spying for the US military; and Shiro, the youngest, is a fierce truth-teller who is slowly corrupted by his family’s secrets.
Two events threaten the Tenge’s equilibrium. The first — a murder — condemns the youngest family member to a dungeon, lest Ayako reveal a key piece of evidence linking a clan member to a murdered political dissident. Though the Tenge women are appalled by the plan, they’re powerless to help; the rest of the family views Ayako as a threat, as she’s both Sakuemon’s daughter and Ichiro, Jiro, and Shiro’s half-sister. The second — a decree from the government — forces the Tenge clan to redistribute their land among tenant farmers. Despite Ichiro’s vigorous protests, the government arrives on the property, intent on razing the structure that has kept Ayako out of public view for more than a decade.
Though the characters’ behavior is more extreme than anything found in Tolstoy or Sholokhov — unless I missed the incest in The Don Flows Home to the Sea — the spirit of Russian realism informs Ayako. Tezuka had already been to the Russian realist well before, loosely adapting Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment in 1953. He wasn’t alone in taking inspiration from Russian literature; other Japanese artists — most notably Akira Kurosawa — adapted Dostoevsky and Maxim Gorky’s work, too, transplanting the settings from Russia to Japan. (Kurosawa’s Red Beard, borrows liberally from Dosteoveksy’s 1861 novel Humiliated and Insulted; The Idiot and The Lower Depths follow the original source material more faithfully.) It’s not hard to imagine what made these Russian authors so attractive to Japanese artists of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s: the realists’ work was both grand and intimate, using sympathetic characters to dramatize the toll — physical, economic, and psychological — of social unrest and change.
Of course, the realist approach has a potential pitfall: characters can feel contrived, lacking an identity outside the cause they represent. Ichiro and Jiro, the eldest brothers in Ayako, both have obvious symbolic intent: Ichiro represents the last vestiges of feudal Japan, a landlord in danger of losing his fields, his farmers, and his source of power, while Jiro embodies the complicated relationship between the Japanese and their American overlords, caught between the Japanese desire to restore normalcy and the American desire to refashion Japanese society in its own image. For all their symbolic baggage, Ichiro and Jiro still register as fundamentally human: they’re flawed, inconsistent, and corrupted by what little power they have, yet both are strongly driven to pursue what they believe to be in their best interests.
Ayako, however, is more a receptacle for other characters’ anger and lust than a true individual. She’s an innocent victim who endures over a decade of isolation, emotional neglect, and sexual abuse at Shiro’s hands, emerging from her ordeal with no real beliefs or desires of her own. Her lack of individuality makes her the most transparently symbolic member of the Tenge clan; it’s not much of a stretch to interpret her character as a representation of occupied Japan. That symbolism is underscored by one of the book’s most arresting sequences. In it, we see Ayako writhe and shed her skin like a molting insect, casting aside her girl’s body for a woman’s. The images are stark: Ayako is rendered in white lines on a jet-black background, and her ecstatic expression suggests an erotic awakening — a metaphorical re-enactment of lost innocence during a period of confinement and darkness.
The symbolic intent of Tezuka’s characters is more apparent in Ayako than in some of Tezuka’s other mature works, I think, because Ayako is more self-consciously literary than MW or Ode to Kirihito. The absence of humor or cartoonishly evil characters — two staples of MW and Kirihito — cuts both ways. On the one hand, Ayako is sobering and adult; we can appreciate the gravity of the characters’ actions because Tezuka doesn’t punctuate serious moments with low comedy; there’s no reprieve from our discomfort with the characters’ behavior, no mustache-twirling villains on whom to pin our disgust. On the other hand, Tezuka has a natural instinct for blending high and low, using pulp genres as vehicles for exploring big questions about human nature. The heightened reality of the stories is fundamental to their success; Tezuka uses his character’s extreme behavior and dramatic physical transformations to tear away masks, to lay bare real hypocrisy, selfishness, and cowardice. That pulpy spirit asserts itself from time to time in Ayako (see “spy who stashes orders in his eye socket,” above), but there isn’t quite enough of it; the thriller elements feel tacked on, rather than fundamental to elucidating Tezuka’s central themes.
Yet Ayako is compelling, in spite of its flaws. It’s a fierce, angry work, at once intensely critical of American efforts to re-engineer Japanese society, and intensely critical of the old Japanese social order, portraying the Tenges as feudal overlords out of step with the modern world. It isn’t Tezuka’s best work, but it’s one of his most ambitious, a sincere and emotionally wrenching attempt to show the lingering effects of World War II on the Japanese psyche. Recommended.
Review copy provided by Vertical, Inc.
AYAKO • BY OSAMU TEZUKA • VERTICAL, INC. • 704 pp. • RATING: OLDER TEEN (16+) | <urn:uuid:f62c6ad8-7433-47ef-adb0-8ac4b8579067> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mangabookshelf.com/35762/ayako-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934846 | 1,562 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Dialogue Meeting 2009
Fourth J. S. Bach Dialogue Meeting Report
New Directions in Bach Studies
3-4 January 2009
Oxford University, Faculty of Music and Merton College
The meeting opened at 14:00 with the traditional “Musical Moment”, this time consisting of a complete performance of Bach’s Coffee Cantata (BWV 211) in the Merton College Chapel, with Carys Lane, Soprano, Gregory Skidmore, Baritone, Christopher Watson, Tenor, and Stephen Farr, Continuo.
Bach the Dramatist
This concert served as a splendid introduction to the first of the two main sessions of the meeting, Bach the Dramatist, held in the Faculty of Music. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is widely heard as being dramatic and full of action or gesture. The composer himself understood many of his compositions as dramatic works, even if they were not performed on a public stage. In his introductory address Reinhard Strohm emphasised our wish to understand the concepts and practice of drama in Bach’s environment, and to compare them with our own views of his music.
The first paper of the session, by Michael Maul (Leipzig), answered the question Could the Thomaskantor Bach have been Allowed to Compose an Opera? almost with “yes”. Drawing on his research of the history of opera at Leipzig, Maul showed that the city was used to the genre and the closure of its opera-house in 1720 was for several years afterwards not considered to be definitive. The Leipzig Collegia musica, directed by Bach in subsequent years, could be regarded as a substitute for this enduring interest among the citizens (see also the paper by Burkhard Schwalbach, below). Christoph Wolff (Harvard University) discussed Bach’s Oratorio Trilogy of 1734-35, the three works for Christmas, Easter and Ascension for which Bach reserved the name of “oratorio”, as a distinct group of dramatic works. Although they completed a liturgical cycle also comprising the Passion, they were quite different in character from the Passions, as they were musically based mainly on secular cantatas (“drammi per musica” in Bach’s terminology) and related to the definition of a “sacred opera” as given in Johann Gottfried Walther’s Lexicon (1732). Thus Bach created operas which were at the same time devotional works. The long history of Passion and Drama in German Literature was unfolded in the paper by Irmgard Scheitler (Würzburg University), who gave a comprehensive view of the fluctuating definitions of the dramatic genres and their theological significance from Luther to the enlightenment. She addressed various interactions between the Catholic and Protestant communities, and mentioned foreign influences on their practices. Bach’s Passions, belonging to a phase characterised by the poets Hunold, Brockes and Picander, are also among the last Protestant works to withstand a rising opposition to religious drama with biblical actors, a trend exemplified by the cantatas and allegorical works of his contemporary Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. Ruth HaCohen (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) spoke on The Dramaturgy of Religious Emotions in Bach's Cantatas: Aristotelian Processes in Neo-Platonic Frames. Having outlined the different mixtures of Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic philosophical traditions which influenced art in the early modern period, she offered a comparison between the roles of individual beliefs and spiritual communities in Cantata 131 (Aus der Tiefe) and the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249). This led to new interpretations of these works as different mixtures of individualist drama (the Aristotelian tradition) and collective, devotional, “atmospheric forms” (the Neo-Platonic tradition).
Concluding the session, John Eliot Gardiner presented the keynote lecture Opera and its Twin: Career Choices for the Class of ‘85’ – an investigation of the historiographical significance of musical genres and styles in the era of Bach. Gardiner opposed the conventional view (already held by Charles Burney) that Johann Sebastian and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach had “missed out” on the dominant musical genre, opera, because they had not worked, like Rameau or Handel, in opera-friendly environments. Instead, he outlined the great aesthetic alternative of sacred musical drama, which had developed in Germany since the seventeenth century and which was perfected by Bach to reach a dramatic potency in music beyond the reach of his peers.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Young Scholars’ Forum
In its third Dialogue Meeting (January 2008) Bach Network UK had introduced a Young Scholars’ Forum, which was designed to introduce students in the course of their postgraduate studies to the more senior scholars in the Bach community. This year three students took part, each one briefly outlining his or her area of research, with the idea that afterwards, in a casual setting, ideas might be exchanged and valuable connections made.
Peter Lagersted (University of Zürich) presented a short paper entitled Cantata As Dramatic Progression: Musical Metaphor Of Tribulation And Triumph in the Cantata BWV 146 “Wir Müssen Durch Viel Trübsal In das Reich Gottes Eingehen”. In a careful hermeneutical examination of the relationship between music and text, Lagersted traced potential links between Bach’s compositional techniques and textures, and the text of the Gospel for Jubilate Sunday. Each movement revealed significant layers of meaning, with Bach’s parody technique (second movement) and his use of echo being of particular interest. Jennifer Dieffenbach (Queen’s University Belfast) next spoke on Recovering Connections between J.S. Bach’s Passiontide Cantatas and his Passions. She considered hermeneutical issues when drawing connections between certain cantatas and the Passions. Our understanding of the Passions can be made more complete by considering the cantatas on either side, treating them as “prequels” and “sequels”, rather than as isolated works. Using as a springboard Eric Chafe’s work on Tonal Allegory in the Vocal Music of J.S. Bach, Dieffenbach also explored how Bach may have linked the cantatas and Passions by the use of rhetorical devices. The third young scholar was Carlo Cenciarelli (King’s College London). His paper, entitled From The Silence to the Lambs: Listening to Bach in Film, brought us decidedly into the current age, by looking at the way films can be “documents of reception” and contribute to the meaning of the music, and by exploring how Bach’s music specifically can function as interpreters of a film’s narrative. From this perspective, it is possible to see a film’s use of particular music as a positive move to expand the ways Bach’s music is perceived, and secure its place in everyday life.
In their exploration of Bach’s many-layered resonance, all three papers addressed interesting and important areas of research. We look forward to hearing how the ideas are expanded over the coming years.
As a special item on the programme, Reinhold Kubik and Margit Legler (Vienna) presented a Lecture demonstration, entitled Rhetoric, Gesture and Scenic Imagination in Bach’s Music. They introduced to the rhetorical representation of language in Baroque music and its traditional attention to gesture as part of the orator’s performance. Gestures articulate the flow of language not only in dramatic genres. In acted-out demonstrations, various options of gestural performance were shown, using the scores of operas as well as non-operatic works. Bach’s and Handel’s approaches to musical oratory and gesture differ: Handel’s opera music leaves performative space to the actor, whereas Bach’s music has absorbed all the musical gestures into its own fabric.
Music and Text
The second main session of this year’s Dialogue Meeting, Music and Text, opened with a keynote lecture given by Tatiana Shabalina (St Petersburg), entitled Recent Discoveries in St. Petersburg and their Meaning for Understanding Bach. Shabalina concentrated on a handful of items from her recent discoveries. This astonishing source find amounting to more than 300 text booklets reveals that, among other things, on 27 August 1725 Bach performed the lost Rathswahl cantata BWV Anh. 4 “Wünschet Jerusalem Glück”, in 1727 he performed a series of four cantatas: “O ewiges Feuer! o Ursprung der Liebe” (BWV 34) for 1 Whitsun, “Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut” (BWV 173) for 2 Whitsun, “Erwünschtes Freudenlicht” (BWV 184) for 3 Whitsun, and “Gelobet sey der Herr” (BWV 129) for Trinity 1; and that for Good Friday Vespers in 1734, he performed G. H. Stölzel’s Passion Oratorio Die Leidende und am Creutz sterbende Liebe Jesu (1720). Shabalina’s final illustration concerned the Cantaten auf die Sonn- und Fest-Tage durch das gantze Jahr (Leipzig 1728), the so-called Picander cycle of 1728, which was available to Spitta for his study, who hinted that Bach may have produced a fourth cantata Jahrgang. The issue was not revisited by later scholars, as the only known copy was reported lost after World War II. Although the bulk of the musical sources do not survive, the rediscovered Picander cycle of 1728 offers renewed hope of finding out the truth. Shabalina places the collection in the possession of Johann Christoph Gottsched, a leading literary figure of Bach’s time in Leipzig. If her speculation is correct, it could open a new door for research into the reception of Bach’s vocal works during his lifetime. It seems striking, for example, that many of the text booklets contain opera librettos, and not church cantatas. The fact that the texts of Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions are not among them is also telling. It may take scholars many years to reassess the new information and repaint the picture of Bach.
The Music and Text session continued on Sunday afternoon with a rich array of papers, interpreting the issue of text in broad and diverse ways. Peter Smaill (University of Edinburgh) struck out on an unusual tack in Bach scholarship: after outlining the various forms of heresy that were latent around the time and environs of Bach's Leipzig, he searched Bach's cantata texts for various shadings that could be interpreted as tendencies towards or reactions against such stirrings. Whilst adhering to the conventional view that Bach's own Lutheranism was unremittingly Orthodox, Smaill suggested that examining the such shades of theological nuance might make us more able to solve problems such as why Bach's 1739 Passion performance was prohibited, on account of its text. Julian Mincham (Kings Langley) continued the session with a study of Bach's 'hybrid' recitatives, those that combine recitative with some form of arioso, and which are often given short shrift in the critical literature. By combining the generic musical characteristics of recitative and arioso, Bach is able to communicate theological and emotional processes that can work out in a single recitative or between two which are are separated by an aria. Burkhard Schwalbach's (University of Oxford) rich interdisciplinary approach to the culture of Leipzig's “garden music” revealed that many of the secular cantata texts contain specific references to a topical discourse about gardens and their associated symbolism. Particularly important to this culture was the myth of Echo and its relation to the numinous realm; other topics included the relation of nature to morality and the metaphysical implications of the weather. Szymon Paczkowski (University of Warsaw) took further the examination of Bach's secular cantatas by examining closely the political implications of “Tönet, ihr Pauken” (BWV 214). Contrary to the tendency to devalue text-music relations in Bach's secular writing, Paczkowski showed that the text contains many subtle allusions and metaphors for its original Saxon audience and that Bach is just as sensitive to these in his musical setting as he is in the case of his religious writing.
Burning Issues Forum
This year, too, a new type of session was created: a Burning Issues Forum on miscellaneous themes thought to be of immediate relevance to Bach scholarship and performance.
In a paper entitled Accusations of Apostasy: the spiritual implications of the Buttstett-Mattheson controversy, Ruth Tatlow (Stockholm) gave an exposition and analysis of the vituperative exchange between the Thuringian, Johann Heinrich Buttstett, and the famous musicologist Johann Mattheson (of Hamburg) in the period 1716 to 1718, concluding with reference to implications for Bach scholarship. Mattheson’s Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre of 1713, though lamenting the perceived decline of Music, posits the development for the “Galant” man, “of discernment and good taste” in music. Such a subjective and forward-looking approach evidently irritated Buttstett whose reactionary polemic demands a reversion to “old, true, sole and eternal Foundations of Music”. This discourse was conducted not solely on the basis of tension between conservatism and innovation. For Buttstett, Music is a construct of God; and to breach the traditional forms of solmisation was tantamount to blasphemy. By rejecting the modes Mattheson, in Buttstett’s opinion, was threatening the very essence of Harmonia, God’s ordained plan for the universe. Tatlow ended by asking what light the controversy might shed on Bach’s philosophy of music and his compositional practice.
Speaking on Ways to Bach, Margaret Steinitz (London Bach Society) brought a fresh and thought-provoking angle to the discussions, by stepping away from the exploration of the musicological past, and instead looking at the contemporary reality of Bach reception. Contrasting this with the culturally-attentive world of 1946 when Paul Steinitz founded the London Bach Society, Mrs Steinitz drew attention to the collapse in levels of participation in German language and musical education in the UK, both negative for the future of Bach appreciation. As a countervailing force against these trends, she suggested that a discovery of Bach for the new generation could utilise innovative and informal methods, focussing on dance, rhetoric and exploration rather than didacticism. The lively discussion suggested that these problems are felt throughout Europe; and that we should all try to devise new ways of passing down the values and pleasure of Western classical music. This is especially true for Bach, in respect of a new generation for whom his works’ profoundly life-enhancing qualities are a refreshing antidote to contemporary superficiality.
The meeting closed at 5 pm.
Many of the papers presented at this Meeting will be published in the next issues of Understanding Bach, the web journal of BNUK. | <urn:uuid:851b8e11-ec2c-4ef6-b7dc-a34f0935172b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bachnetwork.co.uk/dialogue_2009.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936647 | 3,281 | 1.632813 | 2 |
The U.S. Department of Education released the finalized rules of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) on Oct. 29.
The updated regulations require that colleges and universities:
- Publish an annual fire safety report, maintain a fire log, and report fire statistics to the Department of Education
- Develop and make available a missing student notification policy and allow students who reside on campus to confidentially register contact information
- Expand the list of crimes that institutions must include in the hate crimes statistics reported to the Department
- Include in the annual security report a statement of emergency response and evacuation procedures
Exactly how college and university administrators should interpret the new regulations won’t be clarified for several months. According to Security on Campus (SOC) Director of Public Policy S. Daniel Carter, the Department of Ed will not update the Clery handbook until next year, at the earliest. Because of this delay, SOC will be issuing some interim guidance on the new rules. “We anticipate putting out an analysis of the regulations [this] week to help explain them point by point,” he says.
One aspect of the new rules that Carter believes might be overlooked is the requirement that campuses not only have an emergency response policy, but that it also be summarized in the school’s annual report starting in 2010. Carter is quick to point out, however, that while colleges and universities must publish their policies, they should not release operational details.
“It’s not like they should say, ‘We’re going to place three tactical officers at this location if there is a shooting at this building,’ because that would obviously give away information that would threaten safety,” says Carter.
That being said, Carter recommends institutions of higher education provide information that the campus community will find useful during an emergency, such as the potential agencies that might respond to a crisis on campus.
The Center for Campus Fire Safety (CCFS) is also providing assistance so institutions of higher education can comply with the updated HEOA regulations.
The CCFS has released a new fire incident tracking tool that is free for educational institutions. The tool allows campuses and local fire departments responding to campus incidents, to input incident data, create reports to analyze fires and tailor their public education and awareness campaigns to their specific needs. According to the CCFS, the tool can function as the required “fire log” institutions now must maintain pursuant to the new federal regulations.
To learn more about this data and information resource, visit www.campusfiresafety.org/campus-fire-data.
Click here to view the new HEOA regulations. | <urn:uuid:1870273f-e60e-4ad6-bfe1-e189c2498cef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/Channel/University-Security/News/2009/11/03/Final-HEOA-Rules-Expand-Universities-Responsibilities.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945103 | 546 | 1.710938 | 2 |
We have written here before about the financial authorities giving gold a helping hand, sometimes with their shortsighted policy actions. Freezing Iran out of the payments system so it settles exchange in other forms with its trading partners, and allowing gold to move back to the heart of the banking system are two good examples.
Instances such as these usually surprise us given that gold is the antithesis of the financial authorities who manage our national currencies. Humans are prone to err and the Feds are not different, something that as gold investors we celebrate on these occasions.
In the U.K., the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) long-awaited Retail Distribution Review (RDR) has been growing in form prior to coming into force on Jan. 1, 2013. The implications of RDR on investment markets have been debated for some time.
Has the FSA boosted demand in the gold market?
Recent research from the World Gold Council (WGC) argues that RDR should be seen as a game changer for gold. Like others, the WGC argue that previous regulations limited investment and product choices for retail money managers, limiting advisers' abilities to provide clients with wide-ranging asset allocation and truly balanced and diversified portfolios.
Investment options considered mainstream in today's contemporary financial era of "too big to fail," bailouts, and QE have been found wanting, leading to a search for alternatives. Savers and money managers have been looking for other options prompting a widely noted growth in the alternative investment sector.
RDR will shortly enable advisers' to direct retail funds to a wider range of investments and products. This could be good for gold, and other apparently "alternative" investments. Many might see this as the regulators once more following the ball, and reacting after a phenomenon has occurred.
RDR looks set to increase the chances of retail funds finding their way into the gold investment market. This would offer further support to the gold price, and help clients of the fund management industry achieve their needs of wealth preservation, portfolio diversification, and finally some decent and varied asset allocation.
What does RDR mean for gold investment products?
If RDR really causes the above, it will be very interesting to observe the fund management industry's choice and recommendations of gold investment products. We would assert that because the gold market has been such a backwater for managed retail money, we may witness advisers significantly improve their knowledge of ways to invest in gold. Currently, few IFAs would be able to tell you the differences between a gold ETF and an allocated gold account, between gold liquidity (gold bullion investment) and gold investments (gold mining shares, gold royalty companies, gold explorers, etc.) -- let alone the difference between allocated and unallocated gold.
This increased attention on the product landscape within the gold market will be a good thing.
Which products will benefit from new money investing in gold?
We would extend the argument of the WGC here and suggest that as levels of education about the subtle differences between ways to invest in gold increase, certain products stand better placed to benefit than others. This managed retail money will have certain needs when it comes to being deployed as gold liquidity, and other needs when deployed in gold investments.
When we are talking about the liquidity part of your allocation to gold, it might be that physical gold products stand to benefit over securities for gold investment. When capital is allocated to gold in this way, the primary motivation is typically wealth preservation; the return of your money before the return on your money.
With this is mind we see allocated gold products, where the investor owns physical gold bullion that is their legal property, being favored over gold securities like ETFs, where the investor does not enjoy direct ownership and merely owns a share in a trust structure involving a range of financial counterparties. If you can buy physical gold that you own as securely and efficiently as an ETF, why would you not opt for the real thing over a derivative?
Educated gold investors have always placed great importance on owning allocated gold; how many gold investment heavyweights do you find recommending paper gold and gold securities over the real thing?
We think the benefits of unregulated products, which transparently and securely provide allocated physical gold ownership, make them well placed to receive relatively greater new capital flows than their regulated competitors with their limitations and structural flaws. With this in mind it is possible internationally accessible allocated bullion platforms will be prefered over vehicles such as GLD, DGL, SGLN and other paper claims.
And what about gold investments?
When moving on to the investment part of your allocation to gold, it will also be interesting to see some further natural selection at work in the gold investment market.
Will managed gold funds be relative beneficiaries to new money flows? Will the mining shares recover their attraction, after their difficult last 18 months and their previously seen new competition from new types of gold securities?
Although we are relatively less well-qualified to comment on this part of the gold market, it would appear that gold funds and gold shares stand better placed to receive client funds than gold derivatives like futures and options. Even within this we would hazard a guess that retail managers have not the time and/or inclination to become experts in gold explorers, miners, and royalty firms. With this in mind, perhaps managed funds will attract more of this retail money. You can have all the usual debates about alpha and value for money, but actively managed gold funds might be thankful for RDR. The likes of the Tocqueville Gold Fund might benefit in the U.S., while the likes of Blackrock Gold and General, Sprott Gold Fund, and Hinde Capital might do well in the U.K.
RDR could ultimately benefit investors
While we generally feel that regulation beyond just creating the environment for a market to operate freely and efficiently creates more problematic distortions than benefits, RDR might do some good for investors. Even bad golfers (read: the regulators) score a hole in one every now and again.
If RDR really does allow managed retail money to at least consider a wider range of investment markets and products, this could help facilitate improved diversification, wider asset allocation, and ultimately greater wealth preservation and risk adjusted returns being achieved by those using financial advisers. Every cloud...
The reason gold bullion investment specifically within the alternative asset class will benefit investors is due to gold's historically proven role as a diversifier in portfolios. Research just out from the WGC once more shows what gold can add to your portfolio during the good times, but especially the bad times.
Disclosure: I am long gold, silver, and the miners. I am an executive of a precious metals investment service. | <urn:uuid:6aedc2a0-3003-4cd9-9b1d-c32d5ca41d5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seekingalpha.com/article/762171-authorities-give-gold-another-leg-up | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960187 | 1,367 | 1.585938 | 2 |
With Connecticut’s soon to take effect, businesses are preparing to set up dispensaries in the state.
The law will bring a whole new industry to the state, and the Associated Press talked to one company owner who expects it to be a robust business.
‘‘We expect competition to be fierce,’’ Bruce Bedrick, head of Medbox Inc., told the AP. ‘‘As much as I want to be in the business, a lot of other people will be in the business.’’
Under the law, patients must receive a doctor’s note to be able to use the drug and register with the Department of Consumer Protection. The patient and his or her primary caregiver can hold up to a one-month supply of marijuana, according a after he signed the law.
Malloy said that the law offers these “safeguards.”
- Unlike California and several other states, patients must have both a physician’s recommendation and a registration form from the Department of Consumer Protection, which is shared with law enforcement.
- Medical marijuana cannot be used in any public place, near children under the age of 18, in buses or other motor vehicles, on school grounds, nor in college dormitories.
- A panel of doctors selected by the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection will determine how much marijuana may be possessed by patients, depending on the type of illness involved.
- Medical marijuana can only be sold legally by registered pharmacists who have been approved by the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection, and those pharmacists can only sell marijuana that is produced by special licensed growers. Approved marijuana will be packaged in the same way as prescription drugs according to dosage.
- Doctors recommending marijuana will be carefully monitored through the existing Prescription Monitoring Program to identify those who demonstrate a pattern of excessive recommendation of medical marijuana.
Paul Petrone contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:dbbd5bff-7798-4d3c-9486-b312dff13d1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westhartford.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/marijuana-businesses-prepare-for-new-state-law-e90ee9c8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956349 | 398 | 1.84375 | 2 |
In the New York Metro section of Friday's New York Times, Cara Buckley portrays the Wall Street occupiers as an unruly band of outsiders who've come to terrorize the locals. They rudely befoul restaurant bathrooms without buying anything. They crowd moms and baby strollers off the sidewalks. They flash their tits in broad daylight. The image that comes to mind is that of the bridge-and-tunnel crowd gone wild, or college tourists on spring break at the Jersey Shore.
Even if there's some truth to this, I can confidently say that Buckley and many other reporters are missing something: Occupy Wall Street was bound to happen at some point even if the Manhattan police sealed off every one of the island's bridges and tunnels. The same vast economic disparities that have outraged so many middle class Americans are only magnified here. A little-known fact about Manhattan, otherwise known as New York County, is that it has the highest level of income inequality of any urban county in the nation. The only US county with a wider gap between rich and poor is Willacy County in South Texas, a ranching community packed with unemployed farm workers where one wealthy individual owns a third of the land.
Of course, New Yorkers make much more money on average than people in South Texas, thanks in part to the trickle down from Wall Street. That's one reason many observers at first wrote off Occupy Wall Street as a flash in the pan. But as it stretches into its fourth week, it has struck a chord with many people in the city. Many New Yorkers are working harder for the same pay, and Wall Street's über-wealthy have driven up prices, pushing the merely upper middle class into smaller apartments and farther-flung neighborhoods.
In the Financial District, the average studio apartment rents for (PDF) more than $2,200 a month (and that excludes apartments with doormen, which cost more). According to a 2006 story in the Gotham Gazette, the district that includes the Financial District and Greenwich Village had the highest median rent of any part of Manhattan. While I couldn't find more recent stats on the area's median housing cost last night, it's safe to assume that most New Yorkers who are hurting from the recession don't live there.
Clearly, many people who make their homes near the New York Stock Exchange feel under siege. What's less clear is how much people in the rest of the city feel sorry for them. While trashing bathrooms or intimidating stroller moms is never OK, those things seem positively tame compared to what New York has inflicted upon itself in class struggles of yore.
Going forward, the mainstream media could do a better job reporting how New Yorkers feel about Occupy Wall Street. And Occupiers from out of town would do well to consider how to bring in more locals, who could help give the movement staying power. It's one of the many things I hope to explore when I set up Mother Jones' outpost in Zuccotti Park later today. | <urn:uuid:768ad1ab-ce10-4976-a630-845c36bd04fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/10?page=17 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964685 | 610 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Working Stiffs welcomes guest blogger Cheryl Williams today.
Hi everyone! from a newbie to your board. I’m here via an invite from Annette Dashofy. I asked casually one day at our critique group, how does your site choose people to blog? (smile)
I hope you like these thoughts from a discussion I led at our Pennwriters group at Barnes & Noble, South Hills Village, Pittsburgh PA. Jumping right in….
What advice would a writer from 1938 have for writers of our current day? Would it still be timely to our needs? You bet! Barbara Ueland’s seventy-year-old book touches the heart and fires the imagination. Titled ‘If You Want to Write’, the 179 page ‘little book’ trumpets itself as “A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit’. Copyrighted in 1938, it was republished in 1989 by Graywolf Press. Please join with me as we examine some of the thoughts of Ms. Ueland.
I love author bios, I hope you do too. Barbara Ueland was born in Minneapolis in 1891. Her father was a judge and her mother a suffragette and first president of the Minnesota League of Women Voters. Barbara graduated from Barnard in 1913 and lived in NYC until 1930, where she was part of the Greenwich Village bohemian crowd that included Eugene O’Neill. After her return to Minnesota in 1930, she earned her living as a journalist, editor, freelance writer and teacher of writing. (She also went through three husbands along the way.) She remained physically and mentally active until her death at the age of 93 in 1985.
In her book, she reminisces about teaching at the YWCA. “There were all kinds of people – men and women, rich and poor, erudite and uneducated, highbrow professors and little servant girls so shy that it would take months to arouse in them the courage to try a sentence or two.”
The fact she mentioned ‘servant girls’ got my attention. I had a grandmother who left school in the eighth grade, as many young women did around the turn of the century, to work as a housemaid in one of those now-decaying mansions that dot the Northside of Pittsburgh. Grandma spoke about dusting knickknacks on the shelves and stitching wedding gowns. Anything to help out the family finances in a family of eight kids. Grandma told such wonderful stories that I wonder if she ever fantasized about writing them down. Would things have been different if she’d encountered a teacher like Ms. Ueland? Grandma’s son, my Daddy, always wanted to be a journalist. The dream to write was there. Maybe he inherited a writing bug in his genes? In any case, the family urged my Dad to get his head out of the clouds and study something practical. The only writing he did after that was love poems to my Mom. (The dream to write fell to me, apparently, but that’s another story.)
Back to Ms. Ueland. Barbara’s mission as a teacher was to get her students to express clearly what was true to them from their personal experiences. She led them from initial efforts of stilted, false, dead prose into courageous expressions of slices of life from the heart. Her book is a magnificent pep talk that fires up the writer within each of us. Her key to unlocking the ability to write? She demanded of her students, “Tell me more.”
For instance, she queried a budding novelist about whether the character’s muscles really ‘rippled’. Did the writer actually see that? Her student became excited and declared yes, his muscles were so big they seemed to burst the seams of his coat. Barbara responded, “Well say that! Hurrah! Put it that way. That’s alive, great!”
Barbara writes, “I am blessed with a fascinated, inexhaustible interest in all my pupils – their thoughts, adventures, failures, rages, villainies and nobilities.” She wanted them to see “how gifted they are and consequently grow in boldness and freedom.” To accomplish this, she instructed them to “forget about writing ‘writing’ and… to tell spontaneously, impulsively, what they remembered.”
If you’d like, I could come back sometime and blog on some more inspiring quotes from her book. If you’d like to read it yourself, I’d recommend checking your interlibrary loan system for a copy. In my area of Allegheny County, there’s four in the system.
To close, does anyone else have relatives in the family line who might have become writers if fate had given them the chance? If things had gone a bit differently in their lives?
Cheryl Elaine Williams
Check me out on Facebook – type in all three names, the CEW in Pittsburgh PA. My starter web page: http://www.cherylelainewilliams.com | <urn:uuid:ad0d2dbe-cd9d-43c8-9450-8242af6aacfa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://workingstiffs.blogspot.com/2009/09/if-you-want-to-write.html?showComment=1254349517480 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975897 | 1,069 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Stockton, California, lays claim to a lot of undesirable superlatives: it’s America’s foreclosure capital, an annual contender on the Forbes “Most Miserable” list, and the United States’ largest bankrupt city.
But the city might lose that last claim, depending on the outcome of a federal court hearing scheduled to begin Monday. Stockton would still be broke if a judge rules against it. It just wouldn’t be officially bankrupt. A group of bond insurers is arguing Stockton didn’t do everything it could to balance its books before declaring for Chapter 9 protection last June. Therefore, they say, it violated state bankruptcy laws. The insurers want the city to raise taxes and cut pension payments, among other steps.
How the federal judge rules – and how the city pays off the hundreds of millions of dollars it owes – will provide clues for how other financially stressed municipalities across California and the country will deal with pensions and employee benefit programs they can no longer afford.
How Stockton Got Here
When you visit Stockton, it isn’t always obvious you’re in America’s largest bankrupt city. The city of 300,000 boasts a gleaming riverside arena and baseball stadium. Last weekend, fans decked out in St. Patrick’s Day outfits streamed into the downtown entertainment complex to watch the Stockton Thunder hockey team take on the Bakersfield Condors.
Drive a couple of miles from downtown, though, and it’s a different picture. The Fair Oaks Public Library sits abandoned and forgotten. Its doors are boarded up, its signs are whited out, and neighbors say its parking lot attracts homeless people at night.
The city closed Fair Oaks Public Library in 2010. The closure has more in common with the downtown hockey arena than you might think.
Things were going pretty well for Stockton in the early 2000s. Revenue was up after a decade-long slump, and property values were exploding. Median home values jumped from around $100,000 to more than $400,000. It felt like a renaissance, so the city borrowed more than $100 million to build the arena, the adjoining baseball stadium, and a brand new waterfront.
“They were all excellent projects,” said City Councilwoman Kathy Miller, “but it was a huge amount of debt. “
The borrowing – along with employee benefits that grew more generous by the year – put Stockton on the hook for a lot of money.
And then the bottom fell out.
“The recession hit and revenue plummeted,” said Miller. “We went from a high of about $205 million to, last year, around $155 million. So no matter how you slice it that is a huge reduction.”
Stockton's leaders slashed and slashed, cutting $90 million from the budget between 2010 and 2012.They reduced employee pay and benefits. They shuttered the Fair Oaks Library, and cut hours at other library locations. City officials cut the police department’s staff by a quarter, and laid off more than 30 fire fighters.
But last year, Stockton still faced a $26 million dollar deficit. So it declared bankruptcy, becoming the largest American city to do so.
“You Expect That To Hold Water”
Stockton’s decision attracted international attention. Al Seibel worked for Stockton for 33 years, maintaining the city's parks and golf courses. One recent morning, he searched his shelves for a DVD as he talked to a reporter about the city’s bankruptcy. He was looking for the recording of his recent interview with a French television station. Seibel has also talked to journalists from Belgium, Japan and Switzerland.
The international press wants to talk to Seibel because he’s one of more than 1,000 Stockton retirees who suddenly lost their health insurance when the city declared bankruptcy.
In the 1990s, Stockton started offering lifetime health care benefits to city employees as part of a bargaining strategy aimed at keeping salary increases down. But Stockton never set aside the money required to properly fund the health care program. When the recession hit, it couldn’t afford the plan, and the city council voted to eliminate it.
“If we were to properly fund the program and make it available to everyone, we need to immediately set aside 30 percent of our payroll now and into the next 30 years,” read city manager Bob Deis’ letter to Stockton retirees.
The city allowed retirees to stay on its plan for another year, at a much higher rate. So Seibel had two options: pay a monthly premium of more than $1,100, for health care, or go without insurance. At age 61, Seibel is still years away from receiving health coverage through Medicare.
“I only get $2,100 a month [in pension payments],” said Seibel, who has heart and ulcer problems. “By the time I’d pay that insurance and my mortgage I’d have nothing left. It really wasn’t a choice. It was forced on me.”
The decision left Seibel and other retirees outraged and unprepared. Mark Anderson, who worked for the Stockton police department for 22 years, said his health care plan now boils down to “hoping we’re OK.” His wife Joni recently fell down the stairs.
“Luckily all I ended up with was some bruising," she said. "If I would have required surgery or something without having medical care, it would have killed us. Financially we would have lost everything.”
“If I had known 20 years before I retired, 'OK, I’m not going to have medical,' I would have started an account putting money away.”
“When you’re given something in a written contact that you’ve worked for 33 years, you expect that to hold water,” said Seibel. “If I had known 20 years before I retired, 'OK, I’m not going to have medical,' I would have started an account putting money away.”
Stockton’s city manager and mayor both turned down repeated requests for interviews. Councilwoman Kathy Miller voted to eliminate the retiree health care. She says the city didn’t have any other option.
“I think that, more than any other decision, was the toughest for the council to make," she said. "That was a budget expense that was going to go from $9 million to $14 million in 12 months and just grew exponentially.”
A Court Challenge
Stockton justified eliminating retirees’ health care by saying it was the only way to protect pension payments, which weren't cut. But the insurance companies that are holding the bag on the hundreds of millions of dollars that Stockton owes in bond payments are now challenging the city’s decision to keep pensions intact. In a federal court filing, the insurers claim that before the city filed for Chapter 9 protection, it should have cut pension payments and raised taxes.
Their argument boils down to this: the state’s public employee retirement system, CalPERS, is Stockton’s largest creditor. By refusing to negotiate reduced payments into the retirement system, Stockton is negotiating in bad faith with its other creditors.
“What the bond insurers want to say is you can't do anything to us unless you're making cuts everywhere you can,” explained University of Pennsylvania Law School professor David Skeel, a bankruptcy expert. “And the elephant in the room is Stockton's pensions, which they have suggested they're not going to cut.”
Stockton pays into three CalPERS-administered pension plans. These obligations totaled a bit less than $24 million in 2011, the last year a full financial report is available for the city. Stockton and CalPERS’ legal response to the creditors’ argument: CalPERS acts as a trustee, not a creditor, and the city has a legal obligation dictated by “a well-developed, substantial body of state law” to continue its payments.
The bond insurers are using the dispute to challenge Stockton’s eligibility for bankruptcy. Skeel doesn’t expect the argument to prevail at next week’s hearing, but thinks the insurers may be able to force the city to cut pension payments during later negotiations. Skeel said the insurers are pressing the issue hard, because they're worried about the growing number of cities going broke.
“If you're a bond insurer," said Skeel, "you say, ‘Oh my, I didn't think this could happen. It's happening in a significantly-sized city -- Stockton; it could happen almost everywhere.’”
And if a federal judge ultimately rules cities can scale back pension benefits for retirees – a move legally prohibited for decades – other financially troubled cities may take similar steps.
Skeel said local governments across the country should “take note as carefully as they can” while Stockton sorts through the major issues at the heart of its problems, and looks for solutions.
“When is it OK to go back on promises that you made to these employees?" mused Skeel. "What limitations ought there be on that? Who should be held responsible and how widely should the sacrifice be shared? These are big questions, I think.”
In the meantime, Stockton continues to negotiate with its numerous creditors. It agreed on a $22 million repayment plan with a bond insurer last month, and people involved in talks say an agreement on a more limited retiree health care plan isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“At the end of the day nobody’s going to be happy,” said former City Manager Dwane Milnes, who has represented retirees in negotiations. “You just hope they’re all equally unhappy. I think that really is the best outcome." | <urn:uuid:37dc4710-80df-4822-93f4-93d17b7e69b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/03/22/stockton-is-broke-but-is-it-bankrupt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968086 | 2,088 | 1.515625 | 2 |
We made some gorgeous beaded bubble wands yesterday! As a DIY project, this didn't take much in the way of materials—simply pipecleaners, beads, and wooden dowels (although popsicle sticks or natural sticks from the backyard would work, too).
We had the pipecleaners and dowels on hand already and the beads were on sale at A.C. Moore for about $1.50 a bag of assorted shapes and colors which I thought was a great score. I may have to go back and get more...
I don't usually do this, but I tested a few variations of the beaded bubble wands first before introducing the activity to the kids. The wand on the left, with the beaded handle, is what I had planned for us to do. I found the idea via Pinterest, of course. I was inspired by both a blog post by Kleas and by a Flickr photo by ladylucente.
Unfortunately the wire I bought was too thick or the beads I chose had holes that were too small to fit easily over a doubled up strand of my wire (I managed to force them on for this wand but it wasn't easy and I didn't think the kids would be able to manage it with a smile on their faces). So... I quickly came up with a plan B (beaded wire for the circle of the wand) and a plan C (pipecleaner for the circle of the wand).
I tested each with some bubble solution to see which head made the best bubbles. The best was the simple pipecleaner head! Followed closely by the beaded head. The plain wire strand was a rather distant third place. Good to know.
We ended up stringing beads along pipecleaners to make the bubble wand heads. I was too attached to the idea of beautiful beaded bubble wands to settle for the plain jane pipecleaners.
This was a wonderful fine motor control activity for Daphne, by the way!
The finished wands are lovely. The pipecleaners are twisted around the dowel ends, but I added a bit of hot glue from the glue gun to make sure they stayed in place.
We took the wands out to the garden with a bowl of bubble solution.
And blew bubbles! (Daphne insisted on using the one wire wand and managed to get a few bubbles out of it.)
Here you can see the gussied up pipecleaner wand (we added beads to the top of the handle with hot glue) make lots of great bubbles.
And one of the many extra big bubbles made with one of the beaded wands.
Ah... What would summer be without bubbles?
If you enjoyed this post, please share your thoughts in the comments, share the post with your friends, or subscribe to receive blog updates through e-mail or your reader. Thank you! | <urn:uuid:3b7ffb39-bc43-488f-ab2d-ff22173b8694> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artfulparent.com/2012/05/diy-beaded-bubble-wands.html | 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 | 0.978126 | 595 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Chenin Blanc wines are probably quite familiar to most wine consumers.
Since the 11th Century, France’s Loire Valley has always produced lovely Chenin Blancs, such those from Savennieres and Vouvray. The French wines have varied from dry to sweet, and both seem to last decades or more. On the other hand, this is usually not the case for Chenin Blancs from the New World.
Join us as we talk with Ken Forrester, of Ken Forrester Wines in South Africa. He’s an excellent spokesperson for the grape, its history, and for the beautiful wines that can be made from it. | <urn:uuid:f93bdd4a-05bf-4ff0-bc9f-c2524a558ac1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smartaboutwine.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/chenin-blanc-not-your-fathers-wine-by-graperadio-com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961803 | 139 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Statements about Criminal Justice
Says a gun bill before the Senate would make it a federal felony to "leave town for more than seven days, and leave someone else at home with your firearms."
If the sequester hits, federal prosecutors will have to "let criminals go."
"Today, about 40 percent of guns are purchased without a background check."
"Washington, D.C., had some of the strictest gun laws in the country. And when they passed them, violence skyrocketed."
"There's a loophole where you can sell guns without a background check … 40 percent of guns are sold that way" at gun shows and over the Internet.
"It costs more money to put a person on death row than it does to lock them up for the rest of their lives because of attorney fees."
Says the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2.3 million inmates, and the majority of Americans are imprisoned because they sold small amounts of drugs.
Says a quote at the top of the redesigned website for the Department of Justice comes from a socialist who wanted to impose global common law.
"When we look at the number of murders in the United States (in) 2009, we had 9,500 people murdered. When we look around the world, we see ... large countries, the U.K., Germany, Japan had 200 or less killed in a year."
"Saturday's shootings reflect a disturbing trend. Mass shootings have become commonplace since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. There have been dozens of incidents where three or more people have been fatally wounded. Hundreds have died."
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Keep up to date with Politifact National: | <urn:uuid:3d0c5700-93c8-439e-a45e-0b584105730d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/subjects/criminal-justice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950921 | 491 | 1.75 | 2 |
Merson emerged from the playgrounds of Brooklyn to become one of the best guards in New York City in the mid-1930s. He played at Long Island University under legendary coach Clair Bee when the Blackbirds were numbered among the top basketball programs in the country. As co-captain of the 1937 squad, Merson helped lead LIU to an undefeated season in 1936 when they captured the mythical Eastern championship.
Birth and Death Dates:
b. April 30, 1915 - d. May 8, 2001
After joining the LIU varsity basketball team midway through the 1934 season as a sophomore, Merson played a more prominent role for the Blackbirds in 1935. The 1934 team had finished 26-1 and was finally recognized as a basketball power (the program began in 1928 and struggled for recognition among New York Cityís other schools). During the 1934-35 season, the Blackbirds continued their ascent to the top of college basketball by going 24-2 and breaking a number of scoring records. Merson, primarily a guard who occasionally played forward, fit in well and scored 160 points, fourth most on the team (and sixth in the Metropolitan area).
In 1936, LIUís high-scoring attack went undefeated (26-0) and was finally recognized as New York Cityís preeminent basketball team by winning the mythical Eastern Championship. A starting guard, Merson finished second on the team in scoring with 199 points (third in the New York Metropolitan area), and was named first team All-Met alongside teammates Julie Bender (the leading scorer) and Ben Kramer (both were forwards).
In 1937, LIU continued its success as they added another star to the starting line-up, sophomore forward, Irv Torgoff (Bender moved to guard). Merson, co-captain with Bender, finished fourth on the squad in scoring with 180 points, as LIU won the mythical Metropolitan championship with a record of 28-3. They won their first ten games of the season, running their winning streak to an incredible 43 games before it was broken by Hank Luisetti and Stanford in one of the most famous games in college basketball history.
After graduating, Merson played in the American Basketball League for a couple of years and then became a coach. Merson coached Elizabeth of the ABL in 1947, and then the Patterson Panthers of the ABL in 1948-49, leading his teams to the league finals in all three seasons.
New York City
Merson played guard at LIU, 1934-1937.
Use links below to navigate through the basketball section of Jews In Sports.
encyclopedia of JEWS in sports, by Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, and Roy Silver (New York: Bloch Publishing Co., 1965)
New York Times, March 6, 1935
New York Times, March 9, 1936
New York Times, March 15, 1937 | <urn:uuid:cea7b5fc-d413-4e66-9cc6-ff6af694072e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=basketball&ID=118 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976666 | 591 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
There is a very disturbing bit of legislation being reviewed by Congress that should bother every artist and creative type. The Orphan Works Act is going to make it much easier for people to use someone else's artwork, illustrations, etc. from online sources without paying the artist. Illustrator Tom Richmond does a great job of explaining the dangers of this law and what it will cost artists if it's passed. Check out his website for more information: http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/?p=56 Not to oversimplify the legislation, but basically if someone has made a "reasonable effort" to find the creator and isn't successful, the work is considered orphaned and is FREE to use in the public domain. That "reasonable effort" is open to interpretation, though, and could take on many different definitions based on how lazy or cheap the researcher is. Tom Richmond contemplates what would happen if the principle of the Orphan Works Act was applied to cars and other personal property. And he makes an excellent point. For more information on how creators are fighting this check out the Illustrator's Partnership website http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00185
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Much like the first X-Men movie, Iron Man has started the ball rolling toward a combined on-screen appearance of even more Marvelites! The upcoming Hulk movie even features the first cross-over, on-screen cameo of another Marvel character (Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr.). I remember reading fans' hopes that this would eventually happen in the movies, but copyrights and movie studio territorial battles seemed to indicate it wouldn't. Until now... Marvel is no stranger to cross-over events. These days, with scribe Brian Bendis at the helm of so many titles, readers can buy multiple titles that intertwine and feature their favorite character appearing in several different locations every month. Why not bring this connection into the films? Marvel.com has officially announced its plans to do just that, and if you stuck around until the credits ended for Iron Man you received a prophetic foreshadowing for your patience!!
Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and Avengers movies all hitting the big screen in 2010 and 2011! With plenty of time to decide who will fill the additional roles, I've decided to help the directors put the right people in the right roles. See photo. | <urn:uuid:d644a70c-5c4c-45ba-b3cb-73071a302a34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ramonecologne.com/2008_05_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958417 | 506 | 1.59375 | 2 |
By using recess appointments President Obama got around the Senate and appointed three people to the National Labor Relations Board. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit says that the President violated the Constitution when he did that. From the article: “…GOP lawmakers gaveled in for a few minutes every three days just to prevent Obama from making recess appointments. The White House argued that the pro forma sessions — some lasting less than a minute — were a sham.” Read the article: news.yahoo.com
Obstructionist GOP trying to block appointments indefinitely. It’s definitely past time for filibuster and other senate reforms.
Republicans and business groups told a federal appeals court Wednesday that President Barack Obama violated the Constitution earlier this year when he bypassed the Senate to fill vacancies in his administration.
Attorneys for the groups told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that Obama abused his power in January when he made recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.
“I would suggest there is a huge cloud hanging over the National Labor Relations Board right now,” said Noel Francisco, attorney for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups challenging the action.
The case is an important test of presidential power and could determine whether the Senate can indefinitely block presidential appointments by refusing to adjourn. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky came to watch the hearing in a packed courtroom. McConnell and 46 other Senate Republicans filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing the appointments are invalid.
At issue: When is the Senate in session, when is it in recess and who gets to decide? Certain high-profile appointments must be confirmed by the Senate, but if lawmakers are away for the holidays or other breaks, the president can act on his own with a recess appointment. | <urn:uuid:72b00f2c-1b43-4f90-b80e-63aab0fe1d8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://littlegreenfootballs.com/pages/tag/National+Labor+Relations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958738 | 384 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Many dance teams are student-run, and leading your peers can be challenging! How can you strike the perfect balance between fun and hard work in order to run a positive, productive rehearsal? DS spoke with two veteran instructors at United Spirit Association (USA) officer camps for advice on ensuring that things run smoothly.
Know your role. A title like “captain” means you have responsibilities. Long before your first rehearsal, sit down with your studio director or team advisor and define your duties. Are you expected to run warm-ups and across-the-floor exercises? Will you choreograph everything or share responsibilities with other leaders? When you know what’s expected of you, you’re in a better position to deliver.
Plan beforehand. Too many instructors walk into rehearsal unprepared, which leaves dancers frustrated. Karla Aaron, USA Camp and Competition director and a high school guidance counselor in California, recommends creating a lesson plan broken into 15-minute increments to avoid wasting time. Choreograph across-the-floor combinations and review sections you plan to clean the night before to prevent on-the-spot consultations.
Arrive early. Show your dedication by arriving at least 20 minutes early to rehearsal. Also, if you have extra responsibilities that need attention (organizing pep rallies or fundraising), do some of it in the studio before rehearsal instead of at home, suggests Nicole Foisy, USA Dance/Drill program director. This way, your dancers witness the extra work you put into the team without you having to mention it—earning you instant respect.
Transform jealousy into opportunity. Jealousy issues can arise when dancers feel like they’re not being used to their full potential. Remind each member how important she is: “As a leader, the last thing you want to do is alienate people,” says Foisy. Tailor specific assignments to team members’ strengths: A great turner can help demonstrate fouettés, while a talented choreographer can help with a pep routine.
Lead by example. It’s easy to demand respect by nagging or talking down to others, but commanding respect by showing commitment and earning your position is more effective and will create a positive environment. Aaron recommends establishing a leader’s demeanor when you walk in the door: Be calm, collected and on-task.
Watch your tone. Without yelling or raising your voice, speak from your diaphragm to lead rehearsal with authority and positive energy. Aaron advises speaking in inclusive pronouns: Using words like “we” and “our”—instead of “you guys” or “my team”—helps remind everyone that you’re all in it together.
Have a set warm-up. If dancers are familiar with your warm-up, they can focus on stretching their muscles rather than trying to follow. This gives individuals time to acclimate, settle into the rehearsal mindset and clear their heads for the day’s work.
Keep everyone informed and accountable. After warm-ups, explain your goals for the day. “Say, ‘You know how much we have to get done—you have to help me do it.’ Tell the team in advance, so they’re on the same page as you,” says Foisy. Once everyone knows the day’s objectives—and feels responsible for accomplishing them—they’ll be more cooperative and less off-task.
Avoid body-language blunders. “Your body language speaks volumes,” explains Foisy, so be mindful of it when you’re instructing or cleaning routines. “Don’t sit while they’re dancing. You get water breaks when they do. They’ll notice little things like that,” she says. “It doesn’t take a big sweeping speech to make your team respect you.” Perform as much as possible if you’re in the routine. If you have fellow leaders, switch off who’s watching and performing.
Keep criticism short and sweet. “It’s difficult to give corrections without people taking them personally,” notes Foisy. When you give a correction, state the problem and its solution quickly, and move on to the next statement without harping on it. (“Jane, make sure you bring your arms up on 5 instead of 4.”) Also, establish early on that the only appropriate response to constructive criticism is to say “thank you,” because criticism’s goal is to make the whole group look its best.
Be specific. While you may find it easier to give general comments during cleanings, it hurts the routine in the long run. “You need to be clear about who isn’t being clean,” explains Foisy. “The team is going to get irritated if you make everything a generality, and it’s only one or two people doing it wrong.” Keep in mind that comments should lead to improvement—always try to offer a solution to the problem. If you find yourself focusing on one dancer repeatedly, approach her before or after rehearsal to offer to work one-on-one.
Deal with know-it-alls. Sometimes, dancers will want to correct one another, which can turn into nitpicking sessions. Prevent their good intentions from subverting your leadership by encouraging dancers to ask constructive questions (“Can you clarify what count the kick is on?”) rather than make destructive comments (“Karen is kicking on the wrong count.”).
Don’t discipline. As a young leader, it’s not your duty to reprimand your peers—this creates unnecessary conflict. When a problem occurs, relay information to your biggest ally—your advisor or studio director. Adults should handle disciplinary actions whenever possible. Otherwise, your peers may view your actions as a power trip.
End rehearsal on a positive note. Lead a short cool-down to wrap up and refocus. Summarize the day’s accomplishments, remind the group of what still needs work and thank everyone for their time. If you respect their time and effort, they’ll likely reciprocate. | <urn:uuid:573cf9d5-781e-4ac8-8758-ba745d2b8068> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dancespirit.com/2009/03/how_to_run_rehearsal_without_ruining_friendships/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939682 | 1,306 | 1.6875 | 2 |
It’s now official—New York’s borders are open. Italians, Germans, French, South Eastern Australians, Portuguese and even Californians, may come to New York free from unnecessary obstacles and burdensome financial penalties. One can even use the Internet to contact them and invite one, or all, into your home. Wasn’t this always the case? Isn’t such freedom of movement celebrated in the national icon of Ellis Island—the celebrated port of entry for generations of people new to America? Well yes, unless you happened to be an out of state Port, Merlot, Chianti, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Shiraz purchased over the Internet. From Napa Valley to the Rhone River, the great cry of freedom has been heard!
In a November 12 decision, Judge Richard Berman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a ruling declaring New York state’s laws barring interstate direct shipment of wine into the state was unconstitutional. Judge Berman’s ruling indicated in clear terms that the state of New York could not discriminate against out-of-state wineries who want to ship to in-state customers. New York state wineries were under no such restrictions in their business with out-of-state customers.
Specifically, Judge Berman’s ruling took issue with the trade protectionism embodied in New York’s Alcohol Beverage Control Law (ABC Law). He stated, “Defendants contend (unconvincingly) that New York’s ABC Law ‘erects no barrier to the flow of goods and imposes no burden on interstate commerce…The evidence here demonstrates, upon summary judgment, that the exceptions to the ABC Law provide an impermissible economic benefit and (protection) to only in-state interests—but also that there are nondiscriminatory alternatives available. Indeed, the defendants explicitly concede the exceptions were intended to be protectionist.”
While this minor legal victory may seem trivial in the grand scheme of things, it is both a real and symbolic victory for free trade, expanded commerce, and for justice. Now vintners may compete for the business of New York consumers on a level playing field. Protectionism in any form, whether it is wine, wood, or steel, is economically counterproductive for business and consumers alike. For businesses, protectionism attempts to establish and incentivize monopolies, favoring one business to the exclusion of another. Legislation that bestows special favors on businesses via protectionist policies undermines the rule of law and creates an injustice by treating competing parties in an unequal fashion. Such protectionist policies attempt to bestow market share, rather than allow producers to earn it by providing superior products. Consumers bear the costs of protectionist economic policies in the form of increased prices and restricted choices. While not all wines are created equal, it will now be up to consumers in New York to decide which, where, and from whom they will purchase their wine.
The other important policy implication for this decision is that it is a victory for the ever-widening world of Internet commerce. As many governors and regulatory agencies around the country are drawing up plans to regulate Internet commerce, this decision sends a forceful signal that protectionist polices are difficult to justify to contemporary consumers. Internet shopping is increasingly popular among consumers due to the wider range of choices available and the resulting lower costs that increased competition provides. The expanded commerce Internet sales provide for vintners and consumers will be a boon, not a bane, to the winemaking industry and discerning connoisseurs everywhere.
The battle to open the borders to out-of-state grapes has been hard fought. While this decision is far from a blanket amnesty for all undocumented vintages, it seems to be step in the right direction. Judge Berman’s decision to strike down such restrictive anti-trade policies has created an open border policy that is truly pleasing to the palate.
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Fax: (616) 454-9454 | <urn:uuid:fc1b507b-a6d9-429c-bfa3-71259f10e179> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acton.org/pub/commentary/2002/11/20/open-borders-please-palate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931765 | 881 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Greek government threatens striking ferry workers with martial law
5 February 2013
The Greek government has announced that it intends to ban a strike by ferry workers against wage cuts and sackings and place the workers under martial law if they do not return to work in the next few days.
The Greek daily Kathimerini reported that New Democratic (ND) Prime Minister Antonis Samaras held discussions over the weekend on invoking martial law against the striking workers in the form of a so-called “civil mobilization,” in which the workers are drafted into the army and ordered to return to work under threat of imprisonment for up to five years.
The government, a coalition led by the right-wing New Democracy and including the social democratic PASOK and the Democratic Left (DIMAR), a split-off from SYRIZA, decided to wait and see if the ferry workers ended the strike themselves. The workers began their strike last Thursday, largely shutting off the Greek islands from intercourse with the mainland. They extended the strike on Friday for 48 hours, and extended it for an additional 48 hours on Sunday.
In response, the government issued its martial law threat against the workers, claiming, with typical cynicism, to be acting in behalf of inhabitants of the islands. New Democracy Minister of Shipping Konstis Mousouroulis declared, “We cannot be shutting our ears to the islanders’ desperate calls.”
The illegalisation of the ferry workers’ strike would mark the second use of martial law in the past two weeks. On January 25, a strike by Athens subway workers was broken when the workers were drafted into civilian military service and attacked by the police. The emergency law, which was supposedly intended for use in response to natural disasters or the outbreak of war, was previously used against truck drivers in 2010 and sanitation workers in 2011. In the 37 years prior to the imposition of successive austerity packages beginning in 2010, the law was invoked just six times.
The repeated use of police-state measures against strikers, under conditions of rising popular opposition to mass layoffs, wage and pension cuts, and the gutting of health care and other essential social services, amounts to the criminalization of any effective collective resistance by the working class. Some 39 years after the end of the colonels’ dictatorship in Greece, a de facto strike ban is being re-imposed.
The ruling class is increasingly turning to authoritarian methods to impose the austerity measures dictated by the European Union, which itself is acting as the instrument of the international banks. This turn exposes the falsity of the claims by the trade unions and pseudo-left organizations such as SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) that government policy can be shifted to the left through the exertion of pressure from below.
The Greek ferry workers are set to decide today whether they will extend their strike for a further 48 hours. The strike has brought the state-run ferry service to the islands to a complete standstill, causing supply shortages on the smaller islands that do not have an airport.
The ferry strike and other protests, including escalating blockades by farmers, are aimed against measures agreed last November by parliament as part of the fifth austerity package demanded by the EU. These measures, which are now being implemented, include salary cuts for all public-sector workers as well as the deregulation of shipping. Ferry crews are to be reduced and training requirements lowered. Already, about 7,000 of the 15,000 trained ferry workers are unemployed.
The ferry workers are also demanding payment of outstanding wages. Many have not been paid for months and cannot feed their families, despite having regular work.
The successive rounds of austerity measures have led to a collapse in the Greek economy, driving up the official unemployment rate to nearly 27 percent. Of the 1.3 million unemployed, about 1 million receive no state support. Even the sugar-coated Eurostat figures show that at least one fifth of the Greek population is living below the poverty line. Some 250,000 people are totally dependent on church kitchens for food. Wages have fallen by up to 60 percent, when they are paid out at all.
The money that is being taken from the workers is flowing directly to major banks and speculators. In response to a reduction of the state deficit by 31.5 percent and increase in the primary surplus last year, the prices of Greek government bonds have shot up. While in February, bonds that fell due in May 2012 were still trading at 14 percent of their nominal value, their market value has now risen to 55 percent. Anyone buying €1,000 worth of bonds last May could sell them seven months later for €4,000.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the EU are already calling for further cuts to the minimum wage and public-sector wages. Wage increments in reward for years of service are to be terminated. Prime Minister Samaras has already agreed to this and called for the drawing up of the necessary legislation.
Growing sections of the working population are coming into struggle against this massive redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top. In recent weeks, doctors, nurses, caregivers, university teachers and electrical workers, as well as subway, bus, train and tram drivers, have gone on strike. Farmers are in the second week of protests against the ending of subsidies for fuel and insurance against crop failures, as well as an increase in social security contributions and a reduction in tax refunds. They have been parking their tractors in the thousands at various traffic junctions, threatening to blockade the roads.
“We are standing at the edge of the abyss,” a farmer told Reuters. The protests are already having an impact, causing food shortages and delays in agricultural exports.
Although the government has held talks with farmers’ representatives, it has made clear that it is not prepared to make any concessions that would increase state spending.
In its crackdown on workers and intransigence in the face of social unrest, the government is relying on the treachery of the major trade union confederations, the private-sector GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers) and the public-sector ADEDY (Civil Servants’ Confederation), and their pseudo-left supporters. They have worked from the outset to isolate and help defeat industrial struggles, such as the Athens subway strike, while defusing mass opposition by holding token one-day strikes whose basic purpose is to head off an independent movement of the working class against the government and the ruling class.
When the subway workers were attacked by the police, the unions immediately ended the strike and shortly afterwards called off sympathy strikes. The industrial actions of doctors and nurses were terminated without any concessions from the government. Now the unions are doing nothing to defend the ferry workers.
A 24-hour general strike originally announced by GSEE and ADEDY for the beginning of this month has been postponed to February 20 so as to prevent any broad solidarity action with the ferry workers. | <urn:uuid:47971427-7c16-46b2-91f8-bcf844482660> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/05/gree-f05.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970547 | 1,415 | 1.6875 | 2 |
View Full Version : crystal inclusion question please
can anyone explain to me what it means when you see an "imprint" in your crystal?
I@ll try to explain....i have a beautiful quartz crystal, that was a gift from someone. When i see it i sence a bit of sadness from teh stone but also love holding it as its peaceful.
last night i was looking at it and destressing really before bed but i noticed that this crystal at its pointy tip end amongst the facets are lil triangles, on side has LOADS of them i never noticed before! You cant feel them, but you can defiently SEE them. But each side has at least one triangle "imprinted" in tne crystal. The side with teh most triangles reminded me of a kinda of motherbnoard when you see the inside circuits of a computer, very detailed, mapped out really and specific looking in its arrangment. Also I have noticed tonight that one side of tip HAS a slightly raised square on it, that you can feel on eth crystal. I was just flabergasted when i noticed it all.
I dunno how many times i have held this crystal but have only just now really seen it and felt it vibrations.
does this kind of crystal imagery have a particular purpose? Is it a record keeper or something? I have always felt the body sides of this crystal are like barcode scans...a type of key really. I love the cloudy inclusuions within this body ut now these triangles really have me wondering what i've stumbled across!
thanks for any help xoxo
Sounds like you have a phantom quartz crystal - how lovely!
Are these triangles on the surface of the pointed face of the crystal?
Or are they, inside, like the phantom shown in link above?
Inclusions in crystals are typically internal. What is on the surface is something else, I believe. I do not know of the metaphysical properties of said triangles, but if these are on the surface like I think, then they are very cool no matter what they mean. Geologically, these are, I guess one could call them, 'birthmarks'? LOL. I have a crystal that has triangles on it's point as well, I'm curious to see what others have to say about them.
They are called library crystals, and also go by another name that does not spring to mind...
anyways, here are some types of quartz crystals...
That kind of crystal is called a Record Keeper.
They symbolize the perfect harmony of mind, body, emotions and spirit and the all-seeing eye.
Record keepers hold the imprint of all that has gone before and are portals to spiritual wisdom.
They are a good stone for exploring your inner self.
They act as a catalyst for growth and help to remove obstacles from your path so you can see progress in your life.
They reenergize you whole being and help prevent burn out.
There are two ways of meditating with them...by placing it on your third eye it helps open your personal or collective past or reatune your own wisdom...also gently rubbing the triangles as you meditate helps to "open the book" to spiritual wisdom.
Congratulations that is a very special crystal!
Can one crystal have several features to it? Because all of the below seem to work, but in different ways that are combined?
THIS IS AT THE BASE AND WITHIN MY CRYSTAL- Dendritic Crystal – This is a crystal that contains branch-like inclusions, which resemble a MOSS or a plant like form. It facilitates closeness with nature and stimulates recall of past lives relative to this earth.
Devic Crystal – A crystal that contains a lot of fairy frost, fractures(rainbows), and INCLUSIONS This crystal helps us to communicate with the Devas and Elfin folk, or nature spirits that cohabit this earth with humans.
Etched Crystal – This crystal appears to have ABRASIONS or frosting on the outer layer resembling hieroglyphics. These crystals are a personal meditation tool and can assist in opening many doors.
**MINE HAS THIS TOO! Key Crystal – This is a crystal that has an indentation that is usually three or six-sided and appears as though a point or side of a crystal was once imbedded. They facilitate the unlocking of doors to healing concepts.
I've always felt like this was blasted apart or missing a piece now I know it actually is! :)
**This defiently seems like it regarding eth images I see on the faces of my crystal!! LIBRARY CRYSTAL – A crystal that has many record-keeper triangles on the main face of the termination. These are very old crystals that contain wisdom and knowledge that will be needed in many many areas of concern.
Record Keeper Crystal – This is a crystal with one or more raised or etched perfect triangles on one or more of the faces. These triangles have also been noted on amethyst and garnets also. These crystals contain the wisdom and knowledge needed for the future, as well as, information about the past.
yes, these are all defient characteristics of my crystal, very interesting!!
Ok this is all uncanny! 2 nights ago I had a vision of being given a silver KEY from the stars.
The next night I was woken up by a brilliantly white/silver light shining on my face from my window. My window is not near street lights that can shine in and my eyes were closed as I was woken from a bright light. when i opened my eyes i saw light coming from only the upper half of my window the bottom half was still black as night. I have no coverings on my window.
Then move onto me noticing these things about my crystal, searching for info about it.
Now move onto I started reading a book yesterday on a healing path. It includes faery healing- not whimsy fairies, but actuall faerys I even had a vision of a maple tree faery last night before falling asleep!
Well this is certainly opening my eyes thank you again for all teh help :) Bright bless xx | <urn:uuid:ea774d10-5eb6-4182-b83b-cf680dd19a04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tarotforum.net/archive/index.php/t-102728.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949765 | 1,274 | 1.546875 | 2 |
PLANS are in the pipeline to engage more cane labourers and machines in the North to boost sugar production next year.
This was revealed by permanent secretary for Provincial Development Lieutenant Colonel Inia Seruiratu on a recent visit to the Labasa mill.
"We will liaise with the provincial councils here in Vanua Levu and we hope to lure more labourers to harvest cane," he said.
These farmers are expected to get mechanical assistance as well to help with labour.
"We also aim to provide machines to assist the farmers," Lt-Col Seruiratu said.
Lt-Col Seruiratu was very pleased with the mill operations this year, adding the farmers should be encouraged to plant more.
Earlier this year, Commissioner Northern Lieutenant Colonel Ilai Moceica said the Northern economy aimed to produce more than one million tonnes of sugar by 2014.
Lt-Col Moceica said they aimed to educate unemployed youths to take up cane farming.
He said they would encourage those districts outside the cane belts of Vanua Levu to engage in such farming. | <urn:uuid:000b76f0-6613-4f26-8b8d-7683a6ec2b26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=214613 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96689 | 223 | 1.648438 | 2 |
There has been a huge support generated for Big Splash, which is to be held this weekend. There would be thousands of swimmers who would be taking part in this event to raise money for the charity. The money that would be generated from this event would be forwarded to Marie Curie Cancer Care. This charity has been in forefront in helping patients suffering from cancer, by providing them nursing care as well as encouraging research work to come up with new treatment procedures.
There would be nearly 645 pools that would be a part of this fund raiser event. There would be various categories that the participants would be taking part in and the main challenge would be the 2.5 km and 5 km Swimathon.
The event has generated a lot of hope for people suffering from cancer and there are many people taking part in it who have themselves overcome their inner fear to show compassion for the patients. Comedian Frank Skinner is also one of those people who would be going for a swim to raise money for the charity. He was inspired by Sport Relief to conquer his lifelong fear of water.
He said, “I really threw myself in at the deep end and faced one of my biggest phobias, swimming, by completing 25 meters for Sport Relief. It felt great to challenge myself, which is why I urged everyone to sign up for the Big Splash Mile for Sport Relief”. There are other charities also that would be benefitted with this event. The money raised by Milers will be spent to help people living incredibly tough lives in the UK, and across the world's poorest countries. This would help them uplift there lifestyle in order to sustain themselves.
US Business News
New Zealand News
- After Suspected Botulism, CFIA Warns People
- Health Care Education Necessary for the Future of Province: Analysts
- B.C. Government Grants $700,000 for Managing Facial Deformities
- Michelle Shocked delivers hate speech about homosexuality at her gig
- Guess who Justin Bieber got burned by?!! His ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez | <urn:uuid:16f6c2b3-ac2c-4854-8dad-d452bf306a4f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://topnews.us/content/247950-big-splash-mile-gathers-lot-support | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978366 | 423 | 1.6875 | 2 |
This dictionary translates 干妈 as "Godmother", and my pocket dictionary also gives "nominal mother".
In English, "Godmother" and "Godfather" are very specific titles - Your Godparents are the people who sponsored your baptism (if you had one). Non Christians therefore do not have Godparents - indeed even many Christians do not.
My question is twofold:
- Is 干妈 the word that Chinese Christians use for the person who sponsored their baptism?
- Who else could be considered a 干妈. Where is the line between an older female friend of the family being a 干妈, and an 阿姨. | <urn:uuid:c212e44c-e2b7-4a0e-936c-e0076f501c23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/2789/who-exactly-is-a-%e5%b9%b2%e5%a6%88/2806 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95942 | 145 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The Space Show focuses on timely and important issues influencing the development of outer-space commerce and space tourism, as well as other related subjects of interest to us all.
You can listen anytime you like to any guest that has been on The Space Show or its predecessor, Business Without Boundaries, using Windows Media Player.
1905 (Special Edition)||Listen to the show!|
|Aired on December 2nd, 2012|
|Guest: Keith Henson|
|Guest: Keith Henson. Topics SSP using laser rockets to lower the cost of space access. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. We welcomed Keith Henson to the program to discuss the use of laser powered rockets for launching space powered satellites to help eliminate the use of fossil fuels as well as lower the cost of space access. To assist in your following our discussion, check out this laser rocket graphic at http://bit.ly/Uj9Vw9. Also, Keith has several related published articles on the OilDrum blog. You can download and read his articles at www.theoildrum.com/search/apachesolr_search/keith%20henson. Finally, our guest has permitted me to upload his recent PPT conference presentation to The Space Show blog, "Laser Propulsion and Space Based Solar Power." Please be sure to check out this presentation by visiting our blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. During our first segment, Mr. Henson talked about the need for low cost energy and said that by using laser rockets and his SSP ideas, the cost for electrical power generation could be as low as 2 cents/Kwh to GEO. We spent a good portion of our discussion debating Keith's assumptions behind the 2 cents/Kwh. I referenced my costs per my PG&E invoice and other listeners emailed and called in regarding their electrical costs per their utility bills. Keith has asked for people disagreeing to let him know where he may be going wrong so please post your comments on our blog and Keith will respond. He said several times that he wanted your critique and comments. Many listeners as well as myself pushed him on his assumptions, wanting more factual information on how arrived at his conclusions. He has this information pending publication with the British Interplanetary Society so for the moment, its under pre-publication boycott but as soon as Keith clears it, I will post his material on the blog and announce it on air. Later in our initial segment, we talked about the laser rocket being a weapon. This discussion sparked lots of listener participation. We also talked about SSP for insitu use rather than power beaming back to Earth. Keith brought up the new developments with Reaction Engines out of the UK. Here is there recent press release in case you missed it: www.reactionengines.co.uk/news_updates.html. Listeners did call in to tell Keith that SSP did not make sense for a variety of reasons, including not closing a business case, with or without laser rockets. Jerry offered such comments as did Charles. Also, without consent, AT&T installed call waiting on the toll free line. I finally figured this out & edited out several of the comments & my complaint. The matter should be resolved for all toll free calls moving forward but about 1hr 30 minutes into the program, you will hear a rough edit where I removed the call waiting rants. In the second segment, we continued debating Keith's costs plus his ROI assumptions. Fusion came up for discussion as well as already existent successful powered sat beamed energy back to Earth. Toward the end of our program, Keith talked about his target of reducing dollars per gasoline by using laser rockets and SSP. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog above. Keith can be emailed at hkeithhensonATgmailDOTcom.|
|About our guest...|
As a proto-transhumanist, Keith’s life is scattered over electronics, space engineering, memetics, cryonics, nanotechnology, evolutionary psychology and free speech to name just a few. He has run his own businesses and acted as a consultant since a 1972 dismissal for refusing to certify an electronic module for nuclear power plant use that failed to meet the required MTBF (Mean-Time-Between-Failure) specification. He was once described as a person of integrity by a Deputy DA who prosecuted him for picketing a cult over its lethal practices.
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© Copyright 2001 - 2013 David Livingston. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:6a24b788-4fbb-4eee-a127-e70413bf300e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thespaceshow.com/detail.asp?q=1905 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944851 | 1,208 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Please Tell Us What Works For You
While we have information about best practices for fathers in childbirth education classes, much of what we know we learned from you.
Tell us what has worked for you.
Best Practices for Men in Childbirth Education Classes
Below, you will find a brief listing of best practices for those working with fathers during the prenatal period and shortly following birth. These are notions that have emerged after nearly two decades of working with fathers, primarily in the healthcare setting. The subheadings below represent the people most critical to the early success of individual fathers, as they are the ones who initially shape the father’s impression of his role.
I have six brothers, and I always treated the men involved in Boot Camp like brothers. We are, in a sense. Well, I also have six sisters, which is how I feel about childbirth educators, and how they have treated me since we got Boot Camp going together.
- Men prefer to forgo the subtle hazing ritual of wearing an “empathy belly” in front of others.
- Men do not like to be made to look stupid in Childbirth Class.
- There is value in, at times, separating the couples in your class into gendered groups to promote discussion of issues unique to being a mom and a dad.
- Dads prefer to be referred to as “Dad” in class, as opposed to partner, coach, or other alternatives designed to promote an inclusive atmosphere. Partners in class who are not dads should be given the option to say what they prefer to be called.
- Childbirth class is a venue that can promote a father’s connection to the pregnancy.
Email Tips on Connecting with Dads
Childbirth Educators can now receive emails from Dads Adventure on connecting with the dads in their classes. To be added to the list, email firstname.lastname@example.org with your contact information.
Dads Adventure Magazine
A concise magazine that first time fathers-to-be are very pleased to receive from the OB office, hospital staff, childbirth educator, or their mates.
Dads Adventure magazine offers guidance for fathers-to-be from the 300,000 veterans of Boot Camp for New Dads. It also encourages men to focus on making fatherhood fun, one of the best things a dad can do for his child – and himself.
*The magazine is available for .50/ea for shipping & handling. Email us to order magazines.
Greg Bishops PowerPoint Presentation from the ICEA National Conference held in Oklahoma City, OK October 2009
What New Moms Need to Know About New Dads
Moms have always been our biggest supporters and we know we can count on them to help us now. We invite you, as Childbirth Educators to review our ten things moms-to-be need to know about new dads and give us your comments. The way we see it, this will help new dads keep mom’s heart (or get it back after those first tough months), and he in turn will help mom keep her mind. | <urn:uuid:d713847f-fff5-4d3d-94e0-cfe9639081f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bootcampfornewdads.org/childbirth-educator-resource.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957522 | 638 | 1.695313 | 2 |
ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT (Chapters 1 through 182)
TAXATION OF SALES OF GASOLINE
Regulation of tax free sales
Section 8A. A distributor duly licensed in this commonwealth may sell fuel tax-free to another person who is licensed as a distributor in this commonwealth. He may sell fuel tax-free to any person who is a licensed distributor in another state, provided, that the entire quantity purchased is to be exported forthwith from this commonwealth prior to use or resale, and provided, further, that such person is licensed by the commissioner as an unclassified exporter. | <urn:uuid:553be8bb-d1da-43f5-9202-b2fd1a03fcd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter64A/Section8A/Print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937632 | 133 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Today on Bonggamom Finds, one lucky reader will win a copy of Imagine: Artist game for the Nintendo DS. This is one of my daughter's favorite games in Ubisoft's Imagine series. The Pea and her brothers love to draw, so this is no surprise; they spend hours working with paper and pencils and markers, just drawing and drawing and drawing. 3Po and Jammy aren't really interested in the role-play/story component of this game (the player is an artist who needs to create works of art in order to build her career), they just really like the games where they can paint and draw. Having the stylus really comes in handy; since they use it like a pen, they can really get creative. The Pea also likes the mini-games/lessons that teach her about shading and composition and other artistic techniques.
Here's a description of the game from Ubisoft:
Does your daughter love to draw and color? With Imagine® Artist, she can learn to draw, paint, and create collages through various fun mini-games and lessons! She’ll manage her budding career as she fulfills client commissions, attends events and more. Plus, she can share her designs with the world by uploading them to the online Imagine Town Gallery! Here, she’ll be able to share her masterpieces with friends and family, enter contests for fun prizes, and explore her creativity!
Bonus! Today's giveaway will have not one, but two winners. I'm also giving away Imagine: Fashion Designer World Tour, another great game for Nintendo DS from Ubisoft. In this game, players pretend to be a fashion designer who creates her own fashion label and takes it global. If your daughter is into fashion, she'll love this game.
Leave a comment on this post and tell me which your favorite artist or fashion designer.
(note: you can only do each extra entry once; please leave a separate comment for each extra entry):
1) Grab my 12 Days of Christmas button and post it up on your blog (leave a comment with your blog URL).
2) Subscribe to Bonggamom Finds updates by email (leave a comment with your email address).
3) Become a fan of Bonggamom Finds on Facebook (leave a comment with your FB id).
4) Tweet this giveaway (leave a comment with a link to your tweet). Here is a sample tweet you can copy and paste:
Day 6 of 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways from @bonggafinds: win an Imagine game for Nintendo DS (2 winners!) http://www.bonggafinds.com/
Maximum of 5 entries per person. This giveaway ends at midnight PST on January 11, 2010; I will draw 2 winners at random on January 12 and post their names as soon as the winners confirm acceptance. For additional giveaway rules, click here. Good luck! | <urn:uuid:39c9b3b4-dd8d-405f-9e03-114df65fc384> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bonggafinds.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-sixth-day-of-christmas-bonggamom.html?showComment=1262399109869 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947508 | 601 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Social media for charities and social networking for business can be a great channel for gaining support for your mission and engaging people in conversation on a global basis. This provides a powerful platform for raising awareness on social issues and encouraging active involvement. One of the best ways to engage social media users is to write a blog post about an issue you are passionate about. A good example is a group of environmental bloggers who banded together in a joint effort to raise money from their readers. They asked for donations of just $1 per person causes like Kiva and Water for People, and their campaign included a way for users to vote on how the funds would be distributed among a selection of charities. Blog Action Day is another way for bloggers to help charities. This annual event involves thousands of blogs which commit to writing posts about a specific social cause on the same day, which will be October 15 this year. | <urn:uuid:f43e3a63-9689-4d8f-bed7-8e9181698f58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://matthewalberto.com/2012/03/social-media-for-charities-as-a-channel-for-support-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954712 | 178 | 1.820313 | 2 |
IFRIC 12 – Payments to operate (new)
The Committee received a request for clarification on the accounting for certain contractual costs to be incurred by an operation in a service concession arrangement, specifically should they be recognised at the start of the concession as an asset with an obligation to make the related payment or should they be treated as executor in nature and recognised over the term of the concession arrangement.
Examples of contractual payments that operators are required to make include payments to the grantor for the use of tangible assets (i.e. right of use payments) and fees payable to the grantor by the operator for the right to operate the concession.
The staff separated the issue into two parts: (1) payments which give the operator a right of use over a tangible asset and (2) payments (either fixed or variable) which the operator is required to make to the grantor for the service concession.
On the first issue (right-of-use payments) the staff presented the Committee with three potential views. View 1 is that IAS 17 should be applied to all payments for the right-of-use of tangible assets. View 2 is that IAS 17 or IFRIC 12 should be applied depending on the characteristics of the tangible asset. View 3 is that IAS 17 or IFRIC 12 should be applied depending on whether the operator controls the right-of-use related to the tangible asset. The staff told the Committee they believed View 3 was the most appropriate of the three views. The Committee generally agreed with the staff analysis on this issue.
On the second issue (payments the operator is contractually required to make to the grantor for the right to operate the service concession) the staff presented the Committee with four potential on the treatment of concession fees. View 1 is that they are treated as annual license fees, View 2 as consideration for an intangible asset, View 3 is presented as contra-revenue and View 4 is that the treatment depends on the underlying asset as either tangible or intangible. The staff told the Committee that they believed View 2 was the most appropriate of the four views.
Some of the Committee members mentioned they also agreed with View 2 but that they reached that view in a different manner from the staff analysis. One Committee member suggested that the analysis should place less emphasis on the liability side (i.e. whether the payments are fixed or variable) but rather to first examine the asset side and determining whether the right-of-use is an intangible or an executor contract. Another Committee member suggested analysing whether the operator can exit the arrangement (one that can exit would suggest an executor contract while one that is bound to the agreement is an intangible). Another Committee member raised the issue of whether the liability would be within the scope of IAS 39 and measured at fair value.
The staff will take the Committee's comments on the two issues and revise their analysis accordingly. The staff will then bring the issue back to the Committee during a future meeting to determine whether the Committee will add the issue to their agenda. | <urn:uuid:b2cc8f07-7f9a-4762-8111-f056a4540b7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iasplus.com/en/meeting-notes/agenda_ifric_1111/new-items-ifric-12-2013-payments-to-operate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959752 | 618 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Illegal workers didn't orchestrate ills of black men
Talk about strange bedfellows. The anti-illegal immigration campaign has brought together a curious mix of activists, joining white conservatives with a handful of black civil rights crusaders.
In the last year or two, looking to add a certain diversity to their ranks, the Minuteman Project and similar groups started posting another complaint alongside the usual litany of ills they associate with illegal workers. On top of refusing to assimilate, waving the Mexican flag, destroying neighborhoods and draining social services, illegal workers, they say, steal jobs from black Americans, especially uneducated laborers.
Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist, whose group placed vigilante guards along the southern border, was among the first to seek black support by expressing a deep concern for the economic prospects of black men. More recently, state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), one of the Georgia Legislature's fiercest critics of undocumented workers, has experienced an epiphany over the poor job prospects of uneducated black men. He, too, blames their plight on illegal immigration.
That message hasn't attracted many black supporters, but it has energized a few. In recent testimony before Congress, T. Willard Fair, president of the Urban League of Greater Miami, railed against so-called amnesty. "Which is more likely to persuade a teenager in the inner city to reject the lure of gang life and instead stick with honest employment — amnesty and more immigration, or enforcement and less immigration?"
There is only one problem with that argument: It's nonsense. If it were somehow possible to round up by close of business tomorrow every one of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, the thug life would still hold allure for many young black men. Less-educated men, especially black men, face a complex and daunting series of obstacles, including their own attitudes, suspicions and misperceptions about the marketplace. Blaming Mexican landscapers and Guatemalan ditch-diggers doesn't help them.
Columbia University professor Ronald Mincy is one of the nation's leading experts on the plight of marginalized black men — those whose education reaches no further than completion of high school.
"The data don't indicate that black men and immigrant men compete for the same jobs, except maybe in construction and in California. Immigrant men take low-wage jobs that black males wouldn't take anyway because [black families] are accustomed to a higher standard of living, bolstered by their greater access to welfare. They can't live with dignity off of the low wages those jobs offer," he has said.
Harvard economist George Borjas, a critic of illegal immigration, believes it suppresses wages for the least-educated men — those who didn't finish high school — but only by about 7.4 percent. By his math, if every illegal Mexican laborer disappeared, a $10-an-hour wage would increase to $10.74.
Still, it's heartening to see so many conservative politicians — those who have not previously shown a keen interest in poor black men — suddenly taking an interest. I'd recommend they read "Black Males Left Behind," a volume of research edited by Mincy and published last year by the Urban Institute. A number of thoughtful scholars contributed to the work, which cites the decline of manufacturing, incarceration and subsequent criminal records, and simple bigotry among the biggest obstacles to employment faced by uneducated black men.
Having a criminal record deals a severe blow, according to Georgetown University professor Harry Holzer and two co-authors. "Employers are much more reluctant to hire ex-offenders than welfare recipients, the long-term unemployed, or any other group. Indeed, less than 40 percent of employers would 'definitely' or 'probably' fill their last noncollege job with an ex-offender," they wrote.
So here's an initiative state Sen. Rogers might introduce in the Georgia General Assembly: substantial tax incentives for employers to hire people with criminal records. With his newfound concern for marginalized black men, he might also appeal to his fellow legislators to repeal lengthy prison sentences for nonviolent drug crimes — a remedy that would do more to boost the prospects of uneducated black men than any border fence.
That stance might not have quite the visceral appeal of Rogers' nativist proposals on immigration, but it would certainly be more beneficial. | <urn:uuid:ffc17456-847a-4227-bb43-0e5494484507> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.network54.com/Forum/215721/message/1183554871/Illegal+workers+didn't+orchestrate+ills+of+black+men+.. | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959765 | 891 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Looking for an easy way to trace the progress of the housing bubble? Look no further than the 26 years of financial data provided on the website of luxury home-builder Toll Brothers (TOL). See how revenue grew from $125 million in 1986 (802 homes completed) by relatively steady progress to $2.3 billion in 2002 (4430 homes).
Then something odd happens: 2003 suddenly balloons to $2.7 billion, and from there it's a heady ride to a peak of $6.1 billion in 2006 (8601 homes). Revenues and completions have been on a downward slide every year since then, culminating in 2011's $1.5 billion (2611 homes). But Toll Brothers has survived to tell the tale, and 2011 saw a return to profitability for the first time in four years. (Toll Brothers Financial Summary 1986 - 2011 (pdf))
Toll Brothers doesn't build basic, first home buyer dwellings. Instead the company operates in the luxury residential community market -- think golf courses, country clubs and upscale condominiums -- for well-heeled older clients. It acquires and develops land in prime locations and is currently working in 19 states. The company has architectural, engineering, mortgage finance, title, landscaping, security monitoring, lumber, house component assembly and manufacturing operations, so it can cater for every stage of housing development, from client's daydream to key-in-the-door. With a seasoned eye on the current state of the market, in fiscal 2010 the company formed a business unit to invest in distressed real estate opportunities.
The company now believes that many of its markets have reached bottom, after six years of declining consumer confidence, softening of demand and over supply of housing, a weakening of the economy, high unemployment and fear of job loss among the employed, vacant and foreclosed homes, falling home prices, reduction in homeowners' equity, inability to sell homes, and deterioration in the credit and mortgage loan markets. Pent-up demand may be gradually starting to release, and the company has available for sale over 15,000 home sites in communities currently being developed, and more than 20,000 home sites in 'future communities'. However, this is a sharp reduction from the 91,000 home sites the company had available in 2006, following a deliberate decision to cancel some land purchase contracts and sell non-strategic parcels. (2011 Form 10-K p25 (pdf)). The asking price for finished homes ranges from $185,000 to $1.8 million.
Toll Brothers faces substantial risks as a result of the time that lapses between sales agreements and delivery of a completed home. The company reduces its risks by purchasing land for future developments using options dependent on government development approvals before title passes, by requiring a substantial down payment from home buyers before construction commences, and by using subcontractors to perform work on a fixed price basis. In spite of this, many sales agreements on homes already under construction were cancelled during the downturn. The cancellation rate returned to more manageable historical levels in 2010-2011.
In November 2011 Toll Brothers purchased the assets of Seattle luxury home builder CamWest Development, including 1500 home sites. This demonstrated belief in the growth of its main target market -- the more than four million baby boomers born annually between 1954 and 1964, now in their peak years for 'move-up' home buying. The company quotes government and university research statistics to back up its faith in its business model: 24.3 million U.S. households (20.5% of the total) with an income of $100,000 or more, a group which has grown at four times the rate of normal households since 1980; and the 11.8 million new households expected to be formed between 2010 and 2020.
Toll Brothers believes that some of its smaller traditional competitors have been edged out by lack of capital during the downturn, and that its own financial strength and perseverance will be rewarded when the market rebounds. (2011 Form 10-K pp 2-6 (pdf)) Nevertheless, it still faces strong competition from D R Horton (DHI), Lennar (LEN), Pulte Homes (PHM),and KB Home (KBH).
Although 2011 annual revenue of $1.48 billion was slightly below 2010's $1.49 billion, net earnings ($40 million) were positive for the first time in four years. (2011 Form 10-K p32 (pdf)). An income tax benefit more than offset a small operating loss, but, as Toll Brother's CEO Douglas Yearly pointed out in the Q4 2011 earnings conference call, 2011's pre-tax income, excluding inventory and joint venture write-downs and debt retirement charges, was $67.1 million. CFO Marty Connor commented on the improved home-building gross margin in the fourth quarter, and went into detail about the company's FY2012 guidance: a delivery of between 2400 and 3200 homes at an average price between $500,000 and $575,000. (This would put homebuilding revenue at $1.84 billion at the top end of both forecasts, $1.58 billion in the mid-range.)
During the Q & A session, Mr Yearly revealed that Toll Brothers currently has 97 'mothballed' communities, only four of which are expected to come out of that state during 2012 because the company would rather wait for the market to recover and then sell at higher prices. On the plus side, in response to a question about buyers' customization options, he confirmed that buyers were still spending an average of $110,000 in upgrades, which was comparable to the 'glorious days of '03, '04 and 05'.
Toll Brothers' target customers have on the whole remained employed, and simply deferred their home buying decisions. Given the dwindling pipeline of approved home sites as smaller competitors struggle or even exit the market, Toll Brothers-- with its portfolio of land in desirable locations-- appears to be in a strong position to benefit when demand picks up. Its geographic diversification and wide product and price range, together with its access to an affluent demographic and lower-cost capital, should put the company in a strong position to recover.
However, it appears the housing market it still ailing. In Home Depot's (HD) Q4 2011 earnings conference call held on February 21, 2012, executives with Home Depot indicated that while they are seeing some positives in the housing market with respect to affordability, some of the negatives-- such as lack of credit availability-- continue to linger. With this, Toll Brothers' stock price may have gotten the cart ahead of the horse as shown below:
Even though Toll Brothers' stock price has managed to break through former resistance at the $21 to $23 price range, with credit availability issues continuing to linger, the stock price may be due for a correction in the near term.
An investor in Toll Brothers seeking to hedge a position in the company might consider entering a collar for the company. A collar may be entered by selling a call option against the stock and using some of the proceeds to purchase a put option for protection.
Using the PowerOptions tools, a collar position was found for Toll Brothers with a potential return of 2.1% (30.7% annualized) and a maximum potential loss of 5.9%, even if the price of the stock goes to zero. The selected position is shown in the table below:
As a bonus, if the price of Toll Brothers' stock is greater than or equal to the $24 strike price of the call option at option expiration in March, the position will return 2.7% (39.4% annualized). For a stock price less than the $22 put option strike, the value of the collar position will remain unchanged, even if Toll Brothers' stock price drops to zero. | <urn:uuid:0aedf013-01c8-4ba9-b6f9-b2f97569107e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seekingalpha.com/article/386011-toll-brothers-putting-cart-ahead-of-the-horse?source=nasdaq | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95758 | 1,600 | 1.695313 | 2 |
What is it?
The lipid management program at Loyola is designed to assist referring physicians with caring for patients who have difficult-to-treat lipid disorders, as well as those with a high risk for cardiac events. This is done through collaborating with the patient's cardiologist or primary care physician to complete advanced diagnostic testing, including plasmapheresis, and risk factor analysis.
Our goal is to prevent and slow down the mechanism by which lipids harden the walls of the arteries and cause plaque build-up (atherosclerosis), whether or not an individual shows symptoms. For patients with diagnosed heart conditions, near relatives may be screened, assessed, and proactively managed if they are found to have lipoprotein disorder. Patients with high cholesterol and other lipid and lipoprotein disorders, as well as those with a high risk, may be treated using dietary and pharmacologic therapies, along with lifestyle changes.
The Loyola difference
Loyola offers a team of cardiologists who are also board-certified by the American Board of Clinical Lipidology, providing them with unique expertise in advanced cholesterol and lipid management. In addition, we are one of few centers in the Chicago area to offer plasmapheresis for complex analysis of blood to define cardiac risk.
Loyola is a nationally recognized leader in cardiac care. U.S. News & World Report ranked us 18th in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery in 2012, making this our 10th year in the top 50.
Learn more about our performance outcomes. | <urn:uuid:9831a92d-42cf-4b5d-bfab-cca1bea4369b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.loyolamedicine.org/heart/node/338 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957588 | 319 | 1.710938 | 2 |
At the Otero County Commission meeting on Thursday, a resolution to establish a schedule of fees for the Otero County Animal Control ordinance was discussed.
No animal shall be released from an animal shelter to an adopting person unless a sterilization agreement has been signed and paid, A sterilization deposit of $25 will be imposed along with adoption fees.
"I understand that you don't want to burden people with additional fees," Director of Animal Village Sunny Aris said. "However, none of these fees commensurate with what the taxpayers have to pay for a litter of puppies to be born outside of wedlock."
Commissioner Susan Flores said any person reclaiming an animal from the county shelter would pay a sterilization fee equivalent to the county's actual cost for sterilization and a 5 percent administrative fee for the county animal shelter provider.
"It is going to cost someone to get their animal back a minimum of $150," Flores said.
"I don't see any reason for these fees to be this low," Aris said.
"If somebody is going to keep an animal intact it's because they're breeding them and if they're breeding them than they are in business if they're in business they're making money."
Flores said the current statistic is only 1 percent of animals are reclaimed by owners. Flores said the prices were low because the county wanted to encourage people
Aris said the issues could be avoided if it were mandatory for animals to be spayed and neutered. Aris said there were less animal control issues in places were it is mandatory for animals to be spayed and neutered.
The county commission said it was against the state statutes for them to pass a law making it mandatory for owners to spay or neuter pets.
Flores said an owner who wants to keep a pet intact would have to have a permit for the unsterilized animal.
The new ordinance would make owners with unsterilized pets pay $35 instead of $25 to reclaim an animal.
County Finance Director Donna Brandon said the county was spending a fortune on animal control. Brandon said at some point, the fees being imposed by the county need to wind up in the county budget and she wanted to know the details on how it was going to be done.
"I'm going to discuss this with our sheriff and our animal control officers," Commissioner Tommie Herrell said. "I expect them to fully enforce this ordinance and I want a monthly report along with how many animals they actually pick up."
The ordinance was approved by the Otero County Commission to defray the cost of operating the County Animal Control Shelter.
Contact Janessa Maxilom at firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow her on Twitter @janessa_speaks | <urn:uuid:e27a82ed-4642-41d9-b1dd-1683cfce168d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alamogordonews.com/alamogordo-news/ci_22352788/county-commission-meeting-focuses-animal-control?source=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977008 | 573 | 1.546875 | 2 |
An Unlikely Union at Ellesmere Island
Whitewater young guns Tyler Bradt and Erik Boomer join forces with veteran arctic explorer Jon Turk for 100-day circumnavigation attempt
By Conor Mihell
Published: February 28, 2011
This summer Jon Turk, Tyler Bradt and Erik Boomer will attempt to be the first to paddle around the ice-cloaked, 1,400-mile perimeter of Ellesmere Island. This icebound island in the Canadian high arctic borders the fabled Northwest Passage—its northernmost tip coming within 500 miles of the North Pole. The 100-day expedition is a logical one for Turk, a 65-year-old veteran arctic explorer who has already paddled the chain of islands from Japan to Alaska. For Bradt, 24, and Boomer, 26, however, the trip will be a new experience.
Bradt and Boomer are among the world’s best whitewater kayakers, with Bradt having successfully run Washington state’s 186-foot Palouse Falls in 2009, easily eclipsing previous records. But neither have spent much time in a sea kayak—much less on a committing expedition in which they’ll spend as much effort manhandling their heavily laden kayaks across a frozen landscape as paddling them, and deal with hostile weather and polar bears.
What’s the appeal of paddling around Ellesmere Island?
Tyler Bradt: I’ve grown up knowing Jon and always had a lot of respect for him and interest in what he does. This is really unorthodox as far as expeditions go for me. I’d say it has equal or more intensity than what I’ve done in the past. The appeal is in being out there for 100 days in a disconnected, remote corner of the world.
Jon Turk: I wrote a book about communicating with the earth, [The Raven's Gift], and have been driving around on freeways and hanging out in cities talking to people about it. One day I thought, I gotta go communicate with the earth again. Ellesmere is a dynamic environment. There’s solid ice, open water, moving ice and it’s always changing. I really believe that the earth and its motions are aligned in a way that we often ignore. When we’re out there on that ice, experiencing 100 days of trudging [and] boredom, our survival will depend on whether we listen to this moving environment. I think it’s going to be so powerful.
This whole idea of communicating with the earth, Tyler, it sounds like something you would do in whitewater too.
Bradt: In a rapid you have to react accordingly to the energy that’s flowing there. You can never go against those forces, and as soon as you try to power through it you get a beat down pretty quick. I’m in full agreement with what Jon said. We’re going to really listen and pay attention to our surroundings—that will be everything to us in getting around the island safely.
What kind of challenges will you face up there?
Bradt: We’ll be starting off in May on solid ice. We’re going to be walking and dragging our boats for days and days—that’s a huge challenge in and of itself. Everything up there is going to be dealing with the ice.
Turk: One interesting point is that the Ward Hunt Iceshelf [on the northeastern tip of Ellesmere] broke up in 2010 for the first time in 35 million years. We can read the journals of the old guys like [Robert] Peary and talk to more recent explorers and that’s fine and dandy, but the situation that we’re dealing with now is going to be very different. Essentially we’ll be the first people to go into this environment in its current state, so we’re kind of winging it as we go.
What about polar bears?
Bradt: Yeah, they’re up there (laughs). We’re no doubt going to have encounters with polar bears. We just have to do all that we can to be aware of what’s going on around us and deter them before they decide we might be easy prey. We’re carrying bear bangers, bear spray and a 12-gauge shotgun. But we’re absolutely adamant about not shooting a polar bear.
How did you sell Tyler and Erik on this trip, Jon?
Turk: I didn’t have to persuade them…
Bradt: I grew up in the valley where Jon has lived for a number of years. He and my father are friends [and] I grew up doing rivers with Jon and always knowing what he’s been up to. We’ve talked about doing an expedition together a lot. The thought crossed my mind again last summer and I sent him a message. He said ‘Yeah, man, let’s go for it.’ I knew Boomer would be up for a challenge like this in a heartbeat. I suggested to Jon that having a third guy would be an asset and he agreed so we invited Boomer. He decided to join us immediately. Really, Jon didn’t have to coax us at all.
What will these young guys bring to the expedition, Jon?
Turk: A sense of humor. When you’re hanging out with these guys you’re laughing all the time and everything is funny. That’s what’s going to keep us alive.
It sounds like this expedition will be as much dragging kayaks over the ice as it will be paddling.
Turk: At 83 degrees north, [Ellesmere Island] is about as far north as you can get on any land mass. We figure about one-third of the trip will be on solid ice where we’re definitely going to be dragging, one-third on broken ice where we’ll be winging it, and one-third on open water, paddling.
What boats are you paddling?
Turk: We’re limited by what we can fit into the doors of an airplane so we’re going with 13-and-a-half-foot Wilderness System Tsunamis. They’re about three or four feet shorter than we’d like so we’ll be jammed for space, but that’s the best we can do.
As a whitewater boater, what are you looking to get out of this, Tyler?
Bradt: I’ve been to northern Norway, Iceland and the tip of Alaska, but this is unlike anything I’ve ever done before. I actually haven’t ever sea kayaked before. This is very much going to be a new experience for myself. I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be an incredible challenge.
Bradt: One of the things that I am most excited about is creating an amazing film out of this. In many ways it’s going to go much further beneath the surface than my whitewater expeditions. In whitewater it’s all about immediate thrills. This expedition is going to have much more depth to it. Thrills are rarely going to happen instantaneously. It’s going to be about experience this place and trying to connect with it and having fun while we’re at it. | <urn:uuid:d85c4b41-21c3-42bd-b23a-b65c37f7355d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canoekayak.com/touring-kayak/an-unlikely-union-at-ellesmere-island/ | 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 | 0.953821 | 1,569 | 1.59375 | 2 |
About Hartland Schools
- There is 1 K-12 school in Hartland, VT. Hartland public schools belong to one district, Hartland School District.
- There are 1 Hartland elementary school, 1 Hartland middle school and 2 Hartland preschool schools.
Contact Education.com with questions or feedback about SchoolFinder.
Please note, if you wish to speak to someone at the school, you must contact the school directly. | <urn:uuid:29ed3aab-5610-44e1-a9c2-c53ccd188ae3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.education.com/schoolfinder/us/vermont/hartland/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937697 | 91 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Sick, hungry and traumatised displaced in western Côte d'Ivoire
The three MSF mobile clinics in the western part of war-torn Côte d'Ivoire have started to receive great numbers of displaced families who have been hiding in the bush for weeks or even months.
The teams visit five sites on a weekly basis, doing about 1,500 consultations a week; the majority of which are children from displaced families.
Many families arrive at the mobile clinics with literally nothing left, suffering from malaria, skin diseases and hunger. Daily, the teams return with their cars full of severely malnourished to their base in Man.
All health care services collapsed after fighting broke out in December. All the health staff has fled the region and all health structures have been looted.
Two Côte d'Ivoire rebel groups - who also control the northern part of the country - control western Côte d'Ivoire. The government controls the south. Both sides use Liberian and Sierra Leonean fighters, who are allowed to "pay themselves", by looting the civilian population.
After months of fighting, the situation is dreadful: people have been displaced numerous times, have had to flee from helicopter gunship-attacks and from predatory rebels. Although the French army and the West African peace force ECOWAS are present to secure the area, inter-ethnic violence in the region and a very volatile situation in neighbouring Liberia, complicate their task.
MSF has already referred 80 children to the regional hospital in Man, which was restarted by another MSF team and where the organisation has opened a therapeutic feeding centre (TFC). MSF will continue nutritional supplementary care at the mobile clinic sites after these children are discharged from the TFC. | <urn:uuid:07aa591c-e9cb-4a1b-a805-cd9289b87aad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reliefweb.int/report/c%C3%B4te-divoire/sick-hungry-and-traumatised-displaced-western-c%C3%B4te-divoire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956759 | 363 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Ryan Blethen discusses the press, media and democracy. Daily Democracy is part of the Democracy Papers, a series of articles, essays and editorial opinion examining threats to our freedoms of speech and the press.
March 20, 2008 11:13 AM
Posted by Ryan Blethen
Tribune is consolidating its South Florida television station and newspaper into a single location. WSFL, a CW affiliate, will be moving into the South Florida Sun-Sentinel building.
The fact that Tribune is allowed to own a television station in the same market as the Sun-Sentinel is bad policy. According to a story in the Sun-Sentinel, the newspaper's executives are saying that this arrangement will be good for advertisers and will put the media outlets in a better position to attract a younger audience.
"The broadcast collaboration also is designed to broaden the Sun-Sentinel's audience, particularly for younger viewers who favor CW programming such as One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl. The newspaper will work with the TV station, and with online operations to develop unique content and programming. About 40 CW workers will move to the Sun-Sentinel headquarters building by the end of June."
The newspaper industry has not figured out how to lure and keep young readers. This melding is not the answer. I would bet that by having some kind of content tied into vapid night time soaps is not going to turn non-newspaper reading youths into tomorrow's subscribers.
The story does not say how this new housing arrangement will benefit advertisers. If there was a benefit to a Sun-Sentinel/WSFL advertising package, why has it not worked. Tribune owns both outlets. Why do they need to be in the same location to produce enhanced advertising options? This has long been an argument by the pro-consolidation crowd. If consolidation is the answer, then why are the companies with multiple news outlets in a market struggling like the rest of the news industry? At best this is a cost saving move.
Jul 14, 08 - 01:45 PM
Jul 14, 08 - 10:13 AM
Jul 9, 08 - 01:41 PM
Senate passes FISA act
Jun 26, 08 - 02:24 PM
Broadband's reach, or lack there of
Jun 26, 08 - 12:52 PM
Say no to immunity
(The Associated Press) Fuel rules get support A Consumer Federation of America survey conducted in April found that a large majority of Americans R...
Post a comment | <urn:uuid:c0d0b361-137c-4570-818f-b81abb5e04b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/dailydemocracy/2008/03/20/melding-media.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939337 | 510 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Why do western democracies such as the United States remain in the United Nations? After all the politically charged decisions made by this disgraceful organization, it’s often difficult to understand the reason.
Perhaps the West’s laissez-faire attitude toward this growing cesspool of political activity is finally coming to an end. A highly controversial decision with respect to a volatile part of the world could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Two weeks ago, the U.N. overwhelmingly granted statehood to Palestine. An astonishing 138 member states supported this motion, with 41 abstaining and five not present during the vote. Only nine member states rejected this motion: Canada, the Czech Republic, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Panama, Palau and the United States.
Palestine is therefore recognized as a “nonmember observer state,” one of only two in this particular categorization. (The other is the Holy See.) Even though this decision has been widely interpreted as a symbolic gesture, it is far more than that. For one thing, it allows Palestine to exert greater influence and move a step closer to member state status. While they can’t participate in formal U.N. votes, the Palestinian territories will be allowed to seek membership in various U.N. agencies, bodies and committees.
This is a ridiculous decision on the part of the U.N. Palestine is not a country, and is not even close to becoming one. It has played a major role in contributing to the Middle East becoming a powder keg over the past few decades. The contentious Gaza Strip is run by the Palestinian organization Hamas, a vicious terrorist group that would like nothing more than to obliterate Israel, the United States and other western democracies. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, has been an ineffective leader in terms of negotiating with the Israelis as well as dealing with the threat of Hamas.
Absolutely, positively! When they pay off just their parking tickets we can lower our taxes. I really hope we no longer have the UN and the terrible expense it cost the US taxpayers.
BRAVO ... I agree !!!
We do not have one reason to belong to the UN it has no purpose for us unless it's to bleed more money out of us. Can anyone think of a reason to stay? Get out of the UN and get them out of the US.
so true out of the p.o.s then we can find a way to rescue America from Washington
The UN is a front organization for world communism. It always has been. Interestingly, the UN no longer cares what flavor of world dominance prevails. It makes no difference. The key is world dominance.
that's why Obama the Clinton's and john Kerry love it G. W did not exactly act like he hated it either he should have had JOHN Bolton give our withdraw speech and you got 30 days to get out of America and give us back our money and equipment DC loves The UN because the UN furthers there goal of elimating freedom in America
How true! Now if we can convince the idiots that voted for obama, we'll have accomplished a MIRACLE!! The UN is part of the one world government! obama and Hillary signed that thingy, where they will have us register our guns, Yeh! so they know where to come get them! Like I say, Pol Pot, Stalin , Idi Amin, Hitler Chavez and Casrto all have one thing in common!! THEY ALL AGREED WITH GUN CONTROL and confiscation !! Hint! Hint! All I can say is LOCK and LOAD !! May the country I love become obamaless!
PS Love John Bolton., such a smart guy!
THE UN SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM OUR SOIL. Their objictive is to rule. We are a soverign nation and do not want their laws in our Government or their forces on our soil.
You and I don't want the UN here but the government loves the UN. The US government now attempts to legislate via treaties. What a wonderful scheme for them. Bypass the people of this country and rule through international law. And the best part is that most of the American people are too damn stupid to know what is happening. Nor do they care. This avenue toward dictatorship was a stroke of genius. Bill Clinton really perfected it.
I can't agree more! U're obviously a thinker! not like the Democrat "sheeple!", Shit! how dumb can they be!?? must be very dumb, they voted for a dictatorship in this country! and don't even know it, too busy on their obamaphones!!!
They tried their bullshit when they sent UN observers to our elections, but changed their minds when they were threatened with a beating if they came, by GOOD OLD AMERICAN PATRIOTS!! They're [UN ] creeping into our lives little by little! just like sharia law, be vigilant! The time is coming when the American people are going to say , ENOUGH and take care of it ourselves, the obama administration ain't going to do shit! Except encourage it! God Bless Our America, the land I love, may we become obamaless! Meantime LOCK and LOAD!!
I can say that I'm in complete agreement with all those who have posted their comments. The problem now arises; Just how do you suggest we should accomplish this move? I doubt we can simply walk away from it, nor tell them to leave. This 'president' we have won't do anything about it; so the departure has to come from other quarters. I'm open to suggestions. What say you all?
Why would Obama be against it? How is he going to be "King of the World" if not for the UN? This was planted in his head from childhood, and by his "real father." | <urn:uuid:d9aec9c7-ccf0-4145-a79e-75cc0e37382b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://teapartyorg.ning.com/forum/topics/u-s-should-walk-out-of-the-united-nations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963976 | 1,227 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Precisely what is Valentine's Day In 2012?
Valentine's Day is undoubtedly an American holiday break that's been a custom for quite some time. Identified as being a day to cherish your lover, Valentine's Day traditionally was a time when males would give their wives or girlfriends flowers, chocolates, and very similar affectionate presents. It wasn't a thing that was regarded as funny - just affectionate. Original gift ideas
For the duration of the 1900's, Valentine's Day was basically an exceptionally formal holiday getaway, and it absolutely was also one that was reserved for adults and youngsters. Obviously, days have adjusted.
Valentine's Day is still every day in which you demonstrate individuals the amount of you treatment, nevertheless the actuality is that it is really a lot additional casual than it ever before was. This also may make it far more enjoyment! It is really not strange to hear about people texting �Happy Vday!� to their associates, nor is it unheard of to discover kindergarten students doling out children's Valentine cards to their classmates. Nevertheless it's however an incredibly affectionate getaway, Valentine's Day did open as much as turn into a thing that near close friends can rejoice as well.
The casual frame of mind toward Valentine's Day also finished up producing for a large amount of amusing Valentines traditions among couples and associates. Positive, you may nevertheless listen to about men and women receiving many roses as gifts for Valentine's Day, but many of the other important things that folks have acquired are well worth a chuckle. Among the list of additional strange things that people have witnessed recently may be the marriage of world wide web memes and Valentine's Day cards. This could be seen once you see cards exhibiting cherubs with bacchante, cards mentioning �bromance,� and also cards which have adorable cats with amusing quotations.
Lots of people who will be solitary on Valentine's Day prefer to rejoice the brand new funny Valentine's Day opposite - Singles Appreciation Day. In this particular extremely �tongue and cheek� celebration, singles give one another traditional Valentine's Day gifts, or go to get-togethers jointly in its place of remaining residence by yourself. To a lot of people, this new tradition remains considered to be celebrating Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day ideas have also gotten a great deal much more various than ever before. Aside from the online meme Valentine's Day cards, and also the Singles Appreciation Day celebrations, there are plenty of new Valentine's Day concepts which have been using roots. Amid stylish partners, it's pretty typical to go out into a nightclub to rejoice probably the most passionate day in the yr. Many others just take a more standard route when it comes to celebration, and visit a elaborate restaurant. Valentine's day couple's pendant
One of several most hip and taking place points to do that year on Valentine's Day is always to make some of the pretty fashionable food items which have been using hold of various groups. Valentine's Day cupcakes, decorated with pink, white colored, or red icing, are beginning to turn into one of many most beloved ways to �share the love� on Valentine's Day. Cupcake pops, a decrease calorie spin in the ever-popular cupcake, are showing to be among the finest celebration meals for people who will be throwing a Valentine's Day bash.
For many people, though, the modern traditional Valentine's Day meals is red velvet cake, and it would make overall feeling. The cake alone is red and white colored, and it tastes scrumptious. Due to the fact red and white colored are even now Valentine's Day colours, getting this cake be the unofficial foodstuff of Valentine's Day helps make quite a bit of sensation. St. Valentine's day gift ideas 2012
2012's Valentine's Day surely however holds quite a bit on the exact emotions on the Valentine's Day of yesteryear, but there have already been some key shifts. Valentine's Day includes a ton far more humor to it now, and is a good deal more flexible. Present-day Valentine's Day is everything you make of it, so spend some time to determine what you want to do. No matter it truly is that you simply choose, it is quite likely to generally be a unforgettable, exciting, and enjoyable method to celebrate this holiday. | <urn:uuid:54d1bce4-ba98-4d3f-ab87-95be1a7a0de7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://slugwiki.mit.edu/index.php?title=McknightHer914&oldid=10614 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96609 | 887 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Have you ever hesitated to open a bottle of wine, knowing you will not finish it and concerned the wine will not taste good the next day? Well, good news--that problem has been solved and we can thank Mr. Bernd Schneider and his brother John.
Bernd Schneider, founder of Vacu Vin, disliked the taste of spoiled wine. Together with his brother John, they developed a device to preserve opened bottles of wine. Introduced in 1986, the Vacu Vin Wine Saver is a reusable vacuum pump and stopper set.
The re-usable stopper is inserted into the bottle and the Wine Saver pump both re-seals and eliminates the excess air from the bottle. This sealing action drastically slows down the oxidation process and preserves the taste of the wine. The process of re-sealing the wine bottle is very easy; just pump until a "click" is heard.
This unique wine sealer is used in 30 million households throughout the world. We would consider that a "best seller." KosherEye is one of the 30 million using the Vacu Vin Wine Saver. It really does what the manufacture states...preserves the flavor of an opened bottle of wine. A wonderful item to both use and gift.
The Dutch based company also manufactures and distributes other innovative house ware products and has won 20 international Design and Trade award.
For product information, visit VacuVin.com. The Vacu Vin Wine Saver is available on Amazon.com. | <urn:uuid:34ec8cbe-2484-4249-a6b0-c88a0abed36d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://a.twitterific.flash.koshereye.com/koshereye-features/gadgets/243-vacu-vin-wine-saver.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953443 | 305 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Date: January 02 2013
THE Christmas just gone was a tough one for charities, with some describing it as the worst in recent memory.
But the head of Philanthropy Australia says Australians are among the world's best when it comes to corporate giving, through acts such as pro bono professional work, allowing staff a day off for charity work and funding a moustache for Movember.
Louise Walsh, the philanthropy body's newly appointed chief executive, said the Sydney Olympics raised the bar for Australian corporate philanthropy.
Volunteers then sprung from large companies such as AMP and Westpac and companies gave up on the traditional model of ''free tickets and putting up logos''.
Nowadays, it was accounting giant PwC and electronics company JB Hi-Fi that were leading the way on corporate giving, Ms Walsh said. Start-up incubator Atlassian has also attracted plenty of kudos for promising to donate 1 per cent of its profits to charity.
But there's more to be done before Australian companies can get comfortable.
First, there is a dearth of hard data on corporate giving. The most comprehensive research was the government-commissioned Giving Australia report, released in 2005, which said that in the four years to 2004, the proportion of businesses giving through donations rose from 40.5 per cent to 58 per cent.
The report said that corporate giving was more likely to be made by larger businesses, particularly those that had ''won management commitment, have a formal budget, qualified staff and systems in place to manage this function within the organisation''.
Those least likely to give, the report said, were often small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) focused on business survival or concerned that giving contradicted their responsibility to stakeholders.
But Ms Walsh said workplace-giving initiatives, in which employee donations were matched by employers, had been a success story at large companies and work was under way to encourage smaller companies to adopt the practice.
Charities Aid Foundation, a not-for-profit that seeks to match donors with charities, will use a recent donation to tailor workplace-giving software for SMEs.
Meanwhile, religious charity Anglicare said although schools and churches were the biggest supporters of its toy and food appeal, many businesses were weighing in. The number of ''giving trees'' at the top end of Collins Street increased to five this festive season from just two in 2011, Anglicare Victoria communications manager Andrew Yule said.
Mr Yule said donations to Anglicare's broader Christmas appeal had been stable since the start of the financial crisis, with the number of donations slightly down but an increase in the average amount given.
This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.
[ Brisbane Times | Text-only index] | <urn:uuid:aef54d09-4b3b-4e90-8529-94ce4ce94c3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/big-business-sets-the-pace-for-charity-support-20130101-2c417.html?skin=text-only | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973417 | 573 | 1.539063 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — In the avalanche of ominous warnings about the impact of forced federal spending cuts on South Carolina, perhaps none is more chilling than this:
If Congress and President Barack Obama fail to reach a deal and the cuts start next Friday as scheduled, nearly 20 women in the Palmetto State this year could fail to be diagnosed with breast cancer or cervical cancer because of missed screenings that would have detected them, according to an estimate based on figures from the American Academy of Pediatrics on S.C. screenings and diagnoses over five years.
Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security benefits would not go down, because theyre exempt from the upcoming cuts, but there are more warnings that, while less dire than cancer diagnoses, still are alarming:
The unemployment rate in South Carolina, now at 8.4 percent, could rise to double digits again. An analysis by George Mason University in Virginia suggests the states overall economy could take a $3 billion hit in 2013, one-third of it from the loss of direct federal funds and the rest from private sector firms that supply goods or services for dozens of government programs.
While Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has focused attention on the harm to national security, others have warned they would hurt thousands of South Carolinians with no ties to the military, among them low-income mothers and their young children, university scientists who rely on federal research grants, students at the poorest schools and folks whove been without work for months.
Despite recent pledges by some lawmakers to try to work across the aisle, the deadline fight over the automatic spending cuts extends the partisan struggle that began in summer 2011 with a weeks-long impasse over whether to increase the governments borrowing authority.
The difference this go-round is that Americans blamed Republicans more than Democrats for that impasse, according to polls, and Obama was subsequently re-elected by a decisive margin.
Now Obama, his Cabinet members and congressional Democrats are trying to press the advantage by releasing reams of data that purport to show devastating impacts from the forced cuts. Many Republicans counter that the impacts are exaggerated and the cuts arent so bad.
I dont believe we should drastically reduce our military readiness, lay off police officers and TSA (Transportation Security Administration) agents and cut public schools funding to protect tax loopholes for the wealthy, said House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn of Columbia. South Carolina will suffer significantly due to these draconian cuts.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned Friday of flight cancellations and delays lasting as long as 90 minutes because of furloughs to air-traffic controllers.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a list of air-traffic control facilities that could be closed, among them those at airports in North Myrtle Beach and Florence. A separate list of towers where overnight shifts might disappear includes those at the Columbia and Charleston airports.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu flagged the Savannah River Site in Aiken County, which would lose tens of millions of dollars in funds, as one of a handful of nuclear complexes that would take a big hit.
The Department of Energy runs of the largest environmental cleanup and remediation programs in the world in addressing the legacy of Cold War nuclear weapons production, Chu said. Sequestration would curtail this progress, delaying work on our highest risks at sites in Washington state, Tennessee, South Carolina and Idaho.
These and similar admonitions dont phase Rep. Mick Mulvaney, an Indian Land Republican starting his second House term.
Mulvaney accused Obama and his Democratic congressional allies of exaggerating the impact of the forced cuts, which he said would reduce the governments projected $900 billion deficit this year by just $43 billion, or 4.8 percent.
Im not concerned about all the Chicken Little anguish about air planes crashing into each other because there arent enough flight controllers or about food poisoning because there arent enough food inspectors, Mulvaney said. To me, thats a lot of fear-mongering and hype.
Mulvaney, saying he prefers targeted spending reductions over across-the-board cuts, noted that he and South Carolinas then-four other Republican House members broke with most other lawmakers from their party and voted against the system of forced cuts when Congress set it up in August 2011 as part of legislation to raise the federal debt ceiling.
While he said the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, would take non-defense federal funding only back to 2008 levels, Mulvaney acknowledged that Obama holds a stronger negotiating hand, with polls showing that Americans by large margins would blame Republicans more than Democrats for its impact.
Im afraid that if sequestration goes into effect, it will be used as an excuse for everything that goes wrong for the next four years, he said. If we have another Benghazi episode (the September 2012 consulate attack in Libya), it will be blamed on sequester. If we have another Newton (school shooting in December 2012), it will be blamed on sequester. Thats the risk we run in trying to cut the budget. I dont see any way out of it.
In Columbia, Sue Berkowitz has a different view on the front lines of helping low-income folks cope from her post as head of the S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center.
The hardest hit are going to be our really poor and our really rural areas where we already have little hope and not exemplary outcomes, Berkowitz said. Real people are going to be devastated by this. Its not a game, and its not political gamesmanship.
Rep. Jeff Duncan, a Laurens, S.C., Republican also starting his second term, said the federal agencies should be able to handle what he described as relatively minor spending cuts in order to help protect his constituents and other South Carolinians.
Duncan said hes returned more than $400,000 in funds allocated to him for staff and office expenses, a 15 percent refund to the U.S. Treasury to help pay down the debt, and that executive agencies need to do their share.
Im concerned about where these cuts are going to be applied, Duncan said. Thats a management issue. It comes down to operating like a business. Every agency should be able to absorb these cuts. | <urn:uuid:2b1c892d-8846-4bd0-a5d2-c6a329aba65e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/02/24/183947/will-sky-fall-in-sc-if-theres.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961096 | 1,261 | 1.6875 | 2 |
To support the Big Oil agenda of increased offshore drilling, conservatives have been telling the American public that there weren’t any major spills caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita for an entire month. The following video shows Sen. McCain (R-AZ), Wall Street Journal writer Stephen Moore, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, McCain spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer, former Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), and Sen. McCain (again).
All of these people are polluter-funded, from McCain on down. As Idaho governor, Kempthorne served the interests of the energy industries that funded him. Nancy Pfotenhauer was the top D.C. lobbyist for the right-wing energy company Koch Industries, and Lott is now a lobbyist for Chevron, Shell, and the Edison Chouest Offshore drilling rig company. Stephen Moore, like Pfotenhauer, received his economics degree from George Mason University, before working at the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, then founding the Club for Growth and the Free Enterprise Fund. George Mason, Heritage, and the Cato Institute are all funded by Koch money.They appeared on CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox Business Network, Fox News, and MSNBC, but were never challenged for their false claims.
As the Wonk Room has reported, the clear satellite evidence of major spills was borne out by final reports. In May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) published their offshore damage assessment: “113 platforms totally destroyed, and 457 pipelines damaged, 101 of those major lines with 10″ or larger diameter.”
Unsurprisingly, this devastation caused significant spillage, according to the official report prepared for the MMS by a Norwegian firm:
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused 124 Offshore Spills For A Total Of 743,700 Gallons. 554,400 gallons were crude oil and condensate from platforms, rigs and pipelines, and 189,000 gallons were refined products from platforms and rigs. [MMS, 1/22/07]
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused Six Offshore Spills Of 42,000 Gallons Or Greater. The largest of these was 152,250 gallons, well over the 100,000 gallon threshhold considered a “major spill.” [MMS, 5/1/06]
In addition, the hurricanes caused disastrous spills onshore throughout southeast Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast as tanks, pipelines, refineries and other industrial facilities were destroyed, for a total of 595 different oil spills. The 9 million gallons reported spilled were comparable with the Exxon Valdez’s 10.8 million gallons, but unlike the Exxon Valdez, were distributed throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, and other Gulf Coast states, many in residential areas. The most massive spills included:
Sen. Sanders (I): Public safety must be job #1. I must express serious concerns about aging fleet of 104 plants. Need more oversight of those first. Oversight is quite weak. I think many people don’t know what is going on. Nuclear plant in VT. “Failure of NRC oversight.” August 21, 2007 — a water tower collapsed. How much did Entergy pay for that mishap? None.
Then Aug. 30 emergency shutdown. Last week — leaking coolant pipe. End result. Confidence is not high. People have concerns. I share them. Inexplicable there were no fines. Confidence requires more oversight. We are grossly underestimating the role of energy efficiency and renewables. Within 15 years, 20% of power could be from solar thermal alone.
And then we have everybody’s favorite global warming denier.
Obviously I’m not going to be blogging during my own panel [Note to self: Hmm. Suppose you used your voice dictation system to transcribe your words to text....].
But I will squeeze in some blogging during the first panel, with the Members’ Statements and the testimony of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission commissioners.
Wow. Big turnout. Small room. Standing room only. Six Senators, including Inhofe!
Sen. Carper (D-chair): … create a strong nuclear power industry…. Air pollution reductions…. Nuclear energy is carbon-free. Provides good jobs…. Our country needs nuclear power…. 34 new nukes may be built in next 10 to 15 years…. One word is key for nuclear Renaissance: Safety.
Sen. Voinovich (R): High gas prices. Energy prices are “a form of regressive tax.” Energy independence. Bridge to a carbon-constrained world. Nuclear power must play an increasing role. “Renewable energy sources are intermittent and unreliable.”
You only get 5 minutes of oral testimony for the Senate or the House, about 700 to 750 words if you talk reasonably fast. I have done a fair amount of testifying over the years, so now I always write out my oral testimony and then read it.
Yes, reading text is not as ideal as simply speaking extemporaneously — but five minutes is so short that if you don’t write it out, you’ll end up saying a lot less and certainly leave out a bunch of important things.
How many times do you actually get to talk to a member of Congress when they (technically) have to listen — it is a “hearing” after all? Not bloody often, so make your best of it.
One important note — most Congressional testimony is so unbelievably bland that members tune out almost immediately. Like any story or pitch, you either catch people’s interest in the opening seconds or you are wasting your time (and theirs). This goes double for a speech that is read.
My written testimony is mostly a shortened version of my Center for American Progress report, “The Self-limiting Future of Nuclear Power.” The oral testimony is below. Since I am going last or next-to-last on the second panel, I may change some of these remarks at the last minute to rebut or respond to other points.
You’ve thrown the worst fear… that can ever be hurled… afraid to bring children… into the world… and for threatening my baby… unborn and unnamed… you ain’t worth the blood that runs in your veins… Let me ask you one question… is your money that good… will it buy you forgiveness… do you think that it could?… I think you will find… when your death takes its toll… all the money you made will never buy back your soul… — Bob Dylan, “Masters of War”
In May 2007, the White House published a photograph of Lynne and Dick Cheney proudly introducing their sixth grandchild to the world. The question is: When Samuel David Cheney grows up, how proud will he be of his grandfather?
A year later, the White House published photos of President George W. Bush with his daughter, Jenna, at her wedding – the first of the Bush twins to take a husband. The question is: When they come of age, what will Jenna’s yet-unborn children think of their grandfather?
Edited by Joe Romm, we cover climate science, solutions and politics. Columnist Tom Friedman calls us "the indispensable blog" and Time magazine named us one of the 25 "Best Blogs of 2010." Newcomers, start here. | <urn:uuid:d3f45ef1-7f1a-4297-972a-0e9adeba50dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/climate/issue/?m=20080716&mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939833 | 1,543 | 1.507813 | 2 |
In an episode of The Monkees, the boys try to help an old toy inventor named Harper, who can't get his creations produced because the toy company's manager, named only Daggart, manufactures toys designed by computers. Daggart says that when the children break or get bored with the shoddy computer-designed toys, their parents will buy more, thereby tripling the company's revenue. The Monkees try to sabotage Daggart's toy test trials by dressing in drag and as children (it is the Monkees), but the plan backfires; they get Harper fired. Still, 20 minutes and two music videos later, good triumphs over evil, Harper is rehired, the manager is fired, and quality toys prevail over their cheap, trendy counterparts.
Lauer and Loeb: They're looking for the next Furby.
Through September 15
The founders will be in Dallas October 23 to interview finalists.
Thirty years later, it seems as though people like Daggart continue to run toy companies, putting dollars before durability. Daniel Lauer realized this when he took his idea for Waterbabies -- a rubber baby doll that looks and feels alive when filled with warm water -- to toy companies. He was rejected and decided to release it himself. Now, according to a Waterbabies press release, it's the second-best-selling doll of the decade. But rather than just bankrolling his profits, Lauer, along with disgruntled toy exec Jeffrey Loeb, founded Haystack Toys to help out independent inventors and regular Joes with good ideas for toys.
Beginning this year, Haystack will hold the annual "Great Toy Hunt" and accept applications through its Web site (www.haystacktoys.com) for new toys. Then, the founders will tour seven major cities to interview the finalists to choose 10 toys to produce. Each inventor will enter a contract called the Haystack Handshake, which provides a $5,000 advance, five percent royalties, and a $50,000 investment toward the development of the toy product line.
But Lauer and Loeb aren't looking for any toy: They want "golden" toys, toys that will be cherished mementos for a child's life. The toys must be for children ages 3 to 6 and can't be violent or based on television shows or movies. They must "communicate authenticity, honesty, and wonder." Their examples include Cabbage Patch Kids, Beanie Babies, and Furby. Seriously? C'mon, aren't those fad-centered toys with fast-fading glory and rapidly decreasing collectors' value? How about some real quality toys, something like Weebles or lawn darts? | <urn:uuid:d2281efa-3015-4fd3-b76a-a5d7573b4a55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dallasobserver.com/1999-08-12/calendar/toy-boys/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958469 | 555 | 1.796875 | 2 |
May 16, 2012
Where does labour law stand on ladder safety?
The Ontario Ministry of Labour recently issued a new position paper on the use of ladders in construction, and workplace safety experts warn employers need to train their workers and assess their sites for risk.
“As long as there’s been ladders in construction, there have been accidents in large part due to misuse,” said Bruce Bolduc, owner of Construction Workplace Safety Training Ltd., at a recent seminar north of Toronto for construction firms.
Bolduc went through the position paper in minute detail, noting the paper itself is not a new law or regulation.
“They have simply clarified their position on existing regulations,” Bolduc said of Ontario’s labour ministry. “It doesn’t mean you can’t use ladders in construction.”
But apparently the word didn’t initially get down to all provincial labour inspectors. Bolduc said in January, the day after the paper was published, a labour inspector showed up at one home construction site and said “you could no longer use ladders in construction.”
Although the law doesn’t prohibit ladders, the position paper does specify when safe scaffolds must be used and the safety requirements for ladder use.
“They have literally thrown it all on to your shoulders as employers that if you are making the decision to allow ladder use, then you have to follow a certain protocol,” he said.
“The choice to use a ladder cannot be based on speed or ease of production. It has to be based on safety.”
It also specifies training requirements, though Bolduc said training could include toolbox talks and does not always have to be in the classroom.
When assessing the use of a ladder, it is not enough to ensure a worker has fall protection in place or to assess the severity of injury in the event of a fall, said Karen Fields, a lawyer who also presented at the seminar.
“You still have to look at the risk of falling,” said Fields, a partner for Crawford Chondon and Partners who represents companies and supervisors facing charges under occupational health and safety laws.
“If somebody falls in a harness and it deploys and they’re safe, believe it or not, it’s a reportable incident,” Bolduc said.
In addition to training construction employers, Bolduc has investigated accidents, nine of which involved critical injuries and four of which resulted in death.
When dealing with employers, the first question he asks is whether they have trained their workers.
He also walked through the Ministry of Labour guidance on ladder risk assessment, which requires an assessment of the probability that a hazard will cause harm, and the severity of the outcome.
“Nobody’s going to like this, but you’re going to end up having to do a risk assessment for the use of ladders, and it’s going to be site specific,” he said.
Fields said employers also need to keep their documentation in case they are inspected by the Ministry of Labour or charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Although due diligence is one defence for companies or individuals on trial for provincial health and safety offences, the judges will want to see specific documents and the onus is on the defendant to show, on a balance of probabilities, that they exercised due diligence.
“They are all happy that you have your policies and program in place, but if somebody fell from a ladder and you don’t have ladder training, then you don’t have site specific due diligence,” Fields said.
The seminar was held in April at the Monte Carlo Inn and Suites in Markham.
In this week's update, we look at some of the stories we'll be covering in the Journal of Commerce for the week of May 27th, 2013.
North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week was launched on May 6 in British Columbia with an event held in North Vancouver featuring many different safety organizations, equipment providers and demonstrations of proper safety procedures.
In this week's update, we look at some of the stories we'll be covering in the Journal of Commerce for the week of May 20th, 2013.
Over 1,900 students competed in more than 60 trades at the recent Ontario Technological Skills Competition held at RIM Park in Waterloo, Ont.
Edmonton has traditionally been dominated by car traffic, but recently efforts have been made to improve the city transit system and, through transit-oriented development, to create neighbourhoods and destinations that are integrated with transit.
In this week's update, we look at some of the stories we'll be covering in the Journal of Commerce for the week of May 13th, 2013.
One of the highlights of the 2013 Ontario budget is a three-year, $35-billion commitment toward public infrastructure.
The City of Calgary's ambitious Airport Trail Tunnel project is a 620 metre tunnel that will run under the new Calgary International Airport runway and will extend Airport Trail from Barlow Trail to 36 Street N.E.
In this week's update, we look at some of the stories we'll be covering in the Journal of Commerce for the week of May 6th, 2013. | <urn:uuid:86eb1260-4365-43bc-b84d-73291bce0f97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dcnonl.com/article/id50157/profdevelopments | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962887 | 1,097 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Lacombe County subdivision ‘loophole’ left open
An effort to close a loophole that was being used to get around agriculture subdivision rules in Lacombe County failed to pass council on Thursday.
Politicians were divided over the proposal to change the Municipal Development Plan to make it tougher for those trying to create agricultural subdivisions for small farm operations such as tree farms.
It came to light that of the 26 subdivisions granted since 2007 so people could set up tree farms, only four ever took root — two of which had already been tree farms before subdivision was granted.
In some cases, those involved applied for an agricultural subdivision — which must be a minimum 10 acres in size — if they didn’t qualify for a smaller acreage, or wanted more than the four acres allowed for acreage subdivisions.
Planning staff also found it telling that a dozen properties were sold once subdivision was approved.
To close the loophole, it was proposed that agricultural operations must be established for three years and operating at 50 per cent capacity before subdivision would be approved.
But some county residents said the changes went too far and would restrict the creation of small farm operations and the opportunities to give young farmers a start.
The three-year requirement would also cause financing hassles and there should be other ways to determine whether a small farm operation is established, some said.
Coun. Brenda Knight doubted the new measures would fix the problem.
“If you think you’re going to close loopholes, you’re not,” she said. The county would just see more people applying for the four-acre subdivisions, she predicted.
Coun. Paula Law agreed that might be the case, but said she would rather see four acres taken out of agricultural production than 10 acres.
The proposed amendments were lost on a tie 3-3 vote. Reeve Ken Wigmore and Councillors Cliff Soper and Law voted in favour.
Councillors Keith Stephenson, Dana Kreil and Knight voted against. Coun. Rod McDermand was absent. | <urn:uuid:4f90a7e7-33d7-4fc1-afb0-985fa3cfd376> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news/Subdivision_loophole_left_open_191400741.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967491 | 427 | 1.695313 | 2 |
By Jaideep Varma and Jatin Thakkar
Conventional statistics are inadequate in every respect to identify the truest performers on the cricket field. Still, in Test cricket, and even ODIs to some extent, conventional cricket statistics have some meaning (though far fewer than most think) but in T20 cricket, they make no sense whatsoever. Which is why no one knows who the best batsmen, bowlers and players in T20 cricket because there are quite simply no measures to even give an indication.
The splintered T20 domestic circuit also plays a part in this confusion. No one knows where to look either to identify the best players. There is no one place where all domestic leagues are accounted for and its stats neatly arranged for each player.
Impact Index not only does all of that but also processes all the numbers to find the highest impact players in this format. All numbers updated till the beginning of IPL 2012.
1. Shahid Afridi (International T20 IMPACT 4.57)
IPL’s covert ban on Pakistani players is as much a loss for the IPL and the general standards of cricket in this format as it is for those players, given the number of high impact T20 players that come from Pakistan (hence, to give a Pakistani team place in CLT20 is a very smart decision). Both the International and Domestic lists here, in fact, are topped by Pakistanis. Here it is Shahid Afridi, most known for his scintillating hitting throughout the world, but he has actually had a great time as a bowler in this format. In fact, in T20 Internationals, his bowling has had a higher impact than his batting – he is actually the 3rd-highest impact bowler in its history. He is also a big match player and even has one tournament-defining performance to his credit (which prominently helped win the T20 World Cup for Pakistan in 2009). His low failure rates (a failure on the Impact Index system is when an IMPACT of even 1 is not registered in a match) as a bowler (27%) and as a player (17%) also provide the keys to these remarkably high impact numbers.
2. Kevin Pietersen (4.15)
The highest impact batsman in T20 internationals is also the only (largely) single skill player on this list. Pietersen is, in fact, the Viv Richards of T20 International cricket, given what he has achieved as a batsman in this format – a fact lost on most people, given that he scored his first T20 hundred only recently in the IPL. It is only on Impact Index that it is revealed that he is highest impact batsman in the world when it comes to strike rate and building partnerships and the 2nd highest when it comes to scoring runs (in proportion to runs scored in all the matches he has played in, pressure of falling wickets that he has absorbed and chasing targets down. He has the lowest failure rate as a batsman (a mere 16%), astonishing in this format particularly. He has also been a big match player with a tournament-defining performance for England in the T20 World Cup in 2010.
3. Irfan Pathan (3.75)
India’s highest impact T20 International player may never play for India again if he does not re-discover his bowling mojo. He is the 6th highest impact bowler of all time in this format, with a particular penchant for breaking partnerships. His prodigious batting talent has not found full expression in T20 Internationals on consistency as his batting does not cross an IMPACT of 1 which is the mark of a genuine all-rounder, but it is pretty close - he has always been good at absorbing pressure while batting. He has also been a big match player with a tournament-defining performance for India in inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.
4. Kamran Akmal (3.70)
He is the highest impact wicketkeeper-batsman in T20 internationals (and the highest impact wicketkeeper). Only Sangakkara has a lower failure rate than him amongst wicketkeeper-batsmen. Akmal has been a big match player with a tournament-defining performance for Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in 2009.
5. Yuvraj Singh (3.34)
The second highest impact all-rounder in T20I history after Afridi. The second-highest impact batsman for India (after Gambhir). High impact in all batting parameters, especially strike rate. More than a handy bowler – much more than the “pie-chucker” he was accused of being by the 2nd-highest impact player on this list. He has also been a big match player with a tournament-defining performance for India in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.
And below, we present the five highest impact players in (the relatively short) history of T20 domestic cricket across the world. Given the varying standards in different parts of the world in different leagues, while it would not be appropriate to consider them to necessarily be the highest impact T20 players in the world, it would help to remember that the prominent T20 players do emerge from these leagues itself, at the end of the day. All numbers updated till the beginning of IPL 2012.
1. Shoaib Malik (Domestic T20 IMPACT 5.15)
It is fitting that Shoaib Malik and his team will feature in the next edition of Champions League, as Pakistan has been provided a place in it now. Shoaib Malik is the 3rd-highest impact batsman in all of T20 domestic cricket – besides being a serious bowler as well, and one of the most successful captains in this format. He has been a big match player with 4 tournament-defining performances (the highest in T20 history) for Sialkot Stallions – ABN AMRO Twenty-20 Cup 2006, Royal Bank of Scotland Twenty-20 Cup 2009, 2010 and Faysal Bank T-20 Cup 2011. Given that he has a relatively considerable 47 matches in this format, his Impact numbers are awe-inspiring – his tournament-defining performances make him break out of the Impact Index scales too.
2. Ganesh Gaikwad (4.91)
24-year-old Ganesh Gaikwad has to be one of the unluckiest cricketers in India. He is, by a mile, the highest impact T20 Indian player in the domestic circuit but he is yet to get a proper IPL call-up. Pune Warriors had him in their squad last year but he never really got a run. He is the 3rd-highest impact bowler in all of T20 domestic cricket – with economy and the ability to pick wickets showing up as strengths on his Impact charts, and a low failure rate (20%) as a bowler. As a batsman, his high failure rate (56%) still does not affect his overall high batting impact – given his ability on all batting parameters. He has been a big match player too with a tournament-defining performance for Maharashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2010 – which is where he has made his mark. Many other young players who have got IPL chances came from this circuit too, so undoubtedly Gaikwad remains the most significantly overlooked talent from here.
3. Shane Watson (4.63)
The highest impact player in IPL history has been astonishing for his consistency across formats and tournaments/series. His low failure rate as a batsman in this format (33%) and a well-tested ability to choke runs as a bowler make him the 8th-highest impact batsman and the 13th-highest impact bowler in T20 domestic history. He has been a big match player too, with a tournament-defining performance for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2008.
4. Suresh Raina (4.61)
He is the highest impact batsman in T20 domestic history. Outstanding in all batting parameters, his low batting failure rate (34%) further seals his legend in this format. Though he has bowled in less than half the matches he has played, his impact as a bowler is almost worthy of an all-rounder’s (very close to a Bowling IMPACT of 1) and he even has a slight captaincy impact. Most significantly, he has been an emphatic big match player with 3 tournament-defining performances for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2010 and 2011 and Champions League 2010.
5. Sunil Narine (4.59)
A good example of a smart IPL buy (which is sadly not such a common occurrence) – he was the highest impact bowler in T20 history even before the IPL began this year (which is when these numbers are updated to) – KKR displayed very good sense to get him. His ability to choke runs and squeeze wickets out of the pressure that builds is his most special characteristic. He has a very low failure rate as a bowler (20%) and in his young career has even been a big match player with a tournament-defining performance for Trinidad and Tobago in 2012.
For more information, please go to www.impactindexcricket.com | <urn:uuid:493c3280-e5f8-4cf3-999d-46eba4a38a0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cricket.yahoo.com/news/the-highest-impact-t20-players-ever.html?page=12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975099 | 1,942 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Public relations specialists here, like those around the world, are experts at managing bad news. So when the relative of a client was murdered recently, they made a few phone calls and kept his name out of the papers. The only difference in this city of 300,000 across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas, is that "press officers" tend to work for drug kingpins rather than company executives.
And reporters who ignore the advice of this breed of spin doctor tend to end up dead.
A quiet word rather than an explicit threat is usually all that's needed in a city where law enforcement is crippled and the population terrorized, reporters and editors in Nuevo Laredo told the Committee to Protect Journalists. But every once in a while there's a physical reminder of just how vulnerable journalists are. On February 6, unidentified gunmen fired assault rifles and tossed a grenade at the offices of El Mañana newspaper, gravely wounding reporter Jaime Orozco and causing heavy damage to the building. After weeks in intensive care, Orozco is slowly recovering.
El Mañana Editor Ramón Cantú immediately said the daily would scale back its already curtailed coverage of drug traffickers and organized crime to protect its staff. It has been censoring news coverage since its previous editor, Roberto Javier Mora García, was stabbed to death in March 2004.
Two days after the attack on El Mañana, the federal government reacted to a wave of national outrage by announcing it would name a special prosecutor to investigate crimes against journalists. President Vicente Fox had pledged in a meeting with CPJ in New York in September that he would seek to create the position. On February 22, Fox made good on the promise by appointing David Vega Vera, a well-known lawyer and human rights advocate. "Whoever attacks freedom of expression, attacks society," Fox said in announcing the appointment.
The president's statement acknowledged that attacks on journalists in Nuevo Laredo and elsewhere in the border region have become a national issue, and it recognized that the federal government needs to do more to protect the press. The El Mañana probe is the first task for federal authorities, who have taken over the case from the state investigators.
But the federal government will face an enormous challenge in a city like Nuevo Laredo, where 181 people were killed last year, including the police chief and a city security official.
Already, the culture of fear has had devastating effects on the media. Most journalists interviewed for this article were too afraid for their safety to give their names. They acknowledged that they censored themselves out of fear of retribution. Several journalists said they had stopped going out to cover a story after dark or in the early morning.
"We live a situation of terror and powerlessness. We have been forbidden to investigate, to report in depth. To go beyond what's permissible is very dangerous," said one journalist.
Naming the members of the drug cartels battling for control of Nuevo Laredo or of their victims is off-limits for most writers. Editors scrutinize articles in case a name has been inadvertently slipped in. A single mention could be fatal.
Reporters treat every gangland killing in isolation, rarely following up or weaving the murder into the broader fabric of crime that serves as the backdrop to their professional lives. Investigative journalism died a long time ago.
"Sometimes we choose to censor ourselves because we lack guarantees to do our job," said one journalist, who added she had received threats disguised as "suggestions" or "advice."
This kind of pervasive self-censorship, which is typical not only of Nuevo Laredo but many other areas in northern Mexico, casts a pall over the upcoming presidential elections in which drug-related violence and the web of official corruption that allows the traffickers to flourish are likely be key issues.
Reporters are reluctant to cross the line because there are no safeguards. They have lost faith in Mexico's law enforcement agencies and judiciary. "Why should reporters risk their lives to investigate a story if the authorities themselves won't do it?" asked one journalist. "You should go as far as your safety, your well-being allow."
Gangsters use a variety of methods, including kidnapping, to intimidate reporters. Several journalists spoke of fellow reporters who had been abducted and held for a few hours. One journalist told CPJ that he had been kidnapped three times. The journalists rarely report such abductions either for fear of retaliation, lack of faith in the police, or the belief that the authorities themselves are behind the crime.
Corruption in Nuevo Laredo is rampant and newsrooms are not spared. Some journalists reported being offered money to work for drug cartels or to buy their silence. In some cases, journalists said, fellow reporters made the offers of money. Some journalists accept the offers from organized crime or work as informants for the police. As a consequence, reporter suspects reporter.
The sheer scale of the lawlessness, which has overwhelmed local law enforcement, is not lost on the federal authorities that are about to step in.
In the September 15 meeting with President Fox, CPJ argued that state authorities, which normally conduct murder investigations, are overwhelmed by the scale of the violence and are prone to corruption. Federal authorities, with more resources and visibility, are in a better position to conduct inquiries, CPJ said. The appointment of a special prosecutor, therefore, sends an important message to Mexico's vulnerable provincial journalists that the federal government takes seriously its responsibility to uphold the constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press. The new position creates federal accountability.
On a practical level, federal authorities acknowledge that carrying out investigations in cities like Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana, where drug cartels have also infiltrated every aspect of public life, will not be easy. José Luis Vasconcelos, the deputy prosecutor for the organized crime division of the attorney general's office, told CPJ that the new special prosecutor and the federal government face "an enormous challenge."
One of the first items on the new prosecutor's agenda is the attack on El Mañana. Federal authorities have taken up the case but remain tight-lipped about any progress in the investigation. Mexican Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said publicly that the attack was related to drug trafficking and those responsible had been identified. Vasconcelos was more circumspect in an interview with CPJ. He said that it was too early to say who was responsible and that the attack was an attempt to intimidate rather than to kill. The reporter wounded in the attack, he noted, was behind a wall when the gunmen stormed the newspaper.
The case of Lydia Cacho, a columnist and human rights activist arrested in December and charged with defaming a Mexican businessman, will also be a priority of the new prosecutor, the Mexican press said. Leaked tapes of telephone conversations in the case pointed to a conspiracy between state officials and local businessmen to jail and assault Cacho.
The battle to protect journalists covering the drug trade cannot be separated from the larger struggle against the trafficking organizations themselves, a war in which the government acknowledges shortcomings. In his meeting with CPJ, Fox said government efforts to dismantle the cartels had sparked the violent backlash.
In his new role as special prosecutor for crimes against journalists, Vega will work under the effective control of the organized crime and human rights division of the attorney general's office, which is headed by Mario Alvarez Ledesma. Vega's office will take over investigations into crimes against journalists from 32 state authorities. But cases involving drugs and organized crime, the major components of attacks on the media, will be turned over to Vasconcelos, who has the resources and experience to prosecute major drug traffickers.
"In his capacity, the new prosecutor will oversee all the investigations of crimes against journalists, including those related to organized crime and drug trafficking," Vasconcelos told CPJ. "Those investigations will be taken over by my office, but that doesn't mean the special prosecutor will have no jurisdiction. I will be working in coordination with the special prosecutor and he ...will have updated information in the cases that we have taken over."
The new prosecutor's office will collate all data on investigations into press attacks and provide legal assistance and psychological counseling to journalists and family members who are attacked or threatened.
Vasconcelos said the new position "reflects the interest and serious concern of the federal government in the protection of freedom of expression in Mexico... (It) represents a direct message to organized crime groups and individuals that target journalists for their work. The government has recognized this as a national problem and is committed to provide guarantees for the protection of journalists so they can do their jobs without interference."
Prominent journalist Jorge Zepeda Patterson told CPJ the new prosecutor would be effective "only if the government decides to assign the resources needed to conduct thorough investigations." He said that past special prosecutor offices, set up to deal with national emergencies, had been under-funded.
Roberto Rock, editorial director of the daily El Universal, greeted the creation of the special prosecutor's office with "cautious optimism." But he said he and other journalists had been urging Fox to change the law to make crimes against journalists a federal offense. CPJ proposed in its meeting with Fox that Mexico set up a panel of freedom of expression experts to weigh greater federal involvement in combating crimes against journalists and issue a public report and recommendations.
Vasconcelos acknowledged that the federal government faced an uphill struggle in tackling violence against journalists. "Our biggest challenge now is to break the cycle of impunity," he said.
In Nuevo Laredo, that seems to be an understatement. Last year, violence was so bad that the city's police chief, Alejandro Domínguez, was shot dead just hours after taking office. Two months later, gunmen killed the official who oversaw public security in a daylight attack outside city hall. Few of those responsible for the plague of murders have been brought before the courts.
This year has not gotten off to a promising start; more than 31 homicides were reported in January and early February, according to local news reports. Business has been hit and tourists, for the most part Americans, are staying away in droves.
Vasconcelos said that in order for the special prosecutor to succeed the authorities had to rebuild public trust in government. "Crimes against journalists need to be solved, but they require social solidarity and trust in the local institutions."
And trust is lacking in the present climate of fear and intimidation. Journalists are deeply skeptical of the state and federal authorities' ability to reverse the tide of violence. Some reporters said a sense of peace or at least a return to previous lower levels of violence would come only when a winner emerged from the two cartels that are currently fighting for supremacy in the city.
Reporters continue to view the authorities as ineffective, corrupt, fearful, or complicit with drug traffickers. They believe drug traffickers carry out routine surveillance and know where reporters live and what cars they drive. According to one journalist, "there are so many executions here that you don't know what new angle to give to your story."
The rifle and grenade attack on El Mañana was not just aimed at that newspaper, journalists said. It was a warning to all journalists not to overstep the mark. In such a climate, journalists said that perhaps the best way to stay alive was to be as accurate and dull as possible in their stories.
"Adding more adjectives, more sensationalism to a news story may make the news story sell more, but it's also more dangerous," one journalist said.
The Mexican public will also be watching how the new prosecutor handles the El Mañana investigation and future attacks on media outlets. Vasconcelos acknowledges his office will need to make tangible progress to earn credibility.
"We need to obtain concrete results so we can gain the confidence and trust of Mexican society. That will be decisive for the future success of our work and we are well aware of it," he said.
Sauro González Rodríguez, CPJ's Americas program consultant, reported from Nuevo Laredo. Carlos Lauría, Americas program coordinator, reported from New York. | <urn:uuid:1d97a27b-577d-4fc7-883e-470660bb425e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cpj.org/reports/2006/02/nuevo-laredo.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969872 | 2,505 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Gamme has no more than 226 km to go
Published on 19.12.2011 - Antarctica 2011- 2012
Norwegian Alexander Gamme is continuing his march towards the Pole. He is confident for the next few days to come: the South Pole is not anymore too far away...
The day 50 of his expedition (17 December) Gamme has performed another 30 km in 9 hours and a half skiing.
This Norwegian traveller is amazed to see how his body is functionning so well although it is put every day -and almost every second of the day- to the strain of the skiing and the fatigue of the skiing nine to ten hours every day.
He says that he has the impression that from now on, his body can respond to any kind of stress or demand coming from an outside environment without showing any kind of injuries. He says also that his high motivation throughout all these previous days of expedition is one of the main secret of the achievement of his voyage. He is almost certain to be able to make it until the Pole. | <urn:uuid:28424763-bc42-4902-a975-a136e19985ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.explorapoles.org/news/detail/gamme_has_no_more_than_226_km_to_go | 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 | 0.981509 | 211 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Business Schools today must develop students to become global citizens. With economies across the world posing competition, one can no longer be content with knowing just our own. This requires for students to learn from the workplace in different parts of the globe. Global internships are one such initiative. This year 107 students from Welingkar successfully completed their Global Internships in Germany, Japan, Dubai, Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania. Some of their experiences are as follows -
Kaizen Study Tour of Japan
About the Visit:
The main purpose of the Japan tour is to study Japanese Production Techniques and inculcate a keen sense for learning through observation apart from developing a questioning attitude among students. Initially students are exposed to the manufacturing processes of Small & Medium Scale companies & then they visit large scale companies like Toyota manufacturing Corporation.
Some of the companies that Students visited in the last year’s trip were
Small Scale companies- Morita Enterprise, Iwako Co. Ltd, Hakuyosha Laundry Company & Co-op Tokyo.
Medium and Large Scale companies- Nippon Wiper Blade Co. Ltd, Asahi Breweries, Nippon Steel Works, Togo Garbage Disposal & Recycle, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Denso Corporation, Toyota Motor Corporation.
Institutes & centers- Tamagawa University, International design Centre, Nagoya ,Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology & Retail Outlets.
Last year ,In the first 2 days, students visited small scale companies like Morita and Iwako Rubber Company. Everyone was astonished to see how intelligent use of technology helped increased the efficiency & productivity of employees. For example in Morita enterprises a single person operated 4 machines just by using the andon lamps which could tell him even from a distance if the machine was working well or having any problems. While studying about the companies, students also noticed the dedication & the sheer passion that Japanese Companies portray to make something for the customer exactly as per his needs. This strong focus on being Customer Centric seems to be followed everywhere.
Focus on making what is required and zero wastage seems to be deeply embedded in each and every part of Japan. For eg: In Co-op Tokyo, which is a cooperative that supplies groceries to its members, students noticed that it exactly orders that much what is required by its members and at the end of the day their shop floor is spick and span. All the material that they get is 100% utilized.
Another thing which impressed students was the focus on cleanliness. All the factories were totally spick and span. Be it a brewery like Asahi or auto manufacturing unit lie Mitsubishi, Toyota, etc. Everything was clean and in its rightful place with proper markings. Though so much of work was happening but never could any material or any waste lying haywire in the shop floor was to be found. In fact students were given a challenge to spot if there was any mess or anything out of place lying in the companies and all failed in it as this is something difficult to see in Japan.
Apart from visiting companies students also visted institutes like Tamagawa University, Retail Outlets & International design Centre. At Tamagawa University, Students got an opportunity to interact with many Japanese students which helped them to better understand Japanese society & culture. As a result some of the students became their very good friends and are still in contact with them.
Visits to various Retail Outlets of different formats provided students a chance to study the retail scenario of Japan. Students also visited International design Centre in Nagoya and studied the various products made from design centric philosophy.
Last but not least , food in Japan. The food in Japan is one of the tastiest foods that all had come across.
It was a lot more fun when they used chopsticks to eat. Though it was difficult initially, but with practiced they were able to manage it. So in the end of the tour when Toyota Company invited them for a dinner in their Company, all of them proudly showed them that they can enjoy the Japanese food by having it with chopsticks without the need of fork or spoon to have the food.
All said and done, experience of Japan is simply unique and no amount of words can explain it. One must go there to experience it. People in Japan were very helpful and came forward to help whether it was to locate a place or to inform as to where you are. Though Tokyo is supposed to be the busiest city and people their seem to be not having time but Japanese played the perfect host and gave all the necessary time to help anyone.
Click here for more on Japan - the Land of Innovation
"Every factory we went, we saw that the workers' safety was always given first priority. While working at Nabeya Bi-Tech Kaisha, we were using heavy iron raw material. On my first day at the shop floor, one of the department heads touched my feet himself to check if my shoes had adequate padding! They were always observant to see if we had taken adequate safety precautions. Humility and concern for colleagues is one of my biggest learnings from this experience." - Smruta Sawardekar, PGDBM 2004-06
"We worked at Nabeya Bi-Tech Kaish. NBK manufactures pulleys and
couplings. The first thing you see when you enter the company is the
President's desk. He has no fancy cabin, no secretaries waiting on him
and wears the same uniform worn by other employees. In fact when we
arrived, he along with other senior members served us refreshments. It
is wonderful to see everyone do their own work irrespective of their
designations. They have a 15 minute break for tea and it is remarkable
to see them return to their machines in the 14th minute all geared in
their safety equipment. They are truly disciplined in their work and
always respect time." - Melissa D'costa, PGDBM 2004-06
My Experience at BIDCO Oil & Soap Limited Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; by Rohit Bagga (WCM, Welingkar)
BIDCO is one of the largest outfits running in Eastern Africa Continent, with its plant in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
While leaving Mumbai, we had a premonition about the country and its whereabouts. When reaching there all the premonitions were settled as Tanzania is not only a very beautiful country but also a safe country.
Working with BIDCO Oil & Soap Limited, Tanzania for last 2 months has been a great Learning experience. Support given by CEO Mr. Sunil Nair for Gemba Kaizen activities has been wonderful.
BIDCO, Tanzania manufactures Cooking Oil and Laundry Soap. The capacity for Oil Production was 400 metric tons per day and for Soap 160 tons per day.
We started our work with Soapery. We implemented various Japanese Techniques we had learnt back in college and were able to increase productivity. Infact, in one of the projects we were able to reduce cost equivalent to 2.2 Million Tanzanian Shillings. We were also able to increase the Finished Goods Storage area by 100% by using the Air Space and with no Investment.
We also got an opportunity to work with Kaizen Institute consultants at BIDCO, Dar Es Salaam. We saw the actual implementation of the various Japanese Management Techniques we had learnt; in a real life situation.
Abhishek Jain and Rohit Bagga, WCM 2004-06
We, Aditi Mani, Avinash Mishra, Mayur Lalith Raj and Mihir Shah, did our two month summer internships at BIDCO Oil Refineries Ltd., Kenya. We learnt how to apply our theoretical knowledge in the practical arena. At BIDCO, we were always a part of the BIDCO family. We attended meetings and workshops along with the other employees and we were all involved in the day to day working of the company. All our projects are being implemented currently. Working at BIDCO for 2 months gave us an insight to the corporate life in a country other than India. It was truly an enriching experience for all of us.
My summer project at BIDCO was to do a feasibility study of setting up BIDCO Oil Refinery at Mombasa port. It gave me a phenomenal exposure from studying the EAC and COMESA countries to understanding the refinery processes and costing, and applying my financial concepts to determine the feasibility of the project. The project was in line with BIDCO's goal of "Attaining No.1 market share in Africa by the year 2030" and also helped in BIDCO's long term investment decision making.
- Mihir Shah, PGPeB 2004-06
At BIDCO I was with the Integrated Marketing Communications team and was given Strategic Marketing projects from the department's Hoshin Kanri. My project involved formulating strategies for leveraging and increasing brand equity. I also developed and implemented the concept of e- marketing, which was done for the first time in BIDCO.
- Avinash Mishra, PGPeB 2004-06
Germany student exchange
As a result of a cooperation agreement with the Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg, twenty six students of the Welingkar Institute of Management were sent on a twelve day program to Bamberg, Germany. The organisers at the Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg made the visit an exceptional experience. A comprehensive program of professional and cultural visits was put together which began and ended with a series of lectures in English at the University. As well as visiting business companies, the students were able to see the wonderful Franconian countryside and learn something of the history and culture of Bavaria.
The first company visit took the group to Siemens AG in Erlangen, where the students gained a fascinating insight into the field of Medical Solutions. During a later excursion to Audi AG in Ingolstadt they visited the Automobile Museum before learning something about production processes, and in Dresden they received an informative tour through Volkswagen AG's impressive Gläserne Manufaktur (factory made of glass). A special surprise awaited the students when they visited Bosch GmbH in Bamberg - among those waiting to welcome them were two employees from India, who not only showed them round the factory, but also gave them an interesting insight into the differences between the Indian and the German business worlds. The GfK Market Research Institute in Nuremberg provided yet another experience by giving their Indian guests excellent presentations on challenges and solutions in the field of international market research. The students did not have to brave the cold for long for their last visit which was to the company Brose GmbH in nearby Hallstadt. Here too interesting presentations were rounded off by a tour of the factory.
In all, the Welingkar students and professors learnt a great deal about German productivity. | <urn:uuid:c3e302c4-36ab-4cf0-996c-9b86d2a49b38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.welingkar.org/Welingkar/v1/internationalstudents/job_placements.asp?br=1§ion=C | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970033 | 2,254 | 1.679688 | 2 |
National Geographic Taps IBM
IBM announced today that the National Geographic Society is digitizing more than 10,000 of its hallmark images and making them available to corporate clients via a business-to-business Web site, using IBMs technology.
National Geographic Society has been in the stock photography business selling images to advertising agencies, corporate marketing departments and publishers for quite some time. Officials there realized about two years ago, however, that to stay among the top three providers, theyd have to move at least part of their business to an e-commerce model, according to Maura Molvihill, National Geographics vice president of image collection.
Fully prepared to build a B2B site in-house from the ground up, Molvihills group began looking around at various software vendors that could assist.
"We were prepared to build out our systems and then our technical guy said IBM had a product to meet our needs," said Molvihill, in Washington.
In terms of functionality, Molvihills group was looking for a fairly sophisticated search engine that could be intuitive as well as logical. At the same time, they required a pricing algorithm that would allow them to price on a usage basis with additional parameters thrown in.
The cornerstone of the National Geographic site is WebSphere Commerce for Digital Media, software that allows customers to easily search a photo archive and purchase photos over the Internet. In addition, National Geographic is using Big Blues Content Manager and DB2 database software as its repository.
"Whats required to sell images is a little different than selling, say, plumbing parts over the Web," said Molvihill. "There is a different view point. An art director will call and say, We want an image that says competitive edge, or tranquility or family security, And conceptually, they have to be cataloged like that [with the ability] to be searched intuitively. It requires a degree of creativity and a browser mentality."
As National Geographic moves towards offering low-resolution images for search on their site (they currently offer only high-resolution images), theyll look to employ additional software. It will install IBMs digital asset management system for publishing, and its Networked Interactive Content access software for future digitization projects.
Molvihill looked at a lot of different packages from companies including some smaller companies that offered only part of the solution. She found IBM had the fullest package. They offered research capabilities, a search interface, pricing, delivery, and a certain security of knowing IBM "wont be here today, gone tomorrow," said Molvihill.
Initially the site will house more than 10,000 photographs. National Geographic anticipates adding as many as 3,000 new images each year. | <urn:uuid:552ac55a-ec53-4983-9517-0208737175e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eweek.com/print/c/a/Search-Engines/National-Geographic-Taps-IBM/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959685 | 562 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Archbishop tells women “this is still your Church”
Tuesday 20th November 2012The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams spoke of his “deep personal sadness” that General Synod voted against women bishops.
Archbishop Rowan said the result was “a missed opportunity” for women in the Church and those who have long championed their ministry, calling it “a great grief and great burden”.
Dr Williams said the Church’s commitment to protecting minorities means that “we are, in a sense, caught by our own good practice”.
But he added that the vote was “not the end of the issue”, because around three-quarters of General Synod members supported the inclusion of women in the episcopacy.
“Nobody wants to go on talking about it forever. There is still a will to make this happen. Even those who were opposing this afternoon said: we don’t want to drag this out forever, but we just cannot live with this.”
The Archbishop said the three-to-four years it would take for revised legislation to reach Synod again was the “most sobering and saddening” thing about the result.
“It commits us to a long process of focusing on this question when so many people would like to be talking about something else and doing something else.”
However, Archbishop Rowan said he did not accept that the Church of England is “out of touch with how people are feeling around the country.”
“On the contrary, if you listened to the debate this afternoon, you would have heard people saying, again and again, that we as a Church need to affirm our understanding of how the society around us sees these questions – and also the urgency of it.”
When asked what he would say to women in the Church following the result, the Archbishop said: “I can well understand that feeling of rejection and unhappiness and deep disillusion with the institution of the Church.
"But I would also say: it is still your Church. Not mine, not Synod’s, but yours. Your voice matters and will be heard. It’s important not to give up.” | <urn:uuid:3535e97b-a377-4f8f-8710-df0e1a8b0ea4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2717/archbishop-tells-women-this-is-still-your-church | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981304 | 468 | 1.5625 | 2 |
A few years ago, I hunted Highland stag and sika deer in Scotland with Malcolm Harman of UK Outfitters. I wrote about that hunt in these pages, and several subscribers subsequently hunted with Harman and sent very positive reports on their experiences. Harman continues to offer stag hunting. In fact, he has gone on to create what may be the ultimate deer hunt in Great Britain.
The country's deer include seven types, both native and introduced. Geographically, from the south of England up into Scotland, they begin with the Reeves muntjac and Chinese water deer, European red deer, fallow deer, Highland stag and Japanese sika. The seventh, roe deer, can be found from north to south. Of course, other outfitters can get you all of these deer in one trip, but the likelihood is that at least some of the hunting will be in small enclosures that offer little or no sport. Harman, on the other hand, offers a fair-chase, unfenced hunt for all seven of these deer (call it his "Seven Slam").
Harman's hunt lasts from 12 to 14 days and involves traveling the length of Great Britain. The amount of land available to Harman for the hunt is what's truly amazing. He reports that his smallest area, for Chinese water deer, is 5,000 acres, although he also has a second, larger area for this species. The largest, where he hunts European-strain red deer and what he describes as some exceptional fallow deer, is 180,000 acres. Altogether, he has more than 350,000 unfenced acres in Britain upon which he can hunt.........(continued) | <urn:uuid:a17f8d7c-3870-4230-b1ba-2b09e40e5175> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huntingreport.com/hunting_article_details.cfm?id=1342 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967882 | 343 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Published June 08, 2012
| Fox News Latino
The fun and excitement of race day is just a small part of the horse racing world’s big picture. If you look beyond the main event, you’ll find thoroughbred horses are a lot of work, requiring 24/7 care, and the vast majority of caretakers of these valuable animals are Latino.
Ranging from the hot walkers (people who walk the horses after a race or workout) all the way up to backstretch foremen and jockeys – there is a Latino microcosm hard at work in the horse racing world.
Alejandro Flores Maseas, 41, came from Mexico City 16 years ago to work with horses and, while it was difficult at first, he adjusted to his new surroundings. Originally he worked at the airport in Mexico City, but wanted to pursue a more lucrative life and followed a friend to the U.S. to start at the bottom rungs of the horse racing world.
After long hours and endless work, Flores Maseas fell in love with the horses and has become a key figure at Three Chimneys Farm in Versailles, KY, located just outside of Lexington. He now works in the Stud Division of the farm as a groom for Flower Alley, the sire to recent Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, I’ll Have Another, who was a Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown hopeful until he came down with a bout of tendinitis.
When asked if it makes him nervous to work with such valuable horses, Alejandro responds, “It’s true the horses are expensive and bigger and stronger than us, but they are animals and need to be taken care of.”
As important as Flores Maseas’s job is, the pay is very low. Most of those starting off in the business make around $7.50 an hour, with minimal increase every few years. Many of the Latino workers at Three Chimneys are on a work visa and are required to return home every 10 months, but they do have medical coverage and workers compensation – benefits that many others in this line of work do not receive.
Twenty-two year old Edgar Meza Cortez has only been working with horses at Three Chimneys for four years, but he grew up in the countryside of Jalisco, Mexico and has always had a love for them. He too is on a work visa program and goes back to Mexico to visit his wife every 10 months.
Meza Cortez’s responsibility is working with the mares. He said he finds the birthing process stressful.
“Things can go wrong because of complications and you have to be on your toes.”
Both Flores Maseas and Meza Cortez don’t balk at the pay. They feel their jobs are typical of low-paying agricultural employment, and if they were working in Mexico they would be making a lot less.
On the other side of the country, in Arcadia, Calif., the sentiment of caring for the horses is the same among the back stretch workers at Santa Anita Racetrack. Gregorio Ochoa has been working at the track for 32 years. She started as a hot walker and worked her way up to foreman of the backstretch.
The 52-year-old Ochoa was born and raised in Jalisco, Mexico, and, in search of a higher pay, came to the U.S. to work in the farm fields. When a friend in the racing industry offered to show her the ropes, she jumped at the chance and hasn’t looked back since –even though she’d had a lifelong fear of horses.
Ochoa’s day starts at 4 a.m. when she first takes care of her family and then heads to the track. There is dorm living for the backstretch workers at Santa Anita and, for 10 years, it provided her free rent and utilities, allowing her to save enough to move off-site into her own home. As with Flores Maseas and Meza Cortez, the job is a seven days a week commitment and the days off are rare.
Ochoa doesn’t feel being a woman ever stood in the way of her success.
“The trainers know I do things myself to make sure the job gets done correctly – so they trust me,” she said. “The horses are like my babies.”
Even up to the eighth month of each of her three pregnancies, she was working with the horses. To make ends meet, she would clean houses.
Ochoa raised three boys who started coming to work with their mother as young as 3, and they are all now in the racing industry. The youngest, Jess, is a hot walker, Bobby is an exercise rider and Juan, the eldest, is a horse jockey in New Mexico.
Despite being severely bitten, having toes broken and going through a back surgery due to years of throwing bales of hay and alfalfa, her resolve and love for her job is evident, “Being around the horses – every one of them is my favorite”.
The laws in regard to backstretch and stable workers differ from state to state and in California it isn’t a requirement to provide healthcare. When Ochoa needed the back surgery, she turned to The California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation (CTHF) for help. The foundation was started in 1983 in a trailer outside of Santa Anita Racetrack’s Gate 7 as a dental clinic for stable workers and grew to provide general health and vision care. It is funded by unclaimed winning pari-mutuel ticket revenues from the tracks, of which they receive approximately 60 percent.
There has been a lot of debate and litigation over the rights of the stable and backstretch workers, but a commonality among the group itself is the love for the horses and the job of taking care of these animals that provide a better life for the workers and their families. | <urn:uuid:3587d6c8-b3f1-4f78-9550-65fe438146ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/06/08/after-ill-have-another-injury-focus-on-horse-caretakers/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971614 | 1,261 | 1.554688 | 2 |
TITANIC, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER and THE WIZARD OF OZ
Video Picks & Passes
by STEVEN D. GREYDANUS | Source:
(Special; edition 1997)
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: PICK
THE WIZARD OF OZ: PICK
(Special & Collector’s Edition)
This week, two of the most popular films in history return in three new DVD editions. James Cameron’s stunningly successful Titanic gets a special edition loaded with extras, while one the most enduring of Hollywood Golden Age classics, The Wizard of Oz, has been newly restored and comes in two new DVD editions.
Give Cameron his due: Whatever else can be said, and rightly said, against his bloated, pandering, at times contemptible magnum opus, Titanic, the director knows how to play his target audience like a Stradivarius, and he does so here like nowhere else and no one else.
A masterful exercise in manipulation, Titanic’s celebration of forbidden love bringing liberation from social constraints resonated profoundly with a generation of young film-going romantics.
With its populist dichotomies — repressive, arrogant, rich upper-class British vs. free-spirited, oppressed poor non-British; arrogant, contemptible or at best ridiculous men versus victimized and repressed women — Titanic is ideally attuned to contemporary cultural attitudes regarding the politics of privilege, victimization, gender and the evils of historic Western culture.
As crises often do, the Titanic disaster exemplifies both the best and the worst in human nature. Alas, Cameron’s film revels in exposing cowardice and hypocrisy while robbing heroism of its nobility.
The nobility of first-class men willingly remaining behind while second- and third-class women and children got into lifeboats is almost entirely subverted. (Fewer than a third of first-class men survived, compared with nearly half of third-class women.) Even in depicting gentlemen in eveningwear calmly resigned to going down with the ship, Cameron makes them ridiculous rather than noble.
The heroic picture of the band playing on deck to help maintain calm is also sullied; Cameron depicts the musicians concluding that no one is listening to them anyway, but playing nonetheless.
For a far better portrayal of the Titanic disaster, the 1958 docudrama A Night to Remember, based on the 1955 bestseller by Walter Lord, remains the film to watch.
Though it omits the striking fact, vividly captured in Cameron’s film, of the ship breaking in two as it starts to sink (an event disputed by eyewitnesses but confirmed in 1985), A Night to Remember is much clearer than Cameron’s opening-act CGI “post mortem” about why this supposedly “unsinkable” ship sank, and why the bulkheads were thought to be high enough but weren’t. It’s also a far classier, more plausible depiction of how people in 1912 faced life and death in the fabled disaster.
Fans of The Wizard of Oz rejoice: Not only has the Vatican pick been treated to an “ultra-restoration,” but it also comes in two new DVD editions: a two-disc special edition and a three-disc collector’s edition. I’ll be picking up the latter, which includes the long-neglected 1925 silent feature version starring Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman.
Like all fairy tales, The Wizard of Oz has suffered countless attempts by critics and commentators to explain its meaning and power, from almost every conceivable angle: political, economic, religious, Freudian. But is there any “explaining” this story? Baum himself professed that his story was intended “solely to pleasure children of today.”
That it does, and will for generations to come.
CONTENT ADVISORY: Titanic includes much objectionable language, partial frontal nudity, an offscreen sexual encounter, a suicide, and much disaster violence; it is not recommended. A Night to Remember is a restrained depiction of large-scale tragedy, and makes for fine family viewing. The Wizard of Oz contains some menace and frightening images, and offers fine family viewing. | <urn:uuid:d5812575-2f97-426b-9de9-6058e3c9c9c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=dedestaca&id=3194&grupo=News%20%20Media&canal=Entertainment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943939 | 875 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Affordable Care Act decision has real implications for Taylorsville dad, daughter
Ravell Call, Deseret News
TAYLORSVILLE — Shannon Millet says it's just too stressful to follow every nuance of the constitutional challenge of the Affordable Care Act now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court's ruling will have significant quality of life implications for her and her father, Dan Millet, who is her primary caregiver. Shannon Millet, 27, has a condition that most closely resembles congenital spinal muscular atrophy, which has resulted in muscle wasting and mobility impairment.
She requires a ventilator to breathe and a feeding pump for nutrition.
By requiring all Americans to carry insurance or pay a penalty, ACA seeks to create a large-enough insurance risk pool to bar insurance companies from refusing coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions and limit how much they can charge older people. Opponents say the law falls outside the Constitution's commerce clause.
"We hope people make the right decision about that. It's all we can do," Shannon Millet said at her Taylorsville home Monday.
Presently, she is on Medicaid through a state waiver and is covered by the insurance provided by her father's employer, a large corporation that manufactures health care equipment.
She requires nursing care 24/7 to ensure her trachea is clear of obstructions, that she is hydrated and fed, that she is kept clean and dry and that her body is regularly repositioned because she has too little muscle mass to move her 60-pound body on her own.
The Millets consider themselves "the lucky ones," Dan Millet says.
"We're ridiculously lucky," his daughter added.
The family knows all too well that their good fortune can turn on a moment. There was a time when Dan Millet carried more than $240,000 in debt from the cost of his daughter's care. Intermountain Healthcare eventually forgave the debt.
There was also a time when she was on a waiting list for Medicaid services. She spent a couple of years living in a nursing home, where the care was substandard, she said.
If Millet were to lose his job, it's unlikely he'd find another with the same level of benefits.
Now, with the help of nurses, Millet is able to oversee his daughter's care at home. "If I have a good night, he's maybe getting two or three hours (of sleep) a night," Shannon Millet said.
In recent years, Shannon Millet has been working toward a degree at Salt Lake Community College to become a social worker.
The passage of the Affordable Care Act has given her hope of a more independent future. After 2014, if the ACA's full effect is realized, she could conceivably qualify for her own insurance coverage through an employer.
"It means I could get a job and start to help out society, which is what I want to do because they have helped me out so much," she said.
Doctors told the family that she probably wouldn't live past the age of 7. That was 20 years ago.
Extending her life has meant many sacrifices for Millet, who has been a single father to Shannon and three other children since 1990, following a divorce.
As his other children have grown up and left home, he's been on his own to care for his daughter, whose medical care has cost his current employer some $3 million over the past decade.
"I say she's worth it," he said
As the Supreme Court debates issues that could clearly impact their futures, the family "prays for the best," Dan Millet said.
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- Search for Susan Cox Powell is over,... 21 | <urn:uuid:03483efc-d895-40c0-931b-66d2a4c6e33e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865552918/Affordable-Care-Act-decision-has-real-implications-for-Taylorsville-dad-daughter.html?pg=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979632 | 941 | 1.507813 | 2 |
| Institutions Via Cairoli |
Via Cairoli Friary
The Friary of Via Cairoli - also called “Friary of St. Fidelis in Urbe” and “Guesthouse” – was set up as a guest house in 1978 by the then General Minister, Br. Pascal Rywalski and his Definitory. From the beginning management has been undertaken by the Province of Milan. Its purpose is described in these terms in the agreement signed with the province: “The house is a dependency of the General Curia for all purposes and exists principally to offer hospitality to all the friars visiting Rome.” Since then, hospitality has also been extended to close relatives of the friars of the General Curia, to priests, religious and relatives of the resident fraternity of the International College.
It is important to note:
This is a "Guesthouse" ONLY for THE CAPUCHINS.
It is not open to the public.
The house is conveniently located close to Termini Station. It is equipped with a chapel, refectory and adjacent kitchen, reading rooms, a conference room, interior garden and about thirty bedrooms, a few of which are occupied by members of the fraternity and the rest at the disposal of guests.
Fraternità di accoglienza San Fedele
via Cairoli 43
00185 Roma Italy
Site map | Copyright © 2006/2007 OFMCAP - Credits | Webmaster | <urn:uuid:5c437269-ec75-430f-8d28-5922684d41db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.db.ofmcap.org/pls/ofmcap/v3_s2ew_consultazione.mostra_pagina?rifi=guest&rifp=guest&id_pagina=1436 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945928 | 309 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Morris Dees receives American Bar Association’s highest honor
Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, was recognized Tuesday for a legal career dedicated to seeking justice and equality for all when the American Bar Association presented him with the ABA Medal – the organization’s highest award.
Dees, honored during the association’s annual meeting in Chicago, received a standing ovation from the ABA’s House of Delegates, the association’s policymaking body of more than 500 members.
“I am honored and humbled to receive this award from the American Bar Association,” Dees said afterward. “But this award isn’t just about me. It’s also a tribute to the talented SPLC employees dedicated to ensuring that what began as a small civil rights law firm I helped found four decades ago will always be there for the disenfranchised.”
The ABA Medal, which recognizes “exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer or lawyers to the cause of American jurisprudence,” is given only when the ABA Board of Governors determines a nominee “has provided exceptional and distinguished service to the law and the legal profession,” according to the ABA.
SPLC Founder Morris Dees accepts his award from the ABA.
“The presentation of the ABA Medal to Morris Seligman Dees Jr. represents our profound admiration for his personal courage and incomparable leadership as one of the greatest civil rights lawyers of our time,” said outgoing ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III. He said Dees is “an outstanding example of a lawyer who, case by case, is moving our country toward tolerance and equality.”
Previous ABA Medal recipients include Supreme Court Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes, Felix Frankfurter, Thurgood Marshall, William J. Brennan Jr. and Sandra Day O’Connor. Other recipients include Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski; Judge Patricia Wald, a member of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; and human rights activist the Rev. Robert Drinan.
Dees told the ABA how his civil rights work wasn’t always popular in the Deep South. He was thankful for the attorneys working by his side at the SPLC as well as supporters of the SPLC’s work. He also praised the judges and juries who accepted the task of providing a fair trial to the hate groups the SPLC took to court on behalf of their victims.
Dees’ legal career was shaped by the career of Clarence Darrow, an attorney who left the corporate world to follow his conscience and take cases on behalf of the powerless – cases that made history. Dees read Darrow’s autobiography while delayed overnight at an airport in 1968, and was inspired.
Dees sold his successful book-publishing business and, with fellow lawyer Joe Levin, founded the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., in 1971. Their goal was to provide a voice for the disenfranchised. Though the Civil Rights Movement had ushered in the promise of racial equality, it was apparent to Dees, the son of an Alabama farmer, that the nation’s new civil rights laws had yet to bring real and fundamental changes needed in the South.
“I had made up my mind,” Dees wrote in his autobiography, A Season for Justice. “I would sell the company as soon as possible and specialize in civil rights law. All the things in my life that had brought me to this point, all the pulls and tugs of my conscience, found a singular peace. It did not matter what my neighbors would think, or the judges, the bankers, or even my relatives.”
Dees and Levin took pro bono cases few others were willing to pursue – the outcome of which had far-reaching effects. Early lawsuits brought the desegregation of recreational facilities, the reapportionment of the Alabama Legislature, the integration of the Alabama State Troopers and reforms in the state prison system.
Confronting hate groups
Dees also pioneered a legal strategy to hold organized hate groups responsible for the violence of their members. This strategy has allowed the SPLC to shut down some of the nation’s most dangerous hate groups by winning crushing, multimillion-dollar jury verdicts on behalf of their victims.
It has also made Dees and the SPLC an enemy of extremists across the country. The SPLC’s office was firebombed by Klansmen in 1983, and Dees has received numerous threats against his life during his long career.
The SPLC also has helped to dismantle institutional racism in the South, reform juvenile justice practices, shatter barriers to equality for women, children and the disabled, and protect low-wage immigrant workers from abuse. It has reached out to the next generation, too, with Teaching Tolerance, a program that provides educators with free classroom materials that teach students the value of tolerance and diversity.
Dees’ efforts have earned him several other accolades. He was named one of 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal in 2006. He has also been awarded Trial Lawyer of the Year from the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award from the National Education Association and the Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice. He has received more than 20 honorary degrees. In 1991, NBC aired a made-for-TV movie, Line of Fire, about Dees and his landmark legal victories against the Ku Klux Klan.
More work ahead
But Dees noted that awards also serve as reminders that the work of the SPLC is far from complete. The nation is growing increasingly diverse and the changing demographics are fueling the growth of hate groups and creating numerous challenges that demand the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Our work is probably needed now more than ever,” Dees said.
The SPLC, a leading expert on hate and extremism, continues to monitor a record number of hate groups and extremists across the country. It also provides training to law enforcement officers to ensure they are equipped with the latest intelligence about the threats posed by these groups.
The SPLC’s legal projects also are tackling some of the nation’s most pressing civil rights issues.
Its LGBT rights project is dedicated to defending the rights of this community, whether it’s ensuring students are safe from anti-LGBT bullying at school or fighting discrimination faced by LGBT adults.
The SPLC’s immigrant justice project is leading the fight against vicious anti-immigrant laws as well as protecting the rights of exploited immigrant guestworkers.
And throughout the Southeast, the SPLC has juvenile justice and education reform projects to prevent at-risk children from being pushed into the criminal justice system.
“There’s still a lot of work ahead,” Dees said. “But this award shows that when people come together to create a more just and tolerant society, they can bring much-needed change to this country.” | <urn:uuid:e1ee7418-1fac-4cc7-992a-25079f5d704f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/morris-dees-receives-american-bar-association-s-highest-honor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972313 | 1,470 | 1.726563 | 2 |
I posted a reply to David Brooks, but want to add that the Orphan Works bill goes light years beyond addressing the problems of museums and libraries due to its overly broad language. It would reduce market value and facilitate outright theft of photographs and art by encouraging unscrupulous persons to simply lift images for free, knowing that if caught they will be required to pay only a nominal amount IF the photographer has the money, time, and energy to pursue them in the legal system. Further, it will force photographers who want copyright protection to pay a fee to one or more private corporations to archive their work. For many photographers, that would mean thousands of images. The US Copyright Office doesn't want to maintain this database, so we would have to entrust our images to corporations with a profit motive.
The net effect will be that many marketable images posted online will be snapped up and used for advertising without payment. This has already happened to many of us under the current law, but the bill would encourage an explosion of such thefts. This isn't necessary to give relief to museums and libraries, so why is it even being considered? At least in part because too few photographers and other creative types are aware of this bill's threat, and because we're not a unified group with money and political clout. Congress should hold hearings on the harm the bill will do to small businesses and individual photographers, artists, musicians, and other creative people. It should be carefully redrafted to benefit only museums and libraries, and strictly prohibit private corporations and individuals from hiding behind the orphan works label while helping themselves to our private property. Please let your congressional representatives know where you stand ASAP, and ask everyone you know to do likewise. The bill has been hotlined twice recently, so it could pass in the Senate with very little warning. Check out illustratorspartnership.org for further info. Thanks for reading. | <urn:uuid:1ceead92-c252-4c84-965c-8108c95cfb05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shutterbug.com/content/orphan-works-bill-real-threat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965261 | 380 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Atelier Totori takes place 5 years after the previous game, Atelier Rorona. It begins with Totori in the fishing village of Alanya, her hometown, and ends after five years pass. Totooria Helmold is Rorona's student who is looking for her missing mother. After the events of Atelier Rorona, Rorona has been traveling across Arland teaching alchemy. One day, Totori and her older sister find a starving Rorona collapsed on their doorstep. She teaches Totori about alchemy, adopting her as a student. Since then, Totori has been learning alchemy on her own.
July 18, 2012 - 1:04pm
1 Cheat available for Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland, see below | <urn:uuid:cc6bb063-7a2b-491c-a841-a759eb4c6b62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://megagames.com/games/atelier-totori-adventurer-arland | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950979 | 166 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Coin Bank Contextualizes Savings into Goals: From Currency to Reality
December 19th, 2012
There are gifted people among us. They can control the very forces of their desire and have the uncanny ability to save their money. They are called: responsible people. I’m not one of them though. I am just an ordinary man who can’t fathom complicated concepts like “accidents” or “growing old”. I find it easier when I’m saving up for something specific. Which is why I need Tom Arthur’s high tech coin bank.
Tom Arthur calls his coin bank “Change You Can Believe In”, but it’s not because his coin bank is running for office. It’s because the coin bank can convert the total value of stored coins in terms of tangible objects or charitable contributions by reading RFID tags. The tags contain the value and name of a certain product or act of charity and are placed on the bottom of 3D-printed trinkets representative of that product or charitable act. For example in the picture above, the coin bank is telling Tom that he hasn’t saved up enough money to buy a pair of mouse ears. The picture below provides another example.
Tom built the coin bank out of a coin sorter, an Arduino Mega, an NFC/RFID reader, an optical detector, a small OLED display and a 2.2″ TFT LCD, all of which he placed in a case made of acrylic. All in all he spent $251.40 (USD) for the materials. That’s one expensive coin bank. That’s not even counting the 3D-printed trinkets.
Check out Tom’s blog for more details on his project. The trinkets are cute and in line with making saving money more concrete, but I think a commercial version of the coin bank would be better off if it could link to Google Shopping or Amazon or some other product database so people can choose from a wider range of “goals” to save up for. Hell, I bet Apple can make millions from an app-contextualized version of the coin bank: “You need to save $9.98 more to buy Baldur’s Gate.”
[via Laughing Squid] | <urn:uuid:86627112-1cee-499f-b63c-27622307865d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://technabob.com/blog/2012/12/19/coin-bank-with-goals/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936132 | 484 | 1.8125 | 2 |
The German harpsichordist, Gerald Hambitzer, enjoyed a comprehensive musical training, with the harpsichord as his main instrument (class of Professor Hugo Ruf) at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He embarked on his international concert career while still a student, principally as the harpsichordist of the renowned ensemble Concerto Köln, which has since taken him to all major European music centres as well as on concert tours to Algeria, India, south-east Asia and America.
Gerald Hambitzer is one of most sought-after harpsichordists of his generation. He has been concentrating on the fortepiano for a number of years now. He is also particularly interested in the clavichord, and he has recorded a CD featuring a historic instrument built in 1756.
Gerald Hambitzer is a regular guest at different broadcasting stations, and has appeared on more than 40 CD's recorded for the labels Capriccio, Harmonia mundi France, Sony Classical, Naxos und Teldec Classics. His solo appearances in recordings of harpsichord concertos by J.S. Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach und Francesco Durante have brought him international recognition.
Gerald Hambitzer is Professor for Early Music at the Cologne Musikhochschule, where he teaches historic keyboard instruments, continuo practice and chamber music. | <urn:uuid:847ce9f2-bb6c-4865-b9d5-e771f46e3c44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Hambitzer-Gerald.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95376 | 293 | 1.625 | 2 |
Approaching another few days of highs in the mid-90s, meteorologists and forecasters would probably use official records and specific examples of sizzlingly high temperatures to describe this sweltering summer.
But, for city residents, like 19-year-old Cadence Noble, one word will do: "Hot," Noble said. "It's been hot."
The metro area has seen 53 days this year with temperatures at or above 90 degrees. If temperatures reach the mid-90s Thursday — as they are expected to — it will be 54, forecasters say.
The record of days in the 90s is 61, which was set in 2000. With temperatures for the next couple days projected in the mid to upper 90s, forecasters added that there's a good chance the previous record will be broken.
Noble, who works at a restaurant on the16th Street Mall said she's been trying to beat the summer heat by taking advantage of air conditioning and frequenting local water parks.
And, while the heat does get to her, Noble said she grew up in the east, where summers aren't only hot, but humid.
"I have better hair days here," Noble said.
Erin Udell: 303-954-1223, email@example.com | <urn:uuid:815a0152-7443-4125-95a9-028ab0922bc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_21274043/high-temperatures-could-break-12-year-denver-record?source=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960458 | 272 | 1.75 | 2 |
Charity sells funeral book direct to retain profit
The Natural Death Centre charity was established 21 years ago and is widely recognised as the voice of the natural death movement. Via its Helpline, the Natural Death Centre offers free and impartial advice on all aspects of dying, bereavement and consumer rights. It also runs the Association of Natural Burial Grounds and The Natural Death Society.
In a 21st century version of David versus Goliath, a tiny charity has taken on the might of theinternet giant Amazon by withdrawing the latest version of the iconic Natural Death Handbook from sale by the massive online company.
The Natural Death Centre Charity refused to accept the 40% of RRP rate offered to them for every copy sold by Amazon, choosing instead to sell the updated and fully revised three book box set directly to the public from their own website to try and raise as much money as possible to fund their work.
“We have given ourselves a huge challenge!” said Manager Rosie Inman Cook, ‘Not only do we have to do all of the marketing and promotion of the book ourselves, but we have had to physically carry all 6,000 books down the steps to our headquarters in a former nuclear bunker and stack them in piles in our main room.
“And it’s not an easy task to get editors of newspapers and magazines to run a story on a book that is all about death – apparently there’s still a real worry that readers won’t want to see an article about the subject, despite it being so important that people have accurate and honest information about their choices.”
Despite the difficulties of publicising their new fund-raising publication, the charity is determined that the Fifth Edition of the Natural Death Handbook will find its way into homes across the UK.
Packed with practical help and advice, and offering a comprehensive and myth-busting guide to the taboo-shrouded world of funerals, the Handbook provides ordinary people with all the information needed to prepare for the death of a loved one – or indeed themselves.
“It’s something that every home should have, just like a First Aid Book,” says newly inaugurated patron and co-founder of the charity, psychotherapist Josefine Speyer. “I truly believe in lifting the taboo surrounding the subject of death, and this book does exactly that.
“If ever you have been to a funeral that was beautiful, personal and unique, it was probably in some way inspired by the tireless work that the Natural Death Centre has done over the last 21 years letting people know about their options, choices - and their rights.
“Please think how your family could also benefit if you all knew more about what is possible, and get yourself a copy of the new edition of the Handbook. By buying the book directly from the charity you will not only get an invaluable resource full of essential information, but you will also be directly contributing to funding the NDC Helpline which assists thousands of families dealing with the death of a loved one every year.”
Available exclusively from The Natural Death Centre (www.naturaldeath.org.uk), the FifthEditionof The Natural Death Handbook costs £24. It was officially launched on Wednesday 4 July 2012. | <urn:uuid:a2ce1b22-81ca-4165-9649-bad19fc87213> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.funeralmap.co.uk/news/post/227-charity-sells-funeral-book-direct-to-retain-profit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954342 | 673 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Sunday, September 09, 2012
Competing with “Free,” Part One
This is becoming a lot less hypothetical than it was even a few months ago. The MIT/Harvard MOOC provider edX has signed an agreement with Pearson to allow students who are taking the free online courses to have exams proctored. The next step, obviously, is credit. Already, the Saylor Foundation is allowing students who take free online courses to take exams for credit at Excelsior College. As the “credit for prior learning” movement gains traction, it will be progressively easier for students not only to learn in nontraditional ways, but to accumulate credits for what they’ve learned.
Right now, the arrangements are still nascent, the MOOCs available relatively few, and the routes to transcripted credit scarce. But they exist, which is more than was true even a few months ago. And the momentum is clear. Coursera and edX -- not to mention iTunes -- offer prospective students access to well-presented content, and people are starting to develop methods to turn that knowledge into credits. Bundle enough credits in the right combination, and you have a degree.
(I know it isn’t as simple as that, but many of the barriers to it strike me as wobbly.)
The prospect of MOOC-derived credits comes at the same time that states are pushing “stackable” non-credit-to-credit certificates as part of workforce development, and at the same time that CAEL is gaining traction for providing a systematic way to assess the content knowledge of people who’ve picked things up along the way. MOOCs offer a new method to pick things up along the way.
A few months ago, I was much less worried about MOOCs. They just didn’t seem relevant at the community college level. And at this point, most of them still aren’t. But some of the institutional barriers they were up against have already fallen, and in record time. As MOOCs proliferate, and people start to notice them, colleges will face an entirely new form of competitor.
MOOCs get around Baumol’s cost disease, because they aren’t based on seat time. The marginal cost of another student is shockingly close to zero. Yes, colleges now usually have residency requirements -- that is, ceilings on the number of transfer credits that can comprise a degree from them before it isn’t from them anymore -- but I can see the pressure building. And even with current residency requirements, very few students bump up against the limits. If large numbers of students start doing that, the economic impact on the colleges themselves could be devastating.
The traditional college model was based on scarcity. In the earliest days, books were scarce, so lectures consisted of someone reading from the only book around. (That’s why some places still call lectures “recitations.”) Later, books were common, but colleges provided both help interpreting them and valuable connections. When that was true, the way to provide more access to college was to build more colleges. In the 1960’s alone, the U.S. added almost 500 community colleges -- a rate of nearly one per week. It has built less than half that many in the forty-plus years since, which goes a long way towards explaining the academic job market since 1970.
When the public sector stopped growing, the private sector picked up the slack, and for-profit providers become the engines of growth. The last statistic I saw had nearly 1 in 9 undergraduates in America at for-profit colleges or universities. The for-profits tweaked the non-profit model in ways both good and bad, but they, too, were based on a scarcity model.
As academic bloggers well know, the scarcity model has been harder to uphold since the building boom stopped. The trend towards adjunct faculty is only possible because capable people really aren’t all that scarce. Now the internet is making possible a dissemination of information at a level beyond what even the most ambitious entrepreneur could have imagined just a few years ago. When it comes to access, after all, “free” is a magic word.
At this point, if they are to survive, colleges need to figure out how to adapt to a world in which its former stock-in-trade -- classes for credit -- can be had anywhere, at any time, by anyone, for free. Tomorrow I’ll explore some possible adaptations.
Oddly, our universities and colleges are thriving. The 2 major community colleges nearby have a ton of funding, and are adding on rooms and real estate right and left. Through partnerships with local high schools (graduate at X school, and you get your first year free at Y community college), the community college population has BOOMED.
Our state colleges are thriving too, with our biggest 2 setting record numbers for the year, all while having the highest tuition ever.
Eventually, the gas will run out. We have a very, very strong demand for STEM graduates, and we see more and more struggling liberal arts grads. The only thing keeping them in school is the fact that wages haven't hit rock bottom yet, and we still have a good local economy. Once the open/available positions are all filled for cheap, people will quit going to school, and then we will see the struggles. Of course, the midwest always runs around 3-5 years behind the rest of the nation.
I just got my two-year degree this past May from a state-wide community college, entirely online. I had to go to campus maybe twice to give speeches for my public speaking course. This month I transferred to a state university to finish a four-year degree, and wasn't able to register for one single online course. I can't begin to tell you how STUPID I feel to be wasting my time in these classrooms.
I have to leave two hours early to accommodate sitting in traffic on campus. Then, when I get there, we do nothing more in class than go over the reading from the text. Each class requires 2-4 exams, and one or two might require a paper or two. There are no other assignments. I had far more work to do and was far more challenged in community college working online. Right now, the biggest challenge I face is finding my way to class. And I'm going to have to pay how much for this?
I want in on this credit for MOOCs, like, yesterday.
I expect that education's tech disruption is one of the next big movements to come.
BTW, I am a math prof who is using a Mathematical Thinking MOOC (rolling out in a week) as a supplement to my face-to-face class. The preview of the course could be followed by a student with enough self motivation. I think my better prepared students (about a third) could easily watch the MOOC and be able to work my assignments etc. But the other two thirds will need classroom explanations tuned to their abilities and lots of interaction.
Simply offering readings from the book and a few tests over the semester, without any other value added features in a course, will not be competitive for 4 year public universities. A for profit, accredited institution that accepts MOOC credits and Saylor credits just needs to add X number of paid credits for a degree to be competitive with a mediocre public 4 year college with ever increasing tuition. I do think this will happen fairly quickly.
It's all unfolding according to Schumpeter's plan.
There are still a few kinks to be worked out before MOOCs can start replacing traditional face-to-face classes. One is the problem of how to proctor exams to ensure that cheating is not taking place—this is addressed by the EdX/Pearson deal. Another issue is to be able to figure out a way that students who are having trouble understanding the material can get help. Without this, the dropout rate from online classes will probably be high. Maybe this can be handled by having online tutors who are on tap to answer student questions.
Basically, colleges and universities will have to figure out a way to compete with free. This will be difficult to do, but I suppose that it can be done. For example, water is free right out of the tap, but it is sold by the bottle for $1.50 per liter.
One thing for sure is that fewer numbers of college and university faculty members will be needed in the future. I can foresee a future in which the only faculty members that will be required will be the research superstars at R1 universities, or just a few charismatic face-to-face instructors at the very highest-tier SLACs. The rest of us mortals will have to figure out something else to do.
As long as lectures are the primary mode of instruction in traditional classrooms, MOOC's will be competitive, except in institutions which have heavy duty research agendas or in top-tier SLACs, as artmathprof pointed out.
TL;DR: Colleges will become obsolete shortly after personal trainers are.
I completely agree. I teach math at a CC, and while there are some students who would excel in MOOCs, very few of my students would be successful without in-person interactions. I actually see this happening on a day-to-day basis: even with online videos available through Khan Academy, Brightstorm, and dozens of math instructors on YouTube, the ones who do the best are the ones who go to the on-campus tutoring center and meet face-to-face for one-on-one help.
Maybe it's difficult in other disciplines that are easier to discuss online (try finding a system of discussing math that's both easy to learn for everyone and clear to understand). But in math, I don't see MOOCs taking over the world anytime soon.
Not everyone can learn in a MOOC. Probably the majority of students can't. But still, a lot of students can and do benefit from MOOCs.
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So here’s what’s been happening for the past two years: since traveling to a far-off planet to location shoot the Tatooine scenes from the original Star Wars film would have been cost-prohibitive, the filmmakers built and shot the sets in Tunisia instead. This included the Lars’ family home, which resembled nothing so much as an igloo, and was called that on the set.
The original set was destroyed b the sands of the Tunisian desert and the passing decades. The set was rebuilt for Stars Wars: Attack of the Clones. and even this one was near the point where it was close to being completely destroyed. So in 2010, a group of fans planned an expedition to Tunisia to restore them to their original glory. A Kickstarter campaign was begun to pay for the excursion to save the historic site.
The restoration team created a collectible watch featuring actual sand from the Tatooine sets adorning the face. The numbers surrounding the watch face are printed in Aurebesh, the official language of the Star Wars universe, and each timepiece was made from solid 316L stainless steel, machined brass and Seiko mechanisms. Their goal was $10,000, and they collected a bit over $11,000.
The international ‘Save the Lars Homestead’ team led by Mark Dermul went to Tunisia on May 25, the anniversary of the original release of Star Wars in 1977 – and on June 2, they reported success and mission accomplished!
One member of the six man team was Cardiff-based author and Star Wars fan Terry Cooper. Said Cooper, “I have always been a fan of Star Wars and science fiction. I last visited the sets in Tunisia in 2009 and just being around such an iconic location made a real impact on me as a writer. It was sad to see it falling into disrepair, and it occurred to me that such an inspirational location needed to be preserved for the next generation of writers or film directors.”
Cooper owes some of his personal success to the Star Wars phenomenon. His first book, Kangazang!: Remote Possibilities became a cult hit with Doctor Who fans after former Doctor Who, Colin Baker recorded an audio version. His second book, Kangazang!: Star Stuff is due to be released soon. Terry continued: “Fans of sci-fi will enjoy reading my books. It has been fun referencing Star Wars, Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who and even Kylie Minogue.”
Marc Dermul’s web site on the trip chronicles the entire effort.
- 30 - | <urn:uuid:f9a30f2a-1c04-4475-9b3d-51d45ff5c5ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kryptonradio.com/2012/06/04/lars-homestead-on-tatooine-saved/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967811 | 542 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Jane Fonda in her latest film, “Monster-in-Law”
Could a rapprochement between Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden be in the works?
That was the speculation recently in Toronto, where the former couple had a reunion of sorts.
And political activist Hayden, whose celebrity faded when their marriage broke up, did nothing to stifle the buzz.
Last month, double Oscar-winner Fonda was in Canada to promote her new book, “My Life So Far.”
She spoke to hundreds of jubilant fans and was escorted by Hayden, who was in town for a panel discussion on U.S. war resisters.
The couple was together from 1973 to 1990. Fonda, now divorced from Ted Turner, is 67. Hayden, the prototypical angry young man and former defendant in the Chicago 7 trial, is 65.
The couple traveled together to North Vietnam several times in the 1970s – a fact not forgotten by many Vietnam vets – where she harshly criticized the U.S. military and posed for pictures on a Communist anti-aircraft gun.
But that’s hardly the end of the story of Fonda’s activities in North Vietnam.
When she returned, she told the press: “I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become communist.”
Some of her other famous, or infamous, quotes of the era:
- “The Viet Cong are driven by the same spirit that drove Washington and Jefferson.
- “The Viet Cong are the conscience of the world.”
She told British reporters in 1971 that U.S. atrocities included “applying electrodes to prisoners’ genitals, mass rapes, slicing off of body parts, scalping, skinning alive, and leaving ‘heat tablets’ around which burned the insides of children who ate them.”
Maybe she heard that from John Kerry. Or maybe he heard it from her.
While Fonda claims now not to have been anti-military, one must overlook the fact that she co-founded, with actor Donald Sutherland, an organization called FTA, which didn’t stand for “Fight The Army,” but rather another F-word.
But all that is behind her now. There’s even more the public has forgotten. Fonda is once again among the Hollywood royalty as co-star of the hit movie “Monster-in-Law,” a romantic comedy also starring Jennifer Lopez. Hayden, meanwhile, has stuck to leftist politics.
In Toronto, Fonda urged her fans to attend Hayden’s speech at the University of Toronto.
She called on Canadians to offer refuge to war resisters who refuse to fight in Iraq.
“I’d go, but I’ve got to be here,” she said.
She may have apologized to the veterans of the Vietnam era, but she is not shy about making new political enemies in the 21st century. She said that since the start of war in Iraq, 37 U.S. military recruiters have gone AWOL. It’s been reported that about 6,000 soldiers have also deserted. And she sounded happy about it.
Fonda said she has heard from hundreds of Vietnam veterans who say they support what she said and did during the height of her activism.
“The Vietnam veterans, so many of them have walked by and said, ‘You have nothing to be sorry for, I totally forgive you,’ or ‘The war was a mistake.’ … It fills me with happiness because it means a healing is taking place.”
Fonda, who earned the nickname Hanoi Jane in the 1970s, said while she regretted posing on the anti-aircraft battery, she did not regret her anti-war stance or her decision to go to North Vietnam, where she made radio broadcasts urging U.S. airmen to stop bombing.
“I’m proud I went to North Vietnam because Nixon was lying to us,” Fonda told the crowd, explaining it was during that tumultuous time she met Hayden.
Hayden told the Toronto Star it was their shared opposition to the war that “glued” them together.
“I don’t know what makes it easy for a couple to stay together, but one of the things that can complicate things is when circumstances change,” said Hayden. He now teaches at Occidental College in Los Angeles. “We were drawn together by a situation that glued us together, but that situation didn’t last,” he said, adding, “Acting was her true calling.”
Hayden, who shares a son, Troy Garity, and an adopted daughter with Fonda, said he only learned she was in town when he landed at Pearson yesterday. Fonda called him and asked him to meet with her before the book signing.
When asked if the pair were planning to meet for a late-night dinner, Hayden smiled slyly and simply responded, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” | <urn:uuid:66b05ccc-b78e-4873-82b3-0aa4b6d032e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnd.com/2005/05/30528/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981136 | 1,086 | 1.546875 | 2 |
DOHA // Qatar's moratorium on further development of its vast North Field gas reservoir will not be lifted until at least 2013, according to a senior executive of Qatar Petroleum. The moratorium will stay in place until all the planned North Field gas projects have been brought on stream, "which is probably in 2013 or a little later," Saad al Kaabi, the government-owned petroleum company's director of oil and gas ventures, said yesterday on the sidelines of a gas industry exhibition in Doha, the Qatari capital.
As the manager of Qatar Petroleum's entire portfolio of oil and gas assets, Mr al Kaabi oversees the development plan for the North Field reservoir, including technical aspects of the moratorium. He reports directly to the chairman and managing director, Abdullah al Attiyah, who is also the Qatari deputy prime minister and energy minister. Holding an estimated 900 trillion cubic feet of reserves, the North Field, located offshore Qatar in the Gulf, is the world's biggest gas deposit.
Mr al Kaabi characterised the ban on further gas development, which Qatar's government announced in 2005, as "a technical issue" unrelated to energy prices. He said the current low prices were not affecting the speed at which Qatar was developing its gas production and export projects. Nonetheless, the government has extended the expected duration of the moratorium at least twice, on grounds that more data were needed to determine how quickly gas could be produced without damaging the reservoir. The reservoir study was originally scheduled for completion this year.
Addressing a Doha gas conference held in conjunction with the exhibition, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, said his government was keen to follow a gas production strategy that would meet the needs of the present generation of Qataris without compromising future generations. Producing the emirate's gas reserves was becoming increasingly costly, he added. "Despite all our efforts to reduce costs, still the costs of those [gas project] stages are relatively high."
Due to its rapid development of the North Field, starting in the 1990s, Qatar is currently the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). It also exports gas by pipeline to the UAE and Oman, and has gas-to-liquids facilities that produce fuels such as petrol from natural gas. Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil, commended Qatar for fostering an investment environment that encouraged international energy companies to participate in developing the emirate's energy resources. He said the world would need new supplies of gas, including LNG from Qatar's North Field, if a projected 25 per cent increase in demand for the fuel by 2030 is to be met.
Exxon is the largest foreign investor in the Gulf state, and projects due to start there make up the bulk of the company's projected global production growth this year. It has stakes in projects that are set to double Qatar's production capacity of LNG this year to 62 million tonnes. Despite the huge volume of new production capacity, Mr Tillerson said Qatar, as a low-cost producer, was well placed to adapt to an LNG market suffering as the economic downturn ate into demand.
He predicted the current weak energy demand environment would last well into next year. email@example.com | <urn:uuid:64621aa4-5e7c-4e7d-8b7e-7c7fb046f119> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/qatar-reaffirms-north-field-moratorium | 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 | 0.967622 | 660 | 1.828125 | 2 |
IBM and the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, today, announced the creation of an international center of excellence for business analytics. The new center’s goal will be to help prepare students for careers in “economy of tomorrow” industries that are expected to significantly benefit from recent provincial and federal stimulus investments. The Telfer School will invest more than $4.8 million in cash and IBM will invest a similar amount in the form of R&D, software, services, consulting and support staff. IBM will also contribute hardware with the Telfer School establishing a new $1million endowment fund as an institutional contribution to the new center.
Analytics can be applied to every day challenges to vastly improve our lives and provide highly marketable skills to our university students entering the workforce,” said Dr. Greg Richards, Professor of Performance Management, University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management. ”One of the challenges with research in the field of Performance Management and Analytics is the lack of integration across different disciplines addressing the topic. This new Center will allow us to collaborate across disciplines to drill into integrative processes and methods that dramatically improve organizational productivity. Focusing these research efforts on some of the wicked problems facing our planet will deliver long-term benefits to organizations and to the communities in which they operate.”
To innovate, we have to continue to invest in skills that are in-demand by organizations worldwide. Analytics is becoming mainstream as we prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow. These kinds of skills are no longer solely the domain of IT analysts, mathematicians or statisticians,” said Rob Ashe, general manager, business analytics, IBM. “Through collaboration, the University of Ottawa is helping to lead this charge by combining essential business and technical skills for students who will help transform key industries with modern techniques.”
For more info on the new collaboration, read their full release here. | <urn:uuid:22a1f69e-dd7a-4170-9eae-8a841972347c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://insidehpc.com/2010/04/15/university-of-ottawa-and-ibm-create-new-analytics-research-center/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940958 | 392 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Charlotte Roff Regal
"Charlotta Phaff" married William Regal in December 1765 at the Albany Dutch church. At this point, no children appear in the available records of Albany's churches. The couple do not seem to have been known at any of the local churches.
These Regals made their home near the barracks in the second ward. William seems to have been a baker. However, he was dead by 1779 when the "Charlotte Regal's" house and lot were listed on the tax list.
References to Charlotte Roff Regal have not been found in the community-based record after 1779.
Her husband had died intestate. In February 1781, "John Raff" was empowered to administer his estate. Census documents show that she was not living with the Roffs.
We seek information regarding her background, later life, and passing.
Sources: The life of Charlotte Roff Regal is CAP biography number 1501. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.
first posted: 5/15/10 | <urn:uuid:7f841a50-b26e-4cc8-a111-1caf2eb0eb80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/r/chroff1501.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984027 | 223 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Ronnelle Santos, age nine, is excited about the new basketball he's received for Christmas! Compassion-assisted children in the Philippines feel special at Christmastime - it's the only time they receive new toys, thanks to Compassion's Christmas Gift Fund.
A few months before Christmas, Teodora promised to buy her only son Ronnelle a new pair of shoes. The hard-playing nine-year-old had worn out his old pair a long time ago.
Ronnelle, however, had other ideas.
"If you don't mind me wearing my old shoes for a few more months," the enterprising little boy bargained, "can I have a basketball instead?"
A Mother's Concern
Teodora agreed, promising to buy her son a basketball for Christmas. She was glad the promised gift made her only child happy. Yet she wondered to herself, "Where will I get the money to buy it?" Her husband, Rodello, had been out of work since August.
But thanks to generous sponsors and donors, Teodora was able to keep her promise to her only child. Ronnelle and other children attending the Calvary Foursquare Church Student Center in eastern Manila were blessed by the Christmas Gift Fund. Project workers use the money from the fund to purchase Christmas gifts for the children in the name of their Compassion sponsors.
Christmas: A Time to Feel Valued
Christmastime is special for children in the Philippines, Teodora says. It's a rare time children, including her son, feel important, thanks to the Compassion-sponsored Christmas parties, complete with presents for them.
For most children in Compassion's Philippines programs, it is the only time they receive new toys. The rest of the year, gifts typically are hand-me-downs from relatives, friends, neighbors or charities.
Teodora adds that Christmas is also a time when she revels in the knowledge that somehow, someone miles away is helping to make her son happy and fulfilled.
"When I saw my son so happy and proud playing with his friends, using his own basketball, I became very, very happy as well," she exclaims.
What did you like about this story? | <urn:uuid:c33ad183-10b7-47d6-9e17-e45d5b4ab088> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.compassion.com/featured-stories/all-i-want-for-christmas.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974952 | 461 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Type of plant: Perennials
Bloom color: Violet/Lavender, Purple, White/Near White
Bloom time of year: Mid Summer, Late Summer/Early Fall
Sun requirements: Full Sun, Sun to Partial Shade
Cold hardiness: Zone 3a to Zone 10b
Height: 18-24 in. (45-60 cm), 24-36 in. (60-90 cm), 36-48 in. (90-120 cm)
Spacing: 18-24 in. (45-60 cm)
View much more information
about this plant at PlantFiles.
17 vendors have this plant for sale.
109 members have or want this plant for trade.
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Thank you, it is my old garden. I now have started a new one in a different location. Lots of work!
It IS beautiful! I have a blank spot in my garden where some out of control geum used to be, I may put this plant there. Might I ask what that plant is that is to the front on either side of it in the photo? I have one that has been planted apparently via bird and I don't know what it is.
This is a very pleasing photo! Delightful colours and the way they are grown! Simply beautiful. | <urn:uuid:553cc981-26a9-4bbd-ad1a-355cc433b3e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/botd.php?date=2012-05-20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946053 | 286 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Do Angry Mobs Bake and Bring Brownies?
By: Lloyd Marcus
Since Aug. 28th in Sacramento, Calif., I have been traveling across America performing on the Tea Party Express tour. Patriots are attending by the thousands, families, grandparents and kids. Everyone extremely enthusiastic, grateful and concerned for their country.
The liberal media is calling them extremists, racists, ignorant and an angry mob. I am the only black performer on the team and the affection from the attendees has been overwhelming. Black conservative authors Selena and William Owens are traveling with us as speakers. Kenneth Gladney, the black conservative beaten by SEIU thugs is touring with us also telling his story. The American people have embraced us with huge loving open arms of brotherhood. If you love America, as the song says, “We Are Family.”
One stop was particularly moving. After a rally with thousands, we were headed to our next rally. A whistle stop was schedule because a few folks really wanted to say hello. We were running late and decided to cancel the whistle stop. Then we got the call. “You must stop. There are a lot of people here.” The state police guided our bus into a crowd of 500 to 800 people along side the highway.
They cheered and treated us like rock stars. They showered us with hugs, food, homemade cookies, brownies and gifts. Nothing expensive, but overflowing with their love. We used the bed of a pick up truck as a stage and spoke through a bull horn. We said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang “God Bless America”. Many in the crowd were sobbing.
When our team got back on the bus, our emotions were high. We have gotten rave reviews and affection at every rally. But this whistle stop did not have a sound system or great speeches. These people were extremely grateful that we were traveling across America to Washington DC as their voice. We felt humbled and blessed to be their representatives and a part of American history.
These folks are not racists, nor are they an angry mob. They are hard working decent American people who love their country and do not want it changed into something unrecognizable. Angry mobs do not bake and bring brownies.
Lloyd Marcus, Proud Unhyphenated American Lloyd is singer/songwriter of the American Tea Party Anthem and author of Confessions of a Black Conservative, foreword by Michele Malkin. Spokesperson for Tea Party Express Please help me spread my message by joining my Liberty Network. | <urn:uuid:76709586-e887-414b-afbf-badae490d063> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thelandofthefree.net/conservativeopinion/2009/09/13/do-angry-mobs-bake-and-bring-brownies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971331 | 519 | 1.5 | 2 |
The Internet of ThingsPosted by John Bowles on January 21, 2013 Share
This is a fascinating video from Bassett & Partners that offers insights from the best in the industry on the future of interaction design. It's inspiring for anyone but most of all designers as we try to set the stage for the best user experiences. It stresses the importance of designing around patterns of desired outcomes and behaviors as opposed to moving a user through one choreographed movement that they almost never follow. You can only set the stage and not always foresee what will happen. | <urn:uuid:aa2c60b6-1b3a-4ad4-9529-3c30c3915aac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://matchstic.com/blog/2013/01/the-internet-of-things/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962013 | 109 | 1.601563 | 2 |
- Site Counter: 1,737,607
10th Floor, Jeevan Prakash Building,
25, Kasturba Gandhi Marg,
New Delhi: 110001
e-Mail : webmaster AT eis.ernet.in
In this era of globalization and hyper-competition, the concept of teaching has under gone sea change. Learning and dissemination of information are becoming more important. Internet based education and e-learning are the trends of the day.
In what it is described, as the first effort of its kind in the country, the then Department of Electronics had initiated a project "ERNET" with the funding from UNDP. The objective was to create expertise R&D and education in the country in the area of networking and Internet in the country. ERNET is dedicated to the above objective for the last 15 years.
Today ERNET is largest nationwide terrestrial and satellite network with point of presence located at the premiere educational and research institutions in major cities of the country. Focus of ERNET is not limited to just providing connectivity, but to meet the entire needs of the educational and research institutions by hosting and providing relevant information to their users. Research and Development and Training are integral parts of ERNET activities.
For more details click here (External website that opens in a new window). | <urn:uuid:8f279dc8-dcbb-475c-bfdb-5aa01ecb7e5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deity.gov.in/content/ernet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94804 | 270 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Reviewed by Steven H Silver
Having examined the space program that might have been in Voyage, Stephen Baxter now turns his attention to the future and the space program which might still be. Timed to (roughly) correspond to the launch of the Cassini space probe, Titan looks at the possibility of a manned expedition to Saturn's largest moon.
The novel opens at the seemingly low point of the United States space program. China has just launched their first orbital flight when JPL announces the possibility of life on Titan and the shuttle Columbia crashes at Edwards. The NASA administrator, a short-sighted accountant plans to use the Columbia crash as an excuse to mothball the agency, turn NASA's functions over to the Department of Agriculture (?) and use his "success" at NASA to launch him to a White House advisory position.
Baxter's apparent view of American society and politics is pessimistic in the extreme. He sees the current crop of American youth growing up to be directionless and Ludditic. The Democrat he has in the oval office in 2003 is so inept that everyone in the nation, not only knows that the Republicans will take the White House in 2004, but even know who will take it (early in the novel he refers to the fact that Maclachlan will win in 2004. Baxter's version of the United States Air Force seems to be made up of paranoid, almost rogue, military men.
Into this mix, Baxter injects an optimistic survivor of the Columbia crash, Paula Benacerraf, a visionary JPL scientist, Rosenberg, and a former Moonwalker who wants to relive his glory years when he bounced across Copernicus, Marcus White. They come up with a plan to launch a manned, one-way mission to Titan using the remaining shuttle fleet and vintage Apollo spacecraft and Saturn V launchers. For all their optimism and NASA connections, this group comes across as if they have come across a large, vacant barn and have decided to put on a play.
Titan is well written and has a large, epic, cast of characters, many of whom are likable and well-rounded. The most notable exception would be his depiction of the military characters. Although Baxter proved his knowledge of NASA and American politics in Voyage, much of this information seems to have abandonned him as he set about to write Titan. His vision of the American presidency almost makes it seem like the British Parliamentary system. President Maclachlan's popularity ratings also seem to remain high despite the fact that several states secede from the nation while he is president and he cancels all resupply missions to American astronauts en route to Titan. Although this might add to the dramatic tension, it does so to the detriment of the versimiltude of the novel.
Titan includes an obvious tribute to Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: a space odyssey. Both novels detail a manned mission to Saturn in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Both missions take place aboard spacecraft named Discovery. Unfortunately, Baxter actually weakens this tribute by having Paula Benacerraf actually read Clarke's novel on the journey and point out this similarities. This is one of those cases where Baxter could have been more effective by allowing the links to remain subtle.
The majority of the faults with Titan lie in the details rather than in the plot or the scope. Unfortunately, an epic of this type requires the details to be accurate to make the story interesting and believable for the entire length of the novel. Titan shows that Baxter has continued to grow in his ability to handle the technical details of the space program and writing. Unfortunately, in many ways it seems like a step backwards from Voyage. It will be interesting to see if he intends to continue his exploration of the solar system. If the novels have something more to say than just propound on the need for space exploration, they will be interesting, otherwise, Baxter should turn his attention to other endeavors.
Titan was reasonably enjoyable, however, at 581 pages, it did tend to drag frequently, especially as Benacerraf's team was working on the proposal and ramping up to the launch. Perhaps the biggest problem Titan was its pacing. Although it may take 2460 days for Discovery's crew to reach Saturn, the reader shouldn't be made to feel that it is taking them the same six years to complete the novel.
Purchase this book from | <urn:uuid:75d0a1ba-5598-4e1c-8623-984c4eee213d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/titan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965517 | 891 | 1.796875 | 2 |
How and when do I repay the 2008 credit?
Repayment of the 2008 credit, which was actually an interest-free loan, is paid as additional tax when you file your federal income tax return.
The payments are made in equal parts over 15 years starting with the filing of your 2010 tax return.
If you received the full $7,500 credit, your annual payment is $500 per year. (Married couples who filed jointly are each responsible for $250 of repayment for a total of $500 annually).
If your credit was less than $7,500, your annual payment is 6.66% of the total credit.
The payment is added to your tax bill or subtracted from your tax refund each year, depending on your circumstances.
TurboTax will calculate your payment as part of your tax return.
What if I no longer use the home as my primary residence?
In many cases, but not all, you are required to repay part or all of the balance owed.
The payment is included as part of your tax return for the year in which you stopped using the home.
Events requiring partial or full repayment of the credit ahead of schedule:
- You turn the home into a rental or began using it for business rather than as your primary residence.
- You sell (or give up the home in foreclosure) to someone not related to you and had a gain on the sale. (Why must the sale be to someone not related to you? To avoid manipulation of the price and ensure the transaction is a bona fide sale, not a gift.)
- You sell the home to a related person.
- Your home is destroyed and you don't plan to acquire another one within two years of the event. You must include all remaining installments as additional tax on the tax return for the year in which the two-year period ends.
Events that could reduce or eliminate repayment:
- You sell your home or stop using it as your main home to fulfill U.S. government orders for a qualified official extended duty service. If you or your spouse is a member of the uniformed services, Foreign Service or an employee of the intelligence community, you do not need to repay the credit.
- You sell the house (or give it up in foreclosure) to a person not related to you, and have no gain on the sale.
- You transferred the home to your ex-spouse as part of your divorce settlement. Your ex-spouse is responsible for repaying the credit.
- The taxpayer who received the credit dies. No repayment is required. If you claimed the credit on a joint return for 2008, and your spouse dies, your spouse's remaining half of the credit does not have to be repaid.
No change to payment schedule if:
Your home is destroyed and you acquire or plan to acquire another main home within two years of the event.
You would continue to repay the balance of the credit in 15 annual installments starting with the 2010 tax year.
Who counts as a "related person"?
Your spouse, your ancestors (parents and grandparents), or lineal descendants (children and grandchildren), as well as your spouse's ancestors or lineal descendants.
How will the IRS know I sold my home?
The agency will rely on third-party information and taxpayer self reporting. | <urn:uuid:177574d8-e291-4d11-80fa-e2a66bc0e1c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/iq/Cars-and-Other-Things-You-Own/Repaying-the-Federal-Homebuyer-Credit/GEN12947.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972702 | 683 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The city council in Reykjavík has agreed to design a bicycle and pedestrian pathways from Elliðárósir in Elliðarárdalur valley on the outskirts of Reykjavík to Hlemmur area in the city center.
Alterations to city streets affected by the new pathways are to be expected during the construction period.
Plans to expand pedestrian and bicycle pathways fivefold in a period of five years were agreed upon two years ago when bicycle pathways in the city measured at a distance of 10 kilometers.
The largest section of the proposed plans was passed last week, that is the distance from Elliðarósir across Sæbraut and alongside Suðurlandsbraut to Laugavegur and Hlemmur, the city bus terminal. The distance measures four and a half kilometers.
The plan is to widen the pathways already laid along the way, and in particular to separate the distance between pedestrians and cyclists, as well as reducing the number of sharp angles and improve connections.
The changes to be made on the city streets affected by the new construction proposals include connecting a footpath over Miklabraut thoroughfare to Rauðagerði street, reducing growth of vegetation blocking the sight of oncoming traffic to traveling cyclists and pedestrians and turning Álfheimar street where it connects with Suðurlandsbraut highway to a two-way street.
Taking a right-hand turn from Höfðatún to Laugavegur will be prohibited and the island in the middle of the road from Höfðatún to Hlemmur will be removed to create space for a new bicycle pathway. Traffic lights will be placed for cyclists in five different intersections along the new route.
However, previous plans of a tunnel underneath Reykjavegur, a street along the new route, are being revised due to cost. The estimated cost is ISK 70 million.
The overall cost of the project is estimated to be ISK 380 million. The city council will discuss the possibility of partial state funding for the project, a possibility supported by law, Rúv.is reports. | <urn:uuid:74ab4ba0-9a02-4703-814d-e92b0600c60a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/New_Bike_Paths_to_be_Built_0_388522.news.aspx?cat_id=16567&ew_8_r_f=16&ew_8_r_t=30&news_category_id= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941423 | 450 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Self-publishing websites that harbour talent such as E. L. James have gained astronomical success because they provide an accessible, digital alternative to traditional book publishers, with more books being self-published by authors than those published traditionally year-on-year.
Self-publishing involves the publication of a book by the author without the need for an established third-party publisher. The entire process, including design, price and distribution is in the control of the author. Print-On-Demand technology also means that the author can use global distribution channels such as Amazon.com and can have a book printed only when an order is placed rather than producing bulk copies of their titles. Technological advances such as e-book readers and tablets have also helped to boost success, providing enhanced readability and allowing readers to carry numerous books in a portable product.
A particular success story in the self-publishing market is Movellas.com. Movellas is changing the young adult book genre by connecting talented writers with readers based on a very social platform. Websites like Movellas.com have made agents irrelevant whilst also challenging the existing publishing model by creating a new ecosystem with its own marketing and distribution platform.
The sites teen authors are also inadvertently creating a whole new category – teenagers writing for teenagers.
I spoke to Per Larsen, CEO and Founder of Movellas.com, on why he wanted his self-publishing platform to focus on teenage writers. “We initially saw the trend in Japan, with teenagers exchanging short fictional stories through their mobile phones. We replicated the concept in Denmark and realised that teenagers were creating something that adults just couldn’t tap into. For us, it was exciting because these young authors were not just disrupting an existing market; they were creating a whole new slice of the pie and building this amazing social network.”
Movellas.com was clearly onto something. Recently, the site has reaped enormous press coverage for launching the career of 16-year-old author Emily Baker (image above), who is a massive One Direction fan and had the most popular story on the site, with 30,000 fans asking for more. A Fiction Editor at Penguin came across Baker whilst on the hunt for a writer to pen a romantic young adult fictional novel that tapped into the current obsession with boy bands. Emily proved to be just the right kind of new talent to write such a novel, and world rights were duly acquired from Movellas.com.
Emily comments: 'I wrote my original novel on Movellas whilst I was taking my GCSEs, so I had to balance my studies with writing. It was hard work, but it all paid off when everybody on Movellas was so supportive of what I was doing which just urged me to continue writing, chapter after chapter. That book then inspired me to write ‘Loving the Band’. I am very excited to be published by Penguin and it also helps that everyone there is so lovely!'
As well as sourcing new talent on platforms such as Movellas.com, Penguin recently acquired Author Solutions from Bertram Capital and have launched their own self publishing platform, Book Country. Is it enough to just take over these new platforms or do larger publishing houses have a lot more to learn?
“A lot more is needed” says Larsen. “The vital component is creating that community, especially with teenagers. With adult focused alternatives you have a more professional environment, but teenagers want to come to a place where they can enjoy themselves, meet likeminded young people and read stories. Every time we create a new feature our users interact and that is the key. You need a good combination of managing a community and nurturing it.”
To find out more about Movellas, the online writing community to read, write and share, check out the website here – www.movellas.com | <urn:uuid:f7df8cbb-a422-4a57-8279-b3dd8617b7ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.entrepreneurcountry.com/news-features/technology/item/2359 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972043 | 797 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Update: Since this report was published, the Canadian government has completed its review of Crossroads' funding and is maintaining the grant. See LifeSiteNews' Feb. 12th follow-up article for details.
OTTAWA, Feb. 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canada’s Conservative government has halted payments to a Christian group working to improve access to clean water in Uganda after a media report targeted the group’s commitment to Christian sexual teaching.
Crossroads Communications Inc., an evangelical organization that runs a TV station in Canada and development projects overseas, is in the midst of a $544,813 grant from the Canadian International Development Agency that was to run from 2011-2014.
But after The Canadian Press ran a report Sunday highlighting the group’s stated belief in Christian teaching that homosexuality is a “sin” and a “perversion,” Minister of International Cooperation Julian Fantino announced through Twitter that he had asked CIDA officials to “review” Crossroads’ grant “before further payments are made.”
The news has pro-family advocates up in arms. Joseph C. Ben-Ami, president of the Meighen Institute, said Crossroads’ views on homosexuality “couldn’t be less relevant” to its work in Uganda, and said Fantino is a “disaster” as a Conservative MP.
“Is the Canadian Press saying that Crossroads is refusing water to homosexual men?” he asked. “Or that Christians can't be trusted to build wells or supervise the construction of irrigation systems because they're Christian? That's certainly the implication.”
“If that's so, they should make the accusation clearly and directly and be prepared to answer for the libel in court,” he added. “There are words that can be used to describe that kind of allegation - profoundly ignorant would be the most generous and respectful.”
In its reports, The Canadian Press raises concern that the federal government is funding a so-called “anti-gay” group in Uganda while at the same time ardently opposing a proposed Ugandan law that would institute harsher punishments for same-sex relations.
But Crossroads insists they have no role in the public policy decisions of the developing countries where they work.
“It has not been a practice of Crossroads to influence matters of policy in countries in which we are completing relief or development projects,” spokeswoman Carolyn Innes told the news agency. LifeSiteNews did not hear back from Crossroads by press time.
Before its Sunday report, The Canadian Press found a page on Crossroads’ website that urges users to “repent” of sexual sins that misuse the “true purpose” of sexual intercourse. Among the perversions, the page listed “pedophilia, homosexuality and lesbianism, sadism, masochism, transvestism, and beastiality.”
The news agency says the page disappeared Tuesday after a reporter contacted Crossroads. Currently it appears to be under password protection.
On first inquiry, CIDA and Minister Fantino merely told The Canadian Press that grants are handed out “on merit.” But once the story was published Sunday night, he took to Twitter.
“We strongly oppose criminalisation of homosexuality & violence due to sexual orientation. CIDA funds projects based on merit,” he wrote. “While original content [on Crossroads’ website] is down, I have asked officials to review this organization before further payments are made.”
Before Fantino’s announcement that the grant was under review, government officials had already distanced themselves from the group’s Christian views.
Rick Roth, a spokesman for Foreign Minister John Baird, said the Harper government “does not endorse these particular views,” in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“Canada’s views are clear — we have been strongly opposed to the criminalization of homosexuality or violence against people on the basis of their sexual orientation,” he said.
LifeSiteNews.com did not hear back from the Canadian International Development Agency by press time.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Hon. Julian Fantino, Minister of International Cooperation | <urn:uuid:b7e59c6a-9e90-454f-a2d1-9d96e7072947> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadian-gvmt-halts-overseas-funding-to-christian-group-over-beliefs-on-hom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948699 | 891 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Q&A WITH THE FITNESS DIVA
This is Part II of how to turn your keg into a six pack. Enjoy!
Tip #3: Cut your carbs. We as a society are crazy about carbs—either we avoid them like the plague or consume them in excess. If you are overweight (or even obese), chances are, you enjoy a high-carb diet. If you were to simply cut down on your carbohydrate consumption, you’d be surprised at how quickly the pounds would fall off (and reveal that washboard hidden beneath). Try eliminating the heaviest carbs first: pasta, bread (including bagels), white rice, refined carbs, etc. Some healthier choices are nuts, seeds, veggies, and even some low sugar fruits like strawberries. This small act alone will jump-start your fat loss journey.
Tip #4: Feed your muscle. If you work out hard and don’t consume enough protein, your muscles won’t adequately recover. If you eat only protein and no carbohydrates then you face a similar issue. Your nutrition needs to be balanced. You only need a small portion of protein and healthy carbs every few hours to keep your metabolism humming and your blood sugar stabilized. Each person differs on the amount of grams of protein and carbs, as well as how frequently they need to eat. You should never feel full (from overeating), nor should you ever feel dizzy, lightheaded, or nauseous from lack of food/calories. You should feel satisfied. In the beginning you may feel hungry because your stomach is used to larger quantities of food, but eventually it will adjust to the smaller portions.
Tip #5: Incorporate some cardio. I know the first thing people think of when they think of slashing fat—cardio! And lots of it. I’m here to tell you no—and that is why it is last on my list. Cardio is for exactly that—cardiovascular health. It strengthens your heart (as well as a slew of other health benefits). It does play a small role in weight loss, but that doesn’t mean that it is strictly burning body fat the entire time that you are doing it. Most of the time we are burning off “sugar” first—meaning carbohydrates. After we burn through that, our body can either attack the fat or eat away at the muscle—it depends on the duration and exertion of the effort. Sometimes the weight we lose is from muscle loss—not body fat. I like to incorporate cardio for strengthening the heart, bolstering the immune system, increasing oxygen and nutrients to the tissues, etc. and leave the diet and weight training to being the responsible parents of fat dissolution. This is my personal view, however. You can do cardio ‘till the cows come home and still just be a smaller, flabby form of your former self, or you can eat right, lift weights, and incorporate modest amounts of cardio to help shed unwanted body fat, build leaner muscle, and create a strong body to be proud of.
These are just some tips that will help you jump start your weight-loss program and help to reveal that hidden six-pack underneath. Remember to always check with your physician first if you have any health issues, contraindications, are taking medications, etc. before embarking on a fitness and nutritional program. .
Crystal Manjarres is the owner of One- On-One Fitness, a private personal training and Pilates studio for men and women on Marco Island. She is a certified personal trainer and Stott Pilates certified instructor. Her focus is “Empowering men and women of all shapes and sizes”. To send in a question, email Crystal@PinkIslandFit ness.com. She can also be reached at www. PinkIslandFitness.com or www.101FIT.com and (239) 333-5771. | <urn:uuid:b6b85c6a-e104-4959-b32b-082ab9615575> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coastalbreezenews.com/2012/06/14/turn-that-keg-into-a-six-pack-part-ii/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951343 | 811 | 1.734375 | 2 |
- Special Sections
BLACKFOOT – Kids in the after school program at Wapello Elementary spent part of their afternoon taking swimming lessons at the Blackfoot Swimming Pool.
With the help of a 21st Century Grant, students at Wapello Elementary, Fort Hall Elementary and Independence High School are able to participate in after school enrichment activities.
Wapello has 60 students participating in this after school activity. That’s about one-third of the student population at the school. Thirty students from Fort Hall Elementary participate in this program and 25 students from Independence High School participate and also work with the elementary students.
“Anyone can sign up,” said Wapello site coordinator Joy Mickelsen. “It’s free of charge.”
The after school activities take place from 2:40 -5:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Parents or guardians pick up the students after 5 p.m. Students sign up a semester at a time—either from September through December or January through April or both.
“We ask them to commit to coming three of the four days each week,” Mickelsen said.
There is not only an enrichment activity but students also spend one half hour on homework and another half hour at the computer.
“We even provide a snack,” she said.
Some of the activities in which the students have or will participate include swimming lessons, peer mentoring—cooking, playing games and problem solving—bowling, 4-H, dance with Miiko Toussaint and sign language.
“It’s not more school,” said Mickelsen. “It’s more enrichment.”
Students at Independence High School are providing a Spook Alley, carnival with chili and cinnamon rolls for the after school kids on Oct. 30, she said. Last year, students from Independence conducted a book drive so they could give a book to each elementary student in the program.
Coordinators at the three sites are Mickelsen at Wapello, Kathy Malm at Fort Hall Elementary and Holly Kartchner at Independence. | <urn:uuid:1c53251f-5e71-49ab-aa77-dfd815cf18fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.am-news.com/content/grant-getting-students-pool?quicktabs_4=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947228 | 491 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Acceptable Vice Intakes
Can You Get Away With?
Pages: 1 2
We all know that smoking, drinking and general overindulgence is bad for us. Such activities can lead to cancer, heart disease and hypertension -- and the list goes on and on. How much can we reasonably get away with? It’s a question that a lot of guys have asked, especially when facing that age-old adage of “Everything in moderation.” So what is a moderate amount of alcohol? Or cigarettes? Or even caffeine?
These are tricky questions, but we'll do our best to answer them and let you know the acceptable vice intakes.
AlcoholSlurp down a few shots or guzzle a couple of beers and the bar is buzzing. Slam a few more and the world spins like a top. Gulp another pint and you might do something you’ll regret. Drink way too much and you’ll end up in the hospital. How much can you safely imbibe in the long run before your liver screams uncle?
Well, here’s the thing: Nobody really knows for sure. Studies on alcohol consumption are spotty and even long-standing guidelines, like the ones published by the British government more than 20 years ago, are being questioned. Some studies have shown that moderate drinkers (people who have one drink a day) have lower mortality rates than teetotalers. Others suggest that guys would have to drink twice that amount before they felt ill effects.
The general consensus is that, for most people, moderate drinking is probably safe as far as acceptable vice intakes go. Not a definitive answer, but it can give you some comfort if you’re used to a snifter of brandy or a can of brew every night. If, like some guys, you have trouble having just one, you should probably steer clear of the stuff.
CigarettesSmoking is lethal in the long run and is a poisonous habit that almost always leads to nasty things like cancer, heart disease and lung disease. A few smokes now and again, however, can’t hurt, right? We’ve all heard stories of guys who quit after 15 or 20 years of sucking smoke. They brag about how pink and mucous-free their lungs are and how lung tissue almost always regenerates. Sorry to say, but they’re wrong. According to the American Cancer Society, studies have shown that smoking between one and four cigarettes a day can have serious effects on your health. You can probably get away with a cigarette every few months, but why take the chance? Even second-hand smoke can be lethal over time, so just put the pack down and seek help to kick the addiction. It’ll be good for you. Trust us. Where acceptable vice intakes are concerned, smoking is not one of them.
Following these acceptable vice intakes will keep you healthier and living longer... Next Page >> | <urn:uuid:209f1940-ef5d-4c5a-83d4-4c29d8779d89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.askmen.com/sports/health_150/178_mens_health.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959027 | 606 | 1.671875 | 2 |
by Staff Writers
Baghdad (UPI) Feb 20, 2013
The brewing oil war between Iraq's central government and a defiant Kurdistan, and wider security concerns, are forcing Baghdad to downsize its ambitious plans to quadruple oil output by 2017 and challenge Saudi Arabia as the world's top producer.
The growing dismay of international oil companies about a bumbling and corrupt bureaucracy, infrastructural blockages and the poor terms in drilling contracts signed since 2009 also have a lot to do with the Oil Ministry's realization that a scale back is necessary.
"Baghdad's energy strategists have reason for caution ... as they survey longer-term prospects for the country's critical economic sector," the Middle East Economic Digest observed.
"The move to downgrade its targets reflects widespread industry recognition that the original targets are neither achievable nor desirable."
When Baghdad threw open Iraq's rich oil and natural gas fields for exploration and development by international companies four years ago, it had visions of boosting production from 1.5 million barrels a day to 12 million bpd by 2017.
In recent months, with production averaging 2.9 million bpd, it became clear that massive infrastructural shortfalls and other problems made that target unachievable. Baghdad quietly reduced its goal to 8 million-9 million bpd by 2020.
Iraq has reserves of 143.1 billion barrels but industry analysts say as much again lies in unexplored regions.
Saudi Arabia, by comparison, has reserves of 296.5 billion barrels and a production capacity of 10 million bpd.
The most explosive issue is the migration of major international oil companies from the rich oil fields of southern Iraq, where Baghdad had concentrated its drive to boost production, to semiautonomous Kurdistan in the north.
The defections were led by Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest oil company.
In October 2011, Exxon signed a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government for six exploration blocks on far more beneficial terms than the tight-fisted, 20-year production deals Baghdad had offered to allow the majors back into Iraq three decades after the oil industry was nationalized.
Exxon, which sacrificed its hefty stake in the huge West Qurna 1 field in the south, was followed by Chevron, Total of France and Gazprom Neft of Russia, lured by the more attractive terms offered by the KRG, which has oil reserves totaling 45 billion barrels.
Baghdad issued dire threats against these companies but hasn't taken legal or punitive action against them, possibly for fear of driving away future investors.
But neither has it made any great effort to resolve the shortcomings of the Oil Ministry in upgrading and expanding long-neglected infrastructure -- rusting pipelines, inadequate export terminals, storage and electrical power -- that the companies require if the industry is to be modernized and production/export targets achieved.
"More significantly," MEED reported, "oil majors are seeking changes to the terms of their contracts."
This centers on reducing the overly ambitious production targets set by the Oil Ministry in 2009 and here at least the government is going along to get along.
Lukoil of Russia was the first to secure significant changes in its contract for the West Qurna 2 megafield in southern Iraq, where two-thirds of the country's known oil reserves lie.
On Jan. 17, it signed a revised contract cutting back its production target from 1.8 million bpd to 1.2 million bpd by 2017.
BP may be next. It's been negotiating to reduce its target of boosting output from Rumaila, another giant southern field, to 1.8 million bpd-2.2 million bpd from the 2.85 million bpd it signed up for.
But BP may also find itself in the crosshairs of the Baghdad-KRG split because the government wants it to restore declining production at the Kirkuk field, the biggest in the north -- and also the center of a territorial dispute.
The Kurds claim Kirkuk was historically part of the Kurdish provinces under the Ottomans who ruled Iraq for 400 years until 1922.
The border between Kurdistan and the rest of Arab Iraq has become a powder keg.
Both sides have heavy military forces deployed in a highly volatile standoff. If BP agrees to move in to restore the fields, it could find itself caught in a shooting war.
"The outcome of the wave of contract negotiations will go a long way to shaping Iraq's chances of realizing its potential as the world's fastest-growing oil producer," MEED observed.
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
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500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The Beatles, 'Let It Be'
Writers: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Producer: George Martin
Released: March '70, Apple
14 weeks; No. 1
Inspired by the church-born soul of Aretha Franklin, an anxious Paul McCartney started writing "Let It Be" in 1968, during the contentious sessions for the White Album. His opening lines — "When I find myself in times of trouble/Mother Mary comes to me" — were based on a dream in which his own late mother, Mary, offered solace during a tumultuous time for both the band and the culture, assuring him that everything would turn out fine. "I'm not sure if she used the words 'Let it be,'" McCartney recalled, "but that was the gist of her advice." McCartney unveiled a skeletal version of "Let It Be" to the other Beatles at an even worse time: during the initial, disastrous Let It Be rehearsals in January 1969. John Lennon, the group's resident heretic, was brutally dismissive, mistaking McCartney's secular humanism for self-righteous piety. Yet the Beatles put special labor into the song, getting the consummate take on January 31st — the day after their last live performance, on the roof of their Apple offices in London. (R&B musician Billy Preston, a friend of the band's from its early days, contributed the gospel-flavored organ part.) George Harrison later took a couple of cracks at adding a guitar solo: The single version features his solo from April 30th, 1969, and the album cut's solo was taped at the final Beatles recording session, on January 4th, 1970. Released four months later, "Let It Be" effectively became an elegy for the band that had defined the Sixties.
Appears on: Let It Be (Capitol/Apple)
blog comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:b3c5569f-c0f4-43cb-8f2c-128f0e35b11b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/the-beatles-let-it-be-20110525 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969324 | 393 | 1.835938 | 2 |
For writing skill... I think you can also learn from reading many books
After you read a few books, you will start to remember the way they arrange the word
it would also help you with the vocabulary as you have to learn new words all the time
But like Mint said... Practice makes perfect
The more you practice, the more you learn and get more advanced
(but while you practice you'll have to check for errors too)
just my opinion though..
For speaking (informally) ..I think the primary objective is communication
...If that person understand, then that's it. you succeed already
A few weeks ago I went to Paragon. I saw a Farang shopping with his Thai wife
the guys was about to buy an expensive kitchenware that looks like a hand blender
"For chopping the vegetables สับกระเทียม สับพริก ดีไม่?"
and the wife answer...
No no no.. too much price... You, I can do with my ครกอ่ะ ป๊อกๆๆๆๆๆๆ อ่ะ finish! easy!
That's it.... Pure communication...... No accents, no grammar required | <urn:uuid:7c4590bb-d206-4ca0-b1e1-9497f4d446a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.f0nt.com/forum/index.php?topic=7273.600 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952212 | 302 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Companies doing business on an international basis can
take welcome comfort from a recent Court of Appeal decision, which
confirmed the approach for when a corporate veil will be
"Lifting the corporate veil" describes a practice by
which a court decides that a subsidiary is a mere shell or alter
ego used by a parent company to avoid or conceal liability.
By piercing the corporate veil, the court treats that parent and
subsidiary as a single economic entity, thereby placing the debts
and liabilities of the subsidiary on its parent or
In this case, the Court of Appeal rejected an attempt by VTB, a
state-owned Russian bank, to join Nutritrek International, a UK
plc, to an action brought for loss suffered by it under the terms
of a loan agreement. VTB had made a loan of $225m to the purchaser
of several companies owned by Nutritrek, the purchaser defaulted on
the loan and VTB were only able to recover $40m.
VTB argued the loan had been made based on false inducements by
Nutritrek, and that the purchaser had fraudulently conspired with
Nutritrek to obtain the funding. The loan agreement contained an
English law jurisdiction clause which VTB sought to use to join
Nutritrek as a party to the agreement.
VTB contended that the court could lift the corporate veil on the
parties to the loan agreement to show that Nutritrek was a party to
it on the basis that it had been controlling the purchaser's
actions and was ultimately liable for its loss. The Court of Appeal
disagreed on the basis that even if the veil was lifted, it was
unlikely to show that Nutritrek was a party to the loan
In lifting the veil, the Court would be creating an artificial
remedy which would undermine the basic principles of English
contract law and it was not prepared to lift the veil simply to
permit a claim to be brought through the English courts where the
defendant was not a party to the relevant contract. While the
corporate veil was not pierced in this case it is clear that the
courts will in some circumstances do so and businesses do well to
remember this – an opportunity for lawyers to add value
and Rawlison Butler are always happy to answer client questions on
liability and corporate veil issues.
This document is provided for information purposes only and
does not constitute legal advice. Professional legal advice should
be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a
result of the contents of this document.
To print this article, all you need is to be registered on Mondaq.com.
Click to Login as an existing user or Register so you can print this article.
In this instance, the Protector cast himself in a role which went well beyond what was proper and led him to play an overactive part in the management of the trusts in some respects and to neglect his duties in others.
Readers of the bulletin will be aware of the recent discovery, disinterment and identification of what have now been clearly established to be the bones of King Richard III from the site of the former Greyfriars (Franciscan) Church in Leicester.
Companies that need to enter administration have a number of methods available to them to enter into this insolvency procedure.
Some comments from our readers… “The articles are extremely timely and highly applicable” “I often find critical information not available elsewhere” “As in-house counsel, Mondaq’s service is of great value” | <urn:uuid:d58157d9-4ddc-443c-832f-0ce443134e5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mondaq.com/x/187732/Contract+Law/Is+A+Parent+Company+Bound+By+Contracts+Of+Its+Subsidiary | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963517 | 750 | 1.554688 | 2 |
A former neighbor was too ill to care for his yard and creeping Charlie started to come over from his yard. His house was sold and new neighbors this year had the lawn service and now their yard looks lovely and I'm stuck with the creeping Charlie taking over the rear part of my half acre. The neighbor on the other side has every weed in the book and rarely mows it, so I don't worry about the creeping Charlie taking over that yard as they already have it.
I don't want to hire the lawn service again as it never got rid of what little creeping Charlie I had and I saw little improvement. I was wondering if the mower cutting and not collecting the cuttings of the creeping Charlie could have spread it. I always collected the cuttings and took them to Jamesville recycling. -- C.K., via email.
Dear C.K.: I expect to fight the good fight against creeping Charlie, also known as ground ivy, Glechoma hederacea, until I'm carried off from here. I can't stand the way it looks, the way it grows, the way it smells, the washy purple flowers or the strange round galls that grow on the leaves.
Weed seeds and bits do spread and are a concern for commercial operations, who should clean off their equipment between locations, but not so much for a homeowner.
When weeds thrive where the lawn should be, some thought should be given to why the grass isn't growing. What's the site like? Grass simply won't grow when the site is too shady, too wet, too dry or when the soil is infertile or too acid or alkaline. Some of these problems are easily fixed. Others are deal-breakers and call for lawn alternatives.
A reason for there being no grass on a suitable site is that nobody has planted it. Grass is not natural in this part of the world -- trees are -- and good-looking, hard-wearing turfgrasses have to be seeded or sodded properly to begin with, and then maintained. Plants that just show up tend to be weeds.
The lawn renovation season is August. Total lawn renovation is worthwhile if the lawn is less than 50 percent desirable grasses. If the lawn is old, ten years or more, total renovation is worthwhile because grass varieties have improved greatly.
Call several lawn services in the spring to get their assessments. A professional can tell you if the site is suitable. Merely applying herbicides for the weeds is not the answer, as you know.
Carol T. Bradford, of Syracuse, has been gardening in Central New York for more than 25 years. Send questions in care of Home & Garden, The Post-Standard, P.O. Box 4915, Syracuse, NY 13221, by fax to 470-2111 or by email to email@example.com. Letters might be edited for space and clarity. | <urn:uuid:53227846-9bb0-4176-b9ef-f9e870635eb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2011/12/carol_bradford_fight_to_keep_weed_from_creeping.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975635 | 599 | 1.539063 | 2 |
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