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Buying Goods and Services
In order to help you resolve a situation with a trader in another European country, it is helpful to know which law might be applicable to your problem. The principal pieces of legislation in operation across Europe cover the following areas:
Under the Sale of Goods and Associated Guarantees Directive 99/44/EC
consumer goods must be 'in conformity with the contract of sale 'i.e. you should get what you paid for. Goods are deemed to be 'in conformity with the contract' if, at the moment of delivery to the consumer:
- they comply with the description given by the seller and 'possess the qualities of the product which the seller has held out to the consumer as a sample or model'.For example, the seller cannot tell you that a new kitchen is in 'perfect condition' if half of the cupboard doors are missing. Equally, a seller cannot show you a carpet sample of superior quality to the actual carpet that you purchase based on the sample shown.
- they are fit for the purposes for which goods of the same type are normally used. For example, a car must be fit to be driven on the road (unless you have been specifically told that it is not.)
- they are fit for any particular purpose for which the consumer requires them and which was made known to the seller at the time of conclusion of the contract, and accepted by the seller. For example, if you specifically request a right-hand drive car from a motor dealer, and he agrees in the contract of sale to supply you with one, he cannot then supply you with a left-hand drive car.
- their quality and performance are satisfactory, given the nature of the goods and taking into account the public statements made about them by the seller, the producer or his representative. Here, an assessment of the specific agreement will be necessary. For example, if you buy a camera on the basis of it having special features, it must have those features.
- For more information see-
Your Europe Shopping Advice
A common set of consumer rights for consumers are valid no matter where in the EU the goods are purchased, which are enforceable for at least 2 years from delivery of the goods. In Ireland, there is limitation period of 6 years within which a consumer can bring an action against a trader.
For example, if you order a laptop which turns out to have less memory than it is supposed to have, the problem may not be obvious to you immediately, but it is still an inherent fault in the product which the trader must remedy if you discover it within the limitation period.
When a consumer reports the lack of conformity to the seller, they may be entitled to expect:
- that the goods be repaired or replaced free of charge within a reasonable period and without major inconvenience to the consumer;
- for a reduction to be made to the price, or for the contract to be rescinded (i.e. the contract ends, as if it was never present), if repair or replacement is impossible or disproportionate, or if the seller has not remedied the problem within a reasonable period or without major inconvenience to the consumer. The consumer is not entitled to have the contract rescinded if the lack of conformity is minor e.g. scratch on the outer plastic cover of a CD case.
In addition to your rights as outlined above, the seller may also offer you a guarantee. Any such 'commercial' guarantee is, importantly, in addition to your other rights, as above. It is not instead of them.
A commercial guarantee is defined as 'any additional undertaking given by a seller or producer, over and above the legal rules governing the sale of consumer goods, to reimburse the price paid, or to exchange, repair or handle a product in any way, if they do not meet the specifications set out in the guarantee statement or in the relevant advertising'.
Any commercial guarantee offered by a seller or producer will be legally binding under the conditions laid down in the guarantee document and the associated advertising. The guarantee must state that the consumer has statutory rights and clearly state that these rights are not affected by the guarantee. At the consumer's request, the guarantee must be made available in writing.
For example, a seller might offer you a '6 month guarantee' with a car, or a computer. This '6 month' guarantee will be in addition to, not instead of your legal rights as outlined above. Equally, if the seller offers you the car or the computer at a lower price, on a 'no guarantee' basis, this only means that you don't have this additional level of protection; you still have your legal rights, and can still seek redress.
The guarantee must state its content, in simple and understandable terms, and indicate the conditions for claiming under it, i.e. how long it lasts and where it applies, and the name and address of the guarantor. For example, you may buy a car in the UK which has a 3 year guarantee, but the guarantee may only valid for 2 years in Ireland- you need to ensure that you understand its scope before you agree the sale.
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Urban League Gears Up New Urban Unemployment Initiative
The group holds an Urban Jobs Initiative Community Forum at Humboldt Gardens from 6-7:30 p.m. on Nov. 30
Bruce Poinsette Of The Skanner News
November 28, 2011Click here to read the Urban League of Portland's 'State of Black Oregon' report
The Urban League of Portland is rolling out a new jobs initiative to target multigenerational unemployment in the Black community.
"Unemployment has had a devastating effect on Portland," says director of Advocacy and Public Policy Midge Purcell Purcell. "According to recent poverty figures, Portland is number four in the country in poverty levels for Black children."
The Urban League will be holding its Urban Jobs Initiative Community Forum at Humboldt Gardens from 6-7:30 p.m. on Nov. 30. It encourages job seekers, people and families coping with unemployment and underemployment, employers and community members to attend.
An Urban League issue brief on inequalities in employment shows that there is a large disparity, both nationally and locally, in how the economy has affected Black and white populations.
According to the report, white unemployment decreased from 8.8 to 8.5 percent on a national level in the third quarter of 2010. In the same period, Black unemployment increased from 15.4 to 16.3 percent.
Oregon and the Portland Metro Region's most recent figures from 2009 show that white unemployment is at 11 percent while Black unemployment is 18 percent.
Statistics show the impact of joblessness is most visible for youth and children.
In fact, US Census Bureau figures say that one in two Black children in Oregon live in poverty.
"Black people are two percent of Oregon's population but make up seven percent of those on child welfare," says Purcell.
2010 US Department of Labor statistics show that unemployment amongst Black youth is at 33.4 percent, which is twice as high as white youth unemployment and over 11 percent higher than the next highest group, Latino youth.
"When the economy is bad for everyone it takes attention away from our community," says Purcell. "(Black) unemployment has been at 15 percent or more since 1970."
She says a number of factors, such as housing stability, gentrification and policy decisions cause long term unemployment.
Purcell also says there has been a general disinvestment in the Black community.
She says the city can do a better job of focusing where it invests its money. According to her and the Urban League, the initiatives of attracting more companies to Oregon and hiring a local and diverse workforce don't have to be mutually exclusive.
The Urban League has worked with the National Association of Minority Contractors of Oregon (NAMCO) to advocate for fairer access to contracting and public procurement.
Purcell says this has made the Urban League a partner in making local companies more socially responsible.
"These companies should reach into communities that are more than prepared to meet the needs of an emerging job market," she says.
The National Urban League has a 12 Point Jobs Plan that includes funding to restore the Summer Youth Jobs Program as a stand-alone that will employ five million teens.
The plan also calls for a national public private jobs initiative to create jobs and train urban residents in such fields as technology and broadband, health care, manufacturing, urban transportation/water and community facilities infrastructure, and clean energy.
Purcell says the American Jobs Act, President Obama's jobs bill, which has been stifled in Congress, contains a number of important elements that coincide with the National Urban League's goals.
The American Jobs Act includes a $50 billion immediate investment in infrastructure, an expansion of unemployment insurance and specific job training to help the long term unemployed, a $5 billion investment in youth and young adult employment and a tax cut for American workers.
In addition to these measures, the act also contains specific language to prevent discrimination against the unemployed in the hiring process.
Purcell says the Urban League is working to make the community aware of the importance of these policies and how they can be implemented at the state and city level.
She says it's also important to make policymakers aware of the impact of long term unemployment on the Black community.
"We want to make sure Black unemployment doesn't fall off the radar," says Purcell. "When the Oregon unemployment rate is 9.5 percent for the general population and 18 percent in our community, it calls for a targeted approach."
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Kleine Scheidegg – Heart of the Alps
Below the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, Kleine Scheidegg is located 2,061 meters above sea level. It offers visitors a spectacular view of the notorious Eiger north face. As far back as 1936, spectators watched as four climbers were dramatically killed on the wall . The story was later filmed.
There is a railway station, restaurants and hotels at Kleine Scheidegg. Kleine Scheidegg is the starting point for hikes and a trip to the Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe.
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Amherst (MA) Special Town Meeting Approves Resolution to Welcome Cleared Guantánamo Detainees
AMHERST, Mass. - November 5 - On Wednesday evening, Amherst Special Town Meeting approved a resolution welcoming one or two cleared Guantánamo Bay detainees to the community once Congress lifts its current ban. It is the first municipality in the nation to do so.
The resolution, Article 14 on the Special Town Meeting warrant, was the last article considered. Ruth Hooke drafted the article and was its lead petitioner. She is a town meeting member and a founding member of the local organization Pioneer Valley No More Guantánamos.
Meg Gage, in her presentation supporting the article, observed that "of the 225 men still at Guantánamo, more than 70 have been cleared for release, ... but some of those men can't return home without risk of torture or death." She went on to explain, "They need other countries that are willing to take them, and the U.S.-whose government established the prison as a law-free zone-refuses to take any, putting all the pressure on other countries."
Gerry Weiss, a select board member, followed Gage. "People are suffering unjustly, and we have the opportunity to alleviate that suffering."
Carol Gray was among several other town meeting members who spoke in support. "Even the Nazi war criminals had trials," she said. Gray showed the audience one of the leaflets the military dropped from airplanes, offering large bounties for turning in "terrorists." She also showed photos and shared brief stories of some of the young men and boys who have been released from the prison.
Nancy Talanian, director of No More Guantánamos and a member, with Hooke, of its Pioneer Valley chapter, applauded the measure's passage, which is the first of its kind in the country. She said, "Amherst's resolution supports the basic right of freedom for cleared Guantánamo Bay detainees who cannot safely return to their home countries. Without cooperation from U.S. communities and Congress, the long-awaited plan to close Guantánamo may not succeed." She noted that Congress's recent not-in-our-back-yard ban stands in the way of encouraging international cooperation in closing the prison.
Amherst Town Meeting is the town's governing body. Its 250 members are elected by precinct to represent the town.
Prior to Amherst's resolution, local groups prepared to welcome 17 Uighur detainees from Guantánamo who had been cleared years earlier. In 2008, the U.S.'s largest community of ethnic Chinese Uighurs, located in Fairfax County, Virginia, offered to house most of the men. An interfaith coalition in Tallahassee, Florida, arranged housing and other necessities for three of the men with the best English language skills.
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Last week, I visited the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas with several other Austin food bloggers. We’re all participating in a week-long project to bring awareness to hunger in Central Texas. Our local food bank works with 355 partner agencies which distribute food to people in need. Since one year ago, our local food bank saw a 60% increase in needs. Currently, over 48,000 people rely on this food bank each week. The goal of the CAFB is to assist anyone with food hardship problems and to provide a positive way for people to take care of their health with nourishing food. Families or individuals are able to visit a food pantry once per month, and we were given a list of what is typically received:
2 cans spaghetti sauce
4 cans veggies (choice of green beans and/or corn)
4 cans fruit (choice of sliced pears and/or mixed fruit)
1 meat selection: whole chicken, beef roast, pork chops, or possibly pig trotters or ham
3 drink items: choice of large bottle of cranberry apple juice and/or powdered milk (shelf stable milk) boxes and/or apple juice boxes
1 bag spaghetti or bag of egg noodles
1 bag of pinto beans or white navy beans
1 bag of white rice
1 package of pickled jalapeno slices
1 ready-made dinner (hamburger helper)
1 bag/container of rolled oats
1 bag of cheerios
5 lb bag of potatoes
Additionally, many people also participate in food stamp programs. Several of our Austin famers’ markets can now accept debit cards and food stamps from the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) or food stamp (Lone Star: SNAP) programs. We learned that applying for food stamps is time consuming and challenging with a 22-page application that needs to be re-submitted every three months. A maximum benefit is about $200 per month. By blogging about the CAFB, we’re hoping to raise Hunger Awareness and encourage donations of food, money, or time to local food banks. On Saturday May 8 in central Texas, the US Postal Service will be collecting food donations for Stamp Out Hunger, and all of the food collected here is used locally.
Each of the local bloggers involved has taken a different approach to this project, and everyone involved is listed on the CAFB blog. I wanted to cook a big, healthy meal with some ingredients that would be part of a monthly food pantry pick-up and some that could be easily found at a farmers’ market. The items from the list above that immediately jumped out at me were the beans, rice, and pickled jalapenos. At the risk of heading straight for the dreaded, hippie-food territory, the fact is that 'beans and rice' is comfort food for me. I wanted to include a healthy green vegetable as well and make a meal that would produce lots of leftovers. I’m not sure if these are collards-enchiladas or southwest-cabbage rolls. I’ve made cabbage rolls a lot of different ways using standard green cabbage, napa cabbage, and leaves from different greens like chard, broccoli greens, and collards. I like using collards because the leaves are usually big and somewhat round. I’ve made more traditional rolls with tomato, lemon, and dill sauce. I’ve made them with ground turkey, I’ve used brown rice, and I’ve made them before with the same filling used here. Cooked pinto beans, rice, and shredded monterey jack cheese were on the inside, and the sauce was a puree of simmered anchos, onion, and tomato.
Admittedly, I made this more complicated than it needed to be, but let’s pretend that was just to show the possibilities. It's somewhat labor-intensive, but a few steps can be prepared a day or two in advance. Also, while I did make a sauce from scratch, a prepared enchilada sauce would work just as well. I cooked the pinto beans a day in advance, and I added half of a large, sweet, Texas onion and a few dried chipotles to the water as the beans cooked. The chipotles gave the beans a hint of smokiness and a little spice. The rice could have been made a day or two early as well. I roasted poblano chiles to add to the rice, and I stirred in some chopped cilantro from my garden, but it could have been left plain. For the ancho sauce, I sauteed the other half of that sweet onion, chopped of course, and then added seeded and chopped dried anchos and two chopped tomatoes. After that simmered with water long enough for the chiles to re-hydrate, I pureed the mixture until smooth and added lime juice.
I served the rolls with pickled jalapeno and pickled carrots on top with a little extra finely grated cheese. From three cups of cooked beans, one cup of rice, and one half pound of cheese, I made 20 rolls and still had some leftover rice. Not only did we have a healthy dinner full of spicy flavors and melty cheese, we also have several lunches covered for this week and a few rolls in the freezer for another time.
Pinto Bean and Poblano Rice Collard Greens Rolls with Ancho Sauce
3 c cooked pinto beans
1 c white or brown rice
3 poblano chiles, roasted, cleaned, seeded, and chopped
3 tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for baking dishes
4 ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped
2 fresh tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/2 large, sweet onion, roughly chopped
1/2 pound Monterey jack cheese, grated
20 large collard greens leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
- In a small saucepan, bring two cups water to a boil, add rice, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let rice sit for 10 minutes. Place rice in a large bowl and fold in chopped, roasted poblanos and cilantro. Set aside.
- For the sauce, heat vegetable oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and cook until tender and just starting to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped anchos, tomatoes, and one cup water. Reduce heat to low, cover pan, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until anchos are tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Transfer mixture to a blender, add juice of one lime, and puree until very smooth. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
-Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Place collard greens leaves, a few at a time, into the boiling water. You can hold them by the stem and leave the stem sticking up out of the water. Let the leaves boil for about one minute until softened. Transfer to a sheet pan and repeat with all leaves. Let the leaves sit on the sheet pan until cool enough to handle.
- Coat two baking dishes with vegetable oil. Pour half of the ancho sauce into each baking dish.
- Place a collard leaf on a cutting board and cut away the thick part of the stem. The stems can be chopped and cooked for another dish, but they’re not needed here. Place a big spoonful of rice in the center of the widest part of the leaf. Top the rice with a big spoonful of beans, and then add some grated cheese. Fold in the leaf on each side and roll into a bundle and set the rolled bundle into the sauce in a baking dish. Repeat with all leaves. The pans I used fit 10 rolls each.
- Cover the baking dishes with foil, and bake until warmed through, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with sauce from the pan, a little more grated cheese, and pickled jalapenos.
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The Candidate’s Guide to the Latino Vote
June 24 2011
By Janet Murguía
(This was first posted at The Hill's Congress Blog)
Although we are only halfway through 2011, the 2012 election season is in full swing. The Latino community, like other voters, is waiting to hear from candidates on how they will address the critical issues that our country faces, including getting the U.S. economy back on track, creating jobs, fixing our troubled education system and enacting comprehensive immigration reform. But the campaign so far has not been promising. Few, if any, of the Republican candidates have set up Latino-focused initiatives within their campaigns. More disturbingly, no one has spoken out about the toxic atmosphere confronting Latinos today. Even worse, some have rushed to support the slew of draconian state immigration laws that do nothing to solve our problems, but do plenty to exacerbate racial profiling and harassment of immigrants and American citizens.
Yet there is still time for a dramatic shift in the relationship between the 2012 campaign and Hispanic voters. So we are offering a few nonpartisan dos and don’ts for aspiring candidates:
Do take the Latino vote seriously. Latinos are not only the fastest-growing population in the U.S., they are also the fastest-growing voter bloc. The Census results released this spring found that one in six Americans is Latin. More than one in four Americans under the age of 18 is Latino, 93 percent of whom are U.S. citizens. According to Democracia U.S.A., this means that half a million Latinos will turn 18 each year for the next 20 years.
Do take Hispanic concerns, especially immigration, seriously. The recent immigration debate among policymakers has been controversial, divisive, and corrosive, but it has not been serious about fixing the problem. Action on comprehensive immigration reform has been one of the sacrificial lambs of Washington gridlock. In the absence of federal action, states and localities have succumbed to extreme voices touting extreme proposals that score political points but do little more. Yet poll after poll shows that Hispanics and all Americans want Washington to stop politicizing or running away from the issue, get serious, and deal with immigration in a comprehensive, effective and humane way.
Do engage the Latino community. A good start is a solid, affirmative outreach operation that targets Latinos. However, Latinos should be involved at all levels of a campaign, especially in decision-making positions. The Hispanic community’s issues and concerns should also be addressed and incorporated into a candidate’s platform. And there should be a vision for what role Hispanics will play in any future administration or office.
Don’t write off the Latino vote. Candidates who believe that Hispanics are part of any party’s base are under a grave misapprehension. While it is true that most Hispanics are registered Democrats, history also shows that most are frequent ticket-splitters. Both President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush received more than 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in their reelection campaigns. Some analysts note that a Republican needs to receive 40 percent of the Latino vote to win the presidency. In fact, for many candidates in 2010, failing to engage the Latino voter cost them the election. So those who appeal to Latino voters early stand a better chance of ending strong.
Don’t demonize immigrants and Latinos. It is unconscionable to scapegoat a community and sow division and hate in American society. Pundits agree that the extreme anti-immigrant stances of several candidates in 2010 cost the Republican Party control of the Senate. Interviews with Latino voters in those key elections said they went to the polls to vote against such positions and tactics.
Don’t take the Hispanic vote for granted. Having an extreme, anti-immigrant opponent may lull some candidates into a false sense of security when it comes to the Hispanic vote, yet voter motivation and enthusiasm are critical in any election, and especially in 2012. Studies show that voters are more motivated when they have something to vote for rather than something to vote against.
Issues: Civic Engagement, Latino Voter Participation
Geography:California, Far West, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Texas
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A couple days ago, The Daily Beast posted about The 13 Most Useless Majors, and then Newsweek reblogged the article on their tumblr. My blood started to boil. Among the “Most Useless Majors” were Fine Arts, English Literature and Language, Philosophy, and of course, Theatre, and the evidence was based on salary and unemployment rate. I get what they’re saying, I know plenty of actors, writers, and musicians working in bars and scraping to get by. Fine. But a degree in the humanities expands your mind, gives you a more diverse world view, and teaches you how to think. And isn’t that the point of education?
Many of the most effective professionals I know in agencyland come from one of these majors. They studied photography, literature, architecture, or film making, and now they’re Account Directors, Project Managers, UX designers, and Creative Directors. And not surprisingly, they’re the most open to *cringe* “out of the box” thinking.
Here’s a handful of invaluable business skills I learned from my “useless” Theatre degree, acting classes, and improv training:
Meeting a deadline
“The show must go on” is a theatrical cliche for a reason. Opening night can’t be pushed back; you’re either ready to go up, or you’re not. And not being ready isn’t an option.
How to pitch
I took an acting class in LA that would assign a scene and a scene partner. It was up to you to track down the play, memorize it, and have it ready to show in class the following week. Being given 20 pages of dialogue wasn’t unheard of, and if you couldn’t keep up, you were out of the class. That may sound extreme, but usually you’re given even less time to prepare for an audition, so the teacher wanted us to practice.
That’s not even touching on an actual audition room, where you may have a day to prepare the same amount of work, then perform it for a table full of stone-faced, bored casting directors who may or may not be eating their lunch.
In comparison, presenting and selling a long deck that I helped to write is a piece of cake.
How to think on your feet
When you’re live on stage and something goes wrong, you have no choice but to act like nothing happened, be resourceful, and deal with it. It’s a great lesson in staying calm and coming up with creative solutions in a pinch.
Being on a team
In improv, it’s the whole team’s job to make everybody else look good. Being part of a theatre department is like being in a big, incestuous family, where everybody plays their part to get a show off the ground. Acting is very personal work, so in a class, everybody does their best work when they’re comfortable and feel supported. If that sounds strange, well, it is. But a production sinks or swims by its teamwork.
Analyzing a brief
Have you ever analyzed classical text? It’s kind of like picking out the key takeaways in a brief, only in verse.
When you’re an actor preparing for any script, you learn how to read it as a whole, and garner information from everything: what your character says, what your character says about itself, and what other characters say about your character. Some people break it down into beats. Some people use a series of actions. Some people physicalize it. Some internalize.
The point is you become very good at scanning a piece, filling in the holes, and then quickly finding the most important parts. And that’s an important skill to take beyond the theatre.
Creating budgets and finding money
In college, I co-produced and directed a student show called From the Wings that focused on giving students who were either rarely-cast or typecast an opportunity to show what they could do. This was a great lesson in creating budgets, sticking to budgets, and tracking down other sources of money.
Artistic grants, anyone?
How to read people
A big part of being an actor is being able to read your scene partner, and the Meisner technique is built largely on this idea. An early exercise has you sit in a chair facing your partner and make eye contact for long periods of time, then interpret what they’re thinking. You become very at knowing what’s going through somebody’s mind. Cool? Yes. Creepy? A little bit. Hated by future boyfriends? Yes.
It’s a power you can use for good or for evil, but it’s incredibly helpful in many work situations: joining a new team, knowing how to navigate both junior and senior colleagues, and most importantly, how to deal with clients.
How to work for it
Ultimately, you don’t make it in the arts without an insane work ethic. Sometimes, somebody gets lucky, but often it comes down to “who wants it more, and who will put in the most work.” Most of my peers and me took 20+ credit hours a semester on top of rehearsing for shows. I got used to working 14+ hour days long before joining an agency.
Before any of you try to point out that I am not a famous actress, I’d like to say that I ultimately chose a different path, became a writer, and hey! Now I very happily get paid to write every day. And the work ethic I learned as a theatre major and a starving artist in LA is directly responsible for any success I’ve enjoyed in my career path.
I’m sure that anybody with an unconventional background who’s working in business can give you a similar list of how their education and life experience has made them successful. Let me be clear, I’m not knocking “practical” majors like business, but unless you’re going into a specific field such as engineering, it doesn’t matter what you studied as an undergrad. It matters that you know how to think, educate yourself about your chosen profession, and then work your tail off. Instead of judging what other people have done/studied and poo-pooing their “lack of experience,” let’s evaluate the person, their skill set, and their passion for the job.
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- SPECIAL REPORTS
- THE MAGAZINE
McGlone has made numerous outstanding contributions through his R&D efforts since receiving his MS and PhD from Purdue University. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky. McGlone is presently a senior systems scientist in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. His career in both industry and academe has been focused on the combination of photogrammetry and computer vision. McGlone is a co-author of the textbook Introduction to Modern Photogrammetry and the editor of the 5th edition of the Manual of Photogrammetry, the standard photogrammetric reference published by ASPRS. He is a member of IEE and ASPRS and has served on several conference programs committees. He is currently secretary of ISPRS Working Group 111/7.
The Photogrammetric Award (Fairchild) was established in 1943 to stimulate the development of the art of aerial photogrammetry in the United States. This award was originally sponsored by the Loral Fairchild Corporation and is now supported by Lockheed Martin. It includes an engraved plaque.
Source: ASPRS, June 8, 2004
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Doesn’t take much to guess that “Cordwainer Smith” is a pseudonym, does it? Maybe he wrote under other names (he did), or didn’t want to be recognized on the street (he didn’t). Even more so, the writing was nothing more than a fun side job for Paul Anthony Linebarger, a man who was first gainfully employed as a University professor, and then later worked for the US Government. For convenience, I’m going to refer to him as Cordwainer Smith in this little bio.
Born in Wisconsin in 1913, Smith spent much of his childhood overseas, mostly in China, but also France and Germany. After losing an eye in an accident as a child, it was almost assured that he would always be even more different from the other kids around him. Feeling alone and different, we shouldn’t be surprised that so much of his fiction takes pain and suffering into account.
Perhaps the first writer of what would eventually be called as “new weird”, Smith became known for writing vivid and unusual science fiction. His first published short story, Scanners Live in Vain, was written in 1945 and published in 1950, and has since been judged by the SFWA to be one of the finest short stories published before 1965.
Most of Smith’s short stories take place in a far future era where humanity has discovered faster than light (or at least near light speed) travel, we have genetically engineering animals to do all our manual labor for us, and a group known as the Norstrilians rule the galaxy based on their control of the anti-aging drug Stroon. Often characters are relatively normal people who have been put into situations beyond their control and must attempt to normalize and rationalize what is happening to them. Yesterday I posted a review of his Space Lords, a collection of emotional, intimate, literary and often romantic science fiction tales. (I’m so very temped to say it reminded me a little of Vandermeer’s collection City of Saints and Madmen, for each tale is written in a different style and to a different purpose, but they all, in the end, lead the reader to the same tortured place) A happy ending is never guaranteed, but the message offered is usually one of hope in humanity. You can’t help but get the feeling Smith was a hopeless romantic. There’s more Smith discussion in the comments of that post as well.
While searching around the interwebs, I found Cordwainersmith.com, the blog/info site/memorial run by his oldest daughter, Rosana Hart. A treasure trove of information, not only does she offer links to a few of his stories that are available for free online, and blurbs from authors who were influenced by Smith/Linebarger, but it’s her memories of growing up as “Cordwainer Smith’s daughter” that are the most fascinating.
A handful of Smith stories are available online for free, or electronically. However, if you are looking for a physical book, your best bet is a used bookstore as very few of his collections are currently in print. Find yourself a good used bookstore, and if they have some Cordwainer Smith, buy it before someone else does. You’ll be happy you did.
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|This article forms part of the series|
Orthodoxy in Australia
|Orthodoxy in Australia Timeline |
Statistics of Orthodoxy in Australia
Gk Orthodox Archd. of ANZ
|GOA Aus - Abp Stylianos|
Antiochian - Met Abp Paul
ROCOR - Met Hilarion
Serbian - Bp Irinej
Romanian - Bp Michael
Without local bishop
| Antiochian Orthodox |
Greek Orthodox (Aus)
O.L. of Kazan
|Proph. Elias |
St John Mtn
St Sava (Elaine)
|Edit this box|
The V. Rev. Dr. Themistocles Adamopoulo, born in Alexandria and raised in Melbourne, is an archimandrite in Freetown, Sierra Leone, within the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. His work is in mission and charity, using education as a means of bringing people out of poverty.
Eleftherius and Helen Adamopoulo were the parents of a Greek family who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. Eleftherius was an author, successful banker and had a double qualification in Chemistry; and Helen was a headmistress of a school. In 1945, Themistocles was born. Seeing developments that would have dire consequences for foreigners in Egypt, in 1956, Eleftherius and Helen immigrated with their family - including their son, Themistocles - to Melbourne, Australia. Themistocles, because of the social stigma of Greeks at the time, grew up wishing to fit into wider Australian society.
Due to the Adamopoulo's being Greeks from a non-Greek country, they were considered to be Greeks by Anglo-Celtic Australian society, and outsiders within the Greek community. As such, Eleftherius became a labourer, and Helen worked in factories. However, in a few years, Helen was recognised by Melbourne University, becoming a teacher at Presbyterian Ladies College, and Eleftherius was recognised by local industries, becoming an industrial chemist.
Themistocles went to high school at Williamstown High School, being gifted in academic areas, and getting a result good enough to win a scholarship to Melbourne University. He began a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1964, and then formed a music group similar to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones known as The Flies. This caused a two-year deferment in his university studies while he pursued the music industry, including records, Top 10 songs, a fan club and supporting the Beatles on their Australian tour.
However, he decided that this was not to be a permanent occupation, and returned to university in a Bachelor of Arts course, studying philosophy, political science and history. His readings, and perspectives on human rights, social justice and minority groups, were formed by this period, and are acknowledged by himself to have affected the way he lives his religion today. At 22, he was a tutor at Melbourne University.
However, at the time, he held a strict athiestic view that he later recognised as contradictory. Themi attributes his conversion to anti-establishment ideas that happened in greater society, such as the opposition to the Vietnam War, and to Timothy Leary's influence in exploring counter-cultural concepts in spiritual terms. This anti-establishment focus was brought to bear on Nietzsche and Marx, and Themi was to look at various religions, looking for truths in them that could be useful in an ideal world. Undergoing a Christian mystical experience, Themi then accepted Christianity as the path to God.
He did not immediately go to the Greek Orthodox Church of his parents, but first held a belief in Christ while looking for the denomination that could best understand his experience. Through reading the Bible and the life of St Francis of Assisi, Themi began to sell his property, give to the poor, and resign from his tutorship in political science. Speaking to one or two Greek Orthodox priests in Melbourne, he asked about God and was told not to inquire into God. Finding this unsatisfactory, he then went to other churches, finding in the Presbyterian church interesting people willing to discuss God and accommodate his previous experiences, people who accepted and greatly respected him. However, he began to ask why he was born a Greek and baptised Orthodox, and looked again at Orthodoxy.
Pity for the state of the Orthodox Church in Melbourne in the early seventies led him to join the Church - there was no teaching of Christ, Sunday schools, youth groups or Bible study groups, but rather joining together as a common identity of Greeks. Themi felt sorry for these people, whom he had already learnt more about the Bible than. He was immediately accepted due to being Greek, and received permission to begin a Sunday school.
Return to the academic world
Themi, after beginning a Masters of Education, transferred to a Diploma of Education for teaching at technical schools to continue his new-found association and identification with the working class. He went on to teach at Richmond Technical School, Essendon Technical School and Preston Technical School, all in the heartlands of the working class. However, his unwavering and spoken commitment to Christ meant that he was transferred from school to school, finally resigning from Lalor High School due to frustration at the continued restriction of his freedom of speech.
After this, due to the lack of Orthodox seminaries at the time, he took up studies at a Catholic theological school. He was advised by Archbishop Stylianos, the then-new Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Australia, who advised him to study at Corpus Christi College, Melbourne. He then went on to study at Holy Cross, Massachusetts, beginning a Masters of Theological Studies and concurrently studying at Harvard Divinity School. After this, he undertook a Master of Theology at Princeton Divinity School, and completed a Ph.D. at Brown University with his thesis entitled Endurance, Greek and Early Christian: The Moral Transformation of the Greek Idea of Endurance, From the Homeric Battlefield to the Apostle Paul, explaining how endurance changed from the Greek philosophical concept of something that one could do on their own, to St Paul's transformation into endurance being something a gift of God in Christ.
Fr Themistocles, by this time a tonsured monk usually called 'Br Themi', returned to Australia and, in 1986, was one of the founding lecturers at St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney, Australia; he was also teaching at Macquarie University and University of Sydney.
After considerable time lecturing, Fr Themi began to wish to personally act out his theology, and due to his being born in Africa he decided to return there in 2000, utilising his academic ability at the Orthodox Patriarchal Ecclesiastical School "Archbishop Macarius III" in Nairobi, Kenya.
Ordained and elevated in Kenya to Archimandrite, he conducted liturgies and preached in various parishes in Kenya, but his primary focus is on teaching people in Kenya to earn a living on their own. With the blessing of Archbishop Makarios, Fr Themistocles established the Saint Clement of Alexandria Philanthropic Education Centre. Through the centre, he set up a school for unemployed women to learn tailoring and dressmaking in November 2001, then a computer school for unemployed youth in 2002; in September of that year, he then set up a pre-school and primary school for children in slum areas, giving them free education, food and clothing.
In January 2003, the Teachers College was established. This grew into the Saint Clement of Alexandria Orthodox College of Africa, currently consisting of an education department and a business/information technology department, teaching for minimal cost to break the cycle of depression. Future plans include a nursing and pharmacy school; furthermore, serious negotiations are underway with the University of Thessalonica towards the creation of a Paediatric Medical School within the College. Fr Themistocles envisaged an Orthodox University of Africa.
In January 2008, Fr Themi moved from Kenya to Sierra Leone, where he involved himself in similar activities that he had initiated in Kenya. He built premises for the small, pan-African missionary team that came with him, including a chapel dedicated to St Eleftherios, and in February 2008, he began a program designed to give food to the hungry. In March, negotiations with the government led to Fr Themi having responsibility for two schools, with a total of 3500 students and 90 staff; and in May, grants were received from two Greek missionary societies, the Orthodox Missionary Fraternity and the Missionary Alliance of St. Cosmas the Aetolian - one grant to build infrastructure for one of the schools, and the other to begin construction of a Teachers College. Work began on the Teacher's College before the end of that month, and construction has begun on housing for those who wish to be involved in mission work.
- Bachelor of Arts (University of Melbourne)
- Diploma of Education
- Master of Theological Studies (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology)
- Master of Theology (Princeton Divinity School)
- Doctor of Philosophy (Brown University - dissertation on the idea of endurance from Homeric times to the writings of the Apostle Paul)
- University of Sydney, Sydney
- Macquarie University, Sydney
- St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney
- Sub-Dean, Orthodox Patriarchal Ecclesiastical School "Archbishop Macarius III", Nairobi, Kenya.
- Source: Interview with the Very Rev. Dr. Themistocles Adamopoulo, Apostle to the Poor and Oppressed by Nick Trakakis, published by Theandros (a publication edited by the Eparch of Nebraska)
- St. Clement of Alexandria Philanthropic Educational Projects in Kenya website
- Source: Rev Themi's PK4A's Sierra Leone Blog
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Sign Up If You Want To:
- Speak with a professional in detail
about driving record services.
- Discover the power of screening
Minnesota Driving Record
"Driving is a privilege and also a responsibility. Please remember to buckle up, obey speed laws and never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Respect for traffic laws and respect for other drivers will keep us all safe on the road." - Commissioner Michael Campion, Minnesota Department of Public Safety
Minnesota Driver License
Anyone who drives a motor vehicle on public streets or highways in Minnesota must carry a valid and unexpired driver's license. If you have never had a driver's license in any state or country, you must pass a knowledge test and a vision test, apply for an instruction permit, and pass a road test. If your Minnesota driver's license has been expired for more than one year, but less than five years, you must pass a knowledge test and a vision test before applying for a new license.
If you are moving to Minnesota from another state, certain U.S. territories, or Canada, you can obtain a license by passing the knowledge and vision tests. You have up to 60 days after becoming a resident to obtain your regular Minnesota license or permit; with a commercial license, up to 30 days. You must also present a valid driver's license, or one expired for less than one year, from your former home state. (See Identification Requirements) If you have a motorcycle endorsement on your out-of-state license, you can obtain a Minnesota endorsement by passing a test and paying the appropriate fees.
Minnesota Driver License Exemptions
You may drive a motor vehicle on public roads in Minnesota without a valid Minnesota driver's license or permit, if you meet one of these exceptions:
- You are a nonresident who is at least 15 years of age and have in your possession a valid driver's license issued to you in your home state or country.
- You have become a resident of Minnesota and have a valid driver's license issued by another state, a Canadian province or U.S. military authority. You have up to 60 days after becoming a resident to obtain your regular Minnesota license.
- You have a valid commercial driver's license from another state. In this case, you have up to 30 days after becoming a Minnesota resident to obtain your commercial Minnesota license.
- You are employed by, or in service to, the U.S. government and you are driving or operating (for military purposes), a commercial motor vehicle for the U.S. government.
- You are not a Minnesota resident, are at least 18 years of age, your home country does not require drivers to be licensed, and the vehicle you drive is registered for the current year in your home country. You may legally drive this vehicle in Minnesota for not more than 90 days in any calendar year without a valid license or permit.
- You temporarily drive a farm tractor or other farm implement on a public roadway.
- You are operating a snowmobile.
Minnesota Driver License Denial
A Minnesota driver's license or instruction permit will not be issued to you if
- You fail to present proper identification
- You fail to complete or pass any part of the required driver's license tests.
- You are unable to read and understand official road signs or understand state traffic law
- You are under 15 years of age
- You are under 18 years of age, do not have a valid license from another state, and cannot present a certificate proving that you have completed an approved driver education course
- You are 18 years of age or younger and have possessed an instruction permit for less than six months
- You are 19 years of age or older and have possessed an instruction permit for less than three months
- Your license is suspended and you have not met all reinstatement requirements.
- Your license is revoked and you have not met all reinstatement requirements
- Your license is canceled
- A court has ruled you to be mentally incompetent, and the Department of Public Safety has determined that you are incapable of driving a motor vehicle safely.
- The Commissioner of Public Safety has determined you to be incapable of driving a motor vehicle safely because of a physical or mental disability
- The Commissioner of Public Safety has good cause to believe that permitting you to operate a motor vehicle would be detrimental to public safety.
Minnesota Driver License Suspensions
Your drivers license may be suspended, if you:
- Repeatedly violate traffic laws.
- Are convicted in court for a violation that contributed to a traffic accident resulting in death, personal injury, or serious property damage.
- Use, or allow someone else to use, your license for an illegal action. It is illegal to allow anyone to use your license or permit.
- Commit a traffic offense in another state that would be grounds for suspension in Minnesota.
- Are judged in court to be legally unfit to drive a motor vehicle.
- Fail to report a medical condition that would result in cancellation of driving privileges.
- Fail to stop for a school bus with its stop arm extended and its red lights flashing, within five years of a conviction for the same offense.
- Are found to possess a fake or altered license.
- Make a fraudulent application for a license or identification card.
- Take any part of the driver's license examination for someone else, or allow someone else to take the examination for you.
- Falsely identify yourself to a police officer.
- Fail to appear in court or pay a fine on a motor vehicle-related violation when required to do so.
- Are convicted of a misdemeanor for a violation of Minnesota traffic law.
- Fail to pay court-ordered child support.
- Use, or allow someone else to use, a license, permit, or ID card to buy tobacco products for someone who is under 18 years of age, or alcohol for someone who is under 21 years of age.
- Are under 21 years of age, and the court determines that you drove a motor vehicle while consuming, or after consuming, alcohol.
- Pay a fee to the state or driver's license agent with a dishonored check. (The suspension will be removed when the dishonored check and any related fees have been paid in full.)
- Are convicted for theft of gasoline.
After the period of suspension has ended, your driving privilege may be reinstated, if all requirements are met. One requirement is payment of the reinstatement fee. If your license expired during the suspension period, or your name or address changed, you must apply for a new license and pay the appropriate fee.
Minnesota Speed Limits
The faster you drive, the less time you allow yourself to react to events on the road and around you. Traveling at faster speeds increases the likelihood of crashes. And when crashes occur at excessive speeds, victims injuries tend to be more serious and death is more likely to result.
Minnesota law requires you to drive at a speed no faster than is reasonable under existing conditions. These include weather, traffic, and road conditions.
Driving faster than the posted speed limit is illegal. The posted speed limit is the maximum speed permitted on that particular road.
Minimum speed limits may be posted on some roads. It is illegal to drive slower than the posted minimum speed under normal weather, traffic, and road conditions.
Additional Minnesota Resources
Minnesota County Coverage
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In an administrative order dated November 4, 2010, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission rescinded the approval of all “alcohol energy drinks” in the state of Michigan. The administrative order included a list of rescinded products entitled “Products with Stimulants” that includes MateVeza, an organic, naturally caffeinated craft beer brewed with yerba mate, the South American tea.
The administrative order states, “The safety of these intentionally infused stimulants . . . has not been established by scientific evidence or the FDA as ‘generally recognized as safe’ additives to alcoholic beverages (GRAS).” The FDA GRAS List recognizes yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) as “generally recognized as safe” without any limitations. Hops, a key ingredient in the beer brewing process, are also included on the same list without any limitations. Caffeine, on the other hand, is “generally recognized as safe” with the following limitation: “when used in cola-type beverages in accordance with good manufacturing practice.” Since MateVeza is made with yerba mate as an ingredient and not caffeine as an additive, it is in full compliance with the FDA GRAS List and is under no obligation to establish the safety of its products.
An accompanying press release titled “Alcohol Energy Drinks Banned from the Michigan Market” explains, “A typical alcohol energy drink is 24 ounces and has a 12 percent alcohol content, compared to a 12 ounce can of beer, which normally has an alcohol content ranging from 4 to 5 percent.” However, the MateVeza product referenced in the Commission’s administrative order is listed as having an alcohol percentage of 5%, which falls within their stated range of a typical beer. Contrary to the Commission’s position that Alcohol Energy Drink “packaging is often misleading”, MateVeza is packaged in 12 and 22-ounce bottles and sold alongside other craft beer products. It’s high level of hop bitterness (40 IBUs) and inclusion of a bitter tea hardly fits their characterization of a product that is “directly appealing to a younger consumer”.
Even though MateVeza is not currently sold in Michigan, MateVeza has brought this information to the attention of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission and will work to preserve its ability to conduct business in the state of Michigan. Brewing with ingredients that naturally contain caffeine such as chocolate, coffee, tea, and yerba mate (all of which are included on the FDA GRAS List) is an important part of the craft beer movement. MateVeza will do its best to preserve this tradition for all craft brewers.
The Commission’s next public hearing will be Wednesday, December 1, at 11am in Lansing, MI. If you would like to express your support for MateVeza and the practice of brewing craft beer with chocolate, coffee, tea, and yerba mate, we urge you to write the commission now and ask them to remove MateVeza from its list of rescinded products. Please remain polite and professional in your requests. The Commission’s contact information is as follows:
Nida R. Samona, MLCC Chairperson
Liquor Control Commission
P.O. Box 30005 Lansing, MI 48909
Ph: (517) 322-1345
MateVeza (Mate + Cerveza) markets and sells organic, naturally caffeinated ales brewed with yerba mate, the South American herbal tea. MateVeza was founded in 2006 by homebrewer Jim Woods after he fortuitously followed a sip of freshly brewed yerba mate with a hoppy pale ale in his San Francisco apartment. MateVeza’s award-winning initial release, Yerba Mate Gold, and new Yerba Mate IPA are brewed and bottled in Ukiah, California. MateVeza is USDA certified organic by CCOF. More information about MateVeza is available at www.mateveza.com.
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If you've been following along with this series from the beginning (see Part I and Part II here), by now you should have a pretty good sense that the exercises it features aren't your typical weight room fare. In fact, some may have already earned you some rather confused looks from your fellow gym rats. Don't worry; this is a good thing. It means that you have enough common sense to not just blindly copy what everyone else is doing and instead, take a real interest in keeping your body properly balanced to help avoid injury.
In keeping with that theme, we'll continue working our way down the body towards the hips. Aside from the powerful gluteus maximus and hip flexor muscles, there are also some smaller, lesser known muscles that play a major roll in helping keep your knees in proper alignment during exercises like squats, deadlifts and lunges, as well as while you're out on the field sprinting and making rapid changes of direction. Chief among these are your medial glutes, which are responsible for taking your leg out away from the midline of your body.
Failing to spend at least some time strengthening this decidedly unglamorous area can set you up for all sorts of problems down the road. For starters, weakness in these muscles can adversely affect the ability of your knees to "track" properly, causing widespread misalignment during weighted exercises in the gym, as well as when landing from jumps and other explosive movements while you're playing. There's good reason for you to incorporate drills like the one's featured in the video below into your training regimen several times per week.
Mike Mejia is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and the president of B.A.S.E. Sports Conditioning Inc., on Long Island, New York. For more great conditioning tips, check out his website at www.basesportsconditioning.com. Check out more of Mike's fitness-related content on ILGear.com.
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I have proteins that have been selectively labeled with a biotin moiety in a crude lysate. These biotinylated proteins represent about 5% of the total protein present. I want to pull down these proteins using streptavidin agarose, then do a trypsin digestion on resin, and analyze then analyze the results peptides by LC-MS/MS to identfy the proteins I pulled down. Here is my problem....I have a large volume of lysate (~ 4 mL) due to protein solubility issues. I am wondering what sort of set up I can use to expose the lysate to the streptavidin beads and be able to recover the solution from the beads. Does anyone have any suggestions?
affinity purification and proteomics
1 reply to this topic
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I took art in some form or another my entire school career. Starting in 6th grade all the way through college...if I think about it, it's kind of interesting that I didn't end up with some sort of Art degree or another. I sold my first painting at 19 to my college art professor and it's taken me from then to about the last month or so to realize that I AM an artist making a living from my art. I AM an artist. It's a scary thing to say out loud because in my head it opens you up to people saying "ummmm, no you're not".
Anyway...I have this deep need and desire to pass all these artsy skills down to my kids...I have to find a balance between artist and mom...the artist in me wants to teach technique while the mom in me wants them to have fun and we are learning to do both.
After our last date with watercolors and me repeatedly saying "Fill the whole page"...because that is what every art teacher says...I thought this little lesson would show them WHY that is a good thing. :) Plus, I buy them real watercolor paper to use and I don't like seeing it go to waste.
I started by taping off our first initial onto a piece of paper.
Then told Moses that he had to cover all the white on the page and showed him how.
Something seemed to click for him and he spent 30 minutes happily filling in every corner.
I taught him about blending colors and how to make them darker or lighter.
He worked happily.
And this one tried. :)
But just look at the chubby hand holding the brush! That's worth something right there. :)
When he was done I pulled off the tape to show him what he had created. He was actually shocked and surprised.
It was a good lesson. And everyone was happy. And no paper was wasted. :)
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Siu Tip Lam
It’s been very exciting to work with people in China who are passionate environmental advocates.”
Assistant Professor of Law, Director and Chief of Party, U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law
In a time when much of the American response to China's ascendancy is protective, Vermont Law School is going a different route by lending its expertise to help China clean up its environment. The useful interplay between the two cultures is apparent in the life of Siu Tip Lam, director of the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law at VLS.
Lam was born in Hong Kong the same day that her father, a sailor, jumped ship in New York in search of a better life. He worked in restaurant kitchens for nine years until being deported; he obtained legal work papers and brought his family back to Boston when Lam was 10. "I was learning what it was like to have a father and a different culture at the same time -everything was new and exciting to me," she says.
A Cantonese speaker, her English was rudimentary, but, her way paved by bilingual classes, she advanced at school at breakneck speed, gaining admission by age 12 to one of Boston's three select high schools. With her parents working long hours-her father as cook, her mother as seamstress-she was left "pretty much on my own" to study: she loved reading the Iliad in Latin. By college, she was admitted to Harvard-Radcliffe-a quantum leap, since her mother had no formal schooling and her father had reached only fourth grade. "They were peasants and raised in wartime, and they put all their hopes into us," she says.
Her pre-med plans evaporated when she found she enjoyed classes that required reading and analysis more than the chemistry lab. A course on Chinese history proved life-changing: "It made me want to get back to my roots," she says, and she graduated cum laude in East Asian Studies. She moved to Beijing for a year, teaching English at Tsinghua University, and ran head-on into a crisis of cultural identity: "I felt that I didn't belong in the U.S. because I looked different from white Americans, and I didn't belong in China because I thought too much like an American," she says. It was exacerbated by the fact that her Mandarin was limited: she would have trouble at times entering her "foreigners-only" dormitory because she looked Chinese, and she would be barred from "Chinese-only" shopping areas if they heard her foreign accent.
She returned to the U.S. with a passion for human rights issues, and landed a paralegal job in the civil rights division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, where she prepared anti-discrimination cases and realized law was her calling. At the co-op law program at Northeastern University, she combined classes with Asian-oriented internships, then put in three years as a litigation associate at a Boston law firm: "It paid my bills and my student loans, but it wasn't where my passion was," she says. When an assistant AG's position opened up in the Massachusetts AG's office, she took it and for the next 11 years worked to enforce clean air, clean water, hazardous waste, and wetlands laws: "The work was detailed, analytical and challenging, and I saw how the law could make a difference."
She met two Chinese legal scholars in the VLS-China program when they came to her office for a briefing; soon after, she was hired as the program's deputy director. "I looked hard at VLS before I came, and I was amazed to find a small law school in little, out-of-the-way South Royalton, Vermont, having such an international outlook," she says. When the director, Tseming Yang, left in May 2010 to serve as deputy general counsel for international affairs in the EPA, she stepped into his shoes.
Unlike other law schools' academically focused China programs, the VLS program is an on-the-ground, capacity-building effort that trains lawyers, judges, and regulators from governments, law schools, and NGOs to develop and enforce anti-pollution and other environmental laws. It shapes the next generation of Chinese environmental advocates by helping law schools develop environmental curriculums and clinics and by hosting visiting Chinese legal scholars. It also holds training workshops and roundtable discussions for top-level officials and produces joint policy research using VLS-Chinese student teams.
Funded with $5 million in grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the program in four years has penetrated into the top levels of government, academia, and NGOs. "It's been very exciting to work with people in China who are passionate environmental advocates," Lam says. "There's so much work to be done there and a great potential for positive change." Among the future thrusts she envisions: more outreach into top governmental bureaus, helping China reduce its environmental footprint in other countries, and a robust exchange program for professors and students.
Lam, who travels to China about six times a year, lives on a farm outside Montpelier and reads "anything fiction" in her spare time. As for the cultural identity issue, she says with a laugh, "I've grown up. Now I feel blessed to have been raised in two different cultures-I see it as a very positive experience."
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Fannie-Freddie Bailout Could Cost Taxpayers $1 Trillion
For American taxpayers, now on the hook for some $145 billion in housing losses connected to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, that amount could be just the tip of the iceberg.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the losses could balloon to $400 billion. And if housing prices fall further, some experts caution, the cost to the taxpayer could hit as much as $1 trillion.
Two things are clear: Taxpayers don’t want to foot the bill, and Fannie and Freddie, taken over by the government in 2008 to stanch the financial bloodletting, need a major overhaul.
“Some of us who don’t even own homes are paying to support others and their home ownership, and they ask ‘why?’ said Robert J. Shiller, a Yale Universityeconomics professor and co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.
The indices measure the US residential housing market by tracking changes in the value of residential real estate both nationally and in 20 metropolitan regions.
Shiller added that the mission of Fannie and Freddie should be severely cut back “so that they’re not helping middle-class homeowners, [but] they’re helping poor people get into the housing market.”
At the crux of the financial crisis, the government took over Fannie and Freddie to avert possible massive losses for banks, money-market funds and, perhaps, most importantly, foreign institutions that purchased billions of Fannie and Freddie debt because of its implied government guarantee.
The Chinese, for example, had invested heavily, and the US decided it didn’t want them to take a loss on their investment.
One possible scenario for the entities is to turn them into utilities, said Sean Dobson, CEO and chair of Amherst Securities, whose company trades as much as $50 billion in mortgages annually.
“Freddie and Fannie could be used to standardize the mortgage product,” Dobson said, “to completely describe what the risks are and then act as a conduit for the capital markets to take the risk.”
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Paul contrasts two covenants--that from Sinai, and the new covenant (implied) that is connected with the heavenly Jerusalem, and Sarah the wife of Abraham
Yes, but before the covenant from Sinai, where the people said, give us the law and we will follow it [they didn't], we have the everlasting covenant with Abraham, where God made the covenant between himself and himself [Abraham's seed], the covenant of the promise. That covenant comes down through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Ephraim. Ephraim, the house of Israel, are the children of the promise [they will be called sons of the living God].
The story of the prodigal son could be applied to house of Judah and house of Israel. Any reason why not?
11And he said, A certain man had two sons: two sons: house of Judah, house of Israel
13And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. house of Israel disappears into the gentile countries and lives like a gentile [squanders his wealth as a son]
15And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.house of Israel loses its identity. Joins the gentiles. Sloping the pigs in a gentile country.
18I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. House of Israel decides to repent and return to Father as a servant
22But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: Father dresses the house of Israel in the robe and signet ring of a king and orders a huge party to celebrate his return. The mystery is revealed to him [the Gentiles.]
24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merryhouse of Israel was lost [into a gentile identity] and is now found. House of Israel told he is a son.
29And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. house of Judah [older faithful brother] is angry because he has done all the right things and stayed with his Father and kept the law and the Temple while the younger son was out playing and slopping the pigs and acting like a gentile.
31And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.The Father assures the house of Judah that he is still a close son and an inheritor but says of his younger son:
32...: for this thy brother was was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.house of Israel, the younger son has returned to the family and thus is now alive.
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A lack of government oversight in recent years has plunged us into what may end up being the deepest banking crisis we’ve seen in 80 years; led to an obscene flood of dangerous, life-threatening products (including tainted medicines) hitting our shelves and has shown in disgusting detail how sickly cattle can make their way into our food supply. Enough may finally be enough for even some of the anti-regulation, small government types, as Elizabeth Williamson points out in her story, “Political pendulum swings toward stricter regulation” in today’s Wall Street Journal.
As you can see in the chart that ran with the WSJ article, we’re already on pace to break last year’s record number of toy recalls.
The problems stemming from a lack of government oversight are so pervasive that even some Reagan stalwarts are changing their mind about the regulatory bogeyman. Williamson writes:
Both advocates and foes of tighter regulation agree that high-profile breakdowns in quality control and accountability have fueled the pendulum swing away from voluntary industry standards. That shift has been accelerated by a growing public perception that American companies and regulators have lost a large measure of control over the safety and quality of products increasingly produced by a global supply chain.
Democrats, and even some Republicans, are blaming lax federal supervision for safety problems with products ranging from all-terrain vehicles and lead-tainted toys imported from China to poorly operated nursing homes and faulty emissions controls at coal-fired power plants.
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Patent Reform Debates Gear Up
Congress has been grappling with patent reform for nearly a decade. Several reform bills have passed in past Congresses, but none have made it into law. A new series of debates is set to begin anew in the 111th Congress.
Last week, the leadership of both the House and the Senate Judiciary Committees introduced the Patent Reform Act of 2009 (S.515/H.R. 1260). The proposal, which is already generated heated debate, contains a host of key provisions, including:
• First to File: Under this system, those who are “first to file” have priority consider for patents. Under current rules, this priority is given to the “first to invent,” a process that has contributed to extensive confusion and litigation.
• Expanded Re-examination: Provides extended time and other procedures to re-examine competing patent claims.
• Post-Grant Review: Allows for extended review of contested patents after a patent is granted.
• Damage Limitations: Places limits on damages for patent infringement.
At present, the information technology industry is strongly backing the bill, especially the damage limitation provisions. Opposition will likely focus on these provisions, as well as concerns about the “first to file” system. Stay tuned for more details.
To learn more about the Patent Reform Act of 2009 (S.515/H.R. 1260), visit the Library of Congress’ THOMAS website at http://thomas.loc.gov.
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[ISN] OMB: Modest Gains in Federal Cyber Security
isn at c4i.org
Wed Mar 8 02:10:21 EST 2006
By Brian Krebs
March 7, 2006
Federal government agencies have improved their overall computer and
network security over the past year, but many agencies are still not
doing enough to secure their systems against viruses and other cyber
attacks, according to an annual report released by The White House
The White House's Office of Management and Budget issued the findings
as part of its yearly review of how well agencies are meeting the
standards set forth in the Federal Information Security Management Act
(FISMA), which establishes specific requirements for information
security programs at federal agencies. Lawmakers in the U.S. House
have used OMB's findings for the past several years to issue "computer
security report cards" to federal agencies. Last year, the House
Government Reform Committee awarded federal agencies a combined grade
of "D-plus" for security in 2004, up from a "D" in 2003. Another round
of report cards are likely to be issued later this month.
Among the improvements in 2005, the OMB cited a 32 percent increase in
the number of federal systems that were certified and accredited as
secure, a 28 percent increase in the number of systems tested with
cyber attack contingency plans, and "modest" increases in the
development of agencywide plans to address persistent computer
However, the OMB also pointed to continued weaknesses in several key
areas, including the oversight of work done by outside contractors.
According to the report, at least six of the 24 agencies reviewed said
they only "rarely" or "sometimes" reviewed whether work done by
contractors met the government's minimum security requirements. The
report also cited a 4 percent drop in the number of systems tested
annually for computer security weaknesses.
The OMB found that federal agencies spent $5 billion securing
government systems -- or 8 percent of the total federal
information-technology budget of $62 billion. During this period, the
total number of reported computer systems increased by 19 percent to
The Department of Homeland Security, which is trying to keep track of
digital attacks against federal civilian systems, tracked 3,569
reported security "incidents" in 2005. These ranged from infections by
computer viruses and worms to distributed denial-of-service attacks,
which use thousands of hacked PCs to overwhelm a Web site with so much
traffic that legitimate users are shut out. Of those incidents, 1,806
involved some type of malware and 31 were distinct DDOS attacks.
Another 304 were related to some form of unauthorized access.
But according to OMB, those numbers almost surely mask a much larger
number of attacks: "DHS continues to find sporadic reporting by some
agencies and unusually low levels of reporting by others. Less than
full reporting hampers the government's ability to know whether an
incident is isolated at one agency or is part of a larger event, e.g.,
the widespread propagation of an Internet worm."
OMB said that in an effort to address this problem, DHS has installed
at three agencies (and has funding to install at six others) an
automated tool that "monitors network flow information and ...
transmits data to DHS." The White House didn't elaborate on what kind
of monitoring that "tool" does exactly, but it probably warrants
More information about the ISN
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Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
Saturday, January 29, 2011
New Mich. Governor Wants to End Tax Credits and Subsidies for Failed "Job Announcement Programs"
Santana Saturday: 1969 Woodstock v. 2007 Mexico
From the Plastic Age of Vinyl Records to the Digital Age: Your Phone is Now Becoming Your Wallet
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- "Credit cards may soon be as outdated as vinyl records. (Remember those?) And this is the year that the slow, steady march to oblivion begins.
You can already use your iPhone, Droid or BlackBerry to buy a hotdog at the ballgame, buy your Starbucks latté, or give a friend a few bucks by Bumping phones. But by the end of the year you may not even think twice about reaching for your phone to pay at the register instead of fumbling for your credit card."
HT: Upside Trader
School Choice: USA (0) vs. Sweden (1)
1. USA: Convict an Akron, Ohio mother of a felony and sentence her to 10 days in jail for illegally sending her children to a school in a better school district.
U.S. Real GDP Now Above Pre-Recession Level
WSJ -- "U.S. economic output finally regained the level reached before the recession, as growth sped up on stronger consumer spending and exports (see chart above).
Friday, January 28, 2011
Frightening Satellite Tour Of U.S. Foreclosures
Pretty scary satellite photo (click to enlarge) of Phoenix's foreclosures, each red dot represents a home currently in foreclosure, see more cities here.
Interactive Map of the Day
Charts of the Day: U.S. Adds Manufacturing Jobs in 2010 For the First Time in 12 Years, Since 1997
Following 12 straight years of declines, U.S. manufacturing employment increased last year by 136,000 jobs - the first annual increase in manufacturing employment since 1997 when 304,000 manufacturing jobs were added to the nation's payrolls. Also notice that there were more manufacturing jobs lost during the 2001 recession (almost 1.5 million) than in 2009 (almost 1.3 million jobs). And during the 2001-2003 recession and post-recession period, more jobs were lost (almost 2.9 million) than in the 2007-2009 period (almost 2.5 million).
As incessantly as we have heard about the "worst economic crisis since the Great Depression," the manufacturing losses illustrated above suggest that the 2001 recession was much worse for the manufacturing sector than during the most recent recession.
See related WSJ article about manufacturing being the "shining star of this recovery."
"Big Short" Paulson Continues to Be "Big Long"
The Near-Term Economic Outlook Has Improved
From the conclusion of the Dallas Fed's National Economic Update released yesterday:
"Recent data indicate that the risks of a double-dip recession and deflation have ebbed. Although the regenerating channels of credit and finance remain vulnerable to shocks, renewed signs of a self-sustaining recovery in consumer and business spending are growing as the underlying factors behind the recession and subpar recovery continue to unwind. While housing, municipal finance and labor market slack continue to detract from a more robust recovery, the near-term outlook has improved."
HT: CME Group
The U.S. Consumer is Back: 4.4% Growth in 2010:Q4 Consumer Spending Is Highest in 5 Years
Boosted by the strongest quarterly growth in real consumer spending (4.4%) in almost five years (see top chart above), real GDP growth rose 3.2% in the fourth quarter of last year (see bottom chart). The 2.9% real GDP growth for all of last year was the highest annual growth in real U.S. output since a 3.3% growth rate in 2006.
See news reports from the Wall Street Journal ("U.S. GDP Growth Accelerates") and Washington Post ("Growth Strengthened to 3.2 pct in Q4 of 2010").
Thursday, January 27, 2011
204 Businesses Left California in 2010, That's Four Times the Number in 2009, and Sets A New Record
According to relocation expert Joe Vranich, a record-setting number of business - 204 in total - left California in 2010, or re-directed substantial capital to build facilities in other states that would have expanded in California in earlier, more business-friendly years (see chart above). That number of businesses leaving California is four times the number of businesses that left in 2009 (51).
Amazon Has First $10B Quarter and It Totally Dominates the Retail Book Market by Market Cap
Founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos said in a statement: "We had our first $10 billion quarter, and after selling millions of third-generation Kindles with the new Pearl e-ink display during the quarter, Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com. Last July we announced that Kindle books had passed hardcovers and predicted that Kindle would surpass paperbacks in the second quarter of this year, so this milestone has come even sooner than we expected – and it’s on top of continued growth in paperback sales."
Actually, Amazon sales last were quarter were $12.95 billion, an increase of 36% from the fourth quarter 2009 ($9.52 billion). Net income increased 8 percent to $416 million in the fourth quarter compared with net income of $384 million in the fourth quarter 2009, an increase of 8.3%.
Quiz on a Legalization of Marijuana Poll
1. Which age group do you think would be most likely to favor the legalization of marijuana?
a. 18-34 years
b. 34-49 years
c. 50-64 years
d. 65+ years
2. What percent of Democrats and what percent of Republicans favor legalization of marijuana?
a. 75% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans
b. 68% and 28%
c. 62% and 32%
d. 55% and 38%
Find out here, based on a recent survey in the state of Washington.
Obama Is Now Pro-Business. And That's Dangerous Because Businesses Really Don't Like Competition and They'll Use Government to Try to Restrict It
Microsoft Employees 1978: Where Are They Now?
Euro Leading Index Reaches 3.5 Year High
The Conference Board announced today that its "Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the Euro Area increased 0.8 percent in December to 107.3, following a 0.6 percent increase in November and 0.2 percent increase in October," which was the highest level in three and-one-half years going back to the summer of 2007 (see chart above).
Said Jean-Claude Manini, The Conference Board senior economist for Europe: “December brought a further increase in the Euro Area LEI, and all components rose during the latter half of 2010. But, the index remains on a slower growth path than in the prior 18 months, and current conditions, as measured by the Coincident Economic Indicator, remain very weak. Meanwhile, consumer expectations are weakening; particularly when viewed in the context of fiscal consolidation and rising inflation, this is a strong reminder that the Euro Area economy continues to face strong downside risks. The U.S. LEI showed even larger increases over the same two months, but it signals a more volatile growth path.”
Earlier this week, the Conference Board announced that the Leading Economic Index for Germany increased 0.9% in November.
Markets in Everything: Smart Parking Meters
San Francisco is installing state-of-the-art 'smart' parking meters that will alert drivers to available meters via a smartphone app, which also lets folks add time to their meter from anywhere in the city. They'll also use dynamic pricing to try to make sure that 15% of the spaces in a given neighborhood are always available.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
TED: Understanding the Rise of China
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
We're In A New Super-Cycle of Global Economic Growth. World Economy Could Double by 2027
The Standard Chartered Bank in London recently released an interesting study called "The Super-Cycle Report, which suggests that in 2000 we entered a new "super-cycle" of global economic growth that will last until 2030, where "super-cycle" is defined as:
“A period of historically high global growth, lasting a generation or more, driven by increasing trade, high rates of investment, urbanization and technological innovation, characterized by the emergence of large, new economies, first seen in high catch-up growth rates across the emerging world.”
From the paper's introduction:
These are big numbers. Really big."
MP: If these estimates are accurate, it would mean that the global economy will double from its current size of $62 trillion to $126 trillion by 2027.
MinuteClinic Goes Viral, It Plans to Double the Number of Its Retail Clinics Over the Next 5 Years
IEA: A New Superabundance of Game-Changing Shale Gas Will Provide 250 Years of Natural Gas
BBC News - "The world may have twice as much natural gas than previously thought, according to the rich nations' think tank the International Energy Agency (IEA). The world may have 250 years of gas usage at current levels thanks to "unconventional gas" from shale and coal beds, Anne-Sophie Corbeau, senior gas expert at the IEA told BBC News. Estimates may even be revised upwards.
Studies are underway into newly-recoverable sources, Ms. Corbeau said. "The gas story is huge. A few years ago the United States was ready to import gas. In 2009 it had become the world's biggest gas producer. This is phenomenal, unbelievable."
HT: CME Group Twitter
Occupational Licensing Gone Wild
An 82-year old Oregon barber (pictured above) with more than half a century of experience cutting hair (he was first licensed in 1957) is accused by government authorities in Oregon of "criminal barbering" because his government license to cut hair inadvertently expired in 2006. Now state regulators want him to go back to barber school and pass a series of exams before he will be allowed to cut hair again legally. His barber shop is currently shut down to protect the public from getting their hair cut by this unlicensed, criminal barber.
HT: Wayne Sanman
See related CD post here of armed government SWAT team raids on Florida barber shops last November.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Copper Prices Rise to Record Highs, Thefts Rise Too
Paul Kedrosky reported yesterday that copper thefts are rising again, due to the all-time record high prices in recent months. The chart above displays monthly copper prices back to 1980, and shows that copper prices have tripled from $1.40 per pound at the end of 2008 to recent highs this month approaching $4.50 per pound.
According to a Google News search, there have been 545 news stories in just the last week containing the phrase "copper theft," and that compares to 665 stories during the entire year of 2009 when copper prices were between $1.50-$3.00 per pound, and 1,750 stories last year as prices rose above $4 per pound by the end of the year.
NABE Survey: Economic Recovery Gaining Strength; "Net Rising Index" for Jobs Highest in 12 Years
Dopey Strange: Protecting Us from Low Prices
"Big Sugar" Cartel Cost Consumers $4.5B Last Year
In a recent Wall Street Journal letter titled “The Sugar Program Makes Sense,” the American Sugar Alliance’s chief economist claimed that “sugar policy operates at no cost to the government and is projected to do so for the next decade.” While it’s true that U.S. sugar producers haven’t tapped American taxpayers directly since the beet sugar farmers raked in more than $240 million in farm subsidy payments from 2000 to 2005, U.S. sugar policy did force American consumers to pay out $4.5 billion last year in higher sugar prices to support the “Big Sugar” cartel.
New Journal: The Journal of Universal Rejection
- You can send your manuscript here without suffering waves of anxiety regarding the eventual fate of your submission. You know with 100% certainty that it will not be accepted for publication.
- There are no page-fees.
- You may claim to have submitted to the most prestigious journal (judged by acceptance rate).
- The JofUR is one-of-a-kind. Merely submitting work to it may be considered a badge of honor.
- You retain complete rights to your work, and are free to resubmit to other journals even before our review process is complete.
- Decisions are often (though not always) rendered within hours of submission.
There's A Coming Doctor Shortage. But Why?
And whatever those restrictions are that have kept the number of medical graduates fixed at the same level for thirty years in the face of a rising and aging population, they have to be a major factor in the rising costs of medical care. If we had artificially restricted the number of auto mechanics or hair stylists at early 1980 levels, we'd be complaining today with the rising costs of car repair and hair cuts.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
International Study: Most Affordable Housing? Saginaw, MI. Least Affordable Housing? Hong Kong
1. Housing affordability in 2010 was little changed from previous years, with the most affordable housing markets being in the United States and Canada. The United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand continue to experience pervasive unaffordability.
2. The most affordable major market was Atlanta, with a median house price of $129,400, and a Median Multiple of 2.3 (see chart above). Indianapolis ($120,200) and Rochester, N.Y. ($121,500) tied for 2nd most affordable major market, at a Median Multiple of 2.4. Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit tied for 4th most affordable, with a Median Multiple of 2.5, followed by Buffalo, Las Vegas and St. Louis at 2.6. Eleven other US major markets were rated affordable, including fast growing Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Jacksonville and Nashville.
3. All major markets in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Hong Kong were severely unaffordable. Hong Kong ranked as the least affordable major market (82nd), with a median multiple of 11.4 (see chart above). Sydney ranked second most unaffordable, at a Median Multiple of 9.6 (81st), having slipped behind last year’s most unaffordable market, Vancouver at 9.5 (which ranked 80th). Melbourne ranked 79th, with a Median Multiple of 9.0. Plymouth & Devon, San Francisco, London and Adelaide all had Median Multiples of more than 7.0.
Why does housing affordability matter?
"The cost of unaffordable housing extends to metropolitan area competitiveness. This is illustrated by an analysis of housing costs, using the Median Multiple, for more than 500 United States metropolitan areas. Between 2000 and 2009, the more unaffordable metropolitan areas lost 9.6 percent of their residents (4.7 million) by domestic migration to other areas, nearly 10 percent of their 2000 population. By contrast, the less expensive metropolitan areas gained 4.2 million domestic migrants (2.3 percent of their population). Of course the migration of households between metropolitan areas is the result of a number of factors. But the unprecedented housing affordability differences that have developed in US metropolitan areas are strongly associated with domestic migration trends. All things being equal, households will be drawn to less costly metropolitan areas and away from more costly metropolitan areas, as they seek to enhance their overall standard of living."
What cities in the U.S. have the most affordable housing? See chart below, Saginaw, Michigan is #1, Flint, Michigan is #2 and four out of the top six cities are in Michigan:
Quote of the Day
Port of L.A. Sets New Export Record in 2010
"Year-over-year container traffic at the Port of Los Angeles surged 16 percent in 2010, with a record number of exports leading the way. Port exports rose 10.3 percent in 2010 to 1,841,274 TEUs compared to 1,668,911 in 2009 and surpassed the previous container export record of 1,782,502 TEUs in 2008 (see chart above). Meanwhile, imports increased 12.8 percent in 2010 (3,973,933 TEUs) compared to 2009 (3,524,386 TEUs)."
With this 16 percent increase in 2010 container volumes, the Port of Los Angeles is putting people back to work and doing its part to help President Obama meet his goal to double national exports over the next five years,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. “This is good news not only for Los Angeles, but cities across the nation."
See related CD post here.
World Industrial Output is Above Pre-Recession Level and International Trade Is Not Far Behind
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The world of Brazilian humor is largely male-dominated (though that's changing), meaning that a lot of popular, mainstream comedy--such as TV and websites--has a lot of machista, homophobic jokes. With growing feminist and LGBT rights advocacy in Brazil, comedians are sometimes coming under fire for targeting women and gays. To a lesser extent, there's also emerging criticism of racism in comedy.
Part of the reason the documentary is compelling stems from the fact that you really can appreciate both sides of the political correctness debate. On one hand, you can understand why in some cases, people shouldn't take humor so seriously--it's a joke, after all. You can also see how those in favor of political correctness can sound a bit annoying, which I found surprising, since two of the activists featured in the film (LGBT activist and Congressman Jean Wyllys and feminist writer Lola Aronovich) are seasoned, compelling advocates. On the other hand, you can also understand why it's important to change the ways people think and promote tolerance, since humor not only reveals societal prejudices, but can help promote them. This is pertinent when it comes to homophobia, for example, since Brazil reportedly has the largest number of gay hate crime murders in the world.
Director Pedro Arantes told TRIP that it's possible to enjoy humor without feeling guilty:
"[Y]ou're going to laugh at something at some point and later on you're not going to find it funny anymore. Some things you didn't find funny before, you'll later find funny. That's one of the goals of the film. It's not to make anyone feel guilty because he laughed at something. When I was younger, I laughed a lot at gay jokes. Now, having thought about it, I really don't find those jokes funny anymore. You work through it in your head and from then on you don't find it funny anymore. The idea of the movie is to show this: guys, it's ok. We laugh and that's part of life. But we have to think things through. Guilt is a torturous feeling. You don't need to make yourself feel guilty--you just need to reflect."
The movie looks at how humor can reveal problems with limiting free speech. Comedian Rafinha Bastos has had this happen numerous times. After making a horribly tasteless joke about rape last year, he was asked to testify before prosecutors for "inciting rape." (As the movie shows, the incident also spurred a productive conversation about rape in Brazil.) He was sued by a famous singer after making a similarly tasteless joke about her baby, and the singer won in January. Pending appeals, Bastos will have to pay the singer R$100,000 (around $47,000). Just this week, he was involved in a new scandal, after Bastos called TV personality Luciano Huck an "inconsequential playboy" in an open letter. Huck was recently fined and lost his license after refusing a breathalyzer at a traffic stop. Huck said he would sue Bastos for making the comments, though Bastos has since apologized.
The film also explores how Brazilian comedy often reveals racism, homophobia, and sexism. In Brazil, hate speech is actually a crime: making disparaging remarks about religion, ethnicity, or race can actually lead to fines and even jail time. (Some LGBT activists are pushing for hate speech related to sexual orientation to be included in such laws.) But these laws restricting freedom of expression don't necessarily change attitudes, as Taylor Barnes describes in a recent Christian Science Monitor piece about hate speech crimes in Brazil:
Despite a constitutional principle of freedom of expression, Brazilian lawmakers and law enforcement have drawn the line when it comes to agitating racial, religious, or ethnic tensions. And though the legislation is widely accepted as legitimate, even advocates of criminalizing intolerance say the best the law can do is make an offender hold his or her tongue, rather than change the racial and religious tensions that still run deep in Brazilian society.
In a country where social movements are increasingly gaining traction, where dictatorship-era censorship legislation still lingers, and where rising levels of access to education and technology are helping to forge change, the debate to balance free speech and political correctness will be an interesting one to watch.
Hat tip to Alex Castro for the documentary.
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Early Day Motion calls on government to improve environmental risk assessment in investment.
A cross-party group of UK Members of Parliament (MPs) has called on their parliamentary peers to push UK pension funds to do more to look at environmental risk in their investment as a result of the ongoing BP Deepwater oil spill disaster. Three UK MPs, Zac Goldsmith (Conservative), Martin Horwood (Liberal Democrat) and Caroline Lucas (Green Party) have lodged an Early Day Motion – an open discussion book for comment by MPs – that calls on the government to make pension funds report fully on their policy and practice regarding environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks. The motion says uncertainty over BP’s share price and quarterly dividend as a result of the Deepwater disaster will hit ordinary pension savers. It adds: “This incident clearly demonstrates that environmental risks are also financial risks….pension funds should do more to integrate environmental risk assessment into their investment practices.” Further discussion on the responsibility of UK pension funds on ESG issues has
also taken place in the House of Lords. Labour peer Lord Harrison, asked whether the new UK coalition government would consider strengthening the reporting by pension funds to shareholders of ESG risks. In response, Lord Freud, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, said: “BP is a major dividend payer. I think that last year it paid approximately 14% of all dividends in the FTSE100. This raises the question that the noble Lord has just asked: to what extent are pension funds acting responsibly with regard to their ownership responsibilities to companies? There have been improvements in that over the past decade, but the question that we need to consider is whether they have improved enough.”
BP, whose share price has dropped by more than 40% – wiping billions off the company value – since the Deepwater explosion, will announce its next dividend payment on 27 July. Any dividend cut would be the first made by the company in 18 years.
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Comparisons harm Mideast peace efforts
Nimer Sultany, in his Another Voice, made comparisons of Israel and its leaders to David Duke, Jim Crow and apartheid. Sultany is a Palestinian teaching at Tel Aviv University. How many Israelis are teaching in Saudi Arabian, Syrian or Iranian universities? Israel needs to negotiate with someone who believes that a Jewish state can exist in Israel. Sultany’s comparisons do nothing to further peace, and his falsehoods only serve to promote propaganda.
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When the data is before you, it's clear to see how agile can improve productivity and time to market. If you're considering a transition to agile but don't know how to make the case to upper management, this week's column by Johanna Rothman provides you with the data you'll need.
"Hey, Dan, it's time for us to move to agile," explained Tristan, a project manager.
"Tristan, you've been singing that tune for a while," replied Dan, a member of the PMO.
"Well, now I have data that I think you can use with the rest of the PMO and with our senior managers. Look at these cumulative flow diagrams."
"Cumulative what diagrams?"
"Cumulative flow. Look, they show us how much work is in progress and how much is done at any given time in a project. If you know you have a lot of work in progress, you know the project can't finish soon. If you know there's not a lot of work in progress, you can decide when to end a project. Here, take a look at these cumulative flow diagrams for my project."
One of the powerful motivators for teams, programs, and managers to consider agile approaches to projects is to see the amount of work in progress.
Figure 1 shows Tristan's cumulative flow diagram early in the project, when he was using a serial lifecycle.
|Figure 1: Serial project early in the project|
Tristan's project used a serial lifecycle until July. Because the project team was looking at all the features to try to freeze the requirements and architecture, Tristan decided the team was working on all the features. He thought that the team had finished maybe five of the features, so they got credit for those completed features. But they added an additional fifty features, so it sure didn't look like they were making progress.
When he saw the diagram for July, he couldn't see how they would finish this project in a year. That's when they moved to an incremental lifecycle, so that the team could finish chunks of work.
Now, take a look at figure 2, Tristan's cumulative flow diagram when they moved to an incremental lifecycle for the months of July, August, and September.
|Figure 2: When Tristan moved to an incremental lifecycle in July|
The project still has a ton of in-process work, but some of the features are complete. In an incremental lifecycle, you finish a feature as if you were going to release it. The entire feature is designed, coded, integrated, and tested. The code is checked into the code base and is ready for other people to use it.
Because Tristan's increments weren't timeboxed, some of the features still took longer to complete. When Tristan moved to timeboxes and finished increments of work inside timeboxes, his cumulative flow diagram looked like figure 3.
|Figure 3: Seeing how timeboxes even out progress|
Once Tristan added timeboxes to help the team finish the features they could commit to in an iteration, the team had a regular delivery of features into the code base. Surprisingly enough, they finished the project on time, although they had plenty of trouble with defects from their early work.
As Tristan explained to Dan, "There's still a hockey stick for finishing the features, but look at the progress we made starting in September. The timeboxes helped us focus on just the features we wanted to commit to in this iteration, not all the features that were started. Once we got to November, it looks as if we had hope-we finished as many features as we started. It took us an extra month to finish this project, but if you draw the green line from May straight across, I think that would have resulted in our features finishing with a much sharper hockey stick at the end, and much later."
Dan asked, "What do you mean?"
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Marks & Spencer (M&S) is calling on its customers and employees to don their wellies and volunteer to help their local community by cleaning the beach at Douglas.
With the support of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and the Canal & River Trust (CRT), this year's M&S Big Beach Clean-up will take place at 113 beaches across the UK including Douglas. The event will take place on Wednesday 24th April and it is hoped that many local people will get involved.
The target is to clear more than 15 tonnes of litter – more than the weight of a double decker bus – from all 113 beaches.
According to the MCS there are two pieces of litter on every metre of our coastline, most of it plastic. The harmful impacts of plastic on the UK’s marine life are becoming ever more apparent and the MCS is concerned that plastic pieces are found in the digestive systems of fish including Whiting, John Dory and Gurnard.
Last year over 6,000 people (4,000 M&S employees and 2,000 M&S customers) volunteered and collected 3,200 bin bags full of litter after cleaning over 100km of beaches and canals. The bags weighed in at over 11.5 tonnes. This included 12,800 wrappers and 2,850 tin cans.
Simon Lucas, Head of Region for M&S in Northern Ireland said: “Our Big Beach Clean-up is a great way for customers and M&S colleagues to volunteer, help their local community and protect our precious marine life. It’s a great fun, outdoor activity that gives our customers and staff the opportunity to help the environment and their community.
“We are encouraging anyone who wishes to attend the Douglas beach clean to register in advance at www.mcsuk.org/foreverfish to receive a money-off at M&S voucher on the day*.”
The M&S Big Beach Clean-up is part of M&S’ Forever Fish campaign which is funded by the profits from the 5p carrier bag charge in M&S foodhalls. Since its introduction in 2008, the charge has reduced carrier bag use by 78 per cent and raised over £4 million for charity.
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Two recent court cases on two continents make me very nervous. That they’re even being tried is outrageous. That either may succeed is ominous, and few people know anything about either one.
First is the case of Roger Barnett - an Arizona rancher who has been under siege by illegal immigrants and drug dealers. In the Washington Times
, Barnett claims illegals “tore up water pumps, killed calves, destroyed fences and gates, stole trucks and broke into his home.” Now sixteen illegals are suing him in federal court for $32 million, accusing him of “conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch next to the US-Mexico border.” The sixteen illegals claim Barnett caused them emotional distress by holding them at gunpoint and they want $2 million each.
Chief among our federal government’s responsibilities is to protect American citizens from foreign invasion, but it’s done little or nothing to help Barnett. Rather than protecting him, our government instead enables foreign invaders to sue him. That’s how bad it’s gotten.
The US Department of Homeland Security acknowledges virtual anarchy on the border and warns that Mexico itself is on the verge of collapse
. That would come as no surprise to Barnett, who must wonder about his own country as well if it cannot, or will not control its borders. The DHS report states: “[Mexico’s] government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. . . . Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone.”
Drug cartel power depends on moving drugs across our border. We are their market. I’d say an American response is overdue already, wouldn’t you? USA Today reported
in 2005 that: “First [New Mexico Governor] Richardson, then [Arizona Governor] Napolitano, declared a state of emergency this month in portions of their states along the border with Mexico.”
The second case is that of Geert Wilders in Holland: A Member of Parliament, Wilders has been charged with hurting Muslim immigrant feelings in Holland by “inciting racial hatred
.” He made a film called “Fitna
” comparing the Koran to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” As Dr. Sami Alrabaa reports in Canadian Free Press
: “Wilders’ comparison of the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and describing it as a fascist book is not inappropriate. Hitler referred to the Jews as “rats and vermin” and the Koran and fascist Muslims call the Jews “The descendants of apes and pigs.”
When radical Muslims incite racial hatred in Holland, it’s okay. When a member of Holland’s government points it out, it’s a crime.
Dr. Alrabaa also writes that “Muhammad Sayyid Al Tantawi, president of Al Azhar University [established 975 AD in Cairo] also approves of killing and maiming Christians, Jews, and other infidels. He added, ‘This is not my personal view. This what the Shari’a Law says, the law of Allah, the only valid law on the earth.’”
There. I’ve pointed it out. I’m a criminal too.
Geert Wilders was invited by a member of the British House of Lords to show his film there. When he landed in London last Friday, he was promptly deported. The London Daily Telegraph reported
: “Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary refused Mr. Wilders entry because his opinions ‘would threaten community security and therefore public security’ in the UK.”
So, when Muslim clerics in the UK preach hatred and violent jihad against the British government, it’s all right. But when Wilders expresses a negative opinion about that preaching, he’s the threat, not them.
This is what Europe, seat of western civilization and democracy, has come to.
Back here, groups like MALDEF
(Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) use the US Constitution to bring suit against Americans like Roger Barnett when he tries to defend his property. MALDEF doesn’t recognize the US border. Similar radical Mexican groups like MEChA deny the legitimacy of state governments all across the southwestern United States, calling the area “Aztlan” and claiming themselves as indigenous people not subject to US law
. MEChA has chapters in most colleges across the American southwest. If you check out their web site here
, you’ll see their symbol: an eagle gripping an Aztec war club in one talon and a stick of dynamite with its fuse lit in the other. Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante are former members
MEChA receives funding from La Raza
(“The Race”). Politicians across America go out of their way to pay homage to “The Race.” President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain addressed the organization during the 2008 campaign, where both virtually promised amnesty for illegals. Two out of three voted for Obama
Barnett and Wilders are brave men defending western civilization on the front lines. If they go down, watch out.
Labels: Euroweenies, Illegal aliens, immigration, Islamofascism
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The Baltimore area is getting back to normal after Sandy — government offices are open, trains are running again and the lights are on at 95 percent of the homes and businesses that lost power.
But Sandy's dangers linger. A man clearing storm-damaged trees in Annapolis was killed Wednesday by a falling tree, the third Maryland death related to the post-tropical cyclone that had been Hurricane Sandy.
Across the state, many residents took stock of damage and mopped up Wednesday. Evacuated residents returned to Ocean City. Gov. Martin O'Malley visited the resort town and Somerset County on the Eastern Shore, where roads flooded and the schools might remain closed into next week.
But even Wednesday the storm continued in Garrett County — adding more snow to the 2-feet-plus already dumped on the far corner of Western Maryland. And snow could keep falling into Thursday or even early Friday, the National Weather Service warned Wednesday.
Sandy trapped Garrett residents in their homes, blocked snowplows with downed trees, and left most of the county without power Wednesday night. And though the highways are passable, high winds prevented truckers from coming in with supplies to restock bare shelves at major grocers, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency said.
"We're kind of moving on to the recovery stage in many other areas, but in Garrett in particular we're still working on life-safety issues," said Ed McDonough, a spokesman for the emergency management agency.
It's a taste of the massive problems facing hard-hit New Jersey and New York, where a mix of rain, wind, storm surges and even fire wreaked havoc.
On Wednesday, patients were evacuated from yet another damaged hospital in Manhattan, New York City transit authorities warned that repairs to flooded subway and road tunnels would be costly, and President Barack Obama visited storm-pummeled areas of New Jersey with that state's governor, Chris Christie.
About 4 million customers were without power in the two states late Wednesday afternoon.
In Maryland, outages fell to 46,000 Thursday morning from a peak of 365,000 early Tuesday, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency said.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. said it brought its tally of customers with restored power to more than 325,000 Thursday morning, with just under 18,000 still without electricity. Wednesday evening, the utility said it believed the "vast majority" would have their power back by Friday night.
"Outages involving smaller numbers of customers and/or significant system damage may extend into the weekend," said BGE spokesman Rob Gould said by email.
Outages caused by the June 29 derecho dragged on for as long as eight days, but that windstorm hit with almost no warning and put about twice as many BGE customers in the dark.
BGE said trees downed by Sandy's winds began taking out parts of the system as early as Sunday, but most of the outages occurred Monday and Tuesday. With help from about 1,900 out-of-state utility workers, BGE sheared back the outage figures Tuesday and Wednesday.
"The ability for advance preparation really made a big difference," said Paula M. Carmody, people's counsel for the state of Maryland, whose office represents utility customers. "We've been glad to see the numbers moving pretty rapidly in terms of the outage restorations."
That's true statewide except in Garrett County, where the heavy, wet snow greatly complicated efforts to restore the electricity. The Potomac Edison Co., which serves the county, said about 15,000 homes and businesses were without power Thursday morning — two-thirds of the population.
In some of Garrett County's small towns, not a single building had power.
Potomac Edison said it expected that its Maryland customers outside of Garrett would all have their power back on by 6 p.m. Saturday, but it's not yet giving an estimate for Garrett — just warning residents not to expect full restoration before next week.
"It's been a challenge to get around," said Todd Meyers, a spokesman for Potomac Edison. "It's going to be a marathon there, not a sprint."
Sandy's damage appears to be worse than what the derecho inflicted on Garrett, he said. The snow is so dense that its weight is toppling even leafless trees — a problem that continued Wednesday, increasing the outage tally for a while even as Potomac Edison worked on repairs. But state and county efforts to plow main roads have helped utility crews get to more locations, Meyers said.
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News tagged with vietnam
A new analysis has found a link between exposure to Agent Orange and lethal forms of prostate cancer among US Veterans. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findin ...
Cancer May 13, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
French drugmaker Sanofi said Friday that it had begun building a new manufacturing facility in Vietnam to serve the expanding pharmaceutical market in southeast Asia.
Medications Mar 29, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
US war veterans on Monday suggested meditation to help heal the post-war mental disturbances that afflict a growing number of American soldiers, including possibly the ex-Marine who gunned down the country's most famous sniper ...
Psychology & Psychiatry Feb 05, 2013 | 3 / 5 (2) | 1
Western babies are potty trained later these days and need diapers until an average of three years of age. But even infants can be potty trained. A study by researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, ...
Health Jan 30, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
A new study of 152 Vietnam veterans with combat-related brain injuries offers the first detailed map of the brain regions that contribute to emotional intelligence – the ability to process emotional information ...
Neuroscience Jan 22, 2013 | 4.3 / 5 (7) | 0 |
Among deployed U.S. service members who died of combat or unintentional injuries between 2001-2011 and underwent autopsies, the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis was 8.5 percent, with factors associated with a higher ...
Cardiology Dec 25, 2012 | not rated yet | 0
(AP)—Vietnam has recorded more cases of hand, foot and mouth disease this year than in 2011, but the fatality rate has decreased sharply.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Nov 09, 2012 | not rated yet | 0
From deformed infants to grandparents with cancer, families near Vietnam's Danang Airbase have long blamed the toxic legacy of war for their ills. Now after a decades-long wait, a historic "Agent Orange" clean-up is finally ...
Health Aug 09, 2012 | not rated yet | 0
(AP) -- America's newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.
Health May 27, 2012 | 5 / 5 (2) | 1
Scientists report that they have mapped the physical architecture of intelligence in the brain. Theirs is one of the largest and most comprehensive analyses so far of the brain structures vital to general ...
Neuroscience Apr 10, 2012 | 4.7 / 5 (12) | 0 |
Undergraduate students at Rice University have come up with what they hope will prove to be a better and safer version of cervical collars to stabilize the heads and necks of accident victims. Cervical collars ...
Other Apr 09, 2012 | not rated yet | 0
Vietnam says a large ongoing outbreak of a common childhood virus could worsen this year.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Feb 21, 2012 | 4 / 5 (1) | 0
A man left unable to walk by a tumour on his right leg that weighs more than the rest of his body went under the knife in Vietnam on Thursday to have the growth removed, hospital officials said.
Other Jan 05, 2012 | not rated yet | 0
(AP) -- Vietnam says an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease has killed 156 people, mostly children, and sickened more than 96,000 through late November.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Dec 16, 2011 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0
(AP) -- The World Health Organization says an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease has surged in Vietnam, killing 98 children and sickening more than 42,000 others this year.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sep 10, 2011 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0
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By Steve Weinstein
By Rachel Kramer Bussel
By Tim Elfrink
By Sydney Brownstone
By Graham Rayman
By Graham Rayman
By Graham Rayman
By Nick Pinto
The families are particularly concerned that the police's interaction with their children is psychologically damaging. "There is a problem in the African American community where boys suffer because they don't feel loved and protected and valued in society," says Cornegy, Robert's dad. "This issue is a good example of the problem." Kweli Campbell says her 13-year-old son "needs counseling now, though he won't admit it." He was involved in the May 13 fight that started everything. Campbell says that seeing the ones they believe responsible for Robert's new facethe SBBsfree to hang out and make noise while the black and Latino kids are policed adds to the bad feelings.
The parents are gaining broad support. New York Civil Liberties Union lawyer Christopher Dunn says his group is investigating the situation. If police are, in fact, forcing kids out of the neighborhood, the NYCLU will ask them to stop. "They have every right to be there," Dunn says, adding that if police don't listen, the next step could be a lawsuit.
Kamau Franklin, a lawyer for the national Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, says that group has also been investigating the police's treatment of the middle schoolers. When school starts in September, the Malcolm X Cop Watch team will be outside of the subway station, video cameras running, to catch any cops in the act of harassing kids. "When you shuttle kids out of the community you are sending the wrong message to the [SBB] gang members," he says. "The police's response to the tensionarresting black and brown studentshas been outrageous."
The presence of cops in and around city schools has been the source of contention for several years. Giuliani put them in charge of school safety in 1998. As former Board of Education member Irving Hamer told the Voice in 2001, that move led to a doubling of court summonses for teens, but failed to put a dent in the number of assaults and robberies on school grounds. Hamer lamented that it "criminalized school buildings."
But City Councilmember Letitia James, who represents many of the Brooklyn Collaborative families, says there's a big difference between having police in classrooms, which she is against, and having police on the streets protecting students, which she'd like to see more of. The problem in Carroll Gardens, she says, is that a sound policy seems to have been turned against the very kids it is meant to protect.
"I have seven schools I've been begging to have Safe Corridors for, but they say they don't have the resources," James says, describing a world in which kids are jumped and mugged and forced to weave their way home through gang violence. "But I was very disturbed to find out about the arrests of the children I represent. They come from good, solid familiesI have no problem with giving them a safe passage when they are ready to go home, but if they are being told to 'leave expeditiously' to avoid problems in that neighborhood, that's a problem."
A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the manner in which Safe Corridors is applied depends largely upon the parties who ask for it. In James's district, police might be told they are to protect the kids, but in Carroll Gardens, they might just be told to keep the neighborhood quiet.
That quiet might come at the cost of these kids' civil rights. As a practical matter, you can't make the SBBs leavethey live there. But politically, you can afford to shoo the others along, because they've got no clout in the neighborhood. Robert's parents, for example, were a 50-minute subway ride away. His teachers and principal don't have much pull in Carroll Gardens either, because the school has only been there five years. That's about five seconds in Brooklyn years.
Amy Sumner, parent coordinator for the elementary school housed in the same building as Brooklyn Collaborative, says she wishes police would have focused less on policing the middle schoolers and more on finding Robert's slashernot only for the sake of law and order, but to show the kids that it is possible to successfully resolve conflicts through legal means. "We need to see some action," she adds. "We need to bring him to justice to show the kids that the right way works." The right way, she insists, cannot include making the middle school students feel undesired and persecuted.
In spite of their dissatisfaction with the way local cops have handled things, Brooklyn Collaborative parents have been trying to keep things constructive, starting with organizing the "parent watch" for when school starts this fall. Cornegy plans to be there helping out at the subway station, although his son will be at a high school in a different neighborhood next year. "As a family, it would be the easiest thing in the world for us to walk away, but we are not. We don't want other kids to have to go through this."
He and his family have already given to the middle school community. The Monday after his son was slashed, Cornegy brought Robert to school for a special assembly. He wanted the classmates to get a good look at his pumpkin-carved face laced with stitches. "It ends here," the six-foot-ten dad told the 13- and 14-year-olds as his son stood silently by. "And we want absolutely no retributionwe are handling this through the proper channels." The trouble is, say the parents, the proper channels are letting them down.
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In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court ruled on 13 July 2011 that English courts do not have the power to order that a “closed material procedure” be used in civil proceedings, thus defeating the government’s attempt to rely on secret material in such cases involving issues of national security.
The judgment in Al Rawi & Ors (Respondents) v The Security Services & Ors (Appellants) arose out of civil claims brought against MI5 and MI6 and various government departments by a group of former Guantanamo detainees who alleged that the UK had been complicit in their extraordinary rendition and torture by the US. Leigh Day & Co represented UK resident Binyam Mohamed in the proceedings.
The government argued that a large part of the relevant evidence in the cases was too sensitive to be disclosed and sought permission to adopt a ‘closed material procedure,’ whereby the judge, but not the claimants nor their lawyers, would be provided with the evidence and defences on which the government relied at trial.
Such an approach, if upheld by the courts, would have represented a radical departure from the current system under which a party may argue for certain documents to be withheld from disclosure on the grounds of ‘public interest immunity’ (“PII”), but may not then seek to rely on those documents as evidence at trial. It would have also led to the prospect of secret trials, at which one party would not be present, and closed judgments, which one party (and the public) would not be allowed to see.
The government’s argument was accepted at first instance by Silber J, but was subsequently resoundingly rejected by the Court of Appeal, whose decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Dyson LJ, in his judgment, held that “a closed material procedure involves a departure from both the open justice and the natural justice principles” and that the “flaws” in such a procedure could not be “cured” by the special advocate system. He raised the question, “in what circumstances can it ever be in the interests of justice to deny a litigant in ordinary civil claims (including claims for judicial review) the rights which are entrenched in our common law system as being fundamental requirements of justice itself.”
Brown LJ further held “[t]he rule of law and the administration of justice concern more, much more, than just the interests of the parties to the litigation. The public too has a vital interest in the conduct of proceedings. Open justice is a constitutional principle of the highest importance. It cannot be sacrificed merely at the say so of the parties.”
The Supreme Court held that such radical changes to legal procedure could only be brought in by Parliament through legislation. The Prime Minister has indicated that his government intends to introduce a green paper on this very subject, so there remains a risk that secret evidence could still be introduced into civil trials in England and Wales.
Sapna Malik, the Leigh Day & Co partner who represented Binyam Mohamed in his civil claim, comments: “The Supreme Court’s ruling represents a real victory for open justice and the rule of law. The past decade has seen a disturbing trend towards secrecy and closed proceedings in our courts. This has been of particular concern in proceedings, such as these, where the Government is accused of complicity in torture and wrongful detention. We hope that in light of this ruling, the Government will now reconsider its proposals to extend the use of secret evidence in the courts.”
The ruling came a week after further details of the “Detainee Inquiry” were announced. The Inquiry will examine whether, and if so to what extent, the UK Government in the aftermath of 9/11 was involved in the improper treatment, or rendition, of detainees held by other countries in counter terrorism operations overseas and/or was aware of improper treatment, or rendition of detainees held by other countries in couter terrorism operations in which the UK was involved.
Disappointingly, the Inquiry Chair, Sir Peter Gibson, has not conceded to requests made by lawyers representing former detainees, including Leigh Day & Co, and a coalition of NGOs for measures to ensure that the former detainees are properly represented and that those in the intelligence services and wider government are fully held to account. For instance, there will be no cross-examination of witnesses to the inquiry and the government will have the final say on which documents are to be disclosed. The Detainee Inquiry will be a far cry from the “Baha Mousa Inquiry,” which is due to report this Autumn.
For further information, please contact Sapna Malik or Keren Adams on 0207 650 1222.
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Meanwhile, White Space Spat Continues...
There nail-spitting continues over the use of unlicensed transmission devices in taboo TV channels, otherwise known as “white space.” The channels have traditionally been left unlicensed to prevent interference to and between TV station signals. However, with the increased dissemination of digital communications devices and the push for wireless broadband, the taboo channels have become a source of conflict.
On one side, broadcasters fear that allowing thousands of untrackable transmitters in the TV spectrum will wreak havoc with DTV reception, which in some cases is already a bit dodgey. (See “Free TV Eludes Me
”.) FCC rules prohibit devices that interfere with TV signals, but unlicensed mobile transmitters would be nearly impossible to trace. By the time a TV viewer figured out who to call about the problem, the device and its owner would likely be long gone.
That“s assuming a TV viewer had the most remote clue about the source of the interference, rather than just kicking the TV, switching channels, or calling the cable company to sign up.
The FCC has been conducting field tests on unlicensed devices, most recently at FedEx Field in Maryland and on the Great White Way in New York City. The devices are supposed to detect incumbent signals and either hop to other available spectrum or shut down. Some did not.
Device makers noted that the technology was still under development and that certain aspects functioned properly. Motorola, for example said its geo-location technology worked properly.
Broadcast lobbies and wireless mic makers, who also have skin in the game, said the devices failed to demonstrate noninterference. Shure, the Niles, Ill., microphone company, said “the devices failed to accurately sense wireless microphone transmissions” during the FedEx Field tests.
Proponents of unlicensed devices are dismissive of broadcasters“ concerns. Harold Feld, senior vice president of the Media Access Project, was right-down catty about Shure.
“As folks may recall,” Feld wrote in his policy blog
, “the primary opponents of opening the broadcast white spaces for use, the broadcasters and the wireless microphone manufacturers--notably our good friend and radio pirate Shure, Inc. (official slogan: “We get to break the law “cause we sound so good.“”)--insisted that the FCC conduct field tests on the white spaces prototypes.
“Of course, because these are concept prototypes and not functioning devices certified to some actual standard, everyone knew this would leave lots of leeway for the broadcasters and the wireless microphone folks to declare the tests a “failure“ regardless of the actual results.”
Google, another proponent of unlicensed devices, has launched Free the Airwaves
, a Web site expounding the virtues of tapping the white space.
“Remember that fuzzy static between channels on the old TVs?” the site states. “Today more than three-quarters of those radio airwaves, or "white space" spectrum, are completely unused. This vast public resource could offer a revolution in wireless services of all kinds, including universal wireless Internet.”
The site fails to mention that Google stands to make a mint
on unlicensed devices, and how anyone with enough Google stock would logically be sending post cards to Capitol Hill.
David Donovan, chief of the Association for Maximum Service Television, was one of the first people in the broadcast industry to oppose the white space movement. Donovan said Google“s Web site should be renamed “Interfere with the Free Airwaves Campaign.”
“American consumers, who have invested billions of dollars in new digital television sets, deserve to have interference-free over-the-air digital television,” Donovan said. “This investment should not be undermined by a few companies simply because they want access to spectrum.”
The saga continues.
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Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States that provides products, technologies, software, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors.
The company was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by William (Bill) Redington Hewlett and Dave Packard. Currently, HP was the world's leading PC manufacturer until 2010,losing the position to Apple Inc in 2011. It specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, and networking hardware, designing software and delivering services. Major product lines include personal computing devices, enterprise, and industry standard servers, related storage devices, networking products, software and a diverse range of printers, and other imaging products. HP markets its products to households, small- to medium-sized businesses and enterprises directly as well as via online distribution, consumer-electronics and office-supply retailers, software partners and major technology vendors. HP also has strong services and consulting business around its products and partner products.
Major company events have included the spin-off of part of its business as Agilent Technologies in 1999, its merger with Compaq in 2002, and the acquisition of EDS in 2008, which led to combined revenues of $118.4 billion in 2008 and a Fortune 500 ranking of 9 in 2009. In November 2009, HP announced the acquisition of 3Com; with the deal closing on April 12, 2010. On April 28, 2010, HP announced the buyout of Palm for $1.2 billion. On September 2, 2010, won its bidding war for 3PAR with a $33 a share offer ($2.07 billion) which Dell declined to match.
Hewlett-Packard is not affiliated with Packard Motor Car Corporation, founded by James Ward Packard and William Doud Packard, nor is HP affiliated with Packard Bell.
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Many animals have appeared in the world of Ed, Edd n Eddy. Below is a list of animals that have appeared in the series.
Beatrice is Rolf's cow. She is seen in many episodes, and is usually seen eating grass.
Bridget is one of the chickens Rolf owns. She was first mentioned in the episode "Who's Minding the Ed?". In the episode, Rolf says that she prefers solitude, unlike the rest of the chickens. She's one of the only chickens in the series that were actually mentioned with names, the other being Gertrude. It is known that if you squeeze her hard enough she will lay an egg.
Bobo is a giant clam owned by Rolf. He brings it everywhere with him and hides in it when ever there is danger. Most of the kids are shocked and/or surprised to see it, for when ever they do, they ask "Is that a Giant Clam?" (as shown above), or something similar. In the episode "It Came From Outer Ed" Rolf uses it to protect everyone when he saw Ed's finished Evil Tim's Curse. If it is a fully grown Giant Clam, Bobo would be 4 feet across. Bobo most likely is the safest "place" in the Cul-de-Sac, due to Rolf's use of it in an emergency. Nazz shows some reluctance towards entering the clam, and is apparently allergic to it.
Bobo makes another appearance in an Indonesian comic strip version Ed Kau Berat!. In the comic, Bobo is seen being washed and scrubbed by Rolf. Rolf refers to Bobo as an "ancient clam."
In An Ed Too Many, a caterpillar crawled on to Ed's hand while he, Edd, and Eddy were looking for four leafed clovers. Ed then began to mimick it, stating that one day he would grow into a beautiful butterfly. Later on, in Eeney, Meeney, Miney Ed, a fully grown butterfly made a minor appearance, fluttering around Ed's hands while he played with sock puppets. The last appearance that this butterfly made was in Once Bitten, Twice Ed, where it was seen teasing Jimmy as Jimmy attempted to capture it.
Another caterpillar appears in For the Ed, by the Ed. The caterpillar is identical to the one seen in An Ed Too Many. Here, it was one of the things that the Kankers used to torture Jimmy. They tried to force Jimmy to eat it; luckily for both the caterpillar and Jimmy, Super-Plank stepped in and stopped the evil trio.
The Dog is a minor animal character in Ed, Edd n Eddy. The only one seen on-screen in the show appeared in the episode "Read All About Ed," when the Eds were delivering newspapers. The dog attacked Edd in said episode. No other dog is visible on the show other than him, however, there is a dog who attacks Jimmy in "Cry Ed". Yet you can only hear the dog's barking and see its doghouse and chain flying in the air. Dogs also appear as obstacles in many Ed, Edd n Eddy video games, such as in the video game Ed, Edd n Eddy - Jawbreakers, several dogs appear similar to the one in "Read All About Ed". In Ed, Edd n Eddy - The Mis-Edventures, there are many dogs that are enemies, which seem to resemble bulldogs.
Eddy's pet fishesEdit
In "Home Cooked Eds," there was a brief, minor appearance from Eddy's pet fishes. There were apparently more than 1 fish, until the Kanker Sisters ate them while ransacking Eddy's house. Shortly after, there appeared to be only 1 fish left, albeit it was now a fishbone.
Eels of ForgivenessEdit
The Eels of Forgiveness are a tradition of Rolf in the episode "Dueling Eds" when he forgives someone for breaking a tradition of his great Nano. After Eddy destroys one of Rolf's sea cucumber balls, he is challenged to a duel. As a result he is defeated, but the ancestry of Rolf avenges. Before Edd can offer Eddy "Cupcakes of Sorriness" (apparently a way of showing regret in Rolf's odd culture), Rolf makes them stay so they can have the eels as another way of forgiveness, other than the cupcakes. He has them pull out their pants. They do it and he dumps them in their pants. Rolf then joins in by putting the eels in his pants. He then offers Kevin to join them, but he insists on "passing". If one declines it, it is unknown what happens. It is probable that Kevin may suffer the same fate as Eddy as Rolf was angered that he would not join and he goes towards Kevin to presumingly beat him.
- Ed has an allergic reaction to eels as his face grows purple pimples and he turns into a fish whenever he is in the presence of them.
- Eddy references the Eels of Forgiveness in "No Speak Da Ed", with the line,"Oh Boo Hoo! What's Wolfgang McHairy Back gonna do to us? Stick eels down our pants again?"
- Eel-Allergied Ed appears in Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show.
Fish and ChipsEdit
Fish and Chips are two pet goldfish Jimmy owns. They made their first and only appearance in the episode "I Am Curious Ed", where their recent spawn of seven offspring prompted Jimmy to question where babies come from. Their name is a reference to the popular English take-away food of the same name.
On the episode "Oath to an Ed", when Ed starts acting like a washing machine (to break in their new clothes) in the Swimming Hole due to Eddy's command, Eddy claimed he had a gerbil like him once. This suggests that the gerbil ran away, passed away, or was given to another owner.
Gertrude is one of Rolf's many chickens. Her first appearance was in the episode "One + One = Ed." She was later featured in the episode "The Day the Ed Stood Still" as Edd pulled her out of Rolf's pocket in order to distract Edzilla. Edzilla is later shown to have put her on his bedroom wall along with the other characters that he kidnapped. In "An Ed is Born", she was in Ed's chicken swimming class later only to be stopped by Rolf.
The hippos only appeared in "Sorry, Wrong Ed". The Hippos rampaged and trampled over Eddy when they stampeded over him after Jonny took the call for Plank when the mysterious Cursed Phone still has Eddy's number.
The Lobsters from The Creek invaded Rolf's garden in "Scrambled Ed" during the Ed's Sea Ranch crisis. They were later enraged by the hot wax Rolf poured on them and began attacking him. Lobsters were also seen in this episode when the sign for Eds' Sea Ranch collapsed, damming the water and exposing the creatures to air. How they got into the creek is not known.
Mildred is one of Edd's Pet Spiders. Mildred lives in Edd's Basement as well as other of Edd's Pet Spiders and it known that Edd has more pet spiders when he says, "Spiders, Eddy. Basements make an excellent home for spiders…" meaning that he may have more spiders. Mildred first and only appears in the episode "3 Squares and an Ed" when Edd was going to give her her weekly examination. During the very brief examination, Edd claimed that Mildred winked at him.
The Rabbits appeared in the episode "Flea-Bitten Ed". They started off with two rabbits, whom Ed called "Mr. Bunny" and "Mrs. Bunny," and were owned by Rolf and meant to be groomed at Ed's Pet Boutique. Ed was found to have an allergic reaction to the two rabbits. After curing Ed from his allergy, the Eds went to return Rolf his animals, however they then find that Mr. and Mrs. Bunny had babies, but they multiplied so quickly that the rabbits overran the entire Cul-de-Sac. An earlier appearance of Rolf's rabbits was in the episode "Keeping up with the Eds".
The Rooster (also known as the Doodle) was seen in the episode "Button Yer Ed". He seems to be unfriendly to people. The point of the rooster was one of Rolf's crazy misinterpretations of trying to understand what Eddy was saying. Eddy was to fight the rooster in a ring just like a bull fighter. Eddy started to make fun of him and he went berserk on him. Eddy was then saved by Jonny and Plank who ran off with the Rooster. The Rooster returns again in "Will Work for Ed", where Eddy is chased by the Rooster. Rolf and Ed called Eddy a nincompoop for being terrible at his job.
The Seagulls first appeared in the episode "Virt-Ed-Go", when one of them stole Ed's gum/quarter. Ed once owned many pet seagulls, until they flew away out of the window Edd opened, in the episode "Ready, Set... Ed!" and have not been seen since then. It is possible they were the same seagulls that were pecking Ed for a creampuff he found at the Junkyard. The names of three seagulls that Ed owned were Penelope, Edmund, and Nester revealed when they flew out from under Ed's bed, and then out Ed's window. Ed begged for the seagulls to return, shouting "Aaah! Don't go! Penelope! Edmund! Nester! Aaah! Come back!" but they never did. Also, when he was in a cycle of World Record scams later on in the episode, he dedicates one of his actions to Nester, "This one's for you, Nester!
The Skunk is an animal in Ed, Edd n Eddy. It appears in "If It Smells Like an Ed", "Sorry, Wrong Ed" and "Every Which Way But Ed". It was seen in the background in "If It Smells Like an Ed" when the Kids were sing the "Friends are There to Help You" Song as well as the doe, rabbit, (which possibly a just white one from Rolf's livestock) and squirrel (which they could have got attracted to the song). Another skunk appears in "Sorry, Wrong Ed" when it sprays Eddy from the bushes. In "Every Which Way But Ed", Eddy put another skunk in Ed's mouth when he was about to eat his jawbreaker.
An underwater Snail appeared in the episode "Ed or Tails" and "Smile for the Ed". In the episode "Ed or Tails", Ed mistakes the snail for a jawbreaker and claims that it tastes like chicken to him. In the episode "Smile for the Ed", the snail returns. If Ed really did eat the snail in the episode "Ed or Tails", it is a different snail.
The snake is a minor, animal character in Ed, Edd n Eddy. There are actually three snakes. The first snake was seen in the episode "One + One = Ed", when the Ed's try to find out how things work, but the world soon becomes an impossible fantasy land. The snake was seen slithering into a hole. The second was in the episode "Scrambled Ed" when Double D tried to sleep in Ed's Bed. He pulled Ed's bed cover over and there was a hole in the bed that the snake was in. The third was in the episode "O-Ed Eleven", but it was only mentioned that Eddy's Brother kept him in his car's trunk. Eddy meant to show it to Double D, however, he was not there and Eddy said "Huh, the little weasel must of escaped again". The third snake was not seen at all.
The turtle is a pet (often used as a helmet) that Ed possesses. It has been seen in only three episodes, "Ready, Set... Ed!", "From Here to Ed" and "Run Ed Run". Ed seems to realize it is a turtle, as evidenced by this quote-scene. The turtle also had a cameo in the episode "Ready, Set... Ed!" halfway down the World's Scariest BMX Ramp where a sign said it was a "Man-Eating Turtle", which Ed claimed to have eaten, so the one he wore on his head might not be the same turtle, or maybe that after the episode Ed spit it out. When the Eds are coming down the ramp in the rocket car if you watch in slow-motion the turtle is gone before the Eds pass the man eating turtle sign.
Victor is Rolf's goat. Even though he is a male goat Rolf says he has milk spouts, and in Ed, Edd n Eddy - The Mis-Edventures he has a visible udder. He can also eat grass at an extremely fast pace. Victor is very dangerous at times and attacks Ed in "Quick Shot Ed" and "Rambling Ed". Like Wilfred, Victor sometimes is annoying to Rolf.
Victor has a major role in "Keeping up with the Eds". He eats up all the tall grass in the Cul-de-Sac and becomes very fat. Then, he tries to chomp and bite on the Eds who are stuck in mud, he also is been put under the "Passing of the Goat" deal, where Rolf would be owed 2 bags of beans, 5 pigs & a turnip if he wasn't returned . It's not known when or how the Eds' trouble with Victor ended.
Victor's second major role is in "Boys Will Be Eds", where he tries to steal Jimmy's baloney sandwich. He successfully did, eating it in one bite. Victor really liked the sandwich the Eds made, and injured Jimmy. Then, Kevin suggested Rolf shave fur off of Victor to read it as "Nazz", and wearing Nazz's skates. Nazz thought Victor changed his name to Nazz.
- In Ed, Edd n Eddy - The Mis-Edventures, in Levels 4 and 6, Victor is one of the "bosses" you need to defeat.
- Victor is known to eat meat products, despite that he is an herbivore, as seen in "Quick Shot Ed" and "Boys Will Be Eds".
- If the Kankers come to destroy the Cul-de-Sac, his forecast is standing still in fear.
- If he isn't returned when borrowed, whoever borrows him will owe Rolf 2 bags of beans, 5 pigs, and a turnip.
- Victor had the earliest appearance in the series as one of Rolf's farm animals.
- Victor is never mentioned by name in Season 5.
- Victor's only appearances in Season 5 were "Cleanliness Is Next to Edness", "Out with the Old, In with the Ed", "Pick an Ed" and "Who's Minding the Ed?".
- Victor is hidden among Rolf's supplies in Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show.
- There is a brown version of Victor shown in "Cartoon Network Block Party 6".
Wilfred is one Rolf's three pigs, who he has had ever since he was still living in the Old Country (either that or it may be a different pig, because Rolf has a picture of a younger version of himself being kissed on the cheek by a pig, possibly Wilfred). Wilfred sometimes is apt to disobey Rolf, by eating out of Rolf's vegetable patch or by hiding out in the chicken coop and taking up too much space. Wilfred, however, has come in handy for certain situations, such as transportation or for chores. According to owner Rolf, Wilfred has been stalked in the dead of night by a "Giant Swedish Meatball" that Ed claimed to have attacked Eddy (though this was only a lie). In the future, Wilfred has grown to be morbidly obese as seen in "Take This Ed and Shove It". He has survived for a strangely long amount of time for a pig as domestic pigs usually only live for 10 or 15 years, however, it could be a descendant or family member since the pig had milk teats, making it a female, as Wilfred is a male. In "May I Have this Ed?" Rolf takes Wilfred to the school dance. Wilfred had his most major role in Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show, where Rolf brought Wilfred with him when the Kids were after the Eds. He turned his back on Rolf after Rolf abused him, Wilfred even attacked him, but came back towards the end.
- It is unknown, but most people believe that Shawn "Wilfrid" Godin was the one that either created or had the idea of the character or if it is named after him.
- His name could probably reference the name of Wilbur the Pig from the famous novel, Charlotte's Web, since Wilfred and Wilbur both have a "Wil" in their name and they're both pigs.
- In Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show, Wilfred is shown that he likes to eat sausages, wieners, hot dogs, corn dogs, slops, caramel-candied apples, and watermelons. The former three make him a cannibal.
- Wilfred's first appearance (only one in Season 1) was "Flea-Bitten Ed" and he was also colored darker pink.
- His second appearance and when his name was revealed was in "Rambling Ed".
- Wilfred first made a sound along with Rolf's two other pigs in his third appearance the episode "Shoo Ed" after being annoyed by Jonny's noises.
- In "Take This Ed and Shove It", old Wilfred is old and fat, of course, and seems to have milk teats, but is referred to as a male, although it may not be him.
- Young Wilfred is seen on a picture of him and his family "who he loves", said by Rolf in the episode "Wish You Were Ed".
- In "Truth or Ed", you can see in a newspaper article that Wilfred made the top score on a test.
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Martha Stewart Crafts for Kids with Hygloss Products
Martha Stewart has long been known for her creativity in the home, from fashion and decorating to cooking and kids crafts. Believe it or not, the lifestyle and design mogul will be turning 70 this summer – but her ideas are as fresh and modern as they were when she became a household name decades ago.
Martha has all kinds of great summer crafts for kids and adults in her magazines and on her website. One of the simple Martha Stewart crafts my kids and I have enjoyed making is a paper lantern that’s perfect for summer deck parties or a colorful decoration for a child’s room. All you need are a paper lantern, tissue paper circles in the color of your choice, and double-sided tape to make these easy but beautiful decorative summer crafts.
Sun hats make fun and practical summer crafts for kids. Martha has several different templates on her website to help you make adorable summer hats, including a shark hat and a lobster hat. Buy a cheap baseball cap or use an old one you have in the house. Cut the template shapes out of colored felt. Adults may prefer to sew the felt shapes on, but kids can easily create their own hats using craft glue.
If you’re traveling with your kids this summer, what better way to keep your little ones busy (and quiet!) on the plane or in the car than with summer kids crafts? Without making a big mess, your kids can make a travel log about their vacation that will serve as the perfect souvenir to take home at the end of the trip. These brilliant Martha Stewart crafts can include anything and everything your children loved (and hated) about their vacation. Just pack clipboards for them to work on if you’re driving. (They can use the airplane tray table if you’re flying.) Kids can draw the sights they’ve seen on colored paper, buy postcards from various destinations or make their own postcards, and make collages with things they’ve found during their travels or collage materials they’ve brought from home. They can also write a little bit about their trip, or dictate a few sentences to you if they’re too young to write. Make sure to include a map of your travels, on which kids can mark the places they’ve visited with stickers. When you get home, add photos from your trip and bind the book with metal rings, and your kids have got themselves unique souvenirs that they’ll enjoy looking at for years to come.
Martha Stewart crafts are ones I turn to time and time again, not only when I’m looking for kids crafts to entertain my children, but also when I’m looking for an elegant way to decorate a holiday table or a simple pattern for sewing curtains. This season when we’re doing our summer crafts for kids, we’ll tip my (lobster) hats to Martha and wish her a very happy birthday.
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Don't poo poo; ponder. Where did they get this idea?
An exhaustive study of Chinese military sources reveals that a future Chinese air force campaign would, under most likely scenarios, seriously test the United States and its allies in a conflict, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
The study, "Shaking the Heavens and Splitting the Earth: Chinese Air Force Employment Concepts in the 21st Century," finds that China poses a serious threat if it implements the concepts described in its military publications in combination with the new capabilities it is acquiring — such as its recently unveiled stealth fighter.
"Just 10 years ago China's air force was an antiquated service equipped almost exclusively with weapons based on 1950s-era Soviet designs and operated by personnel with questionable training," said Roger Cliff, the study's lead author and a China specialist at RAND. "Today, it appears to be on its way to becoming a modern, highly capable air force for decades to come."
Citing research gleaned from Chinese military sources, the authors find that Chinese military analysts are focusing on developing specific, practical concepts for its air forces. For example, recognizing the superiority of potential adversaries, such as the United States, in air-to-air combat, Chinese military publications emphasize attacking an enemy air force on the ground before it can take off.We've warned about these facts both here and on Midrats.
Other key findings:Varsity football folks. Get moving. History won't wait.
* If the United States intervenes in a conflict between mainland China and Taiwan, it should expect attacks on its forces and facilities in the western Pacific, including those in Japan.
* U.S. forces should expect their information systems to be subjected to network intrusions or denial-of-service attacks.
* During a conflict with China, the U.S. armed forces should prepare to deal with electronic jamming on a scale larger than it has seen in any conflict since the end of the Cold War.
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I've been reading Suzuki today and, as always, I found something
that I'm sure you all have read before, but I just couldn't help sharing.
"You can do true zazen practice here, watching yourself step by step,
one step after another. We practice like a cow rather than a horse.
Instead of galloping about, we walk slowly, like a cow or an elephant.
If you can walk slowly, without any idea of gain, then you are already
a good Zen student.
"We do not practice zazen to attain enlightenment, but rather to express
our true nature. Even your thinking is an expression of your true nature
when you are practicing zazen. Your thinking is like someone talking in
the backyard or across the street. You may wonder what they are talking
about, but that someone is not a particular person. That someone is our
true nature. The true nature within us is always talking about Buddhism.
Whatever we do is an expression of Buddha nature."
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- Mar 04, 2008 5:23 PM EST
- [num] Comments
Topical video sharing sites have been all the rage lately, from sites like HowCast that show you how to make things to video trailer hosting site, WeGame. More and more developers are standing up Web video sites that are designed for certain audiences. emPivot, a video sharing service aimed at the green community, is one of those sites. The service invites people who are interested in environmental awareness and activism as well as green businesses and organizations that need a platform to share their videos with the world.
emPivot is a strange name for an green video site, but as soon as you visit, the mission becomes clear. The site hosts hundreds of videos in a dozen categories from a slew of sources, including everyday people, news organizations, environmental advocacy groups, and political action groups. emPivot doesn't look like a traditional green site either--there are certainly a lot of videos that will teach you how to make the most from your garden and weatherproof your home, but there are also video podcasts on environmental topics and interviews with politicians and policy makers about their green initiatives and projects.
emPivot was designed as a place where news organizations, environmental activists, and even normal people who are interested in protecting the environment could upload video, watch video, find tips and tricks to live greener lifestyles, and keep up with environmental protection efforts around the globe. You'll find environmental news and politics next to gardening tips and a how-to video explaining how to raise, shear, and process the wool from an Angora rabbit.
All of the standard features of any video sharing site are at emPivot. The videos are broken into categories and channels, including community development, travel, energy and climate, nature and conservation, and more. The channels are created by the users and organizations that upload videos to the site. For example, the Environmental Law and Policy Center has their own channel, the World Resources Institute has a channel, and the Cascadia Green Building Council has its own channel. Similarly, users have created their own channels, like the "Issues of the Day" channel.
Once you've created an account at emPivot, you can rate videos, comment on them, add them to your favorites, and share them with friends. emPivot provides embed code and customized links so you can post a video into your own blog or Website. Additionally, if you like the videos that a specific user has published, you can subscribe to all of their videos, view related videos, or add the user to your friends list.
emPivot has all of the features of a good video sharing site. The community is only a few hundred strong right now, and comprised mostly of environmental organizations that are looking for a good place to publish their media without having to use YouTube. Because the site's primary focus is on environmental news and media, emPivot is a natural home for it.
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Immigration Bill and the “R” word
The vast majority of Americans oppose this bill. They have voiced their opinions to their Senators, but their sentiments, against making 20 – 40 million illegals legal, have been chalked up by some to being racist.
But that is not the “R” word I am referring to. My “R” stands for RETIREMENT.
In our household, the “R” word is starting to frequent our conversation and thinking. Most 50-somethings start thinking ahead (and hopefully planning ahead) to that exciting and uncharted ground of retirement. My husband and I are no different.
If you look over Your Social Security Statement, provided every year by the Social Security Administration, it always ends with a cautionary statement.
there are 36 million Americans age 65 or older...unless something is done soon, in 12 years we will begin paying more in benefits than collected in taxes...without changes, by 2041 funds will be exhausted...by then those over age 65 will double...it will then pay about 74 cents on the dollar (about a 25% reduction).
“We will need to resolve these issues soon to make sure Social Security continues to provide a foundation of protection for future generations...”
So now our Senate is working hard to increase the burden on an already stressed program? What do you think adding 20 million more non-contributors (plus their family members) will do to the solvency of Social Security?
We saw how willing our Congress was to start any unpleasant dialog about reforming Social Security. When the President tried to introduce the idea of voluntary privatizing of a tiny % of Soc. Sec. contributions, no one really wanted to address it. I don’t hold out much hope of any real reform until the fund is nearly bankrupt.
There are 100s of reasons to oppose the present Immigration Bill. If we cannot manage monitoring the return to their home country of those persons on a legal visa now, how are we going to monitor an additional 20 – 40 million? Can you imagine the additional bureaucracy required to attend to all of this? How is it that someone starts their legal status in our country by first violating our laws? Etc., etc. etc.
This legislation reminds me of someone who has severed an artery, but the Doctor is so concerned with the patient’s cholesterol level, weight, skin condition, etc. that the patient dies in the mean time. In triage, the life threatening problem is controlled first; then the other needs of the patient are dealt with.
We need to secure the border first, then work out what to do with those illegally here.
The impact of adding these illegals to Social Security and Medicare is real and will have a devastating affect on all who are receiving or hoping to receive any Soc.Sec. benefits.
Call or email your Senators. They are in favor of this bill They need to hear from you again.
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8 Walks Around Upton Snodsbury by Hilary Williams
you can buy an information pack for only £3.00 when you arrive.
Written, researched and all photographs by Hilary Williams.
There are some lovely walks through the countryside around Upton Snodsbury. Walkers are often rewarded with expansive views alongside interesting evidence of ancient settlements, ridge and furrow, tracks, water mills, buzzards soaring, woodpeckers hammering and active badger setts. The parish, particularly Bow Wood, is home to several different species of deer. Woodlands are a mass of colour in the spring; firstly primroses sprinkled over the ground which is then carpeted by bluebells, followed by orchids, wild garlic and many other wildflowers. Later in the year the hedgerows are filled with colourful fruits and berries.
All walks described here are circular, starting and finishing at Upton Snodsbury Village Hall.
Broughton Hackett and Froxmere A lovely walk alongside orchards with magnificent views of Upton Snodsbury church from Broughton Hackett; eith glimpses of the Malvern and Bredon hills from Bow Wood. It passes through the interesting hamlet of Froxmere past the Grade 2 listed Froxmere Court, a jacobethan - style building with fantastic chimneys.
This walk is particularly lovely in the Autumn when Bow Wood turns in to a mass of reds, yellows and golds, although the short walk across the middle of the field near New Hall farm can get muddy. A cold crisp winter day is also a good time to do this walk when the ground may be hard underfoot.
Wolverton Hall & White Ladies Aston This walk heads to Peopleton then u a hill to Wolverton Hall, through the lovely villages of White Ladies Aston and Churchill. There are some great views over a large area and Upton Snodsbury Church can frequently be spotted on the horizon.
A section of the walk goes through Aston Hall farm where a series of permissive footpaths have been established which could be used to make a really interesting alternative route to that described.
This walk is lovely all year round but is particularly nice in the Spring when many fields are full of young lambs and trees are coming in to leaf.
Hill Court, Huddington A great walk that heads up a hill to Hill Court, a gorgeous late C16 red brick timbered house with part of the moat in front of the garden.
On a clear day the views from this hill are wonderful, across the valleys to the Malvern Hills, Bredon Hill and sometimes as far as the Cotswold scarp with Grafton and Upton Snodsbury churches standing out among the trees.
The walk is always lovely but a crisp, cold clear winter's day is best when the views can be outstanding and the short section of the route that crosses a cereal field is frozen hard.
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Retirement Saving Strategies for All Ages
To all of you—of all ages—who have written to me about pulling your retirement savings out of the stock market, I have a one-word answer: “Don’t!”
Even if you’re very close to retirement and are feeling this market hit more than anyone else (as you should be), remember: Even though most of us have never seen anything like this, retirement investing should be determined by two things: your timeline and your stomach, not what the market's doing.
If all these Wall St. shenanigans has you doubled over, pull back slowly from the market to shift your assets into something closer to your comfort level. Just know that if you put all your money into bonds or T-bills and you have more than 10 years until retirement, the price you’ll pay for safety could be losing out on double-digit growth over time.
The younger you are, the more it should be about growth—take the risk of putting the majority of your money in the market. The closer you get to retirement, the scales should tip toward protecting what you've got—which means locking in a bigger chunk of your money in what will preserve what you've put in, but may earn you lower returns. Of course this is a market such as we've never seen, hence the tried and true rules of long-term investing could use some revisiting—our gut has rarely, if ever, been so tested.
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This past Saturday, a young man from Lawrenceville graduated law school -- more than a decade after he was paralyzed during high school.
On September 11th, 2001 -- the same day of the terrorist attacks that stunned and horrified America -- Keaston White went to school and then football practice at Collins Hill High School.
During drills that day, "[A fellow player] was coming around the corner, and I was coming around. I hit him, and everything just went black for a minute."
Keaston suffered a complete C-5 spinal cord injury and, after surgery, was told he would likely never walk again. He spent a great deal of time rehabbing at the Shepherd Center, trying to regain whatever movement he could.
"It's a feeling that you can't even describe," his mother Shirley says of hearing the news.
"I'd go to therapy and then I'd get back in bed, and I wouldn't leave my room for a while," Keaston recalls. "Eventually you have to accept that this is the way your life is. This is the way you work; this is the way you have to navigate through the world."
Once Keaston accepted that, he navigated his way to straight A's in high school. He was named to the homecoming court, prom king, and graduated in the top 10% of his class.
He graduated from Emory University and then took on a new challenge: Atlanta's John Marshall Law School.
Says Keaston of the challenge: "In law school, and to get out in the workplace, there's only so much give that you can get with your disability, and you don't want to lean on that."
Amidst everything, Keaston still allows himself to dream of a future that includes walking.
"If I don't care, if I'm not working towards that goal," he said, "it's all gonna break down. I work hard at maintain what I have, and the reason I work so hard is because I know it's gonna pay off in the end."
On Saturday, Keaston received his diploma and graduated from John Marshall Law School -- a triumphant moment more than a decade in the making since his injury. But for this young man, the work doesn't stop.
His next move after graduating: studying for the bar exam.
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A group of Catholic physicians have responded to a recent Washington University study that claims widespread use of IUD’s and other contraceptives reduces the number of abortions.
Michael Dixon, M.D., an OB/GYN and President of the St. Louis Guild of the Catholic Medical Association, stated he had a concern about the methods employed in the study, which found the lower abortion rate. “One cannot justify a policy of reducing abortions by a mechanism that simply causes earlier abortions,” he stated, indicating that IUDs and other contraceptive methods act in part by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the mother’s womb. “Women deserve better,” he said.
For the complete story, click here.
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MSU gets fundsfor food security
EAST LANSING — Michigan State University Extension is part of a network of university Extension services that were awarded $4 million to tackle food security challenges and help enhance nutritious food choices in rural communities.
For the next five years, six states — Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota — will be working to identify solutions to address food security challenges and nutritious food choices in rural communities.
Select communities in each of the states will receive assistance in forming or enhancing food policy councils that will increase accessibility and availability of nutritious food. The councils may set up food pantries or change the way that existing food pantries operate, Henne said..
Conservation Districtspring egg hunt
TRAVERSE CITY— The Grand Traverse Conservation District will put a new spin on a springtime favorite when it hosts an egg hunt Saturday, March 30, at Kids Creek Park.
Kids up to 13 and their parents will be sent on a mission to find five colored eggs that correspond to Michigan creatures that really lay eggs. Once they find an egg of a certain color, participants will put it in their basket, mark it off on their scorecard, and move on to find the next colored egg.
When they collect all five colored eggs, they’ll return to the starting point to exchange their eggs and scorecard for candy and to be entered in a chance to win prizes.
Two time slots are available and kids will be grouped by age to different areas of the park.
The grand prize is a one-night stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. Other prizes include enrollment in a week-long summer camp at the Conservation District.
Registration for the egg hunt is $5 per child. Pre-registration is encouraged but is only open to Friends of the Conservation District. Walk-ins are welcome on the day of the event, space provided.
To pre-register or to become a Friend, visit natureiscalling.org or call 941-0960.,
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Originally Posted by canary52
It's like another language. What is a snipping tool? What is an img?
I didn't know about the snipping tool... although it sounds a hell of a lot easier!
Although, I have an ancient computer.
I went to the food log I wanted on fitday, then pressed the Print Screen/SysRq key (upper right hand corner near the insert key), then opened wordpad, then pressed CTRL and V at the same time (this will insert the image of your compuer screen at the time you pressed the Print screen key), then I saved that file as a webpage instead of rich text format (there's the place you name the file, and the formats for saving are in a drop box right below that).
THEN, I went to my photobucket account, uploaded the saved webpage file, cropped out everything except for the foodlog and saved the html address.
Come back here, quote reply, hit the insert image button up top, entered the saved html address from photobucket and Walah!
And as embarassing as it is, I'm SURE there's a quicker way but I don't know if my computer has the b*lls to do it.
Okay, I'm going to stop thinking about food and typing. <3
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SIMILAR BOOKS BY CATEGORY
LINK FROM YOUR SITE
32 pages (Winter 2007 / 1902); 2.8MB downloadWOWIO Books
; ISBN: WOWIO-00067
Peter Rabbit and his family are introduced in this tale that was Beatrix Potter's first book, originally written in 1893 as an illustrated letter to a child. The story chronicles Peter's adventurous, exhausting day during which he disobeys his mother and loses his jacket and shoes after being chased by Mr. McGregor. Published in 1902, the book was an immediate best seller and arguably remains Potter's best-known work.
1 reader found this helpful (1 rating)
as sweet as can be, i wanted to read this right after ive seen the movie with renee zellweger...sweet, sweet, sweet; thank u itaggit for offering it
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Laser hair removal uses intense, pulsating beams of light to remove unwanted hair from the face, underarms, back, legs and bikini area. The laser targets the melanin, or pigment, in the hair shaft and damages the hair follicle, which helps to stop future hair growth. Inflamed and bumpy skin caused by ingrown hair is often improved following treatment.
Laser hair removal can be used on patients of just about all skin types, although it is most effective for people who have light skin and dark hair. White, blond or gray hair usually cannot be removed with laser hair removal since there is no pigment in the hair for the laser to target.
Although laser hair removal effectively slows hair growth, it does not guarantee permanent hair removal. Several treatments are usually required to remove hair. For best results, you may need at least six treatments spaced a number of weeks apart. Periodic maintenance treatments may also be needed.
Laser hair removal has become so popular that it is often performed in non-medical settings, such as salons and spas. It is important to choose a board certified doctor who is trained in laser hair removal to oversee the treatment.
Before treatment, you will have an initial consultation at the dermatologic surgery clinic. During this consultation, the doctor or nurse will discuss your medical history and examine your skin. We will also examine the places you want the hair removed, the texture and color of the hair, and where it is in its growth cycle. A laser hair treatment plan and its related costs will also be discussed, as well as any associated risks.
Before treatment begins, the targeted area will be cleaned. A topical anesthetic may then be applied to the area to keep you more comfortable, although many patients do not need it.
You will wear protective eye goggles during the procedure. The laser operater will hold your skin taut while the laser is fired. The laser beam will pass through your skin to the tiny follicles where hair growth originates. The intense heat from the laser beam damages the hair follicles, which stops hair growth. You may feel a stinging sensation or warm pinpricks.
The time of treatment will depend on the size of the area treated.
You may experience redness or swelling for the first few hours after laser hair removal. You may also have a stinging sensation for a day or two. The area may also become slightly crusty.
Do not pick or rub the area and be sure to clean gently with soap and water. Avoid sun exposure, both natural and artificial, for at least one week after treatment. It is also important to use broad-spectrum (protects against UVA and UVB rays) sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher every day.
Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Dermatologic Surgery and Laser Center
1701 Divisadero St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: (415) 353–7878
Fax: (415) 353–7838
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OSU Agricultural Sciences college honors top students
May 30, 2003
CORVALLIS - The Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences recently recognized several top students for their scholarship and service during the 2002-03 academic year.
Kathleen Freeborn, a senior from Rickreall, received the Burlingham Undergraduate Student of Excellence Award. Sarah Reich, Portland, was named the Capital Press Outstanding Senior in Agriculture. Shannon Claeson, a senior from Kennewick, Wash., received the Savery Outstanding Master's Student Award. And David Waldien, a Ph.D. student in Corvallis, received the Savery Outstanding Doctoral Student Award.
Freeborn is completing bachelor's degrees in agricultural business management, and environmental economics, policy, and management. She was recognized for her exceptional academic achievement and for service to OSU through participation in many collegiate clubs and activities. She plans to return to the family farm following graduation and has plans to attend law school. Her $1,000 cash award is provided by the Burlingham Scholarship fund.
Reich is finishing two bachelor's degrees; one in environmental economics, policy, and management in the College of Agricultural Sciences, and another degree in geography in the College of Science. In addition to her many extracurricular activities, Reich is an OSU Presidential Scholar. She has held several offices in OSU's Policy and Law Society and plans to pursue an OSU master's degree in natural resource economics with the long-term goal of building a career in natural resources conflict resolution. Reich received a $1,000 cash award and a one-year subscription to the Capital Press.
Claeson is working towards a master's degree in fisheries science. Her master's research project is an investigation of the importance of salmon carcasses to the aquatic food webs in forested ecosystems.
Waldien, from Rogue River, is working toward a Ph.D. in wildlife science. His graduate research focuses on how various forestry management practices affect small forest mammals. To date, he has authored or co-authored scholarly publications in several journals including Northwest Sciences, the Journal of Wildlife Management, the Wildlife Society Bulletin, and the Northwest Naturalist.
The Savery Outstanding Master's and Doctoral Student awards, are given by the Agricultural Research Foundation and recognize graduate students whose research benefits Oregon agriculture and natural resources. As winners of the master's and doctoral student awards, Claeson and Waldien each received a $1,000 cash prize.
Named to the College of Agricultural Sciences' Registry of Distinguished students were:
Kaylea Foster and Erika DuVal
Source: Thayne Dutson
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Posts tagged singing
Great night on Friday for Comic Relief – we played our part and the charity concert raised around £500 – monies still being counted but all in all a fantastic event. The Big band and soloists were on top form as were the young singers and CHCGC! The Mayor of Southampton, Councillor Carol Cunio was in attendance and the evening went with a real swing. There was singing, dancing and tea and refreshments all in aid of Comic Relief
Another of our standard Monday evening rehearsals last night and once again was amazed how much better I felt as a result; after a hard and tiring day at work, it is often difficult to get out again in the evening, but once there always enjoy it and feel energized. I thought I would research this and came up with the following from the Heart Research UK web site:-
Professor Graham Welch, Chair of Music Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, who has studied developmental and medical aspects of singing for 30 years says, “The health benefits of singing are both physical and psychological. Singing has physical benefits because it is an aerobic activity that increases oxygenation in the blood stream and exercises major muscle groups in the upper body, even when sitting. Singing has psychological benefits because of its normally positive effect in reducing stress levels through the action of the endocrine system which is linked to our sense of emotional well-being. Psychological benefits are also evident when people sing together as well as alone because of the increased sense of community, belonging and shared endeavour.”
See the full article here.
I can certainly endorse this view – why not come along and try it for yourself?
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Looking to get ahead in business? Put down the self-help books and rush out to see The Iron Lady this weekend.
That Margaret Thatcher—she’s the one you want to emulate.
Today reports a recent survey from Business Environment, a British office-space biz, found 48 percent of women respondents said they’d make their voices lower, while 23 percent said they’d wear longer skirts, to advance their careers—both practices employed by Thatcher on her way to becoming prime minister.
And if your voice is as high as your hem? Just remember Maggie’s famous words: “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
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stories left before being redirected to Clickshare to login or register.
NH police warn against speed, drunken driving
Thursday, December 20, 2012
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire State Police are warning against excessive speed and drunken driving in an effort to prevent a spike in holiday highway fatalities.
State Police Col. Robert Quinn says 13 people were killed last year between Thanksgiving and New year's Eve.
Police are asking people to report erratic drivers and take the car keys from friends who may have had too much to drink.
They also caution about the effects of over-the-counter drugs, especially when paired with alcohol.
So far this year, 103 people have died on New Hampshire's roadways — in sharp contrast to last year's record low of 87.
There have been four motor vehicle fatalities since Thanksgiving.
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New Volume Honors Truman G. Madsen
The distinguished career of Truman G. Madsen has earned him wide respect in and outside of LDS circles as an outstanding teacher, scholar, researcher, speaker, university administrator, church leader, and religious ambassador. With the publication of Revelation, Reason, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, the Institute pays tribute to this remarkable man whose many accomplishments include helping to advance Book of Mormon scholarship and related interests of the Institute.
Edited by Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and Stephen D. Ricks (each of whom also authored chapters), the 800-plus-page volume contains contributions by 31 scholars, 10 of whom are not Latter-day Saints, reflecting the wide appeal of Madsen's academic work and influence. The non-LDS contributors include the noted biblical scholars David Noel Freedman, James H. Charlesworth, and Jacob Milgrom. The book is organized into five sections: "Philosophy and Theology," "LDS Scripture and Theology," "Joseph Smith and LDS Church History," "Judaism," and "The Temple."
The question of whether the love of God must precede the love of people provides the basis for "The Spirituality of Love: Kierkegaard on Faith's Transforming Power," by C. Terry Warner, professor of philosophy at BYU. Warner examines this question using the writings of the 19th-century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Warner shows that, first of all, people must discover themselves through submitting to the will of God rather than to the will of the crowd. Only through submission to God can a person be free to discover love for God and for all people. According to Warner, "If we accept the invitation [to come to Christ], which means following and emulating him in our own daily walk, we obtain the freedom from self-absorption and develop the depth of soul that love requires."
Warner further notes that love for God, or faith, is equivalent to love for people. He writes: "When we choose Christ above all others, we simultaneously and by the same act choose to love. . . . Though love of God is sought first, it is not achieved first and then followed by love of neighbor; we will look in vain for a process or discipline to carry us from faith to love. Love of God is love of neighbor."
In "The Refractory Abner Cole," Andrew H. Hedges, BYU associate professor of church history and doctrine, gives an account of "one of Mormonism's earliest, most vocal, and most caustic critics." Hedges covers Cole's sketchy background; his motives for criticizing Joseph Smith and the church in his weekly newspaper, the Reflector; and his aggressive confrontations with Hyrum, Oliver, and Joseph over his refusal to cease from printing purloined extracts from the Book of Mormon while it was at press.
Hedges writes that Cole's "lively interest" in Mormonism "manifested itself in a variety of editorial comments and articles in his paper, ranging from [in the words of Lucy Mack Smith] 'the lowest and most contemptible doggerel that ever was imposed upon any community' to well-reasoned arguments against the legitimacy of the Book of Mormon and the new religion. . . . Cole's withering remarks and satire on Joseph and the Book of Mormon were a regular feature in his paper." Hedges concludes with a brief overview of Cole's subsequent failed business ventures and rapid personal demise.
In "The Book of Job as a Biblical 'Guide of the Perplexed,'" Raphael Jospe, senior lecturer on Jewish philosophy at the Open University of Israel, examines the book of Job from the perspective of the great medieval rabbi Moses Maimonides, who wrote about Job in his monumental Guide of the Perplexed. According to Jospe, the purpose of that work was to explain terms in scripture that can cause a person familiar with religion and philosophy to be perplexed. Jospe argues that Maimonides viewed Job as an example of one thus perplexed. Because righteous Job is never described as wise or understanding, Maimonides reasoned, his errors were not moral but intellectual.
Jospe shows that Job and his three friends each represent a different school of thought about divine providence: Job believes in general providence but not that it can extend to individuals, Eliphaz believes that people have free will and thus are justly rewarded and punished for their actions, Bildad says that God will compensate people for their earthly sufferings in the world to come, and Zophar claims that everything that happens is God's will and that humans should not question that will. Jospe, explaining that Job is rewarded at the end of the narrative when he recognizes his lack of understanding, asserts that the book of Job is "a sort of biblical 'Guide of the Perplexed.'" He concludes that the aim of both books is "to resolve the perplexity of one who doubts religious teaching on philosophical grounds by correcting the intellectual error of equating divine actions with human actions."
In "Fundamentals of Temple Ideology from Eastern Traditions," John M. Lundquist, chief librarian of the Asian and Middle Eastern Division at the New York Public Library, discusses the features shared by the great temple-building traditions of the ancient world, particularly those of Tibet, India, Japan, and Indonesia. He examines aspects of ancient temples and temple worship such as architecture, directional orientation, ritual initiation, authority/priesthood, sacred geometry, cave and labyrinth motifs, and the mysteries.
Lundquist explains, for example, that the great temples were all constructed with the idea to link heaven and earth by situating the structures at a ritually determined center point. "The center," he says, "is fixed in its earthly place through its orientation to the four cardinal directions, through its central axis that connects the worlds (underworld, earth, and heaven), and through ongoing astronomical sightings, which keep the temple and its initiates in constant communication with that ultimate place, heaven." Although Lundquist's purpose is not to connect the fundamental features of ancient temples with those of LDS temples, astute readers will recognize some interesting links while gaining deeper appreciation for ancient Eastern temple traditions.
Additional contributors are Davis Bitton, M. Gerald Bradford, S. Kent Brown, Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Dan, James E. Faulconer, Guttorm Fløistad, Rebecca L. Frey, Gary P. Gillum, Ann N. Madsen, Daniel B. McKinlay, Louis Midgley, Blake T. Ostler, David L. Paulsen, David Rosen, David R. Seely, Andrew C. Skinner, John A. Tvedtnes, Seth Ward, David J. Whittaker, and R. J. Zvi Werblowsky. The book includes a complete bibliography of Madsen's published works, including audiotapes. Copies of Revelation, Reason, and Faith can be ordered via the enclosed mail-order form or via the bookstore section of the FARMS Web site. !
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Face of Defense: Sailor Helps in Saving Life
By Petty Officer 2nd Class R.J. Stratchko, USN
Special to American Forces Press Service
PORT GENTILE, Gabon, Jan. 24, 2008 A sailor stationed on board the amphibious dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry was recognized Jan. 17 for helping save the life of a local Gabonese woman.
Capt. Paul Biving Nziengui (left), chief of Gabonese Naval Forces, thanks U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ronald Saucedo (right) for saving the life of a Gabonese civilian on Sogara Beach, Gabon. U.S. Navy Capt. John Nowell (center), commander of Africa Partnership Station, also was on hand to recognize Saucedo at the Jan. 17, 2008, ceremony. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class R.J. Stratchko, USN
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Ronald Saucedo, a storekeeper, received the award from Gabonese Chief of Naval Forces Capt. Paul Biving Nziengu and U.S. Navy Capt. John Nowell, commander of Africa Partnership Station.
Saucedo was on liberty at Sogara Beach on Jan. 14 with three other Africa Partnership Station sailors when they witnessed four men carrying someone from the water.
"As we walked up to the crowd of people on the beach, they saw my dog tags and said, 'U.S. Marines, U.S. Marines,'" he said. Saucedo immediately administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
"I checked her pulse and airway,” he said. “Then I tilted her head back, and somebody volunteered to do mouth-to-mouth while I did chest compressions. Shortly after, the water gushed out of her nose, and she came to. As soon as she started regaining consciousness, we made sure she was OK, and then tried to get additional medical help."
Saucedo described the whole experience as scary but credited his reaction to the training he received in the U.S. Navy.
"I was afraid when I began chest compressions, but my training just kicked in," he said.
The basic life-saving training that Saucedo received is the same training that Africa Partnership Station is teaching maritime professionals from West and Central African countries.
Saucedo said he believes anyone who happens upon such a situation needs to do something about it. "Always try to do your best, even if you are not the one giving CPR,” he said. “Do something to help; don't just walk by."
"Petty Officer Saucedo's actions exemplify what APS is all about, building trust with the African people so that we can strengthen collaborative partnerships," Nowell said.
(Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class R.J. Stratchko serves with Africa Partnership Station Public Affairs.)
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Will the staunch critics of MMP finally be shown to have been right all along? Does their long-held assertion that the policy compromises flowing from a proportional voting system work against the long-term national interest have some basis after all?
Those questions now hover in the ether after last year's referendum cemented MMP into the country's informal constitution for the foreseeable future.
It has been a year in which politicians behaved like possums in the headlights of the passing parade of what was largely inconsequential political ephemera. Short-term interest ruled, okay.
So more is the pity that - with the single and commendable exception of the Greens' Russel Norman - politicians were conspicuous by their almost total absence from this week's Treasury-initiated conference on the ramifications of New Zealand's ageing population.
With National dragging the chain on future pension policy, the Treasury deserves huge credit for trying to kick-start in very non-partisan fashion what could be a long, but essential search for political consensus on how to cope with the ballooning costs of caring for the nation's elderly and thereby avoiding a nasty inter-generational conflict over who gets preferential access to ever-scarcer government resources.
The Victoria University-hosted conference was given two wake-up calls for the potential for such friction.
First, the University Students Association issued a statement welcoming the symposium, noting the baby boomers had done quite nicely for themselves but were leaving following generations a much less benign legacy in terms of a tertiary education no longer promising a high-skilled, high-paid job, but guaranteeing significant personal debt.
Second, Sir Michael Cullen told the conference that the number of voters over the age of 65 could be as high as 40 per cent by the year 2060.
A political party focused solely on preserving the interests of the elderly would only need to capture a fifth of the votes of that group to become a powerbroker under MMP.
This startling demographic shift is already under way. Contrary to myth, the shift is permanent rather than being a temporary baby-boom blip.
Statistics New Zealand estimates the number of people over the age of 65 will double from around 600,000 to up to 1.25 million by 2036 and up to 1.7 million by 2060. Over the same period, the number of people aged over 85 will jump from 76,000 to as many as 430,000. In the 1970s, there were seven people of working age for every person in retirement. By 2060, the ratio will be four pensioners to nine younger adults.
As a consequence, the Treasury is projecting that on current settings the cost of state-funded superannuation will rise from 4.4 per cent to 8 per cent of gross domestic product by 2060.
Meanwhile, the public health bill will jump from nearly 7 per cent to just over 11 per cent of GDP, in part to fund costly new treatments plus the salary bill for in-demand health professionals as well as to pay for the increasing tide of the elderly flowing through hospital doors.
The upshot is that government spending would mushroom from 34 per cent to 47 per cent of GDP largely to meet the ballooning interest payments on a rapidly growing pile of debt from running continual deficits.
The Treasury believes things would not deteriorate to such degree because successive governments would seek to balance the annual Budget through cutting spending in other areas or raising more revenue through increasing tax rates or introducing new taxes.
One senior Treasury official assured the conference that the numbers were no cause for panic.
Girol Karacaoglu, a former bank economist, stressed there was no crisis.
He agreed there were challenges ahead. But he insisted they were manageable. And he assured his audience that they would be managed by future governments just as their predecessors had successfully managed the challenges of the past 20 years.
Karacaoglu's optimism, however, was contingent on governments maintaining a strong and credible fiscal strategy over the short to medium terms to get debt levels down. From the mid-2020s, there would be many potential "options"to meet the demographic challenges.
In other words, trade-offs would have to be made. The obvious question is just where exactly.
The Treasury will produce a number of different packages containing potential policy options as part of its requirement under the Public Finance Act that by next October it produce a long-term fiscal statement looking forward for the next 40 years.
However, the Treasury will not be nominating a preferred package. That is very deliberate. The Treasury wants to stimulate public debate - not stifle it by getting into a slanging match over cuts to some government programme or other.
This is an example of a fresh, more consultative approach adopted by the department's chief executive Gabriel Makhlouf which also sees the Treasury's work on the long-term fiscal statement being critiqued by an independent panel of experts at Victoria University's Business School.
All up, the Treasury is trying to inject momentum into a still quiescent public debate.
There will be some suspicion that the Treasury is also trying to bed in the parameters of the debate in order to cut back the role of the state in other areas.
In arguing that net debt is brought down to low levels and kept there, the Treasury, however, might be merely being prudent given the likelihood of unforeseeable future "shocks" having a detrimental effect on the Government's books.
However, given the Treasury's reluctance to increase taxes - a mindset described by Sir Michael as "Tea Party silliness" which belonged in the realms of creationism - an ever-sharper knife would have to be taken to spending.
Ultimately, the politicians will have to make the decisions on revenue versus spending ratios.
What the Treasury does seem to have accepted - and it was underlined by the conference - is that the blitzkrieg-style approach to policy implementation of past eras will not work.
The conference delivered two messages: first, that early implementation of the trade-offs required to meet additional pension and health costs is preferable to last-minute panic measures which might be more severe in their impact on the working population.
Second, that the power that can be exercised by age cohorts under MMP makes it paramount that the search for consensus begins even earlier.
With its timely early flagging of its intention to raise the pension age to 67, Labour seems to have worked that out.
The same cannot be said of National. Are you listening, Mr Key?
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Got my projects back after finals, so now can share some of them. This was probably the hardest project I've ever done in any class so far. We first had to draw four 'optical illusions' that portrayed one Art term or another. The following are what I came up with. After dreaming them up and then drawing them, I had to cut the designs out of black cardstock, like my above project. Definitely the hardest thing I've ever done school-wise. So without further ado, here are the results:
Hyperspace - Movement:
Yes, I was inspired by hypserspace for this one. Though the other people in my class called it the Windows screen saver. *shrugs*
In the Eye of the Beholder - Variety:
I like this one because depending on who you are, you see something completely different.
Memories: Dollar Signs - Pattern:
I call this one Memories because I used to draw these in school like constantly. I would make all kinds of patterns with them every chance I got, and I think everybody else did, too. It's one of the first things I thought of when this assignment came up and I thought, "Hey, finally! I can put that little doodle to good use!" It looks pretty bad, though, cause after I cut up the pieces, I dropped the paper and everything scattered before I was able to glue it. Sooo...there was no way I could match them all up again. That's why they don't look so wonderful together.
Railroad Tracks - Perspective:
The most boring and simple one. This one reminds me of railroad tracks and trees as they stretch off into the distance. That was the basis for this design.
So anyway, there you go. They look much better in person, but oh well. May you daily pray that you never get an Art teacher who requires black cardstock cutouts.
"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker
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Washington, Mar 15: The World Bank has announced $4.3 billion financial aid to India through a new innovative and flexible financing arrangement to help the country fight poverty.
This arrangement, while facilitating a $4.3 billion increase in support to India, is designed to maintain International Bank for Reconstruction and Development's (IBRD) - which is its lending arm - net exposure within the limit of $17.5 billion established by it.
In a statement, the World Bank said the new arrangement will allow for special bonds to be issued by the World Bank and purchased by India, to offset additional planned lending.
This will enable India to continue accessing long-term, low-interest IBRD finance for development projects aimed at improving the lives of its people, one third of whom are yet to make their way out of poverty.
"Without taking this action, it would have been difficult for the Bank to assist India meaningfully as it tackles the remaining large challenges of lifting some 300 million out of poverty," said WB vice president for South Asia Isabel Guerrero.
"This new arrangement will work towards supporting India's development needs, showing the Bank can be innovative, flexible and responsive to the differentiated needs of our client countries," she said in a statement.
The Bank said like other emerging economies, India is faced with the challenge of removing bottlenecks in infrastructure and human skill development that can constrain its ability to sustain non-inflationary, rapid and inclusive growth.
In line with its aim to support India's development goals, the World Bank has nearly 80 active projects in India, with several large projects in the critical area of infrastructure.
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It looks like the highly-controversial internet security bill known as CISPA – which passed out of the Republican House of Representatives last week might be one of the best pieces of legislation money can buy. The Center for Responsive Politics uncovered that CISPA’s chief sponsor – Republican Representative Mike Rogers from Michigan – has received $175,000 from corporations that are in support of CISPA and have lobbied for the law.
So even though CISPA is a radical attack on your online privacy – Congressman Rogers doesn’t care because he needs to be re-elected. In any other country – this would be considered bribery. But in America, thanks to the Supreme Court, it’s simply called “free speech.”
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daria42 writes "Looks like Apple isn't the only company with interesting offshore taxation practices. The financial statements for Google's Australian subsidiary show the company told the Australian Government it made just $200 million in revenue in 2011 in Australia, despite local industry estimating it actually brought in closer to $1 billion. The rest was funnelled through Google's Irish subsidiary and not disclosed in Australia. Consequently the company only disclosed taxation costs in Australia of $74,000. Not bad work if you can get it — which Google apparently can."
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Airbus President & CEO Fabrice Bregier, second from left, walks with Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley as they view a model of the A320 Airbus following an announcement that Airbus will establish an assembly line in Mobile, Ala., Monday.
MOBILE, Ala. -- European aerospace giant Airbus will start building planes in Mobile, Ala., planting its first factory on U.S. soil and aiming to compete better against archrival Boeing.
Airbus, based in France, said it plans to employ 1,000 people at the plant building its A320s, delivering the first one in 2016.
Airbus cranks out more than 400 of those planes a year, more than any of its other planes. It competes head-to-head with Boeing's 737. Those planes are the minivans of the airline world: Widely-used people-haulers generally flown on short- and medium-haul trips.
North America is the biggest single market for that type of plane, Airbus executives said, and they want more of it. Right now, Boeing's 737 has an advantage, with Southwest and Alaska Airlines buying only 737s.
"We needed to be visible in the States under the Airbus flag," Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Bregier said. Current A320 customers include US Airways Group Inc. and Frontier Airlines, and American Airlines gave Airbus a coup when it ordered 260 A320s last year.
Building in Alabama also helps Airbus cut foreign-exchange costs. Right now most of its A320s are built in Europe, so its costs are in euros. But planes are sold in dollars because most aviation lending happens in dollars. That cost disadvantage will shrink if Airbus pays to assemble at least some of its planes in dollars.
The Mobile operation will join Airbus assembly plants in in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China.
Labor costs are likely to be lower in Alabama, where union organizing is more difficult than in Europe or in other parts of the U.S. Bregier said cost savings were not the main goal for the Alabama plant, but added, "Clearly we selected a competitive environment and we are businessmen so we don't go to the worst place."
Airbus unions have expressed concern about European jobs lost to the U.S., a particularly thorny issue in France as new President Francois Hollande tries to re-invigorate manufacturing at home.
Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. had planned to build a new the U.S. Air Force refueling tanker in Alabama, but lost the bid to Boeing last year. EADS shares have been climbing on European markets since news of the Alabama deal surfaced last week.
The deal should help Airbus politically in the U.S., said sales chief John Leahy, in an interview.
"Having an assembly line clearly gets you political support, a lot, in fact," he said.
"There's no reason, now that we've become a U.S. manufacturer, that we shouldn't have equal treatment with Boeing," he said.
Barclays analyst Joseph Campbell said Airbus and EADS may be looking ahead to a day when it has a larger defense presence in the U.S., and having a factory employing Americans making commercial airplanes may help it. Building some of the planes in dollars is significant, too, he said.
He downplayed the idea that building A320s in the U.S. will help it sell more of them to American carriers. "United Airlines doesn't care if the airplane comes from Alabama or Toulouse," he said.
Alabama has been pursuing Airbus for several years, as it threw its weight behind the EADS effort to build the Air Force tanker. Unemployment in the state is 7.4 percent, so the Airbus announcement was welcome news. Two thousand people attended the announcement at the convention center in Mobile, many of them waving American flags as music played.
Alabama offered the company $158 million in incentives such as road improvements and worker training. Airbus said it plans to spend some $600 million building the assembly line.
Boeing and Airbus have a long-running international trade dispute, and each has been critical of subsidies received by the other.
Mobile is already home to several aerospace companies, including ST Aerospace Mobile, Goodrich Aerospace and Star Aviation, and much of the business is based at the 1,650-acre Brookley Aeroplex, where the new plant will be based. The aeroplex was an Air Force base until its closure in 1969.
The Airbus plant advances the company's strategy of expanding production outside its home base. The company, jointly run by French and German management and with plants in several European countries, wants to expand in China and India as well as the United States.
Airbus plans to eventually make four planes per month in Alabama. It is in the midst of speeding up worldwide A320 production to 42 per month. Airbus officials said they have not yet decided whether the Alabama-built planes will stay within that rate or will be in addition to it.
The A320 is at the small end of what most people think of as a full-size airliner, generally used for short- to medium haul flights. Airbus makes a family of planes form the A318 to the A321, which seat from 107 to 185 people. Airbus officials said all the variants would be built in Alabama. They retail for around $88 million.
Airbus said sections of the plane will be built at its other factories and shipped to the port in Mobile, where they will be trucked to the new assembly line. The line itself will be a carbon copy of other Airbus lines, reducing startup expenses, the company said.
Boeing makes some of its planes the same way; empty 737 shells arrive by train at its line in Renton, Wash., where they're stuffed full of airplane innards, and their wings are built and attached.
Other big manufacturers have found homes in the South. Boeing assembles 787s in North Charleston, S.C., and Alabama is home to plants owned by Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota.
"It is truly a great day in the history of Alabama," Gov. Robert Bentley said. "It is the result of a lot of hard work and cooperation. This day will shape the future of the region for years to come."
The dean of the business school at the University of South Alabama, Carl Moore, said attracting a company like Airbus could have a transforming effect on Alabama like Mercedes-Benz had when it picked Alabama for its first American assembly plant in 1993.
"It's a prestige name that's internationally known," Dean Carl C. Moore of the University of South Alabama said.
With cars, building them close to where they're sold cuts a significant part of the cost of delivering them to the showroom floor. That cost is minimal for airplanes, because they can be delivered anywhere in the world within a few hours for the cost of a tank of jet fuel. So building close to customers doesn't hold the same advantages for Airbus as it would for, say, Nissan.
Airbus already employs about 1,000 people in the U.S., including about 230 in Mobile who design and install interior items such as seats and cabin equipment for its big planes.
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By Ryan Ekvall l Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON — It’s all over the news: Wisconsin’s public-employee pension system is the best in the nation.
The news telling the whole story.
A Pew Center on the States analysis of state pension funds rated Wisconsin Retirement System, or WRS, 100-percent fully funded, far better than states such as Connecticut, 53 percent, or Illinois, 45 percent.
The Badger State does indeed boast a healthy-looking plan, but its strength is based on sloppy accounting practices and borrowed money.
Economists say it’s a much better system than those that build their projections on expectations that fund investments will pay out like easy Vegas slots. But the state fund still assumes a 7.2 percent rate of return on its investments, known in the business as the discount rate.
If you think that’s reasonable investment planning, talk to one of Wall Street’s neighbors, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“If somebody offers you a guaranteed 7 percent on your money for the rest of your life, you take it and just make sure the guy’s name is not Madoff,” Bloomberg recently told the New York Times, referring to convicted investment scammer Bernie Madoff.
The Pew study notes that it used Wisconsin’s own numbers to conclude the pension system is holding or will easily earn the $80.75 billion it needs to fund retiree pensions.
But use standard market valuations — change the expected rate of return from a sky-high 7.2 percent to a more conservative Treasury bill rate — and suddenly Wisconsin’s pension system is underfunded by $70 billion.
Using that assumption, the state pension plan is just 60 percent funded.
Andrew Biggs, economist at Washington, D.C.-based think tank American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, or AEI, says that’s just one of the ways in which state pension actuaries could more accurately project future pension obligations.
“When you value a future liability — in this case, benefits that are guaranteed by law — the discount rate you apply to that liability must reflect the risk of the liability, not of the assets you set aside to fund the liability,” Biggs explained. “If WRS benefits are guaranteed, then you need to value them using an interest rate derived from investments that are also guaranteed.”
The adjusted rate would be closer to 3 percent — that of a long-term U.S. Treasury bond. Using a 3.6 percent rate, Biggs figures the state is underfunded by about 54 percent, or $62.6 billion.
Briggs isn’t a lone voice in the pension reform wilderness. The University of Chicago and Northwestern University in 2009 jointly called for governments to use Treasury bond yields, insisting assumptions at the time were loaded with risk. Northwestern used a 4 percent discount rate to conclude that Wisconsin’s fund is $56 billion in the red.
Actuaries at the Department of Employee Trust Funds, or ETF, value future liabilities based on, among other considerations, market outlook — their best predictions about how the market will perform. That allows for more generous forecasts.
ETF staffers argue that Biggs has the wrong idea, if only because using the market valuation rate “would increase the cost of the system significantly,” said Rob Marchant, deputy secretary at ETF. He says assuming lower rates of return would require taxpayers and workers to contribute more to fund maintenance.
Too bad, says Biggs. He points out that such political expedience ignores “taxpayers’ contingent liability to bail out pensions if they become underfunded.”
That is, if WRS fails to return 7.2 percent annually, at some point Wisconsin taxpayers will have to make up the difference.
Historically, the Wisconsin Retirement System has exceeded its projected rate of return. But the Great Recession did a lot of damage to old expectations. WRS returned 6.8 percent on its core fund during the past decade, and just 3.3 percent during the past five years — both of which are actuarial losses. The crash in 2008 wiped out $23.6 billion from WRS’ assets.
In this economic climate, 7.2 percent may be reaching.
Even discovering the state pension is only 60 percent funded doesn’t get at the truth. It turns out that nearly a million dollars in the fund was borrowed before the market crash.
In 2003, Wisconsin issued $950 million in auction-rate bonds to help shore up its pension plan. As CBS News reported in 2011, the bonds did well for a few years but got socked in 2007, when souring subprime loans started rippling into the auction-rate and other bond markets.
Counties and municipalities across the state also borrow to cover their share of the retirement system.
If it seems like Biggs and Marchant are talking past each other, it’s because they appear to be. Biggs, and others, argue the discount rate should reflect future liabilities. Marchant argues the discount rate should reflect how assets are expected to perform.
Expectation, again, has been tricky business, lately.
“That whole issue has been debated in our profession for quite some time and it’s still a matter of debate,” said Andy Peterson, a pension actuary at the Society of Actuaries. “It’s not that one’s right and one’s wrong. It’s the perspective.”
Unfunded pension liabilities estimated as much $4 trillion nationally offer their own perspective.
Biggs, like other free-market analysts, bemoans the scant political will to effectively address the question. There’s too much at stake, he said. Public employees and their unions resist changing a system from which they have benefited; politicians don’t care to show taxpayers the full bill — or, as in recent Wisconsin history, risk confronting the union leaders who occasionally fund their campaigns.
“If they did honest accounting, taxpayers would notice just how generous and how expensive these benefits are, and the public wouldn’t support it,” Biggs said.
“The future doesn’t like it,” he said, “but they can’t vote. Nobody who is a player in this wants to deal with it.”
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干爹 (gan die), a Chinese word that originally means someone similar to a godfather, that is, a non-parent male arranged to be child’s guardian. But if it appears in any news or online discussions in China now, the word is more likely to refer to sugar daddies, or more specifically, old male government officials or rich businessmen who keep young mistresses. More often than not, whenever the word “干爹” appears, a corrupted official will soon be exposed. These young mistresses are dubbed by Chinese netizens as the “ultimate corruption fighters” in China.
Taobao store: Guo Meimei Design
So how does a word that is almost the synonym of scandal becomes a hype? It all starts with Guo Meimei, which should be a very familiar name for anyone who read China news in 2011. Guo Meimei, who loved to show off her lavish lifestyle on Weibo and who labeled herself as the “General Business Manager” at the Red Cross Society of China, ignited a nation-wide firestorm targeted at Red Cross China, a state-owned charity organization – Guo was found to have a sugar daddy who held top position at Red Cross China. The whole Guo Meimei controversy brought public trust of state-owned charity organizations to record low. Ever since, anything with the word “sugar daddy” in it is sure to catch national attention.
But how is Guo Meimei today? She continues to show off her luxury buys, opens a Taobao store called Guo Meimei Design and is frequently invited to various magazines and TV shows for modeling and interviews. In a word, she becomes a celebrity, sort of.
Lesson for all the young girls out there? Fame means getting involved in a sugar daddy scandal, real or fake. As many netizens joked: “There are too many young girls who want to become famous, but not nearly enough sugar daddies.” Guo Meimei’s route to fame isn’t one that is easy to copy.
Yang Zilu, a recent Guo Meimei-wannabe who threated to have “the Internet” shut down, was shut up by Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo – her accounts on both sites were deleted permanently. Yang Zilu caught netizens’ attention last week when she showed off on Sina Weibo that her sugar daddy bought her a 8.88 million private jet trip to the London Olympics. When criticisms and scorns poured in, she posted the following message:
“I finally understand why these dumbasses came here and said bad things about me. I thought about explaining, but no longer think there is a need to. If I wish, a simple call to my sugar daddy can make all of you arrested. Do you guys think that a man who bought a 8.88 million private jet trip to the London Olympics in a blink of eye is nobody? Go home and mind your own business. If I grow angry, I will shut down the entire internet so that you cannot curse me any more! You want to dig out who my sugar daddy is? Come on! He just laughed!”
Apparently, no one has been intimidated. Yang’s account on both Sina Weibo and Tecent Weibo were deleted on May 20. Though accused by netizens of hyping up her story, Yang still insists that she has a wealthy and powerful sugar daddy.
The sad thing is that stupid young girls are not the only ones who want to use cooked-up sugar daddy stories to get famous. About a week before Yang Zilu, Hua Yue Zhi Men, an established antique evaluation TV show on Henan Satellite TV, hired a girl to show off fake sugar daddy gifts on their show.
The girl: “My sugar daddy gave me this as a gift.”
The girl: “I don’t need to work at all.”
The girl: ”He is the boss of a real estate company.”
The girl: ”It’s an emerald jade Buddha.”
The girl: “You know, it’s very expensive.”
Antique expert: “It’s a complete fake.”
Host: “Thanks for participant in our show.”
It was later found out that the jade Buddha was not the only thing that was fake in the show. The girl was hired by the show and the entire sugar daddy story was fabricated.
In fact, the show may have inspired Yang Zilu. After her Weibo accounts have been deleted, she protested on her blog, showing off a Song Dynasty vessel said to be given to her by her sugar daddy. She called for other antique evaluation shows to take a look at the vessel and boosted that the vessel was “a never-seen-before treasure.”
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This was emailed me by a friend:
The more I think on this the more I’m for it.THIS MAY MAKE YOUR DAY!Vermont State Rep. Fred Maslack has read the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as Vermont's own Constitution very carefully, and his strict interpretation of these documents is popping some eyeballs in New England and elsewhere.Maslack recently proposed a bill to register "non-gun-owners" and require them to pay a $500 fee to the state. Thus Vermont would become the first state to require a permit for the luxury of going about unarmed and assess a fee of $500 for the privilege of not owning a gun. Maslack read the "militia" phrase of the Second Amendment as not only the right of the individual citizen to bear arms, but as 'a clear mandate to do so'. He believes that universal gun ownership was advocated by the Framers of the Constitution as an antidote to a "monopoly of force" by the government as well as criminals. Vermont’s constitution states explicitly that "the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the State" and those persons who are "conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms" shall be required to "pay such equivalent." Clearly, says Maslack, Vermonters have a constitutional obligation to arm themselves, so that they are capable of responding to "any situation that may arise."Under the bill, adults who choose not to own a firearm would be required to register their name, address, Social Security Number, and driver's license number with the state. "There is a legitimate government interest in knowing who is not prepared to defend the state should they be asked to do so," Maslack says.Vermont already boasts a high rate of gun ownership along with the least restrictive laws of any state .... it's currently the only state that allows a citizen to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. This combination of plenty of guns and few laws regulating them has resulted in a crime rate that is the third lowest in the nation."America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." This makes sense! There is no reason why gun owners should have to pay taxes to support police protection for people not wanting to own guns.Let them contribute their fair share and pay their own way. Sounds reasonable to me! Non-gun owners require more police to protect them and this fee should go to paying for their defense!
Holy Moly!!!! WOW!! Now this guy is GOOD! I agree with him 100% and i never really thought about it that way but it's true! If those who don't want to own a gun don't..then llet them contribute financially towards the police upkeep!! I like the way this guy tiurned things around!! Either they will get some people to move that don't like guns or they will be bringing in more people who own guns!! Either way it's a win/win situation!!!
3rd safest place in the country and anyone can carry concealed! Now THAT'S a testament! I LOVE IT!
It's a total turn around of thought on the subject, isn't it? And I think he makes perfect
sense!! I wonder if others will follow with the same? That's true---There is no reason why gun owners should have to pay taxes to support police protection for people not wanting to own guns.
States need to look at places like Vermont. There's a reason they are the 3rd safest place in the country!
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Take more than 100,000 self-proclaimed tech nerds, drop them in the middle of Sin City, and what do you get? The 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where many of the world’s most innovative technologies are unveiled in just a matter of days.
This year’s event is important for a number of reasons. Most significantly, tech titans Apple and Microsoft were almost completely absent from the show, except for a bizarre appearance by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
at the Qualcomm keynote.
I made the trip to Las Vegas for this year’s CES, which likely set the stage for the trends we’ll be seeing throughout 2013. Here are five of those trends:
Windows 8 is here to stay.
Lenovo, Dell, Panasonic, and others introduced numerous devices powered by Windows 8
. Everywhere you looked, Windows 8’s colored panes stared back. Intel announced that all fourth-generation processors will require touch
, a move that clearly benefits Windows 8.
Customization is everything
—especially when it comes to TVs. Panasonic touted the importance of a personalized television experience
, which means content designed for the individual and technology that integrates mobile. Other devices, such as Fitbit (pictured here), which monitors your eating and sleeping habits and activity, is a great example of technology that’s inherently personal.
Perceptual computing promises to make an impact.
Intel’s perceptual computing initiative
refers to interacting with a computer beyond traditional devices such as a mouse or keyboard. Think facial recognition, voice command, and gesture control. Personify, for instance, debuted its new video chat product
at the Intel booth this week. (Disclosure: Personify is a client.)
The convertible laptop/tablet is poised to take over.
People have declared the laptop dead
for more than a year. The truth is, laptops are still extremely useful in a variety of settings, including in the office and the classroom. The convertible Ultrabooks introduced by Intel at this year’s CES bridge the gap between laptop and tablet, letting users switch between the two with one fluid motion. Keep an eye on the Lenovo Yoga in 2013.
Thin is in.
TVs are getting thinner. Tablets are getting thinner. Phones are getting thinner. PCs are getting thinner. CES attendees were even given the chance to try out a flexible smart screen called PaperTab
. Here is Samsung’s behemoth new flat screen on the floor of CES:
Were you able to attend this year’s CES? Did you spot any trends I missed? Let me know in the comments below.
Andrew Cross is a Chicago-based public relations professional with Walker Sands Communications. Follow him on Twitter at @Andrew_R_Cross.
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Revision Date:Oct 18, 2004
Publication Date:Jul 21, 2004
Source:Harvard Business School
English Hardcopy Color
Also Available in:
|English Hardcopy Color||
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.
The Torre Almirante office tower, Hines' newest project in Rio de Janeiro, was a 36-story, Class AA office tower with an adjoining 420-stall parking structure and a preserved 14-story historic facade. It was completely different from anything that had previously been built in the city. It was also the first time that a developer took the risk of publicly announcing to the Brazilian business community its intention and commitment to complete such a complex real estate project on schedule. It was an impressive and unprecedented enterprise, but at this stage, the project was enmeshed in some operational complications. Several project designs were not yet ready, and discussions among the different companies involved in the development had intensified in the past weeks. Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the New York-based design architect, was debating with Hines about issues ranging from the glass window specifications to the material for the gold leaf lobby ceiling. Pontual Arquitetura, the local production architect, was concerned about the fire protection system. In addition, Racional, the local general contractor, just pointed out a serious problem in the freight elevator shaft that could force Hines to modify substantial parts of the project and, consequently, trigger a new round of required approvals. Includes color exhibits.
To examine real estate development issues including design, construction, and building codes.
Project management; Real estate investments
- Geographic: Brazil
- Industry: Real estate, rental & leasing
- Event Year Begin: 2003
- Event Year End: 2003
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This week has seen the launch of a major set of war games led by Russia and performed under the auspices of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a motley crew of former Soviet Republics that are united in a common defence alliance.
All of the former Soviet Central Asian republics are permanent members of the CSTO with the exception of Turkmenistan. And, while the importance and priorities of the CSTO ebbs and flows with Russia’s geopolitical mood, this year, the alliance is focused on shoring up its base in Central Asia.
The exercises currently taking place, called Center-2011, are being hosted in southern Russia and throughout Central Asia, and are slated to finish on September 26. Russian officials claim that there will be more than 10,000 troops and 70 combat aircraft taking part in the games. While the CSTO games officially have the objective of promoting defence ties and enhancing the alliance’s credibility, it’s clear that this year’s exercises are framed by concerns that the region is vulnerable to the tide of change coming from the Middle East and North Africa.
Central Asia is blessed with natural resources but cursed by the tight-fisted rule of kleptocratic leaders. Moscow has become increasingly worried that some these regimes may be susceptible to protests, riots or worse. The Chief of General Staff of the Russian army recently affirmed this noting that the still-evolving Arab Spring was ‘difficult to forecast’ and warned that the Kremlin has ‘similar questions for the Central Asian countries.’
One of the key components of the CSTO is the Collective Rapid Reaction Force, which is designed to swiftly mobilize in the event one of the Treaty’s members being attacked by an external actor. But the definition of ‘external threat’ is being intentionally blurred as most of the governments in the region face more existential threats from internal unrest than from foreign powers.
While this has always been tacitly acknowledged by the CSTO, it’s now being fully incorporated into the alliance’s doctrine. Last month, CSTO head Nikolai Bordyuzha remarked that ‘events in North Africa have opened our eyes’ and stressed that it’s time for the Organization to introduce ‘appropriate methods to protect each state.’
The recent change in trajectory of the CSTO calls in to question the alliance’s original mandate. It seems that the member states are more content on extending an ambiguous blanket of ‘security and stability’ over the CSTO in order to preserve decaying regimes.
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The Iraqi government appears unlikely to pass three key proposals that the U.S. has laid out as benchmarks for continuing support. Even so, it seems unlikely that redistributing Iraq’s oil wealth, as one proposal mandates, or giving more power to the Iraqi president would do much to bring security and opportunity to the Iraqi people.
New York Times:
And even if one or two of the proposals are approved—the oil law appears the most likely, officials said—doubts are spreading about whether the current benchmarks can ever halt the cycle of violence gripping Iraq’s communities.
For the handful of party leaders with the power to make deals, the promise of compromise now carries less allure than the possibility for domination. Long-suppressed Shiites and Kurds now see total victory within their grasp. Previous American benchmarks like elections have failed to bring peace and, after four years of unfulfilled promises, bloodshed and sprawling chaos, once wary glances have become cold, unblinking stares.
The same forces of entropy and obstinacy have also severed links between the party leaders and their constituencies. In Shiite areas of southern Iraq, Sunni areas of the west and for Kurds in the north, Iraq’s central government has become increasingly irrelevant as competing groups within each faction maneuver at the local level for control of public money and jobs. In many cases, especially through mosques, Iran and other foreign powers often provide more institutional support than Baghdad.
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Able to scare up a few bucks?
Just in time for Halloween, the owners of the home made famous in the spooky 1970s film "The Amityville Horror" are dramatically slashing the asking price on their Toms River, New Jersey, colonial, which was used for exteriors in the film.
The decision wasn't triggered by demonic activity, however. Apparently, another frightening "D" word was to blame.
"My husband and I are getting a divorce," said Odalys Fragoso, who bought the house with her husband Jose Fragoso in 2001. "It's not that the house is haunted or anything. We had wonderful times in that house."
The couple purchased the house for $795,000. Originally listed last year at $1.45 million, the four-bedroom, three-bath home is now going for $955,000 -- a bargain, according to the agent.
"If there were a curse on it, I wouldn't be in it," joked Donna Walesiewicz, the broker selling the 3,370-square-foot residence. "It is what it is, a nice old stately home."
It was also the perfect place for Hollywood producers, who used it as a double for the real Amityville house when shooting the 1979 movie. The film, based on Jay Anson's 1977 best-seller, featured buzzing flies, ghostly eyes, blood pouring from the walls and a satanic voice warning a visiting priest to "Get out!" The film starred James Brolin, Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger.
The story has its origins in the real-life tale of the Lutz family, who purchased a house in Long Island, New York, in December 1975. The Lutzes' reports of strange and horrific experiences became the heart of the book and film.
The "Amityville" franchise has since churned out an ample supply of sequels over the past 30 years, from a 3D version to a 2005 vehicle for Ryan Reynolds.
Fragoso's waterfront homestead, built in 1920, is nowhere near the Lutzes' old haunt -- about 100 miles and a state line away -- and is anything but scary.
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Canada’s anti-terrorism laws withstood an important legal challenge Friday when the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals of three Ontario men who had argued the provisions should be struck down.
The high court justices unanimously rejected claims the 10-year-old terrorism sections of the Criminal Code had defined terrorist activity so broadly they threatened free expression and were therefore unconstitutional.
In related decisions, the court gave its stamp of approval to a wide definition of terrorism that recognizes terrorist activity goes well beyond planting bombs and includes anything intended to “enhance” a terrorist group.
While critics had argued even a doctor who knowingly treated a terrorist might be convicted, the court said the law applied only to conduct a reasonable person would consider capable of helping terrorists.
“For example, the conduct of a restaurant owner who cooks a single meal for a known terrorist is not of a nature to materially enhance the abilities of a terrorist group to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity,” the ruling said. “By contrast, giving flight lessons to a known terrorist is clearly conduct of a nature to materially enhance the abilities of a terrorist group.”
The three who brought the challenge are accused of more than cooking.
Momin Khawaja is an Ottawa resident who became infatuated with violent jihad. He trained at a small-arms camp in Pakistan and designed detonators for a terrorist group plotting attacks in
Britain. Friday’s ruling means the life sentence handed him by the Ontario Court of
Appeal will stand.
The two others are wanted in the United States for allegedly providing assistance to the Tamil Tigers. Piratheepan Nadarajah faces charges of attempting to buy $1-million of surface-to-air missiles and AK-47s for the Sri Lankan rebels.
Suresh Sriskandarajah, currently a University of Ottawa law student, was indicted in New York in 2006 for allegedly helping the Tamil Tigers acquire communications equipment, and submarine and warship design software. He is also accused of laundering money for the rebels and counseling others on how to smuggle materials to Sri Lanka.
The Ontario courts have approved the extradition of Mr. Sriskandarajah and Mr. Nadarajah. Their lawyers argued the evidence was weak and they should not be sent to the U.S. because their alleged crimes were not committed there. But the court said the extradition orders were sound.
“We are profoundly disappointed in the decision,” Mr. Sriskandarajah’s lawyers, John Norris and Brydie Bethell, said in an emailed statement.
“Canada appears to be content to outsource criminal prosecutions, even for conduct that has occurred entirely here, and, unfortunately, our courts are unwilling to prevent this from happening. If Suresh is to be prosecuted anywhere, it should have been in Canada.”
Rob Nicholson, the Justice Minister, said he was pleased the court had agreed Khawaja should be imprisoned for life.
“By upholding this sentence, the court sent a strong message that terrorism will not be treated leniently in Canada,” he said.
“I am also pleased that the court has recognized that the principles of procedural fairness were appropriately respected in the extradition cases of Messrs Sriskandarajah and Nadarajah and that their surrender for extradition was justified.”
At hearings in June, defence lawyers had disputed Canada’s definition of terrorism, arguing it was so open-ended it had a chilling effect on freedom of expression. But the court ruled the law was not broader than necessary and its impact was not disproportionate.
The justices said there was no evidence of a chill and the law applied only to activities related to terrorist violence. The anti-terrorism law is “respectful of diversity” because it allows for non-violent expression of political, ideological and religious views, they wrote.
“The purpose of the law does not infringe freedom of expression. While the activities targeted by the terrorism section of the Criminal Code are in a sense expressive activities, most of the conduct caught by the provisions concerns acts or threats of violence. Threats of violence, like acts of violence, are excluded from the scope” of the Charter of Rights guarantee of free expression.
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Toronto and Mississauga have defined themselves as “cities of the future,” according to a survey of North and South American municipalities conducted by Foreign Direct Investment Magazine.
The ranking, contained in the magazine’s latest issue, put Toronto fourth overall in the category of North American “cities of the future” — behind New York City, Chicago and Houston. Toronto, which was also listed as one of the top 10 “major cities of the future,” earned separate nods for its economic potential, infrastructure, marketing strategy and quality of life.
Mississauga, meanwhile, placed fourth in the category of “large cities of the future,” and was also recognized for its economic potential and infrastructure.
“Mississauga is well positioned to foster international business growth and expansion,” Larry Petovello, the city’s director of economic development, said in a news release issued Monday. “[We] will continue to build Mississauga’s international profile as a sound business decision and return on investment.”
The ranking examined 405 cities throughout North and South America. Cities could score a maximum of 10 points under each individual criterion, which were weighted by importance to give the overall category scores. The infrastructure category, for example, looked at such factors as number of airports, port size and environmental performance.
This is the first time the magazine has compiled the ranking.
"I love astrology. I've followed it my whole life."
Mayor Rob Ford at the unveiling of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's sculpture Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Bronze. He told the crowd gathered at Nathan Phillips Square that he was born in the year of the rooster, 1969. The Ai Weiwei installation will be in the square until Sept. 22.
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The report tax on financial transactions: an implementation guide is intended as a guide to implementing a French financial transaction tax (FTT). The study was funded by UNITAID and carried out by 99 Partners Advisory (consultancy firm) on the initiative of the Chairman of the Executive Board of UNITAID, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General in charge of innovative financing for development, Philippe Douste-Blazy.
The report recommends that a tax similar to the UK stamp duty be applied, and extended to bonds and derivatives. In a country such as France, calculations show that such a tax should generate more than €12 billion per year, using lower rates than existing FTTs. As in other countries with FTTs, the introduction of such a tax on a national basis should have no significant negative impact on the national financial markets.
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|Enterprise & IT Architecture is a growing discipline and has seen exponential
growth over the last few years and is expected to grow even more rapidly in the future. Often IT Architecture has been seen as a
backroom activity. Enterprise Architecture should get systems thinking out of the backroom and into the boardroom. From the
original ideas of John Zachman the discipline has emerged to cover Business Process Management, Information Systems and Technology
Infrastructure – all of which amounts to consciously architecting the enterprise rather than allowing the enterprise to happen by
Accredited Training Provider Value: Our courses are accredited by the Open Group. This means that participants receive quality training which meets the rigorous criteria set by the Open Group and also a substantial discount on the certification exam fees.
iCMG already instructs candidates successfully in Zachman, Business Process Management and Enterprise & IT Architecture.
The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) is one of the most popular frameworks used to mould various aspects of
Enterprise Architecture. There is a flexibility built into the TOGAF Framework, primarily through the key concept of the
Architecture Development Method (the ADM) which is inherently adaptable to co-exist with other frameworks such as Zachman, BPM,
SOA or Solution Architecture methodologies such as SDLC and Agile.
TOGAF provides a discipline for Enterprise Architecture while also providing the flexibility to adapt the method for any specific
organisation or methodology. This 'openness' of TOGAF as demonstrated in one of the key values of The Open Group is one of the
major factors which has led to the growing success of TOGAF over recent years.
This 4 days workshop covers the latest version of the method – TOGAF – and prepares candidates for the TOGAF examination which
is taken separately at a later date.
The examination vouchers are included in the registration fee at a discounted price and can be used subsequently to take up the
TOGAF examination at a Prometric Examination Centre.
For details on the day-wise course content:
TOGAF is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries
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Trayvon Martin, left, and George Zimmerman. / AP
NEW YORK - Robert Zimmerman wears bulletproof vests when he goes outside his house. He doesn't greet neighbors or look grocery store cashiers in the eye. Once, angry customers at Starbucks confronted him over one of the nation's most controversial cases.
Zimmerman is not a suspect, but his brother, George, is the man accused of murdering Trayvon Martin a year ago Feb. 26. Like Trayvon's family, Zimmerman's family has been forever changed since the night Trayvon, a teenager whose parents say was racially profiled, was fatally shot in a dark Florida subdivision.
Amid plans for a vigil in memory of Trayvon in New York City, the families of George Zimmerman and Trayvon are speaking as publicly about the case as ever.
"George's entire family was smeared by proxy," said Robert Zimmerman, 31, who moved from Virginia to act as a full-time spokesman for his family. "The situation goes from peaceful to anxious, having uttered the Zimmerman name in public."
Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, 46, continues to be haunted by the moment he identified his son's dead body. For him, Feb. 26, the day of the shooting, and Feb. 27, the morning he identified his son, mark the worst days of his life.
"I just want to erase those two days," he said. "No healing has been done inside my heart."
Martin, a truck driver, hasn't gotten a chance to grieve because of his public battle to get George Zimmerman arrested and charged. Instead of grief counselors and moments of reflection, the last year has been about speaking out against the racial profiling he says led Zimmerman to target his son. For Martin, peace may begin if a jury convicts Zimmerman.
In the weeks after Trayvon's death in Sanford, Fla., the nation focused on the narrative of a young unarmed black man who was killed while walking home with a bag of Skittles and iced tea. People - fixated on Trayvon, Zimmerman and Sanford, Fla. - debated about race, gun laws and the meaning of self-defense
Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who called the police after seeing what he said was a suspicious character in a neighborhood with a history of break-ins, pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge and said he acted in self-defense. He remains free on $1 million bond.
Robert Zimmerman hopes a judge and possibly jury will look past the public discourses that tied this case to race and gun laws and see it for what he says it is - straightforward self-defense.
"George had to do what he did to save his life, and that tragic reality is a situation no one wants to find themselves in," Robert Zimmerman said.
He said Zimmerman, whose father is white and mother is Afro-Peruvian, grew up appreciating diversity among Spanish-speaking family members and Peruvian customs and festivals. Robert Zimmerman insists his brother did not act based on any racial notions the night of the shooting.
The death threats against Zimmerman and family have continued all year - spiking on Feb. 5, what would have been Trayvon's 18th birthday. The Zimmerman family spends most days holed up, talking about developments in the case.
There are small traditions, such as Sunday Salsa nights when homemade appetizers ease the isolation. However, it's in this recluse setting that George Zimmerman has gained more than 100 pounds."We don't even say hi to the next door neighbor or look at the cashier in the eye or talk to the guy at the gas station," Robert Zimmerman said. "Your entire human interaction is the people you grew up with. It's this survivor island."
For Trayvon's family, there obviously is no interaction with the young man who died before realizing his dreams of fixing and flying planes. For the teen's family, there are only days filled with sadness and the building of Trayvon's legacy.
Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon's mother, has spent the year trying to heal and working with other families whose children have been killed. She tells parents about her experience and lobbies for changes in "stand your ground" laws across the country.
"The first six months, we were crying a lot," Fulton said. "But we can't continue having our kids die for no reason. We have to come up with some plan to stop this violence. I don't know if it's gun control or educating people with guns."
Dozens of people gathered in Union Square Park Tuesday to mark the night Trayvon was killed. Many in the large crowd carried signs displaying the late teen's face, small white candles, and wore hoodies during the chilly, rainy event.
Surrounded by supporters, Trayvon's parents, both donning black hoodies, and their attorneys reiterated their interest in seeing the murder case against George Zimmerman move through the courts. The two parents thanked supporters and blew out candles at 7:17 p.m., the exact time Trayvon died.
Meanwhile some well- known faces, Jamie Foxx and Michael Eric Dyson, also spoke through megaphones at the park.
"It's the one year anniversary of the forced martyrdom of a young man who sought nothing more than to exercise his right to breathe and exist," Dyson said, later calling Trayvon a "hate crime victim."
Foxx later added that people should think of Trayvon as a typical teen who enjoyed his family and adolescent activities.
"The simple thing is allow the court system to work and allow a person to have their day and trial," Foxx said.
The vigil, which lasted about an hour and a half, did not attract the same massive number of people as the rally held in New York for Trayvon last year.
Mikey Jay, 34, a rapper from the Bronx, offered his take on the smaller numbers. "People are probably just worried about themselves," he said. "But me? I still care."
Experts say this case will continue to hold the nation's attention because of the public conversations it sparked.
On the surface, Sanford, Fla. looks normal. Weekly block parties have resumed, and residents stroll in and out of the downtown's cafes, antique furniture stores and quirky bookstores. But people still quietly talk about the case in barbershops, church meetings, and living rooms.
No doubt, across the nation, the case has polarized people.
Supporters of Zimmerman have continued to donate his legal defense fund, giving more than $300,000. There are also online postings that argue Zimmerman should never have been arrested and that the murder charge he faces is an attack of self-defense laws.
Tens of thousands of Trayvon supporters have posted pictures of themselves wearing hoodies on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. While the rallies and protests seen in the weeks following the shooting have subsided, people continue to talk about the case as an example of the dangers of stereotyping.
"Trayvon Martin gave race in this country a very tangible representation of what it means to be a black man," said Keisha Bentley-Edwards, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin who studies race, adolescence and academic and social development. "It triggered the realization that America can't be post-racial when unarmed black children are being killed because they are perceived as a threat."
Melinda Anderson, 49, has used the Trayvon Martin case to have an ongoing conversation about race with her son, Colin, 12. Both are black.
"There is still a level of outrage and resignation over if this boy will ever get justice," said Anderson, a writer who lives in Silver Spring, Md. "I would hope that people don't just use the day as an opportunity to go to a vigil but to really think about whether we are any closer to ensuring that another mother won't be Sybrina Fulton."
Zimmerman attorney Mark O'Mara hopes the case against his client will be unlinked to civil rights issues, saying his client is a "proven non-racist." He acknowledges the case continues to polarize the nation.
"Everyone is holding their breath waiting for a verdict," O'Mara said. "I don't think it's going to be healthy no matter what way it turns out. Half the people will be very unhappy."
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: A year after Trayvon Martin death, families reflect
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Size: 9 1/4 (23.5cm)
St. Thomas More (Tomas, Thomasso)
[1478-1535], was a dutiful son, faithful husband, loving father, loyal friend, incorruptible statesman and martyr for his faith - truly a man for all seasons, and a patron of those who follow his profession, the law. He is also patron of adopted children, difficult marriages, stepparents, parents of large families and widowers. His feast is June 22.
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GENEVA, 11 October 2012 – Pádraig Murphy, the OSCE Chairmanship’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus, emphasized the need to maintain stability and the political commitment to resolve issues at the 21st meeting of the Geneva International Discussions today.
The Geneva International Discussions, co-chaired by the OSCE, EU and UN, address the consequences of the 2008 conflict in Georgia.
“We are marking the fourth anniversary of the Geneva Discussions. In this time we have seen progress, notably with stabilizing the security situation in the region. Some credit for this must be given to the Ergneti/Dvani Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, which has been meeting regularly to address problems on the ground,” said Murphy.
“However, many challenges remain, and the Geneva Discussions remain an essential means for resolving these issues. I hope that all participants will maintain their commitment to this process, and will work together constructively to build confidence.”
Murphy, drawing on Ireland’s experience in conflict resolution and reconciliation, emphasized the importance of addressing issues related to culture heritage and identity, as well as the issue of missing persons.
“It is essential in the overall context of security and stability to acknowledge and to address the suffering of families of the missing persons. We may call them missing or disappeared, as we do in Ireland, but it is a necessary - in fact crucial - element of reconciliation, alongside political, security and policing issues,” he said.
In a joint statement with co-chairs EU Special Representative Philippe Lefort and UN Representative Antti Turunen, Murphy welcomed the participants’ commitment to address issues including restarting the Gali Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism and the non-use of force and international security arrangements.
The Discussions take place in two parallel working groups, one dealing with security and stability, and the other with humanitarian questions, including internally displaced persons and refugees.
The co-chairs agreed with the participants that the next meeting will be held in Geneva on 12 December 2012.
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I told you I ain't fooling from the gate, this ain't the first day of April
Here he uses fairly intense wordplay in that he says it to make it sound like, “I told you I ain’t fooling from the gate, this ain’t the first day I "ATE” April."
There’s a bit of a stutter like Ap-April
As he is talking about eating her out hence the “below your naval” reference and “find something more stable.”
To help improve the meaning of these lyrics, visit "So Bad" by Eminem Lyrics and leave a comment on the lyrics box
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|
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GoDaddy Attack Started With Spear-Phishing
More than 400 Websites hosted with domain registrar GoDaddy were compromised, redirecting unsuspecting visitors to a malicious site. It appears the sites were hit by a spear-phishing attack and the attackers could have done far greater damage, security researchers said.
"Many" sites hosted on GoDaddy servers had their Apache configuration files modified to include rules to redirect visitors to another domain, security researchers at Sucuri wrote on a blog post Sept. 14. GoDaddy's security team identified approximately 445 hosting accounts that had been compromised and it cleaned up the affected systems by Sept. 15, according to Todd Redfood, GoDaddy's CISO.
Attackers modified .htaccess, an Apache file often used for authentication, with new rules that were executed every time a user visited the site, Nicholas Percoco, senior vice president and head of Trustwave Spider Labs, told eWEEK. The redirect code applied only to visitors coming to the site from search engines, including Google, Yahoo and Bing. Those visitors were first redirected to the domain sokoloperkovuskeci.com, registered to a person in Florida, and then to other malware-laden sites.
This type of attack is commonly seen on sites running outdated versions of content management systems such as WordPress and Joomla, according to Sucuri. The fact that this specific attack affected only sites hosted on GoDaddy, regardless of the software installed, makes it likely that the company's servers were compromised, the researchers speculated. However, Redfoot said the sites were accessed using the account holder's username and password.
"Our security team is confirming this was not an infrastructure breakdown," Redfoot said.
Account holders were most likely compromised by targeted phishing attacks, according to Percoco. It isn't "technically difficult" to search for Websites hosted by a specific provider and obtain e-mail addresses of the registered owners and administrators, Percoco said. With the information in hand, users are sent a phishing e-mail requesting them to log in to "confirm or update" some information. Attackers would then be able to intercept the username and passwords used to manage the sites, Percoco said.
Attackers could have done more damage to the sites than just redirect them to malicious domains, according to Percoco. The primary target was to propagate malicious code onto the computers of the visitors of those sites, but attackers could have modified anything, including how to accept and process credit card or other payment data.
For example, EMC's RSA Security
was compromised earlier this year and attackers stole information
relating to the SecurID two-factor authentication technology after
tricking employees into opening a file they thought came from the Human
"Once an attacker has access to make changes to a Website, the sky is the limit for the nefarious activity that could come from it," Percoco said.
GoDaddy does not think the attack was against the company because it impacted less than 1 percent of domains hosted on the platform. However, there was no discernable pattern to the types of sites that were affected. Percoco agreed, speculating that the attackers went after a large hosting provider in order to get a big pool of potential victims. This kind of attack has a "high success-to-failure ratio with minimal effort," according to Percoco.
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What do you call the meal between lunch and dinner (tea)?!
Question: if brunch is between breakfast and lunch, what is between lunch and dinner (some people call it tea, but its not its dinner :P )
Answers: if brunch is between breakfast and lunch, what is between lunch and dinner (some people call it tea, but its not its dinner :P )
I call it lunner
There isn't a name for it....."mid-day snack?"
3 main meals and 2 snacks a day.
tea is a formal late snack in England (around 5p).
I call my meals
If I eat between then I call it a snack.
I am from Texas. I think it really changes depending on where you are from.
A late Lunch !!
I call it a snack
its a called snack,
I don't call it tea. It is usually just a snack especially if you have eaten lunch and are planning on eating dinner. Brunch was made because people would sleep in and be hungry so they would have there breakfast then and not eat lunch so its just both combined. So between lunch and dinner is not actually a meal but just a simple snack.
Second lunch? High tea?
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Located only 52 km from Kino Bay, here you can appreciate the full extent of the strong rocky image of the isla Del Tiburon, with its proximity forms the Canal Infiernillo. Punta Chueca houses from archaic times Seri Indians, who now live in modest houses near the sea, using its natural sources, and trading their crafts made from ironwood.
In Punta Chueca you can enjoy:
Shark Island is one of the main attractions of the northwest, and is one of the largest islands in México, it is uninhabited and has a rich variety of flora and fauna, such as bighorn sheep.
There are special places for fishing and diving, which can be practiced with the permission of the Seris Tribe, who also offer guided tours of the island.
Most of the members of this ethnic group are dedicated to the development of colorful handcrafts such as necklaces, bracelets, pottery and woven clothing, wooden sculptures as well as the ones made of ironwood tree, native to the place.
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By Deena Beasley
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A trial of Sanofi's experimental once-daily drug for Type 2 diabetes, Lyxumia, found that it worked as well as Byetta, a similar drug sold by Amylin and Eli Lilly and Co that is injected twice a day.
The six-month trial involved 634 patients whose diabetes was not adequately controlled by oral drugs or basal insulin.
Sanofi said the trial of Lyxumia, or lixisenatide, met the main goal of showing non-inferiority compared with Byetta, also known as exenatide, in terms of controlling blood sugar, with less risk of low blood sugar.
Sanofi said 2.5 percent of Lyxumia patients had symptomatic hypoglycemia, compared with 7.9 percent of Byetta patients.
Both drugs belong to a relatively new GLP-1 class of drugs that stimulate insulin release when glucose levels become too high.
The French drugmaker licensed Lyxumia from Zealand Pharma. The GLP-1 treatment is seen as a possible blockbuster which could help Sanofi reach its goal of becoming the world's top diabetes treatment company.
Sanofi is conducting an extensive clinical program for the drug. Results from six of 10 pivotal trials have so far been reported, according to Dennis Urbaniak, vice president of Sanofi's diabetes division.
He said the company plans to file for regulatory approval of Lyxumia in Europe toward the end of the year and will seek U.S. approval toward the second half of 2012.
In the Byetta comparison trial, the percentage of patients who reached target blood sugar levels was 48.5 for Lyxumia and 49.8 percent for Byetta.
Sanofi also said that mean body weight significantly decreased from baseline in the lixisenatide group compared with the exenatide group (94.5 kg to 91.7 kg with lixisenatide vs. 96.7 kg to 92.9 kg with exenatide).
About 10 percent of lixisenatide patients dropped out of the trial due to side effects (mainly gastrointestinal events including nausea, diarrhea and vomiting), compared with 13 percent of the exenatide group.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley, editing by Matthew Lewis)
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Success Story: Eric – Gas & Bloating
Do you suffer from excessive belching or gas? These symptoms can not only be a nuisance, but embarrassing too. Clearly, problems of bloating and gas stem from eating the WRONG type of foods for your diet type.
The type of food that you eat affects every part of your body and your bodily functions. Some peopleÔÇÖs bodies are just not designed to digest and process certain foods (see Improving Digestion). ThatÔÇÖs what one of our patients, Eric, discovered when he went through Diet Typing.
Eric is a busy physician and works long hours at the hospital. As a result he eatsbars, cafeteria food, or often skips meals altogether.
Eric was hoping to lose some weight and balance his the Otter diet based on his Diet Typing results. We also encouraged Eric to eat fresh foods and discussed some options he could bring with him during his long work days.levels ÔÇô two of the most common goals we see among patients. He also mentioned that he had a lot of belching and indigestion ÔÇô something we figured would be associated with . Since his would take a few weeks to come back, we started him on
One month later Eric came to see us to review his food allergies. Not only had he lost 5 pounds and an inch in his waist, he had also noticed a huge difference in his belching and indigestion ÔÇô he was very happy with these results. He still had a few changes to make regarding his food allergies and he was happy to make them to see what other improvements he could see.
Eric started eating right for his diet type and started eating real, fresh foods, his body started functioning better. The right diet is essential for reaching all of your health goals. Diet Typing is the first place to start. Food allergies are a good complement to the Diet Typing ÔÇô that way you can know exactly what foods may be causing inflammation and allergic reactions inside your body. Some people may need digestive enzymes or probiotics added to their supplement regime. And of course, you need fresh food. Processed, convenience, and fast food will not help you with your health goals.
If you are ready to get to the root cause of your embarrassing symptoms, we are here to get you started and on your way. Give us a call today to set up your Diet Typing.
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Originally Posted by Ordo Ab Chao
while we are on the subject, apparently hypoxia can cause heat shock protein expression. it seems blood occlusion training may have more benefits to it than just GH response.
you are exactly right...that's why they believe it helps slow atrophy when occlusion is applied in ACL injuries.
The"Outwork" mindset changed my entire life, perhaps it can help you as well
Muscle Hypertrophy occurs independent of exercise intensity
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Now Microsoft wants a piece of that cake too! I wonder how much they payed just to get their OS in there...
Yesterday ASUS announced that very soon they would start shipping ASUS Eee PC with pre-installed Microsoft Windows XP instead of Linux. Pre-installed with Windows XP, the Eee PC provides an easy, convenient and fuss-free platform to seamlessly integrate multiple devices, applications and services.
In addition to the Windows operating system, consumers with the Eee PC will be able to access Windows Live, which is a set of personal Internet services and software to manage their online world more efficiently and safely. Some key features include Windows Live Mail, which consolidates all the various email accounts into one place on the user's desktop and eliminates multiple log-ins; Windows Live Messenger to help keep users connected with each other easily and instantly; Windows Live Photo Gallery that easily organizes, sends, posts and shares photos with friends and family; and Windows Live Family Safety, which offers built-in family safety features including safer browsing for children via Web site management.
Moreover, Windows-modifications of ASUS Eee PC will come bundled with Microsoft Works suite, which equips the user with numerous applications that include word processing, spreadsheet, database management and address books. However, unfortunately, not all language versions of the Eee PC will support Microsoft Works.
At this time ASUS doesn’t disclose any details on the Windows XP version that will be built into this ultra-portable notebook. However, it will evidently be a cut-down version of the OS. We also don’t know yet how installing Microsoft OS will affect the price of the solution. The schedule to release the XP Eee PC will be around early April if no delay occurs.
Pre-installed Windows is not the only innovation to be made in the Eee PC family. ASUS has already announced that they will make several improvements with the next generation of the Eee PC – dubbed the Eee PC 900. These new technologies will bring about a new concept for Internet access with 1GB of memory, larger storage of up to 12GB, and wider 8.9-inch screens. These new Eee PCs will cost 399 Euro each, and will be available in summer this year – to select countries on the first wave of launch. All of these new models will be Windows ready.
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The parents of a pregnant 16-year-old Texas girl agreed Monday not to force their daughter to have an abortion.
The girl, who is 10 weeks pregnant, filed suit against her parents for allegedly pressuring her to abort her unborn child.
The girl also claimed her parents threatened her with physical force if she didn't go through with the abortion.
The teen and her 16-year-old boyfriend said they never considered terminating the pregnancy.
The Texas Center for Defense of Life, who is representing the teens, said Monday's agreement is a major victory in the fight against abortion.
"Right now it's a victory for life, and we're glad they stood up for the right for life and our client recognizes her unborn child has a right to live and she wants to protect that," Stephen Casey, founder of the Texas Center for Defense of Life, said.
The girl's parents also gave consent for their daughter to marry her boyfriend and father of the baby.
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When the two men met briefly in 1950 Chaplin told Wisdom: “You will follow in my footsteps,” and three years later Wisdom made his first major film, Trouble in Store. Although he was already established on stage and on television, reviews of the film were moderate, and Rank executives held out no great hopes for it. In the event, the film set records in 51 London cinemas, and Wisdom’s plaintive theme song, Don’t Laugh at Me, spent months in the Top 10.
An unbroken run of 15 successes followed until 1966, with the 5ft 4in tall Wisdom holding off even the challenge of James Bond to be Britain’s favourite box-office draw. In 1964 a record 18.5 million people watched his BBC pantomime Robinson Crusoe.
The plots of films such as The Square Peg, On the Beat and A Stitch in Time varied little. Wisdom — as the character Norman Pitkin — was the willing dolt who meant well but could do no right, forever tumbling through a slapstick universe filled with milk churns, tea-trolleys, laundry chutes and revolving doors. Yet ultimately his simplicity defeated his social betters (often played by his stooge Jerry Desmonde), and he claimed the girl. The humour was obvious, and even the best — Trouble in Store and the Foreign Office satire Man of the Moment — now seem very dated.
Wisdom’s screen success declined along with the British film industry. His last outing was an ill-advised sex comedy in 1969, What’s Good for the Goose. Sex, like colour film, seemed to jar.
He did not translate well in America, which already had a similar star in Jerry Lewis. A later role, however, in a Broadway musical, Walking Happy, earned him a critics’ award in 1967.
Yet everywhere else Wisdom’s pathetic charm cast a binding spell. He was as popular in South America as he was in Iran, where he met boys whose only English was his catchphrase “Mr Grimsdale!” His films were often shown in eastern bloc countries, where he achieved celebrity status. In Britain his cocking a snook at the Establishment prefigured the Sixties; in the eastern bloc Marxist censors approved his proletarian if hapless subversion of the elite. A hospice established for those affected by the Chernobyl disaster was named after him; and in 1995 he received the Freedom of both the City of London and of the Albanian capital, Tirana. Wisdom was the only Western actor whose films were allowed to be shown in Albania under the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.
Norman Wisdom was born at Marylebone, London, on February 4 1915. He was not candid, nor perhaps sure, about his date of birth and regularly knocked up to 12 years off his age.
He grew up in poverty in Paddington (where his first memory was of a Zeppelin passing overhead during the First World War), the son of a chauffeur and a seamstress. His father was a violent drunk who often hit Norman, once throwing him against the ceiling. When his parents separated Norman and his brother were farmed out to paid guardians. They eventually grew up at Deal, in Kent.
Norman left school at 14, becoming a delivery boy for Lipton’s and then a commis-waiter at a London hotel, from where he was sacked for dropping a loaded breakfast-tray down a lift shaft. He walked to Cardiff with the aim of becoming a miner, but was deserted by the friend who had promised him work, and instead embarked in a steamer bound for Argentina as a cabin boy. The crew taught him to box, and in Buenos Aires Norman (who weighed only five stone) found himself matched (for money) against an opponent twice his size and age. He won the fight, but the crew spent his prize-money.
Back in London, and still only 14, he was disowned by his father and began living rough on the streets, at first sleeping at the foot of Marshal Foch’s statue in Victoria. He would sneak into cinemas to keep warm.
He lasted two hours as a trainee draughtsman before finding his first métier as an Army bandsman. In 1930 he was sent to Lucknow, India, with the 10th Hussars. As well as learning to play 11 instruments, he also became adept at falling off a horse for the amusement of officers’ wives. It was his first solo performance. A fanatical gymnast who later performed all his own stunts, he was also for three years the Raj’s flyweight boxing champion.
Wisdom returned to England a civilian in 1936 and worked as a telephone operator, and when war broke out was seconded to work Churchill’s own switchboard. He then joined the Royal Corps of Signals. His concert party work was spotted by Rex Harrison, who encouraged him to become a professional.
His break came in December 1945 at the Collins Hall, Islington, a venue for new variety turns. He had followed the manager everywhere for three weeks asking for a chance. Billed as “The Successful Failure”, he produced an act that was a synthesis of his experiences and would never change. Wisdom was life’s victim, a gormless, game village idiot. Mime and pratfalls were his stock-in-trade, dance and song mere distractions, as he clowned with musical instruments that shut on his fingers or was knocked out by his boxing shadow. It was silly, unsophisticated fun larded with pathos — and austerity audiences lapped it up. In Skegness one teenage schoolgirl laughed so hard that she dislocated her jaw. Within two years Wisdom was a West End star.
Not everyone appreciated his rise to top billing. An upstaged Canadian act took to coming on to interpret Wisdom’s routine until laid out by an uppercut. By 1950 he was appearing regularly on the new medium of television, as well as in pantomime and ice spectaculars. He was also a favourite with the Royal Family and performed at Windsor Castle.
Yet he still wanted to create a character unique to him, and in a Scarborough charity shop he found a uniform. “The Gump”, in a jacket three sizes too small with tie awry and cap askew, became his trademark role, the eternal schoolboy with the looks of a beaten puppy.
Wisdom became addicted to hard work, following 12-hour days on a film set with two exhausting shows at night. He was also a perfectionist, rehearsing a new sketch for up to a week. The punishing regime cost him his second marriage while bringing him the trappings of wealth. He collected cars, kept a 94ft yacht and lived in the Sussex house once inhabited by Anne of Cleves. In 1968 an appeal he lost against paying tax on £200,000 worth of silver bullion invested in America set a legal precedent. In 1980 he moved to the Isle of Man.
He appeared in no more films after 1969, instead making four series for television, A Little Bit of Wisdom, up to 1976. Thereafter he was seen sporadically, most notably in a straight role as a dying cancer patient in a 1981 BBC play, Going Gently. He then had a screen part in a dire British thriller, Double X, in 1992.
Wisdom kept himself formidably fit through golf, jogging and even football. He was still performing a relentlessly physical stage act in his eighties. There was a ghostwritten autobiography published in 1992, Don’t Laugh At Me.
He was appointed OBE in 1995 and knighted in 2000.
From 1995 until 2004 he made occasional appearances as Billy Ingleton in the BBC’s television comedy Last of the Summer Wine. In 2004 he had a cameo role in Coronation Street, and in 2007 he appeared in Kevin Powis’s film Expresso. he had a small part as Winston the butler in the film Evil Calls: The Raven (2008).
Norman Wisdom’s first marriage, to Doreen, was a wartime romance, and was quickly dissolved. In 1947 he married Freda Simpson, with whom he had a son and a daughter. That marriage was dissolved in 1969.
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Retired Army General Otto Pérez Molina (left) won Sunday's runoff presidential election in Guatemala, seizing on voters' concerns about growing insecurity in the Central American nation. Pérez led with more than 53 percent of the vote, Guatemala's election authority said. His opponent, businessman Manuel Baldizón, garnered 46 percent of the vote. Both candidates had promised to tackle growing insecurity and the presence of Mexican drug gangs in the country, an area of special concern to the Central American nation, due to its prominence as a key transit point for drugs from South America to the United States.
As a means to increase government revenues, which the government says will help reduce the nation’s ever-expanding federal deficit, the Department of Homeland Security is looking into a proposed change to border crossing policies that would force Canadians looking to visit the United States, arriving via air or sea, to pay more for the privilege.
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) 2005 report “Building a North American Community" not only clearly outlined how George W. Bush’s lax policy on illegal immigration served to build the foundation of a North American Union, but also revealed the extent of Republican influence toward the creation of the NAU. Republican task force members who authored the blueprint for the NAU include Heidi Cruz (Economic Director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council under Condoleezza Rice), Richard Falkenrath (Bush’s Deputy Homeland Security Adviser and fellow at the neoconservative Brookings Institution), and Carla Hills (a former Assistant Attorney General and U.S. Trade Representative under Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush).
One of the most dangerous and pressing threats to American sovereignty is the proposed creation of the North American Union, a European Union-style amalgamation of the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a borderless, unified continental body. In the United States, one of the main proponents of the NAU has been former President George W. Bush, whose policy of open borders and a lenient approach to immigration is indicative of his desire to erase national borders, under the guise of a “Security, Peace, and Prosperity Partnership of North America.”
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa (left) is perceived by many to be leading his country down the road of Venezuelan-style statism, socialism, and dictatorship — increasingly so in the past several weeks.
In the most recent example, a May 7 constitutional referendum — despite opposition members and activists in the human rights community labeling the 10 proposed areas of reform a power grab on behalf of Correa’s government (including the proposal to give the President more of a say over judicial appointments) — the President's "reforms" received widespread support from Ecuadorian voters. While casting his vote, President Correa dismissed the opposition's concerns. "They've been saying it's totalitarian... [a word] used for a state in which things are done by force. We're doing this democratically," he protested.
In one of the most ironic and revealing moves in the unfolding of relations between the United States and China, China has announced that it is seeking a shift to the gold standard. According to the World Gold Council, the market development organization for the gold industry, China’s appetite for gold has been rapidly expanding: It consumed 175.2 tons of gold in the fourth quarter of 2010, bringing its grand total for the year to 579.5 tons, or 18.5 million ounces. By comparison, the United States consumed a mere 233.3 tons of gold in 2010. While it is unknown how much of China’s gold acquisitions were made by private citizens, industry, or central banks, speculations remain as to what the country's true intentions are regarding its continued massive purchase and use of the gold.
Texas Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry is no stranger to controversy. Perry’s record as Governor is marred by numerous instances of increased taxation, lackluster job growth, and fiscal impropriety and outright corruption, all tied together by a common ethos of fiscal liberalism, Keynesian economics, and statism — a desire for increased governmental power. While Perry’s economic record and association with the Bilderberg Group ought to be of legitimate concern to true conservatives, another aspect of his record must also be scrutinized: his associations with the Islamist Aga Khan Foundation, which has been linked to incendiary anti-American and anti-Western rhetoric and has been identified as a source of funding to numerous terror groups.
The Occupy Wall Street movement is no stranger to controversy. The protests have drawn extremists and radicals of various stripes, from labor union members, to far-left Democrats, and members of various communist and socialist movements. As reported earlier by The New American, the movement has even been home to several high-profile anti-Semites, who, like their statist intellectual heroes Marx, Keynes, and Proudhon, blame their woes on perceived Jewish involvement in free-market capitalism. However, an analysis of the movement also reveals deep-seated connections between its Marxist members and radical Islamist groups, a classical example of the Islamo-Communist connection identified on many occasions as fueling the “Arab Spring” protests.
For the past three weeks, protestors of various stripes have made their way to New York City’s Financial District as part of the movement known as “Occupy Wall Street,” a self-described “people-powered movement for democracy inspired by the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprisings.” Democratic Party bigwigs such as Al Sharpton, former Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and countless other elected officials have lent their support to the cause, which has also merited the participation of numerous labor unions, and a host of socialist, communist, and other radical leftist political parties and groups, including the International ANSWER Coalition (which has demonstrably provided much support and strategic input to the Islamist and communist forces protesting in Cairo).
After an intense summer of campaigning, political history was made last night in New York�s Ninth Congressional District, as Republican Bob Turner (left) emerged victorious over his Democratic opponent, Assemblyman David Weprin. In a stinging rebuke to Weprin and to his litany of liberal, statist positions, which voters associated with Obama, voters in the heavily Democratic district turned out in droves for Turner, putting into Republican hands a seat which has consistently been held by a Democrat since 1921.
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As a young convert I was very much intrigued by the ongoing discussion between Richard J. Neuhaus, George Weigel, Michael Novak and Fr. Robert Sirico — and their critics, ranging from David Schindler (editor of Communio) to Tracey Rowland and Alisdair MacIntyre. This has sometimes been described as a debate between ‘Catholic neocons’ and ‘Catholic paleocons’; ‘Whig-Thomists’ vs. ‘Augustinian Thomists’ (the latter by Tracey Roland in a famous two-part interview with Zenit).
The discussion was centered on such questions as:
One of my chief sparring partners online was David Jones, founder of the blog la nouvelle theologie. While my time of late has been preoccupied with readings in other subjects (and other pursuits), David has kept up with new developments in this ongoing discussion. Among them, the recent exchanges between Catholic-traditionalist-turned-libertarian Dr. Thomas Woods and his chief critics, Thomas Storck and Christopher Ferrara (of The Remnant)– about which David would like to offer the following remarks in a guest post:
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Bush’s Last Bullet: Why the US Attacked Syria
The sovereignty of an independent, stable country that has carried out many constructive moves in recent months and weeks, which could have surely contributed to the stabilization of the Middle East, has been violated, its borders breached and its civilians killed.
But when the country targeted is Syria, an Arab country, and the perpetrator is the US military, then, somehow things are not as appalling as they may seem.
The US raid on a small farming community near the Iraq-Syria border on October 26 is being treated differently than the Russian attack on Georgia in August 2008. The latter was vehemently condemned by every last leading US official, who specifically decried Russia’s violation of international law, laws governing the sovereignty of nations, and the destabilization of a whole region. Few in the US government, and fewer in the ever-willing mainstream media, dared offer any alternative reading to what truly triggered the conflict. For example, Georgia’s initial violent attacks on South Ossetia, killing many Russian citizens and peacekeepers, seemed a negligible fact.
The Syria case, where a dozen US commandos killed eight Syrian civilians, including a father and his four sons, is somehow an entirely different story. Georgia is an ally of the US; Syria is not. Georgia was armed and trained largely by US-Israeli weapons and military experts; Syria is a key recipient of Russian weapons. Georgia was used as another US foothold in an extremely strategic and rich region; Syria is a safe haven for the political leaderships of various Palestinian groups that continue to fight the Israeli occupation. Georgia is serving the essential role of tightening the geopolitical belt around Russia; Syria’s strong relations with Iran, is rather complicating US efforts to tightly control Iraq.
Considering the Bush doctrine - not just that of preemptive war and rationalising torture, but others that rank US interests above international law, and regards US actions with different standards to those of any other nation — one hardly needs to infuse UN resolutions that forbid the sort of action as bombing a quiet village inside some other country’s borders. It is simply ‘irrelevant’, a term that is dear to President Bush, for that is how he wished to delineate his government’s view of the UN for refusing to give him the green light to invade Iraq.
True, the attack on Syria may seem like a classic belligerent military policy, carried out by a president who defines national security as perpetual violence. But there is certainly more to the story that is largely missing from most analyses offered by government officials and in US media.
The Times of London quoted an anonymous US official in an October 29 report as saying: “You have to clean up the global threat that is in your backyard (that being Iraq) - and if you don’t do that, we are left with no choice but to take these matters into our own hands.”
The official repeated the claim that the target was an Iraqi national affiliated with Al Qaeda, Abu Ghadiyah. His real name is Badran Turki Hishan al-Mazidh, who “was appointed as an Al Qaeda commander by the organisation’s late founder, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.” Of course, once alien Arabic names are offered, then most analysts take such claims at face value. Who is daring enough to question the integrity of that claim altogether, especially as Abu Ghadiyah has allegedly been killed. Thus, Randall Mikkelsen’s Reuters analysis: “The US helicopter attack into Syria this week underscores the Bush administration’s determination to cross borders when it can strike an enemy target, and to weather any international backlash.”
But here is the source of oddity. Syria had recently initiated indirect peace talks with Israel, via Turkey. It officiated its diplomatic relations with Lebanon, raising hopes that both countries might settle their protracted feud that has affected the stability of Lebanon, and more recently of Syria itself. These friendly moves had already inspired even more surprising gestures in Lebanon itself, as the leaders of the country’s main rivals, Hezbollah and the Future Movement, have met amidst smiles and friendly handshakes. More, Syria and Iraq are also closer than ever, to the point that the Iraqi government offered some of the strongest condemnations of the US attack on Syria, using Iraqi territories.
Equally important, is that Syria has been improving its relations with Europe, including its once greatest detractor, France. Not only is the relationship between Syria, its neighbors and the EU significantly improving, but also the type of language used to describe such relationships: endless accolades of Syria’s important regional role in bringing peace and stability to the Middle East and so forth. The European response to the US military raid also highlights the already existing rift between the US and the EU. “France calls for restraint and underlines its attachment to the strict respect of the territorial integrity of states,” read a statement by Sarkozy’s office. Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos of Spain demanded an end to “such dangerous events.”
The claims that US national security comes first, and that Al Qaeda terrorists are infiltrating the border into Iraq, hardly suffice. In recent weeks, US military officials admitted that “Syria has been more cooperative than in the past in dealing with the problem of foreign fighters entering Iraq, and the number has declined over the past year.” The percentage decline of the reported infiltration is so significant that one has to question the military wisdom in carrying out such a raid now, while refraining from doing so in the past.
The Syrian regime is aware of its limited military options, and had opted to choose a calmer approach to mend fences with others, while, at the same time, hoping to strengthen its relationship with Russia, inviting the latter to plant Russian missile defense system in its territories. Naturally, neither Israel - who wants to ensure that the balance of power remains in its favour — nor the US — who wants to keep Syria isolated regionally and internationally, and keep Russia at bay, are pleased with the successful Syrian strategy, thus the bombing of October 26. Indeed, it was a warning to Syria, but considering Bush’s dwindling weeks in office, it might as well be a late warning that would yield nothing but further animosity towards the US, not just in Syria but throughout the world.
-Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London).
|
<urn:uuid:a14fbcce-8c59-468a-9f83-7430ad6a85ca>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.zcommunications.org/bush-s-last-bullet-why-the-us-attacked-syria-by-ramzy-baroud
|
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|
en
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|
WPA.LI follows two key constraints. The first is that, for a given game state (i.e. the inning, the score, the number of outs, and the placement of any runners on base), the relative value of a play is determined by how much that play affects the team's chances of winning. If the bases are empty, a walk is credited the same as a single. If the bases are loaded with the winning run on third, a walk is credited the same as a home run. This constraint works exactly like WPA (as one might expect from a WPA-based metric).
The second constraint differentiates WPA.LI from WPA. One of the properties of WPA is that some situations are inherently weighted more strongly than others. A key at bat late in a close game can swing a team's chances of winning by several times as much as the same result in a blowout, and it is credited accordingly. WPA.LI, on the other hand, ensures that the average play in every situation gets the same weight.
So, on the one hand, you have WPA, which weights PAs according to their immediate impact on the game. One clutch PA might be worth as much as 4 or 5 normal PAs, and one mop-up PA might be worth practically nothing. On the other hand, you have WPA.LI, which weights every PA equally, just like most other stats do. Basically, it is linear weights, but with the ability to tailor the value of each event to the specific situation rather than sticking to a blanket value for each event across all situations. While WPA tells the story of clutch hitting (who got the big hit when the team most needed production), WPA.LI tells the story of situational hitting (who got on base when the team needed baserunners, put the ball in play when the strikeout was most costly, or hit for power when advancing runners quickly was more important than getting another guy on first).
There is a third important constraint which WPA.LI does not adhere to, however. Ideally, the average value of each event would match its linear weights value. If a home run is worth 1.4 runs above average across all situations, then you would like the average WPA.LI value of a HR to be 1.4 runs (or rather, the equivalent value on the wins scale). That is not the case, however.
The following linear weights values represent the average change in run and win expectancy for that event across all situations, along with the average WPA.LI value of each event. All three versions have been placed on the runs scale by setting the value of the out at -.27 in order to make them easier to compare directly:
As you can see, WPA.LI does fine at assigning the correct value to most events, but the value of the HR is way off. This may seem counterintuitive; if WPA.LI just creates custom linear weights for each situation based on the WPA values, why would the average WPA.LI value be different from the average WPA value? We can look at the mathematical relationship between WPA and WPA.LI to see why this is.
For a single play, we have WPA = WPA.LI * LI. Now, let X be a variable that represents the set of WPA.LI values for all home runs, and Y be a variable that represents the set of LI values for all home runs:
X = WPA.LI
Y = LI
WPA = XY
The linear weights value of the home run will be the expected value (i.e. the mean) of the set of all home runs:
linear.weights(WPA) = E[XY]
linear.weights(WPA.LI) = E[X]
In order for the linear weights values implied by WPA and WPA.LI to be equal, then E[XY] has to equal E[X]. The relationship between these two values can be explored using covariance, which is defined as:
COV(X,Y) = E[XY] - E[X]*E[Y]
Rearranging, we get:
E[XY] = COV(X,Y) + E[X]*E[Y]
Now, let E[XY] = E[X] + d, where d is an error term representing the difference between E[XY] and E[X]. If E[XY] = E[X], then d=0.
E[X] + d = COV(X,Y) + E[X]*E[Y]
d = COV(X,Y) + E[X]*(E[Y] - 1)
Note that when two variables are independent, their covariance is zero (in which case the first term will be zero), and that when an event occurs randomly across all situations, E[Y] = 1 (because the average Leverage Index is 1), and the second term will equal zero.
From this, we can see that there are two things that can cause the WPA.LI value of an event to deviate from its proper value. One, the WPA.LI value of an event is not independent of the LI of the situation. Two, the event does not occur randomly across all situations, so that the average LI value for that event is not 1. If either or both of these is the case, then the average WPA.LI value of an event will deviate from its WPA value (unless the two error terms cancel each other out).
Both of these are in fact the case for the HR. Home runs are worth slightly more, relative to other events, in lower-leverage situations (i.e. WPA.LI value is negatively correlated with LI for HR), and home runs, like other extra base hits, happen slightly more often in low-leverage situations than in high-leverage situations. Both of these sources of error are in the same direction, and their cumulative effect is that the WPA.LI value of a HR is about .016 wins higher than the WPA value (.0108 from the covariance and .0056 from the average LI).
Because WPA.LI assigns a higher value to HR than does WPA, WPA.LI will be skewed high for home run hitters relative both to WPA and to static linear weights. This complicates comparisons between WPA.LI and other stats. For example, the stat Clutch, as defined as WPA-WPA.LI*, runs into problems with high-HR hitters.
*Clutch is actually WPA/LI - WPA.LI, where WPA/LI is literally WPA divided by the average Leverage Index for the player, but this is really hard to write without confusing WPA divided by LI for WPA.LI, which is usually written as WPA/LI. That, by the way, is why I have been using WPA.LI instead of WPA/LI to refer to that stat.
The pattern of sluggers rating worse than contact hitters in Clutch rankings has been noted by various observers. As shown in the Book Blog thread (see especially Cyril Morong's posts), a player's HR rate correlates strongly with his Clutch rating. Similarly, a player's HR rate in one season predicts his Clutch in the following year even better than his Clutch from that season does (year-to-year r for Clutch for hitters with at least 300 PAs in both seasons is about .06; for year-1 HR rate to year-2 Clutch, it is about -.12).
Take a look at the top 10 hitters in HR/PA from 2000-2011 (min 1000 PAs):
Collectively, these 10 hitters average a Clutch rating of -3.94 wins over about 5000 PAs. This effect is entirely due to the bias in WPA.LI with regard to home runs, though, and not to any deficiency in clutch hitting by the group. If we compare WPA not to WPA.LI, but to linear weights (taken as the average WPA value of each event) for these players, we see that their WPA contributions are almost exactly what we would expect from their context-ignorant production:
This version of Clutch (WPA - linear weights) removes the HR-bias of the WPA.LI version. Clutch.LW shows almost no correlation with HR rate (either for the same year or adjacent years), and the leader board becomes HR-neutral.
While it appears that many of the top sluggers in the game have been particularly un-clutch based on the FG and BR leader boards, this is probably not actually the case. The mathematical properties of WPA.LI (specifically the possibility of correlation with LI and of non-randomness of events) just happen to skew the results in that direction. This can be addressed by using linear weights values (especially linear weights derived from WPA) as the context neutral baseline to compare against WPA rather than using WPA.LI.
Note: All win probability and leverage index numbers used in this post come from the tables created here. These figures are based on 1993-2010 data and are not calibrated to 2000-2011, nor are they adjusted for the different run-environments of each park (as the FG and B-R figures are). As a a result, the WPA figures here won't match those sites, but should serve fine for illustrative purposes.
|
<urn:uuid:683cda6f-be8a-4d7c-8d98-720080c6f6b0>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.3-dbaseball.net/2012/06/clutch-wpali-and-home-run-bias.html
|
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|
en
| 0.938629
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|
Why Do We Gravitate Toward Middle Items When We Shop?
When you’re at the grocery store and reach for certain brands, is it because you trust them or because they’re simply where you can best see them? Researchers say it could be a little of both.
A study that tracked consumers’ eye-movements found people tend to focus on the objects in the middle of shelves right before they make a selection, regardless of whether those objects are food, movies or something else entirely.
And it didn’t even matter if the item was at eye-level — placement in the middle of the display is what mattered most. What’s more, the subjects didn’t even realize they were showing a preference for the centrally-placed items.
It’s not the first study showing this kind of thing. Other research has shown people seem to gravitate towards the middle seat at a table, the middle stall in a public restroom, and the middle item in a sea of otherwise random objects.
Now if only politicians with extreme views would take a page from that playbook.
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<urn:uuid:dcc9dbc2-9390-452f-8afd-0a6c440c7e19>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://us103.com/why-do-we-gravitate-toward-middle-items-when-we-shop/
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
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Jack The Ripper's chilling letter to Hull newspaper: Suspects' links with city revealed as BBC1's Ripper Street revives interest in unsolved murders
An author and historian will reveal shocking details about Jack The Ripper's links to East Yorkshire in a series of lectures.
Mike Covell, who has been researching the killer for six years, will discuss ten suspects in the case and their connections to the region.
He will also talk about a letter that was sent to Hull Daily News on October 6, 1888, chillingly signed "Jack The Ripper".
Mr Covell, 31, of east Hull, said: "I have a heart condition and I'm unable to work, so I needed to take on a hobby.
This Friday Mexican night at The Black Bull, Burton Pidsea, Two...View details
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"I had read a few books about Jack The Ripper but wanted to research the murders and the suspects in more detail.
"It spiraled from there and I have three lectures booked for this year in both Hull and Beverley.
"People are still interested in the case because it was never solved and nobody ever found out who Jack The Ripper was.
"A lot of people have their own theories but I don’t really have one. I just enjoy learning about the links to Hull.
"I've never given the same lecture twice and there is a lot of new information this year for those interested in his Hull links.
"I reveal everything from silly facts to multiple murderer and bigamist Frederick Bailey Deeming, who was a suspect. He lived in the city for a while and robbed a jewellery shop in Hull.
"The letter, which was sent to the Hull newsroom, said Jack The Ripper was coming to Hull and he had a new knife.
"There are plenty of things I will be talking about in the lectures that will make the audience gasp.
"People are often quite shocked that there are so many links to Hull."
Mr Covell scoured through old copies of the Mail to find out information and, at times, his search for the truth turned international.
With the ongoing series Ripper Street on BBC One, Mr Covell said the murderer is a hot topic once
again. The mini-series is set in Whitechapel in London's East End in 1889, six months after the infamous murders.
"As a 'Ripperologist', this got me very excited," Mr Covell said. "For months I would count down until showing, readying my Sky planner to record the series in HD and hoping that a DVD release would soon follow.
"The buildings and costumes looked amazing and the over-populated grime-ridden back streets of Whitechapel were really well done.
"People are interested in the murders but it's also important to remember the victims and their families.
"Talking about the murders and what happened is also a way of remembering those who died."
Mike's Jack The Ripper lectures will be held on three dates.
The first is at Hull Central Library on Tuesday, January 22, from 1.30pm.
It will be followed by a lecture at Ings Library in east Hull on Tuesday, February 5, and another in Beverley in September.
For more information, visit Mike Covell's blog to read all about his research and his lectures.
|
<urn:uuid:5ae6d1c3-dedd-4ff2-9c5f-41cef04e07b4>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/Jack-Ripper-s-chilling-letter-Hull-newspaper/story-17819160-detail/story.html
|
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|
en
| 0.974305
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In line with the trend of civic-engagement and activism among youth, students at The University of Pennsylvania are gearing up for a federal finance awareness week to bring focus to our ever deepening fiscal hole. This isn't the first time we've seen motivated students who understand the stakes, impress their peers and silence the skeptics, but this is the latest example of why I'm proud to work with my generation.
After being inspired during a class conducted in collaboration with the Concord Coalition, and with some motivating outrage from what they discovered about the country's fiscal affairs, a group of students went above and beyond the call of duty and academics to start a student group and website called Pound-It.org.
Further proving that there is more to their industry and ambition than getting a good grade, these students have kept their momentum and work ethic going, even after receiving their A's, and are planning a week-long celebration of their commitment to educating their peers about fiscal responsibility.
This outreach campaign will include flyering the campus, 550 twenty billion dollar bills (representing our debt) on the college green, as well as speaking events and a public screening of I.O.U.S.A.
The following events are open...
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|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://concordcoalition.org/the-tabulation/61
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|
en
| 0.973579
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I know the title for this “The Best…” list is a bit of a mouthful, and perhaps not that clear, but I couldn’t come-up with anything better.
There are quite a few online games with educational value that have players compete against others on the Web. Many of them, however, don’t allow the players to choose whom they are playing with, and are just connected anonymously.
I have reservations about students playing these games for three reasons:
1) Many of the others playing the games are native-English speakers, and are at a competitive advantage when playing with my English Language Learner students. Games are not a whole lot of fun when you’re losing all the time.
2) Most (though not all) of those games have safeguards built into them to ensure anonymity, and also have some controls on inappropriate content. However, one not uncommon way for players to take advantage of that anonymity is to use nicknames that are inappropriate.
3) I think it’s just plain more fun when you’re competing against your peers in class as opposed to some faceless person out in cyberspace.
Happily, there are several online games with educational value that allow users to create private “virtual rooms” that allow you to choose whom you play against. It’s pretty intense, exciting, and fun in the computer lab when everyone is competing against each other, and after each question is answered you see a “leaderboard” on the screen showing the position of each player.
Of course, I have to say that I feel that most of these kinds of games are played best in the classroom with students divided into groups and playing “face-to-face.” However, it can also be a nice change to do something like this on occasion in the computer lab.
In order for a game to make it on this list, it:
* needed to have educational value for English Language Learners and other students.
* allow for very easy creation of private “virtual rooms” where you can control who can enter the game.
* be free-of-charge.
Here are my picks for The Best Online Games Students Can Play In Private Virtual “Rooms”:
Gut Instinct is from the BBC. It has questions divided into three categories — English, Math and Science, and is accessible to Intermediate English Language Learners, and maybe even Early Intermediates. Students can super-easily create their own virtual “rooms” for between two-and-thirty people where they can compete with their peers. All they have to do is all type in the name of their room (or “league”), choose their avatar and nickname, and the game begins.
Mia Cadaver’s Tombstone Timeout is another BBC game very similar to Gut Instinct, Both of these games ask questions related to Math, Science and English, and you can choose which subject you want to use. One of the improvements that Mia Cadaver has over Gut Instinct, though, is that Math and Science are divided into levels of difficulty. That makes it more accessible to a larger number of students. As in Gut Instinct, in “Mia Cadaver” you can create a private “virtual room” where only your students compete against each other. Everybody just types in the name you’ve given the room, and the questions begin. After each question is answered the screen shows the overall ranking of everybody in the room. Students love it!
The BBC has another similar game called Elemental that has a a bit higher level English, Math and Science questions than the other two games. In Elemental, you can also easily create private rooms, but it appears that you might have a maximum of four players in each room (but I’m not sure about that).
iSketch is another online pictionary-style game. You can create your own private rooms, plus have a chatboard while you’re playing.
Post It Draw It is another online pictionary-like game. You’re given the word describing something to draw, and then others gain points by guessing it.
It has a lot of neat features. First, it actually provides a “value-added benefit” by playing online as opposed to playing it face-to-face by giving points to the first, second, and third person to guess correctly — something that would be difficult to do with an in-person game.
Secondly, it’s a multi-player game. You can create a virtual room with up to ten players. Unlike some of the other games on this list, though, you can’t create immediately private games. However, students can easily create some rooms and have ten of them sign-up for each — that precludes other unknown players from participating.
Draw My Thing is a similar game spoken of very highly by some ESL teachers I respect. Some of the automated responses in the game have been inappropriate for the classroom, though (see comments). They might have recently changed them, but I haven’t had a chance to check yet.
Readers might also be interested in these previous “The Best…” lists related to learning games:
The Best online games websites for English Language Learners 2007
The Best Online Video Games For Learning Language & Content Knowledge
The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too
The Best Websites For Creating Online Learning Games
The Best Online Learning Games — 2008
The Best Sites For Making Crossword Puzzles & Hangman Games
The Best Fun Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2008
As always, feedback and suggestions are welcome.
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<urn:uuid:f42e4435-a063-4f14-b920-b005a68d76f1>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/02/10/the-best-online-games-students-can-play-in-private-virtual-rooms/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.963236
| 1,202
| 1.796875
| 2
|
Maggi: The Condiment That Every Culture Thinks Is Theirs
Sriracha may inspire crazy blog posts and foodie adoration; but when it comes to world domination, it's got nothing on Maggi. PRI's The World has a great story about the stuff in the distinctive genie-like bottle. The brand is so ingrained in just about every culture in every part of the world, it's often mistaken for indigenous. Pretty good for what's essentially liquid MSG.
When it comes to home cooking, immigrants from countries as far apart as Nigeria, the Philippines and Poland share a common ingredient. They all use a condiment called Maggi seasoning. And they all think it belongs to them.
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<urn:uuid:9421399f-5131-4d9b-a8e2-9e6b92f670a1>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/2012/06/maggi_pri_the_world.php
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|
en
| 0.952629
| 146
| 1.679688
| 2
|
Since its establishment in 1950, K.D.B Public School has developed a reputation for excellence in all areas of student endeavour. A strong academic emphasis is complemented by opportunities in student leadership, creative activity sports and technology based education.
K.D.B Public School has proved to be a leader in child's education with the aim to prepare the young children to be life long learners and global citizens. All the students are encouraged to be active participants in school related activities .Our school life is based upon respect for oneself, for others and for the environment. We have been working with the Mission “To impart education in the real sense i.e in its multidimensional aspect and at the same time training young minds to develop as assets to the society”.
The teacher's provide the students with many extensive curricular opportunities so that the students may develop their talents and gain maximum enjoyment from school.
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<urn:uuid:08bd9515-fd51-4359-825c-c0d7c045b12d>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.kdbps.in/
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.96141
| 184
| 1.664063
| 2
|
Editor’s note: The following statement was originally posted on our facebook wall.
Anonymous, United States Army
Serving a tour of duty for female soldiers, even when it was times of peace, was very much like being a pow. You couldn’t get out, you couldn’t get help, you were called names and don’t ask don’t tell was used as leverage. You were not safe. You were not safe when you slept, nor when you bathed. You were outnumbered. You couldn’t say “oh this is a bad guy, I want to stay away from him”. Furthermore, sometimes that bad guy was your first sgt. You can look back at how many women in ratio to how many men, have been turned out for homosexuality.
When and if they kick you out of the military-they don’t just kick you out, they try to break your spirit and destroy you, then they will send you back to society. There is no justice, and the ironic thing was their ad for “an army of one” such and oxymoron, yet that is how I felt. I slept with a buck knife in my hand, I learned to trust no one. I learned that you can serve the country that you live in, but the enemy you must fear most is the one closest to you. I wish I had the power to give the government a dishonorable discharge, since they don’t know what honor is. You have to know what justice is to actually have honor.
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<urn:uuid:64037175-7f70-4cd7-8031-f62efedc406d>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://mydutytospeak.com/2012/02/25/1309/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=d64817105f
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.986634
| 325
| 1.84375
| 2
|
Larne (County Antrim NI)
Purchased No Date
Bequeathed by Charles McGarel to Sir James McGarel Hogg, his nephew, later Baron Magheramorne (Notes & Queries No. 134 July 21 1883, with probably a spurious history contributed by Sir J. M. Hogg).
Pull a random person of interest...
Visit the people of interest section
This project has benefited from many contributions sent in by users and we very much welcome further contributions and corrections.
© Copyright Legacies of British Slave-ownership - UCL Department of History 2013
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<urn:uuid:07977c67-af21-4824-858f-0f07b24e93ef>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/physical/view/13
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.941086
| 125
| 1.546875
| 2
|
OF-1B-3B-C 1927-28, 30-37 White Sox, Braves , Dodgers, Cardinals
Primarily an outfielder, Moore could fill in anywhere, and even caught when necessary.
A steady performer with the Boston Braves, he reached highs of 135 games and a .302
batting average in 1933. A Texan, he made a fortune in the oil business after his
playing career ended and made wealthy men of former Braves teammates by tipping them
off to investments.
|FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY|
|» December 21, 1935: The Dodgers trade Ray Benge, Tony Cuccinello, Al Lopez, and Bobby Reis to the Braves for P Ed Brandt and OF Randy Moore. |
» April 23, 1936: In the Dodgers 4–3, 10-inning win over the Giants, Dodgers OF Randy Moore breaks his right ankle sliding into 2B and will miss most of the season. He'll return to the active list on July 27 and play in just one more game on the field before August 27. He'll hit .103 next year, his last. A Mel Ott home run gives the Giants the lead in the 10th, but the Dodgers counter with two runs.
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<urn:uuid:bc1ec60a-bf83-4e2b-aeab-caad2a48193b>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/M/Moore_Randy.stm
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.942704
| 255
| 1.53125
| 2
|
I haven't used iptables in a while, but I believe you have to speicfy a protocol option. So it would look something like this:
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp
--destination-port telnet -i ppp0 -j ACCEPT
You might want to check this link out, it doesn't really go in depth but it clarifies a lot of things, at least for me it does. Click Here!
EDIT: This won't actually "open" a port, but rather allow connections to the port you specify. You first have to enable the service you want people to connect to.
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<urn:uuid:a1ccdb16-a942-414c-8882-624485613f5a>
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CC-MAIN-2013-20
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http://www.undergroundnews.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/16191/Manually_opening_up_a_port_in_.html
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.940229
| 133
| 1.617188
| 2
|
London, 30th September 2011: Our logistics team – ably assisted by our country programme and medical development teams – make sure our centres, outreach teams and social franchisees across the world are fully stocked with everything they need. From our unique all in one tubal ligation kits to the all terrain vehicles used by our outreach teams to deliver voluntary family planning services to remote communities, our logistics team usually had a hand in getting it there, and in many cases had a say in its design too.
Most of our logistics team have worked in the field, so they know what works. They get tweezers made for our tubal ligation kits with a millimetre of extra bend in the tips because women told our clinicians it was more comfortable that way. They find suppliers who make tents with separate rooms, because tents with one big space inside don’t offer enough privacy to clients.
We don’t often talk about how we get all the resources we need to places, but the logistics team is the engine room of Marie Stopes International, so we thought it was time we highlighted how their actions impact our family planning services across the world.
But how can we explain the complex work they do? The best way is to talk you through just one set of goods they delivered.
The amount of resources our centres, outreach teams and social franchisees need to provide quality family planning services day in, day out is astonishing. And if supply is ever threatened by matters beyond our control – whether by red tape or natural disasters befalling production factories – the line of women with unmet contraceptive needs queuing up for our family planning services doesn’t get any smaller.
“Sometimes women are surprised this kind of thing exists,” said Aziza, an Afghan team member who provides advice to women about the range of contraception available then distributes the chosen family planning product door to door. “One woman was so happy to have the pills that she hugged me, ripped open the package and swallowed a pill immediately with a gulp of water,” Aziza recalled. The woman had given birth 17 times, with three dead and 14 living children. Had Aziza had no pills to hand out that day, there might have been more.
Delivering access through innovation and partnerships
We don’t work alone in ensuring our centres are fully stocked: that’s where our partners come in.
Faced with a stock crisis caused by political restrictions three years ago, UNFPA’s help proved vital. With our Ghanaian and Tanzanian centres among others due to run out of contraceptive supplies in just weeks – and knowing that in many of the countries affected we provide a quarter of the contraception – they gave us an astonishing 45,000 IUDs, 103,000 implants, 700,000 injectable contraceptives and 3.3 million packets of the combined pill, all of which our logistics team delivered to underserved populations around the world.
Sometimes the contraceptives got held up along the way (one batch of contraceptive pills was delayed for almost four months waiting for a hard to obtain certificate, a final counter-signature, one last inspection) but the logistics team’s perseverance and expertise got them through customs and delivered them safely to the people who needed them in the end. We continue to deliver UNFPA-donated commodities to this day, along with supplies that we receive from our other valued partners.
Making a sustainable impact around the world
To list some of those who have benefitted from UNFPA’s generosity is to list many of the world’s most underserved countries: Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In all these countries the unmet need for contraception is high and we work hard to keep up with demand in order to limit the number of unplanned pregnancies and women forced to resort to unsafe abortion.
UNFPA help us to serve those in most need. Their support so far has resulted in a staggering 3.2 million CYPs, which means 943,840 unplanned pregnancies will be averted, which in turn means 127,543 unsafe abortions will not occur, which finally and most importantly means 2,759 maternal deaths will be prevented.
So almost three thousand lives saved, almost three thousand holes in families and communities avoided. Together UNFPA and Marie Stopes International are having a real impact on the reproductive health of women in some of the world’s most underserved communities. We look forward to this continuing.
Find out more about the ways you can support our work
Read our UNFPA partnership spotlight
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<urn:uuid:c8b8922e-81ef-4824-9e6f-4169b085e3db>
|
CC-MAIN-2013-20
|
http://www.mariestopes.org.uk/News/UK/How_do_you_get_contraceptive_supplies_where_they%60re_needed_most%24.aspx
|
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
| 0.953487
| 946
| 1.6875
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